Hi, I’m curious if there’s a way I could live in Taiwan as a person freelancing for overseas companies legally with a visa (and which kind of visa is the right one for me; the visitor visa?)
I’m currently unemployed, but trying hard to get a part-time remote job.
I’m considering living in Taipei after saving up and continuing my work there. I have read that some freelancers who live in Taipei visit Hong Kong right before the visa expires and they renew it and return to Taipei and do the same multiple times - is it true and is it legal?
The main reason I’m into freelancing is because I don’t want to work in Taiwan, where the working conditions are worse than my home country.
it is true. Whether it is legal, you may want to ask the question to Ministry of Labour or National Immigration Agency of Republic of China, to get a correct answer. You may do so in English. Phone calling is better than e-mailing. By mailing, you may wait for a few months, and the answer may be in Mandarin.
If you ask the government, they will tell you that this is not legal because of filing taxes. In practice, though, lots of people do this. The government doesn’t really mind (or will look the other way). The down side is that you won’t have an ARC, so things like opening a bank account will be difficult. You also won’t have health insurance, but it will still be relatively cheap.
There are ways to legally open your own business in Taiwan so that you can do everything by the book, but I would only recommend it if you want to stay in Taiwan for a long time. Your company needs to raise a certain amount of capital before you can “give” yourself an ARC.
I’m not sure where you are from, but I think you might be surprised about this point. Some places in Taiwan are not good to work at, but there are a lot of places that are nice and very professional. It has changed a lot recently.
I’m mostly interested in checking out the country. I’ll probably live there for a few years or so.
If I really like Taiwan I might start to consider the company starting path… But that’s far, far in the future.
You have a degree and training as a chef. What makes you qualified for these other positions you want, especially considering you’re not trained in them or have experience? Why not just come out here and see for yourself what life is like a chef, instead of making a half-baked assumption based on what you may have read online? I can tell you this, a Taiwanese company is not going to want to hire a social media manager who is out of the country with zero experience and who also has a poor view of the country itself. (I mean how do you expect to handle social media here if you won’t even step foot inside the country and understand the culture and people’s perspectives here?)
nope. you can use an ID for this. although you can’t get a drivers license without an ARC. that is pretty annoying as the international drivers license laws here are kind of weird.
I seen a friend open up a coffee shop, as a part of a church ministry. He registered it as a LLC which allows giving himself ARCs. I don’t know how much it costs or what kind of capital is required, but it seems like something that can be done…
Damn Drew. Pounce on the noob. Maybe she doesn’t like being a chef. Maybe her clients are not in Taiwan. Where did she say she lacked qualification? Damn you’re negative.
Maybe I was too harsh. But why is this person throwing shade at Taiwan saying they won’t even come here to work, and yet they expect a Taiwanese company will remotely hire them to manage their social media? That kind of hubris annoys me, I guess.
If OP successfully gets that kind of freelance work, good for her. But I think she should be more open minded instead of dismissing the whole country as having a poor working environment.
Oh no I meant that I’d work for a remote company that’s in my home country. I have no poor views of Taiwan - I just happen to come from a country where things are very different compared to Taiwan.
But yeah, I had a talk with my brother and he explained that getting a remote job with zero experience is near impossible. So, I’m reconsidering the chef thing - after all, cooking is my passion. But how hard is it to get a chef job offer in Taipei if you don’t speak Mandarin?
Sorry for the misunderstanding. Sorry I was a bit of a jerk earlier. That was my EVA frustration coming out. I’m glad to hear you’re reconsidering your plan. I hope you find success here as a chef!
this is not an answer to your question, but it may be difficult to get a work permit for a chef job, unless you get a job at a high-end hotel/restaurant/cooking school etc.
If you come here as a student on a student visa, you can get a part time work permit for a student after a year of stay, than can work legally as a part time chef.
