Taiwan is a paradise for inventors and product developers. Sales of my latest product are starting to take off in Japan. Once it gets established there I’ll be going international. It takes loads of fearless problem solving to successfully commercialize a product though, even in Taiwan, which most people don’t have the nerve for. I find the challenges fun though.
I never could have done in the US what I’ve done in Taiwan. Costs would have been too high and suppliers too few and far between. Taiwan sucks as a place to be an employee though.
I was confused because I thought you were raising your kids in Taiwan, and telling me it isn’t as bad as I think. So what you wrote now makes sense if you’re in the UK, which I presume you are, right?
The article above however makes no mention of the author having kids. They seem to have moved back . . . to see their nieces and nephews? I like nieces and nephews as much as the next guy, but really.
I work in the university sector and have done so in three countries. Taiwan has its issues, to be sure, but the support here for basic research is impressive.
Application success rate for major research projects in my areas of research in Canada: around 10% of applications get funded.
Application success rate for major research projects in my areas of research in Taiwan: somewhere around 55% of applications get funded.
This remarkable level of support has, until recently, transcended the blue / green divide—all parties supported it, with the caveat that the current blue dominated legislature seems more interested in burning things to the ground, which is unfortunate. This support for research in Taiwan is one of the reasons I’ve made this my home.
I’ve always had great respect for people that can come up with an idea and monetize it.
It sucks that not everyone’s brains work that way, so I’m in the wage slave category. A decently paid wage slave, no longer in Taiwan otherwise my pay would be crap, but still a salaryman.
I’d like to return in the future if I hit certain financial goals.
Whatever profession we choose or whatever sector we work in, as adults we need to watch the difference between what we earn (net, after taxes) and what we burn (total expenses). This is one reason why I think the article above is odd given that the author readily acknowleges that this difference is not looking great for her and her spouse in Canada right now. Will things improve?
I came across such a business idea the other day that - if it’s legal in Taiwan - could make for a very interesting and useful startup in Taiwan. It’s not something I have the time nor expertise for but it would make one hell of a startup funding pitch to investors I think: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/20/realestate/ireland-house-raffle.html
For a five dollar raffle ticket anyone would have a chance to win one of those many vacant apartments in Taiwan that they could never afford to buy. Every month twenty or so properties would go up on the startup’s website and raffle tickets for them would go on sale. If the minimum number of raffle tickets were sold for a property somebody would win ownership of it . . .
I was able to get a very decent job and income in Taiwan and I just paid sub 10% tax for the year (would be paying 40% give or take with private pension contributions in my home country ). through various family rebates, it’s a matter of plugging away and finding those opportunities . It was hard for the first 10 years though. Would not recommend it to be honest. As for colleagues well that’s another kettle of fish but remote work is common these days.
As for education that’s been done to death here , definitely not the best option in the world, especially for middle and high school , elementary was pretty good actually better than my schooling , but my kids also had their schools trips this year and this just the same here and enjoyed them. The plus points are my kids Chinese and maths ability are obviously pretty darn good and there’s no chaos or fighting in the schools. Coed schools unlike my home country which still has a lot of sibgle sex schools and religious influence. Everybody celebrates academic achievement . I visited Tainan NCKU yesterday, unis in Taiwan can be very good too although I guess that is one of the top ones.
Biggest bugbear for me are the expensive housing prices and lack of immigration.
The biggest challenge most have are that Taiwanese salaries are too low, that makes it difficult to put together a good pot of savings compared to say working in the middle east. And foreigners are pretty much locked out of many if not most jobs in Taiwan. Two major issues that affect people long term and make them leave.
As for the running a business in Taiwan I find that completely overegged. Loads of businesses aren’t viable from Taiwan e.g polar bear trapping .
Good post. Reminded me of my school days going on trips and what not.
First school and middle school were dare I say it, magical times. I doubt its even half as good in Taiwan where kids are forced to be study bots at that age.
I wonder, do they have the napping culture here because they don’t get enough sleep at night even as young kids?
But the flip side is the teenage years. They were pretty rough back in my day and its probably only gotten worse. Its nice to see the teens here still largely retain their innocence.
That really is a good point. It’s a struggle our family goes through daily. Education in Taiwan is incredibly poor quality and a constant struggle. It requires full at home education, going to school is 98% for social education, not academic or basic brain function. When I koved here and owned a school for a while, having school meets etc. It was always scary to me how it can be THIS bad. Even through university, with very few exceptions. Critical thinking and the like must be taught at home in Taiwan. At least before, Canada was exceptional at teaching kids how to think and solve problems. Not sure how it is now. I’m either old and grumpy or the 20 year Olds now are mostly incapable of basic shit as i watch them, at work, stare at their phine, get oaid well and do nearly nothing.
Like with idocracy, it’s prime time to be even mediocre before the AI bots take over their jobs
Those points are valid, but: Open work permit. Learn mandarin. Those 2 things open nearly all the doors in Taiwan. To be fair the work visa beaurocracy is bullshit here. As is path to citizenship. But learning the local language is something many western foreigners don’t do. Myself included. That’s on us, not Taiwan. People in Canada that don’t speak English and only speak say Portuguese won’t get far either. Taiwna has the advantage of being pretty open to English. But the reality in making bank is normally knowing the local language and culture/customs fluently.
They actually don’t.
For instance 99% of pensionable public sector govt jobs and semi state jobs require passing annual govt exams which are already hard for Taiwanese native speakers of Chinese let alone a foreigner .
Then they will require you to have a Taiwan ID as well.
So I think you are way off the mark with that one.
There are huge institutional barriers.
Even to get hired in half the banks and big companies such as CPC and Taiwan Sugar here you would need to pass their exams and have a Taiwan ID. Same with the police , fire dept, public school teachers, army on and on and on.
Until now immigrants couldn’t easily or were perhaps even legally blocked from becoming bus drivers.
Now they are talking about a scheme to offer work permits for bus drivers.
Ok, yeah for sure. Those government jobs absolutely. Other niche jndustries are protected as well. Even in 2 of my industries foreigners cannot own the company outright, they need majority shareholders being taiwanese citizens. I have to play the worker despite everything being done from my brain. Government, national security etc all have protectionism and given the foreign threat from china it’s often unerstandable, but I agree sometimes it’s fully retarded and the over reach goes too far. For example isn’t recent history it was illegal for a foreigner to volunteer. But it should be pointed out this is common many places. When I live in New Zealand they also made similar laws, but put volunteer into work and needing a visa. In Canada foreign doctors have a hell of a time. Also need strict tests as you mention, to the point Canada has terrible health care. All in all, it’s easier here than at least Canada. Get your open work rights, don’t rely on a wife / husband for your visa and speak the language. Then Taiwan is your oyster.
However I’m talking for most people, getting open works rights opens up the majority of taiwans opportunities. I agree, not all. I have to work around in my industry as well, but it’s not hard. I’m working military land right now as I type this because it’s easy to legally still do the work just not have majority ownership in rhe company.
Even more importantly is knowing the local language. It’s hard to believe people speaking a foreign language can really navigate all the beaurocracy and intricate legal details that are not only written in a foreign language but a completely different form (roman letters vs characters) which online translations can’t do even a decent job. I think it’s a no brianer to u derstand the local language to get ahead, even for foreign workers that have cushy jobs with more international companies. Knowing the language enables integration to the society. My biggest regret in life is not taking this serious the second I landed here
Open work permit, become fluent. Those are my 2 top picks for making it WAY easier to be in Taiwan. More than anything else, they allow independence and ability to fight and push forward not just for work but for health care, networking, friendsips, family, general happiness etc.
.
