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Told your Taiwan job is ending? What foreign professionals should check in the first week
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Told your Taiwan job is ending? What foreign professionals should check in the first week

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On a Thursday afternoon your manager asks you into a meeting room. Someone from HR is already there with a folder. Inside is a sheet headed "Mutual Termination Agreement" and a request that you sign it today. You have an ARC issued because of this job, a lease to pay, and a spouse asking what happened.

This is a common scene for engineers, cram-school teachers and managers on Taiwan work permits, and for some Employment Gold Card holders too. Two clocks start together in the first week: your labor-law claims and the immigration status that depends on the job.

Do not treat the meeting as a deadline

Under Article 18 of the Labor Standards Act, an employee who leaves on their own cannot claim notice-period wages or severance, and the same is true when a fixed-term contract simply expires. A signature on "mutual agreement" or "voluntary resignation" can turn a dismissal that should have cost the company severance into a departure that costs it nothing. Our earlier column covers the narrow cases where resigning still leaves severance.

So ask for the reason and the proposed last day in writing, take the paper home, and photograph anything you are handed. Keep copies of your contract and payslips. The Civil Code allows a statement made under duress to be rescinded, but only within one year after the duress ends (Articles 92 and 93). It is far easier not to sign. Under Article 56 of the Employment Service Act the employer must report the end of your employment to the authorities within three days, whether or not you sign anything. Get advice from a lawyer or the 1955 hotline first.

Is the ground a lawful one?

Two groups should first check whether the Labor Standards Act applies to them at all. The Ministry of Labor treats teachers at private schools and universities as outside the Act, and a general manager appointed under the Company Act on a mandate, rather than as an employee, is not a "worker" either. Their exit terms come from other rules or the contract, so this section may not fit. Cram-school teachers and ordinary employees are covered.

In Taiwan an employer that gives notice must rely on one of five reasons listed in Article 11 of the Labor Standards Act: closure or transfer of the business, losses or downsizing, force majeure of a month or more, a change in the business with no suitable alternative post, or an employee who truly cannot do the work. "We want to go in a different direction" is not on the list.

Dismissal without notice under Article 12 covers things like serious breaches of the contract or work rules, and for most grounds the employer must act within 30 days of learning of the conduct. It carries no notice pay or severance, which is why the label matters: if your employer calls it misconduct, ask which rule and which date.

Two situations get muddied. The Ministry of Labor's guidance is that an employer ending a contract during or at the end of probation still needs a ground under Article 11 or 12, with notice and severance where they apply. And a fixed-term contract must fit Article 9, which reserves fixed terms for temporary, short-term, seasonal or specific work. The Employment Service Act requires fixed-term contracts only for blue-collar categories, so a three-year work permit does not by itself make your contract fixed-term.

Notice pay, severance and the certificate you will need

If the dismissal is lawful under Article 11, the employer still owes severance. Statutory notice is separate and depends on length of service. Article 16 requires notice of 10 days where service is at least three months but less than one year, 20 days where it is at least one year but less than three years, and 30 days where it is three years or more. There is no statutory notice period for service of less than three months, though the contract or work rules may still set one. If the employer ends the contract without giving the statutory notice, it must pay wages for the notice period that should have been given. During the notice period you may take time off to look for work, up to two days' worth of working hours per week, with pay.

Severance depends on which pension system covers each year of your service. Under the old Labor Standards Act system, Article 17 gives one month of average wages per year, with no cap. Under the new system, Article 12 of the Labor Pension Act gives half a month per year, prorated and capped at six months. Since January 1, 2026, Article 24 of the Foreign Professionals Act has put foreign professionals on the new system, whether or not they hold permanent residence. Those already employed on that date had until June 30, 2026 to tell their employer in writing that they wanted to stay under the old rules, and that window has now closed. Switching does not wipe out earlier years. Under Article 11 of the Labor Pension Act, service with the same employer before the switch is preserved, and on a dismissal under Article 11 of the Labor Standards Act it is paid at the old rate of one month per year, based on your average wage when the contract ends. Only the years from 2026 onward use the half-month formula. Permanent residents and spouses of Taiwanese citizens may have switched earlier. Ask HR for the year-by-year calculation in writing; the Ministry of Labor's Q&A explains the transition. The broader picture is in our severance overview. Severance is due within 30 days after the contract ends.

Also ask for the service certificate, which the employer cannot refuse under Article 19. You will need it for a new permit.

Mediation, then the labor court

Start with the Ministry of Labor's 1955 hotline, which is free, runs around the clock and offers English, Thai, Indonesian and Vietnamese, including for white-collar workers.

Formal mediation starts with an application under the Labor Dispute Resolution Act, filed with the labor authority of the city or county where you work. If you ask for a single mediator, the authority must assign one within three days, and the mediator must begin within seven days after that. A settlement reached in mediation is treated as a contract between you and the employer, and if the employer does not pay, you can ask the court for an enforcement order (Article 59). If mediation fails, you can sue, and the court's own mediation step is then no longer compulsory.

