So I’ve been accepted to a Mandarin study program at a university in Taipei, which doesn’t require a traditional student visa since the semesters only last 3 months. I am planning to do this maybe once or twice (total 3 or 6 months in Taiwan), and the school advises that US citizens do not need a resident visa for this program.
However, as far as I’m aware, a Resident visa would allow me to work part-time legally. I wonder if this will be much of an asset to me? I do translation work online, and I plan to continue this while residing in Taiwan (all my clients are US clients, and I pay US income tax as a US resident, thus hopefully not breaking any Taiwan labor laws). I am curious about the prospect of physically working somewhere in Taiwan, but I’ve heard that wages are so low it isn’t worth it. ($5 USD per hour, etc.)
To keep my resume going, I would also consider taking a paid internship or side-job in an office environment if such opportunities are available… I am already in contact with one startup company in Taiwan which told me they like my application and would like to work with me, but they can’t employ me because they are not large enough to hire foreigners. They still want to meet me when I arrive in Taiwan, so I figure that this may lead to an opportunity with them or another company through references, so the resident visa could help me if I get an offer through this.
Furthermore, I wouldn’t need to leave the country and re-enter if I decide to stay beyond 3 months. However, applying for the resident visa is a hassle, it requires lots of paperwork and costs $160 for a US citizen. It would be a waste of time and money if I do all of this and only end up staying in Taiwan for 3 months and don’t need it anyway. I’m worried that there aren’t really any part-time job opportunities in Taiwan that pay a decent wage, so I might be better off just focusing on my translation clients (online work, no visa needed).
TL;DR: Are there enough good part-time jobs in Taipei to make it worth applying for a resident visa? or should I not bother and just focus on my current online translation work (which is sporadic and unreliable)?
bonus: I’ve been to Taipei many times, and I already know that I enjoy the city, so no worries there. I am open to the possibility that I may end up staying there a long time (beyond even 6 months) but not currently planning on this unless things just go really well.
Foreign Students Enrolled in Taiwanese College of University Taking Part-time Jobs https://ezworktaiwan.wda.gov.tw/ezworken/home.jsp?pageno=201508100027
“Should a foreign, overseas Chinese, Hong Kong and Macau student been officially enrolled in a school to take courses in a division, department or graduate institute thereof or to take language course(s) for one year or more, the said foreign student may apply for jobs.”
In addition, at this moment, you can just apply for a visitor visa. To apply for a resident visa and ARC, you should wait for 4 months after starting your study in Taiwan, and need to have at least another 3 months when you will apply for the ARC.
Residents Visas for Studying Mandarin Chinese https://www.boca.gov.tw/cp-166-285-041cb-2.html
“Applicants who have entered the R.O.C. (Taiwan) on a Visitor Visa with an annotation indicating studying Chinese as the purpose of visit, have completed 4 months of study, have registered for continued study for at least another 3 months, and have not been absent from class for over a quarter of total class hours, may apply to the Bureau of Consular Affairs or any of its Central, Southwestern, Southern, or Eastern Taiwan Offices for a Resident Visa, without having to leave Taiwan, no later than one week before the duration of stay expires.”
I have so many questions now! but according to this page, my local office for Taiwan, it looks like I can apply for the resident visa before even landing in Taiwan if I intend to stay longer than 6 months, then I can get the ARC shortly after landing. https://www.roc-taiwan.org/usatl_en/post/78.html
You say I need to wait 4 months in Taiwan before applying for ARC, but as a US citizen I can only remain in the country for 3 months without a visa. So I don’t understand how that is possible
just intending to stay for longer than 6 months is not enough. You need a supporting document to show you need to stay for 6 months or more. If you take a regular course at uni, you can apply for the resident visa before landing in Taiwan, but for the purpose of studying mandarin, they have a different regulation.
They explain those things here. https://www.boca.gov.tw/lp-166-2.html
To apply for the resident visa, you should come here with a visitor visa for the purpose of studying mandarin.
If I am not a resident of Taiwan (just on visa waiver), and I AM still officially a resident of USA, and pay US income taxes on my income that I generate from US clients while physically in Taiwan, I don’t think I am breaking any laws… it would only be breaking the law if I start stretching the truth in my favor (aka, telling the IRS that I don’t need to pay taxes on that income because I was in Taiwan, while also not having a Taiwan visa and not being a Taiwan resident, essentially claiming to be a resident of “nowhere” to dodge taxes, which I do NOT intend to do)
Interesting ideas you have. I wonder if a Mexican farmhand could use that line of argument at an ICE hearing. Your primary problem is not evading taxes, but your lack of a work permit. That being said, you would still be liable to paying taxes. The non-resident income tax rate in Taiwan is 18%.
Unless otherwise specified in the Act, no foreign worker may engage in work within the Republic of China should his/her employer have not yet obtained a permit via application therefore.
Any foreign worker who violates Article 43 shall be immediately ordered to depart from the Republic of China and banned from further engaging in work in the said territory.
US employers cannot get such a permit from Taiwan authorities. They have no presence in Taiwan and are not liable to comply with Taiwanese law.
Right, I have no permit to work with a Taiwanese employer in any way. But as a US citizen, I do not require permits from Taiwan to work for a US employer. What happens between me and a US employer while I maintain residence in the US and do NOT apply for residence/visa in Taiwan is none of Taiwan’s business. I am essentially a tourist checking his work email while on vacation.
It is you who has to comply with Taiwanese law while you stay in Taiwan!
That is not for you to decide. What you plan on doing in Taiwan falls within the scope of work under ROC law applicable in Taiwan. You will be physically present in Taiwan, hence local laws apply to you. Including regulations pertaining what activities you as a foreigner may or may not engage in. Your chances of being caught are relatively low, but that does not mean your understanding of your legal situation is accurate under local law.
