Department of Labor

Dear foreign professionals, welcome to Republic of China (Taiwan), it is our pleasure to sincerely welcoming your visits, the following legislations regarding working in Taiwan are provided for you as a reference and we wish you to have a pleasant work experience in Taiwan.

1. Relative statutes: the following statutes are relative to foreign professionals working in Taiwan and its recruitment management system.
(1) Employment Services Act
(2) The permission of an employer hiring foreigners and its management issue
(3) Article 46, paragraph 1, sections 1 to 6 of the Employment Services Act regarding work prerequisites and verification standards.

2. Competent authority
(1) State government: Council of Labor Affairs, Executive Yuan (dealing with the permission of an employer hiring foreigners and its management issue)

(2) Regional government: Municipal, county/city government (dealing with management, inspections, and employer-employee salary dispute settlement of foreigners working in Taiwan)

3. The definition to work:
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.

4. Obtain a work permit:
(1) Applying from your employer: foreign workers have to be bound by the Employment Service Act, unless exceptions specified otherwise, the employers must apply for a work permit in Taiwan from the competent authority for foreign workers (Article 43 of the Employment Service Act).
(2) Applying by yourself: the following situations are allowed to apply for a work permit through the competent authority directly (Employment Service Act, Article 43, paragraph 1, sections 1, 3 and 4).

a. obtained residence as a refugee
b. obtained residence and lived with linear relatives whose household residence registered in the ROC region
c. obtained permanent resident

(3) Needless to apply: (Article 48 of the Employment Service Act)
a. Have been hired as consultants or researchers of all levels of governments and its subordinate sectors of academic or research institutions.
b. Married with an ROC citizen with household residence registered in the ROC region and has the permission to remain in Taiwan.
c. Have been hired as a guest lecture or for academic research centers for less than six months by public or registered private universities and recognized by the Ministry of Education.

5. Limitations to the job content:
Employers hiring foreign workers to work within the ROC region, unless exceptions applied by the Employment service Act, otherwise, Article 46, paragraph 1 of Employment Service Act shall apply.

6. Penalties for working illegally:
For foreigners working in Taiwan without a permission granted, NTD30,000 to NTD150,000 may be fined and will be expelled to leave the country immediately with all work terminated (Article 43, 73 and 74 of Employment Service Act). However, according to Employment Service Act, Article 51, paragraph 1, sections 1 to 4 regarding foreign workers and Article 50 regarding international and overseas Chinese students are exempted from being expelled to leave the country immediately (Article 51 and 74 of Employment Service Act).

7. Notice
(1) Relatives of ambassadors, foreign institutions and organizations reside in Taiwan or projects assigned by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs reporting to Central Competent Authority or who has to work onshore in Taiwan; the application shall be directly forward to Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Article 78 of Employment Service Act).
(2) Stateless person or ROC citizens with dual citizenship without household residence registered in the ROC region whom has been hired for work, shall be bound by Employment Service Act regarding foreign workers (Article 79 of Employment Service Act).

Contact division:
Foreign Worker Inspection Division, Taipei City Foreign and Disabled Labor Office
Phone: (02) 2338-1600 extension 4116