Not cheap, but also not that expensive. i know several (around 5) Taiwanese families that have a Canadian passport of convenience and send kids to TES and TAS.
They didnt get the passports cuz their great grand father left Taidong to settle the prairies…
What age do TAS and TES start accepting applications? Both schools’ application processes don’t smack me in the face as really open and equitable.
Yea, they are not. Both schools are designed only for expat kids coming here with their parents, not rich taiwanese who somehow acquired a Canadian or whatever passport. But there’s no way to stop that.
I’m gonna tell you that that day is marvelous. 
9:30 to midnight is gonna be a hoot.
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you can apply at any age, starting from kindergarten (3 years old).
at least in TES everyvyear there are kids thay leave and kids that join, so its not a closed clique as described here, but the majority of kids are Taiwanese kids with dual nationalities.
Are placements prioritised by application date ? As in first in best dressed I mean.
i dont know.
Yeah but TAS at least is still run as an “independent school”. That means its still a school for super rich kids, even if they claim it’s supposed to be a school for rich American or “expat” kids. Not sure about TES, as I’m pretty sure the French section is partially funded by the French government?
TES has some kind of waiting list as well and super pricey too.
When I almost moved to Taipei a few years ago we looked into US-based online schools. Some are free, some are expensive, some allow for asynchronous learning, so you could do the courses anytime during the day. The leaves out the important scial aspect, though there are homeschool groups in Taipei. I did not look into those much. As others have said, tuition at TAS and TES is very expensive. If ai recall correctly, TAS also has a 1 time fee of something like $10,000 USD, greatly increasing the annual cost of attendance if your are there for just a year or two.
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Thanks everyone for your helpful responses. Based on the information and feedback I received from this forum and few other sources, it is clear that there is a significant risk of kids’ schooling becoming a major headache. So I have decided to pass up the offer. Thanks again for your insights and advice.
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Yea seriously there are alternatives to TAS or whatever that is cheaper, otherwise you’ll have to get your company to pay for TAS tuition.
Thanks for your reply.
As discussed in the split thread, there is a way - international schools could be forced to only admit students with an ARC.
This would make it much more difficult for Taiwanese kids to attend, because they would have to give up their Tawanese passport, HHR, NHI, etc
That’s actually what the law used to be in Taiwan, before MOE relaxed it.
Sorry to hear that.
It’s clear that Taiwan’s lack of education options is preventing it from being an attractive destination for expats, like Singapore or Japan. Also I’ve known so many families who have left this island specifically because of schooling. Feels like a massive missed opportunity to grow this country.
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It may not be seen that way.
For example if a taiwanese is posted to the us how would they put their kids in school that teaches Chinese or confucian value? I think there are Chinese schools but no idea the cost.
Thing is anyone can or should be able to open a private school, if they have the money and can charge enough to stay afloat, no need to follow Moe requirements. Maybe it’s a business idea for some enterprising forum member?
Can’t rely on governments to do everything.
Singapore is also very difficult now as well. Otherwise I agree with your point.
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Apart from the fact if you do not have a company paying your accommodation Singapore is not cheap when you look at ALL the fees plus tuition. Yes Singapore dollar is cheaper but that is not the only consideration.
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Its also practically impossible to get foreign kids into the SNG public schools now.
I would be very wary of moving families to authoritarian or semi-authoritarian countries such as Singapore or Saudi. They don’t like you for one reason or another, it can unsettle more people. Would choose Taiwan over Singapore for kids in a heartbeat.
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I would rather go to china than Singapore. Both are authoritarian but Singapore is extremely anal about rules, much more so than china.
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