How to apply for a work permit as a foreigner who owns a company in Taiwan

Owning a company in Taiwan as a foreigner does not automatically grant a work permit to the company owner. The work permit requires a separate application process that needs to be done after registering a company. The work permit is a requirement for applying for an Alien Residency Card (ARC) as a company owner who is hiring himself as an employee.

The step is very simple, bring all the required documents to the labor office, five mins walk from Ximen MRT Exit 5, walk straight out two blocks, It is behind this tall building, 10th  floor, don’t go to the 11th floor.

Below are the required documents, if you have finished the whole company registration process, you should have most of the documents below.

– Application Form (Download here)

-Name List of the employed foreign workers (Information included in the form to be filled in)

– Photocopy of the passport of the employed foreign worker or ARC

-Copy or photocopy of the employment contract

-This is something that you as an owner of your company should write by yourself and sign using your company stamps (chops).

-The wording in this employment contract can be as simple as “I, (your full legal name, as stated in your passport), owner of (your company name as officially registered, use both the Chinese and English names), with official address at (the address, virtual or physical that appears on your approved business registration) is hiring myself, (your full legal name as stated in your passport) as the Manager (has to be manager title) of my own company (your company name as officially registered, use both the Chinese and English names) from (inclusive dates, put three years timeline here as the ARC application grants up to 3 years per application. The starting date should be the date before you hand in the application form and all other paper requirements to the Labor office). This document should mention the nationality of the foreigner to be hired, and a bit of scope of work such as “to oversee the operations of the company.” There should be two entities (spaces) signing in this employment contract, the company who is offering the job and the employee who is accepting the job offer.

– Stamp the employment contract and only hand in the photo copy.

– Photocopy of applicant entity’s company owner ID card, passport or ARC

– Photocopy of applicant entity’s company registration or business registration

– When employed foreign worker is a minor, legal representative employment consent documents and photocopy of passport of legal representative

– Photocopy of overseas Chinese and foreign investment business approval letter issued by the competent authority

– Photocopy of company capital documentation or revenue documentation

– Photocopy of company registration or item change registration form.

– Photocopy of original employment permit

*Note: All photo copies that you are handing, should say “This is an exact copy of the original document.” Sign and stamp (chop all the pages of the photo copies). One foreigner’s case was returned after these wordings were not in one document and so that foreigner waited another 11 days before getting his work permit.

Cost charged by Accountants for this service alone: NTD15,000 to 20,000 (USD500~700).

Cost of applying by yourself: NTD1,000 including all fees asked by the labor office.

Processing time: The result of the application will be mailed to your office after 11 days after submitting the form and the required documents. When you course this through an accountant, it would take more as they’d mail it to you after they have received it.

Once you get the approval, you may go to the Immigration office to apply for an ARC wich says you are employed by your company.

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