According to the Council of Labor Affairs website, foreigners can only get work permits to do several types of work. See number three, Work Items here: cla.gov.tw/cgi-bin/siteMaker … e=432f7d3f
However, I cannot for the life of me find out what type of work comes under the specialised category. I’ve had a native Taiwanese call them, but only got a vague `It depends’. All I can gather is that translation and editing are in this category. Does anyone know what else counts as specialised work?
In a nut shell … work that would be considered white collar or such work in the west and that does not otherwise fall into the remaining categories.
Yes, “it depends” is a good way of putting it. It’s all about protecting local jobs (or at least, that’s what TBTB imagine they’re achieving). For example, if you are an electronics engineer you will have trouble getting a job here because people with EE degrees are ten-a-penny. However, since 90% of them couldn’t engineer their way out of a paper bag, your (prospective) employer must prove to the authorities that you have special skills that a local engineer doesn’t; that is, that they are unable to recruit a local in the first instance. Normally, that means producing a list of your skills and experience and demonstrating relevance to the position. If you work in a specialised industry, or a favoured industry (anything to do with “green” tech seems to be in favour this week) then proving your worth won’t be too difficult.
[quote=“Piffle”]According to the Council of Labor Affairs website, foreigners can only get work permits to do several types of work. See number three, Work Items here: cla.gov.tw/cgi-bin/siteMaker … e=432f7d3f
However, I cannot for the life of me find out what type of work comes under the specialised category. I’ve had a native Taiwanese call them, but only got a vague `It depends’. All I can gather is that translation and editing are in this category. Does anyone know what else counts as specialised work?[/quote]
I don’t have any firsthand knowledge of this subject, but I’m posting this quotation of Article 4 of a translation of “Qualifications and Criteria Standards for foreigners undertaking the jobs specified under Article 46.1.1 to 46.1.6 of the Employment Service Act” in hopes that it might help:
[quote]“Specialized or technical work” mentioned in Article 46.1.1 of this Act refers to the following work that requires specialized knowledge, expertise, or techniques for which a foreigner is hired to perform:
Where the quotation above says “this Act,” it is referring to the Employment Services Act. Here’s link to the Employment Services Act, in case you want to look at it: evta.gov.tw/eng/content/cont … 0&id=15577
Hope this helps.
I hear that chicken sexing is pretty specialised work.
Cheers for all the replies. 
Much more helpful than what I got before.