At the labor court, Article 16 of the Labor Case Act requires court mediation before a lawsuit is heard, and filing directly is treated as a request for mediation. It should finish within three months and three sessions, and a settlement has the effect of a final judgment. In suits over the employment relationship, wages or severance, two-thirds of the court fee is provisionally waived for the employee. If you challenge the dismissal and are likely to win, the court can also order continued employment and wages while the case goes on, if keeping you on is not a serious hardship for the employer (Article 49).

The statutes set no short deadline for challenging a dismissal, but limitation periods apply to money claims, so do not wait. Legal aid is worth checking: once mediation at the labor bureau has failed, the Ministry of Labor subsidizes lawyers' fees in court for workers whose monthly income is at most NT$65,000 and assets at most NT$3 million (not counting your owner-occupied home), and the Legal Aid Foundation (法律扶助基金會) can also assist foreigners living here lawfully.

What happens to your permit and ARC

Under Article 73 of the Employment Service Act, when your employment ends your permit is revoked, and the employer must notify the labor, immigration and police authorities in writing within three days (Article 56). The Immigration Act then requires the National Immigration Agency to revoke your residence permit and cancel your ARC once the reason for it has gone, unless an exception applies. The law gives no grace period. Once residence is revoked on this ground, Article 36 allows the Agency to deport you or to order you to leave within 10 days. Do not rely on figures repeated online. Go to the Agency service station for your address as soon as you are told, and ask for its instructions in writing.

Two routes may help. First, the same article lets the Agency allow you to remain if you have a labor dispute with a Taiwanese employer and are in litigation. The statute speaks of litigation proceedings, so ask the Agency whether a mediation at the labor bureau is enough or whether you need a court filing.

Second, the residence regulations let a professional who came to work here apply for a six-month extension of residence, renewable once, for a maximum of one year. Article 17 of the Foreign Professionals Act has a matching rule, and the Agency's filing guide lists a departure certificate issued within the past month among the documents. The practical problem is timing. The extension is an application made before your residence expires, while the employer's report can get the ARC cancelled first. Ask the Agency in the first week which application it will accept in your situation, and get the answer in writing.

To work for a new employer, the new employer must apply for a permit under Article 53 of the Employment Service Act and attach proof that you left the old job, which is where the certificate matters. The Ministry of Labor's notice puts review at 7 working days online and 12 on paper, and its guidance warns against a gap between jobs. Do not begin work first. Working without a permit is barred by Article 43, and working for someone other than the permitted employer is a ground for revocation under Article 73.

If you hold an Employment Gold Card

The Gold Card is different in structure. Under Article 9 of the Foreign Professionals Act it combines the work permit, residence visa, ARC and re-entry permit in a single card valid for one to three years. The official Gold Card site says it lets holders job-seek, take up work and change jobs freely during its validity, and that employers need not apply for a work permit for a holder. So losing a job does not remove your authorization to work for the next employer the way it does for an employer-tied permit. If you do change employers, the Immigration Act requires you to register the new workplace with the Agency within 30 days. Foreign professionals who hold permanent residence need no work permit at all (Foreign Professionals Act, Article 7). How the card itself works is covered in our Employment Gold Card guide.

Your labor rights against the employer are unchanged. The Foreign Professionals Act extends unemployment insurance to foreign professionals only once they hold permanent residence (Article 25), so do not assume that benefits are available.

Talk to us early

When you write to Hovering International Law Firm, tell us your nationality, your permit or Gold Card type and expiry date, your start date and salary, what the company said and when, and anything you have signed. Add any deadline named in a letter. A conflict check comes first, then we can talk about language, scope and fees.

Email wei@hoveringlaw.com.tw. The Taipei office is at 7F-2, No. 35, Sec. 1, Chengde Rd., Datong Dist., Taipei City 103, Taiwan (103 臺北市大同區承德路一段35號7樓之2). Attorney Wei Tseng (曾雋崴) is responsible for this advertisement.

Official sources

Checked: September 29, 2026. Confirm current requirements, processing times and your own status with the National Immigration Agency and the Ministry of Labor.

Frequently Asked Questions

Should I sign a mutual termination or resignation letter the day my employer hands it over?
There is no rule that you must sign on the spot. A voluntary resignation generally carries no notice pay or severance under Article 18 of Taiwan's Labor Standards Act, so read the paper, ask for the reason in writing and have it reviewed first. Whether a particular signature can later be challenged depends on the facts.
If my employer ends my contract, can I stay in Taiwan to look for a new job?
A work permit is tied to the employer, and the Immigration Act requires the National Immigration Agency to revoke your residence when the reason for it ends. Some routes exist, including a six-month extension of residence and an exception while a labor dispute is in litigation, but timing matters. Contact the Agency's service station right away and get its answer in writing.
Does an Employment Gold Card holder need a new work permit after losing a job?
The Gold Card combines a work permit, residence visa, ARC and re-entry permit in one personal card, and the official Gold Card site describes it as allowing you to job-seek, take up work and change jobs. You still have the same labor-law rights against the employer that dismissed you.

This article provides general information and is not legal advice on any individual matter.

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