If the letter of the law is not enough for you, you can find ample information on the websites of local governments charged with enforcing the laws:
According to Article 43 of Employment Services Act states that foreigners are not allowed to work in Taiwan until a permission has been granted to the employer. The term “work” refers to providing work or actually doing the job, whether there is an incentive given or not.
Or this one, which concerns foreign students in Taiwan:
The Bureau of Labor Affairs, Taichung City Government recently found quite a few foreign students, overseas Chinese students and ethnic Chinese students took part-time jobs during the winter vacation without work permits and violated the Employment Service Law. The employers and the students were both fined for violating the law.
If foreign workers work without a work permit while in Taiwan, according to Article 68 of Employment Service Act, foreign workers shall be penalized with a fine of no less than NT$ 30,000 and not exceeding NT$ 150,000, and be compelled to leave the country without delay.
Yes, where applicable. I don’t think Taiwanese labor laws apply to my US contracts if I am not a part of Taiwan’s labor force and make no effort to get involved in a business relationship with Taiwanese citizens or businesses.
If I work for a New York firm as a New York resident, and take a vacation in Florida, can Florida order me to cease working remotely during my vacation?
The obvious context here being that the permission would need to be granted to a taiwanese employer. How could they grant such a permission to my client in California?
Looks to me like they tried to take winter jobs in Taiwan. Obviously illegal.
This is the only one that looks even remotely applicable, and I’ll need to do my research and weigh the risk on my own. If I do apply for a visa and a work permit in Taiwan, I’ll probably end my online work just in case. But if I enter on a visa-exemption 90 day landing permission, I’m fairly certain they cannot forbid me from completing jobs for US clients while I’m on “vacation”
Anyway, this is getting far from the main point of my post. I just want peoples’ advice on what jobs are available physically in Taiwan, and if they’re worth pursuing. If there are good opportunities around, I will apply for a work permit, and that’s what I’d like to know. Please, no more advising the legality of my US freelance activities. Thank you.
As hsinhai78 said, a work permit is applied by an employer. If you want a part-time job, it should be an English teaching job in buxiban (cram school), unless you have a special profession. They can give you a work permit with the minimum of 14hr / week and typical hourly rate seems NT$450~. I think many students with (part-time) work permits also work as English teachers in buxibans. Most of other jobs that can provide you a work permit may not give you a time to attend a language course in daytime.
As in my first post, if you get a visa/ARC as a student in a language course shorter than 1yr, you cannot do part-time jobs legally.
If you need to know more general or specific job opportunities in Taiwan, not as a student, you can look into Work category, and ask there.
That is a shame. I definitely won’t get a job in Taiwan if I’m not permitted to, but I was hoping I might be able to work at a restaurant or bar somewhere where I could have Taiwanese coworkers and further improve my Chinese in a social setting. I wouldn’t want to teach English because I have no teaching qualifications and I’m a horrible language teacher, but very good at learning languages myself. My main goal is just to learn Chinese and interact with the locals as much as possible. I contacted my local Taiwan mission for more info. Thanks for the info!
The key here is to understand that an act can be simultaneously legal in one jurisdiction and illegal in another, like polygamy, lèse majesté, cannabis possession, “flipping the bird” and many other things.
Yes, the system is stupid. The world is changing, and Taiwan is doing a poor job of keeping up.
In Australia (someone please correct me if I’m wrong), apparently the test to determine whether non-approved work is legal or not is simply does it directly affect the local economy? or words to that effect. Thus, if your online job does not involve the country or its people, the work would likely not be done by a local if you weren’t doing it, and you could go and do it in another country without anyone noticing the difference, it’s kosher.
That is what we (or most of us) would like to see in Taiwan, but Taiwan uses its own logic.
@Tando thanks for reminding me to ask for an official clarification. One of these days…
So from what I understand, even though I may be doing work that isn’t harmful to or involving the Taiwanese economy in any way, they may still get mad at me or penalize me if they find out I am doing work for US clients while on my 3 month Mandarin-learning vacation in Taiwan? That is a bit scary, but I don’t think I could give up on my clients for 3 months without them essentially firing me, haha. I don’t want to be a sneaky outlaw, but I may just have to take that risk…
Asian countries including Taiwan have a habit of writing overly strict laws and not doing anything to enforce them. I believe this was done back when these countries were ruled by dictators and could be selectively used to persecute their political enemies. Anyway even though Taiwan is a democracy now, the habit still stuck.
Technically, working in Taiwan even if the clients are in the US is illegal according to a strict reading of the law. However, I have not heard of one case of anyone getting in trouble, in fact if you were to go to MOL or whatever many people there would say ‘well client/employer not in Taiwan so we don’t care’ as even they might not really know what to do about this situation and since it’s mafan to do anything, they will just say ‘uh go away’. Legally, even coming here on a business trip would be a violation, but obviously tens of thousands of people do that every year, and even more obviously Taiwan isn’t going to attack all the people coming in to do just that. Can you imagine ROC police in front of Computex going 'hey are you here to work? then off to deportion you go!"
The reality is that yeah if you are doing your freelancing while living here for that long of a time, it is against the labor laws. But the other reality is that short of you going directly to MOL and admitting as such, nothing will happen to you. In fact even if you did go to MOL I highly doubt they will do anything. Now that you know that, whether or not you want to continue your freelancing is up to your conscious, but I mean, when it’s clear Taiwan bureaucracy doesn’t even care about enforcing this…
Do know though that the tax authorities do care more and since you will be here over 90 days (the cut-off), that’s another story. But tax authorities do not care one iota about your work status and just want the money.
