[quote=“mike029”]It is possible for you to get a work permit with no attachments to a job after 12 months of studying at a university here…but I don’t think you’ll be here that long to see that all the way through.
My recommendation if you want to save some money is to live over the bridge in either Yonghe or Zhonghe. You can save some money because food is actually much cheaper than Taipei. I’ve been seeing more and more foreigners around the Dingxi area lately. You can get to Shi-Da in about 15 minutes from there. You could even bike if you’re into that. The downside is that there are SO MANY PEOPLE EVERYWHERE.
My scholarship is $25k a month and after $9500 for rent and living expenses I usually end up with around $3000 at the end of the month. I eat a lot of Subway, drink a lot, and take taxis a lot because I’m usually too late to take the bus to class.
If you don’t want to work illegally, you can just kind-of work illegally by picking up some tutoring jobs. You can always lie and say it’s language exchange.
One more thing, your tuition still needs to be paid separately from the scholarship. The scholarship gets put in your bank account on the first of each month. Take enough money with you to cover the tuition.[/quote]
Mike brings up the important point that where you live and what kind of lifestyle you want to have will be the deciding factor in how effectively you can live on one teacher’s salary (which I assume to be in the 55-75,000NT a month range). I’d agree with him that you should live in “The County” or “New Taipei City” as the silly English signs say now. You will save like 30-50% a month on rent. The question is how much of a commute vs. how nice of a place.
Farther out places like Shijih, Linkou, Sanxia and Danshui will have the nicest environments (sidewalks! mountains and/or ocean! clean(ish) air!) and low cost of living These places also have a lot of new luxury style apartment communities that are very quiet pleasant places to live in compared to your traditional urban Taiwan squalor.
But you would spend more on transportation costs and spend up to an hour on commuting.
Closer in places like Banciao, Yonghe, Xindian, Sanchong are more convenient to Taipei and less of a commute but you are more likely to be living in an old communist-looking sh*&t-hole of a building in a polluted crowded neighborhood. And nicer luxury community places near Taipei will be more expensive than farther out.
In Taipei City you would be living in the same communist-looking sh&*t-hole but paying the same price as a bigger apartment in a luxury community outside of the city. For instance 14-16,000 will easily get you a luxury 2 bedroom in Sanxia or Danshui but thats about the going price for a dilapdated old 1 bedroom in a dirty old neighborhood in Taipei City. Or if you want to be really cheap you can get a dilapdated old 1 bedroom in New Taipei for like 8,000. But if you like to party, eat at western food restaraunts or have a lot of waiguo friends then Taipei City might be worth it. It seems to be for most foreigners, especially short term ones.
