I visited the NHI office recently because I left my job last month, and wanted to take over paying the monthly health insurance payment myself (as unemployed). However, I was told that because I’ve spent less than 6 months continuously in Taiwan in the past year, I am not eligible for NHI myself, e…

I can’t help you in your situation. But for what its worth, when I switched my visa type to APRC (from an arc after over a decade here), I lost a lot of my rights which directly affect my work rights and legal ability to participate in various types of jobs i was fully allowed to (and did) do befor…

[image] Occam: My assumption was that since I was already on the NHI scheme through my job, it would simply be a matter of switching to directly paying the monthly bill myself once the job ended. I also thought it was like this. I’ve never heard/read of a requirement to spend >6 months in Tai…

Thanks for your comments. It was the Taipei office (near Taipei station) that I visited, and the woman at the counter I dealt with did refer to another more senior person (possibly manager) when I questioned it, who basically said that I either needed to do the six months waiting, or get another jo…

Interesting. Sounds like if you get a new job and a new employment-based NHI, it may be a new NHI account. Hopefully it’ll be tied to the same ID number so you won’t lose your medical records.

[image] Explant: I lost a lot of my rights which directly affect my work rights and legal ability to participate in various types of jobs i was fully allowed to (and did) do before. what?

I remember Explant posting that spousal ARC had better rights in certain areas than APRC, which is detached from a spouse.

[image] Occam: However, I was told that because I’ve spent less than 6 months continuously in Taiwan in the past year, I am not eligible for NHI myself, even though I’ve already been in the NHI scheme for 5+ years through my company (originally Gold card, then APRC). I’ve heard of a similar s…

[image] slawa: I remember Explant posting that spousal ARC had better rights in certain areas than APRC, which is detached from a spouse. Correct, but don’t want to derail thread. I was more mentioning how rigid they are and not flexible as with other arms of government, in my opinion. For …

[image] irish91: I’ve heard of a similar situation before. Someone had a company setup and sponsored their ARC via that so could also enroll on NHI. Once the Gold Card came out they switched to that but due to having traveled alot the NHI was lost. Yup that sounds similar to my situation. I…

[image] Explant: For the original poster, I wonder if your current arc is based on work, and now you do not have work, perhaps they somehow revert back to tourist visa type regulations? My example above goes to show that changing visa types does indeed change other things such as nhi. I’d also …

Dropped out of NHI: employed to unemployed discrepancy

Taiwan Living in Taiwan

qwert_zuiop November 14, 2025, 9:41am 16

Just keep in mind that foreigners in Taiwan don’t enjoy the same benefits as citizens in old age - even if they have been paying into NHI for decades.

Things have improved recently - but there’s no guarantee that you’re “set” by dutifully paying your NHI fees every month: