Email Consultation
Fictional scene
← Back to InsightsLegal Information

Teaching or Freelancing in Taiwan on a Contractor Agreement: When You Are Really an Employee, and What That Means for Your Work Permit

7 min read

Fictional scene

"Independent contractor" on page one of a Taiwan agreement settles less than it seems. Taiwan's Ministry of Labor says so in writing: its Guidelines for Determining Labor Contracts, issued November 19, 2019, direct that a working relationship be judged by its degree of subordination in fact, "not bound by the form or name of the contract."

For an American teaching English at a cram school or doing design work for a Taipei startup, that cuts two ways. It can unlock rights you didn't know you had. It can also put your work permit on the table.

How Taiwan draws the line

The anchor is Article 2(6) of the Labor Standards Act, which defines a labor contract as one that establishes an employment relationship and "carries subordination" (從屬性). Taiwan's Council of Grand Justices, in Interpretation No. 740 of October 21, 2016, framed the core question in an insurance-agent case: can the worker freely decide how to perform the work, including working hours, and does the worker bear the business risk?

Concrete markers come from the Ministry's guidelines. On the personal side: does the business control your hours, methods and place of work, can you turn down assignments, are you evaluated or disciplined, may you send a substitute? On the economic side: are you paid for your labor rather than for a finished result, who pays for the equipment, are you paid only on terms the business sets or changes unilaterally, are you barred from dealing with its clients directly? Integration into the business's team counts too. The guidelines add supporting signs: whether the business enrolled you in labor insurance, contributed to your pension, or withheld tax on your pay as salary, and whether others doing the same work are on labor contracts.

Picture a buxiban schedule. The school assigns your classes and the room, sets start times to the minute, expects you at Saturday staff meetings, and pays an hourly rate it can change with a notice on the staff board. Those facts lean toward employment. A freelance designer who quotes per project, sets deadlines with the client and works for three other companies sits much further toward the contractor end.

Which permit you hold changes the answer

Without a permit obtained through an employer, a foreigner may not work in Taiwan unless the law provides otherwise (Article 43 of the Employment Service Act). That is the catch. Evidence that you were an employee doubles as evidence that you worked.

Sponsored buxiban teachers have hour limits built into the permit. Teaching a foreign language at a short-term cram school is "professional work" under Article 4(4)(iii) of the Act for the Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals (the Foreign Professionals Act). Under the cram-school teacher standard, that means a 專任 (dedicated) language-teaching post (Article 3) with at least 14 teaching-related hours a week at the sponsoring school (Article 5-1). The language taught must be an official language of your passport country. A second school may use you only if it obtains its own permit under Article 53(1) of the Employment Service Act, for at least 6 hours a week. Total hours may not exceed 32. Teaching at a second school with no permit of its own, or freelancing for a startup on a permit tied to one employer, can lead to revocation under Article 73; we covered that in One Show for Another Employer.

Some people need no permit at all. A foreigner married to a Taiwanese citizen with household registration and holding residence is covered by Article 48(1)(2). So is a foreign professional, or a spouse or minor child of one, who holds permanent residence, under Article 7(2) of the Foreign Professionals Act. Other permanent residents apply for their own permit, without an employer (Article 51(2) of the Employment Service Act). The Gold Card combines a work permit, resident visa, resident certificate and re-entry permit in one (Article 9 of the Foreign Professionals Act). Students at a university can be hired, with a permit, under Article 50 of the Employment Service Act, capped at 20 hours a week outside winter and summer breaks.

Penalties land on both sides. A foreigner who works without the required permit faces a fine of NT$30,000 to NT$150,000, an order to leave, and a bar on working in Taiwan again (Article 68). The business that used the work risks NT$150,000 to NT$750,000 under Article 63 for violating Article 44 or Article 57, with criminal penalties for a repeat violation within five years.

What you can recover

Notice pay comes first. An employer can end the contract with notice only on one of five grounds in Article 11 of the Labor Standards Act, among them closure or transfer, losses or downsizing, and clear inability to do the job. Notice applies once you have three months of service and runs 10, 20 or 30 days by length of service; an employer who skips it owes wages for the notice period (Article 16).

