I’m a full-time student, and the MOE recently warned me that my scholarship will be cancelled if I work illegally. So I’m wondering exactly how “illegal work” by a foreign student is defined by Taiwanese labor laws? I would assume that certain types of work would be illegal, such as a full-time teaching position without a work permit, but there seem to be many gray areas. For example, would freelance editing for a European company which sends payment to my bank account in the USA be defined as illegal? What about if the company is based in Taiwan and sends payment to my bank account in Taiwan?
Any undeclared income that you earn in Taiwan would likely be something that would concern the authorities if they bothered to look and could place your visa to study here at risk.
In the cases that you mention, work that you did here freelance from home and paid for overseas would likely never be detected by the authorities here and hence not an issue.
If you are paid for that work here though then there is a chance that the authorities may get wind of it (very small chance) and if they did this could see cancellation of your visa.
Any time a Taiwanese boss looks at you smiles and says, “Don’t worry” it is illegal work.
Seriously though any work you do here no matter where you are paid is illegal unless you have a proper work permit.
Good luck
Those on student ARCs are also limited to no more than 16 hours a week of work even for legal work (employer still needs to apply for a work permit).
Basically any work performed in Taiwan whether paid for or not, whether paid for overseas or in Taiwan requires a work permit. Each work permit is granted for a single employer at a single location. Anything else is illegal work.
You CAN work as a fulltime student in Taiwan (on scholarship), but there’s a serious catch - not only do you have to find an employer that is willing to let you work for no more than the designated 15 hours (and to declare as much in writing - a matter that has negative tax implications for the employer), your school also has to tick off on the paperwork. And they hate doing this because it’s mafan. My wife’s a lawyer and a former language student at NCCU. She did her homework and pushed the issue, and ultimately after finding a willing employer and checking with CLA, MOE and MoFA, the school just said “no.” It was a totally arbitrary decision, and evidence IHMO that “rule of law” still has some way to go among local officialdom. My bet is you’ll end up being forced to work illegally as most of us have been at some point. Welcome to Taiwan. :moo: