Working remote for an American company while on a working visa and ARC on a Taiwanese contract

[Andrew]

@DogmaticStoic

My question is, if I start working on another contract here, then I fly to Taiwan to work the taiwanese contract and the American contract later, will i be breaking the law at that point?

There’s a couple of relevant recent threads here:

Is it legal to work remotely in Taiwan on a visitor visa?

It’s becoming increasingly apparent to me that working remotely in Taiwan for my current UK-based company on the Gold Card might be more hassle and costly than its worth in my situation. This is because I would need to rent out my property and, therefore, pay taxes in both countries. I understand that it’s pretty straightforward to keep extending a visitor visa by leaving and re-entering Taiwan and nobody at the airport ever questions people about this (at least, this seemed to be the situation…

Freelance affecting APRC chances 2021? COVID Changes?

As Marco said, you shouldn’t do anything illegal. In my not-a-lawyer view, the two issues there would be (i) doing work that isn’t covered by your work permit while physically in Taiwan and (ii) not declaring the income in Taiwan. I’ve read quite a few threads on here previously regarding issue (i) – you’d have to use the search function and sift through them, as I can’t be bothered doing that again – but my understanding is that while this isn’t legal, it’s not uncommon for ARC holders to som…

You can probably find quite a few more using terms like “remote” in the search function. (I’ve done this before and sifted through them all several times - not inclined to do it again!)

My understanding is that your overseas work would technically be illegal as it wouldn’t be covered by your work permit (and, to answer your edit, you won’t be able to get a work permit for that anyway). Nonetheless, it seems quite common to me and some would claim it to be a grey area (I don’t think it’s that grey, personally). AFAIK, the Taiwanese government doesn’t actively pursue people doing small amounts of irregular work for overseas clients while on a work-based ARC, and as long as you declare the income on your tax return that aspect of the potential illegality wouldn’t be an issue.

From your use of “independent contractor”, I take it that you wouldn’t be an employee of the U.S.-based company - that presumably makes it much easier for you to quit if and when you need to? Don’t forget that the lack of job security with that designation works both ways.

@DogmaticStoic

I’m also worried a bit about trying to work two full time jobs at the same time. I’ll be a public school teacher in Taiwan.

That’s a valid concern, which I guess would depend on the specifics, e.g., how much work would be involved for the contractor role. I’ve had a full-time job while doing overseas freelance work before (in China though, not here), and it was a bit of a pain at times.

@DogmaticStoic

The taiwanese one does. Well it says I need to inform them first. Get permission or else it might void the contract

Personally (this would also depend on your answers to (2) and (3) above), I would take that to only become valid when I’m actually working for the Taiwanese company. I’m guessing you still don’t have an ARC and they haven’t yet applied for your work permit? In any case, I wouldn’t feel compelled to inform them before I’m actually working for them and they’re actually paying me.

AFAIK, you have no idea yet when you’ll be allowed to enter the country or start work, right? I wouldn’t be surprised if telling them you’re planning to do something else might backfire, and on that basis I wouldn’t volunteer the information. From the details you’ve given, it seems like your U.S. job would be easy to quit if/when you need to.

Are you eligible for the gold card? If so, that might make things easier work-permit wise (because you wouldn’t need one, even if you ended up doing both roles at once in Taiwan).