Severance is usually the larger sum, and the formula changed on January 1, 2026. From that date, Article 24 of the Foreign Professionals Act puts foreign professionals doing professional work, a sponsored buxiban language teacher included, under the Labor Pension Act's system. That system pays half a month's average wage per year of service, capped at six months (Labor Pension Act, Article 12). Spouses of Taiwanese citizens with household registration who hold approved residence, those allowed to stay and work after divorce or the spouse's death, and permanent residents were already inside it (Labor Pension Act, Article 7).

Two groups still use the older formula. Professionals already employed by the same business before the change could, within six months of it, choose in writing to stay under the Labor Standards Act; foreign employees outside every category above never moved. For both, Labor Standards Act Article 17 sets one month per year. Years served before a switch are preserved and paid the old way (Labor Pension Act Article 11). Does someone who worked with no permit at all count as a "foreign professional doing professional work" under Article 24? The text does not say. Our severance overview walks through the arithmetic.

Labor insurance is the third item. Article 6 of the Labor Insurance Act makes coverage mandatory for, among others, employees of companies and firms with five or more workers, and states that "workers" includes foreign employees in service. A buxiban is not one of the units required to enroll, according to the Bureau of Labor Insurance (Ministry of Labor press release, September 24, 2021); the school may enroll its teachers voluntarily under Article 8 of the same act.

Where the fight happens

Point 5 of the guidelines sends a worker who considers the business to be the employer to the civil courts. Mediation at the local labor authority usually comes first; our piece on labor dispute mediation for foreign employees walks through it, and Told your Taiwan job is ending? covers the first week after notice. In these disputes the paper trail of control tends to matter: who sent the schedule, who approved a day off, how the pay was worked out each month.

A Taiwan lawyer can start from the school's own paperwork: the withholding statement, any labor insurance enrollment, and the contracts of teachers who take the same classes, which the guidelines treat as supporting signs. From there the lawyer can put a figure on notice pay and severance under whichever formula covers you and represent you at the local labor authority's mediation or in court. If a second school or a startup client is in the picture, the lawyer can also check whether each one held its own permit, since that answer shapes whether to file at all. Hovering International Law Firm offers consultations with an English-speaking lawyer in Taipei at wei@hoveringlaw.com.tw; see also our labor matters page. Taipei office: 7F-2, No. 35, Sec. 1, Chengde Rd., Datong Dist., Taipei City 103 (臺北市大同區承德路一段35號7樓之2).

Your contract may say "independent contractor." An hourly rate the school can change by pinning a notice to the staff board is the kind of term the Ministry's guidelines count against that label.

Sources

Checked October 27, 2026.

Frequently Asked Questions

My school withholds tax on my pay as salary but calls me a contractor. Does that matter?
It counts. Point 3(4) of the Ministry of Labor's 2019 Guidelines for Determining Labor Contracts lists, as supporting signs, a business withholding tax on the worker's pay under the salary income category and filing the withholding statement, enrolling the worker in labor insurance or contributing to the labor pension, and other people doing the same work being on labor contracts. These sit beside the main tests of personal, economic and organizational subordination, and the guidelines say the relationship is judged on the facts as a whole, not bound by the contract's form or name.
The school says it can let me go whenever it wants. Can it, if I'm really an employee?
Not freely. Article 11 of the Labor Standards Act allows termination with notice only on one of five grounds, such as closure or transfer, losses or downsizing, or clear inability to do the job. Article 16 sets the notice at 10 days after three months to a year of service, 20 days after one to three years, and 30 days after three years; an employer who skips it owes wages for the notice period. Severance is owed on top, under Article 17 of the Labor Standards Act or Article 12 of the Labor Pension Act depending on which system covers you.
I'm studying at a university in Taiwan. How many hours a week can I work?
Up to 20 hours a week outside the winter and summer breaks. Article 50 of the Employment Service Act lets employers hire foreign students at public or registered private universities and colleges outside the job categories of Article 46(1), with that weekly cap. A permit is still required; working without one exposes the student to a fine of NT$30,000 to NT$150,000 and an order to leave under Articles 43 and 68.

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

Related reading