A brown envelope from a police precinct arrives at your apartment, or an officer phones your employer and asks you to "come and clarify something." Perhaps a friend was arrested last night and your name came up. The paper is in Chinese, the date is next Tuesday, and nobody has told you whether you are a suspect or only a witness. That last question shapes almost everything else, so start there.
Which paper did you receive?
Look at how the paper describes you. 犯罪嫌疑人 on a police notice, or 被告 on a prosecutor's summons, means you are treated as a suspect; at this stage 被告 does not mean you have been charged. 證人 means witness. If you cannot tell, call the officer or clerk named on the paper and ask before the date.
A suspect is invited to a police station with a written notice (通知書) under Article 71-1 of Taiwan's Code of Criminal Procedure (刑事訴訟法); article numbers below refer to that Code unless stated otherwise. If you were properly notified and stay away without a justified reason, the police can ask a prosecutor for an arrest warrant (拘票). A prosecutor or court uses a summons (傳票) instead, which states the case reason, the date and place, and warns that unexcused absence can lead to an order to be brought in.
A witness is in a different position, and who is calling you matters. The police can invite a witness with their own notice (Article 196-1), but the fine and forced attendance in Article 178 do not apply to that police notice. They apply when a prosecutor or judge summons you as a witness: ignoring that without good reason can lead to a court-imposed fine of up to NT$30,000 and to being brought in. In either setting you may refuse to answer questions that could expose you, or certain close relatives, to prosecution (Article 181), and a prosecutor or judge must tell you so.
A witness can turn into a suspect halfway through an interview. If the questions start to sound as though they are about what you did, stop and ask what your status is, and say you want to speak to a lawyer.
What you should be told before questioning
Before anyone questions a suspect, Article 95 requires whoever questions you to say which offences are suspected, that you may stay silent, that you may choose a lawyer (and, if eligible, ask for legal aid), and that you may ask for evidence in your favour to be looked into. The same warnings apply at the police station. If you have no lawyer and say you have chosen one, questioning should stop unless you agree to go on.
Police may not question a suspect at night, between sunset and sunrise, unless you expressly agree, a prosecutor or judge permits it, or the case is urgent. If you would rather be questioned straight away, you can ask, and the police must then go ahead. Your lawyer may sit in, take notes and comment, with limited exceptions.
Silence alone cannot be used to infer guilt, and a confession must be voluntary and cannot be the only evidence for a conviction. If police question an arrested suspect without the required warnings, the statement can be excluded unless the authorities show the breach was not in bad faith and the statement was still voluntary. These rules help after the fact; they do not undo a careless first statement.
Language: ask for an interpreter
If you do not understand the language, Article 99 says an interpreter must translate, and written questions and answers can be used where needed. Do not nod along in half-understood Mandarin to be polite. Say which language you need. The National Police Agency also publishes the rights notice (權利告知書) in 16 languages, English included, for officers to show arrested foreigners. Ask for it.
Waiting for an interpreter also changes the clock. For an arrested person, that wait, up to six hours, is not counted toward the 24 hours described below (Article 93-1). Waiting for a lawyer you have asked for is excluded too, up to four hours, and so is time lost to the night-time rule.
Getting a lawyer before you give a statement
You may choose a lawyer at any time, including during a police interview. A first statement tends to set the frame for everything that follows. A lawyer can check that the warnings were given and notice questions blurred by the language gap.
Free help exists. The Legal Aid Foundation (法律扶助基金會) runs a free lawyer-accompaniment service for police and prosecutor questioning with a 24-hour line, (02) 2559-2119, which a family member or friend can also call. It covers people with certain disabilities, indigenous persons, and people facing an offence with a minimum sentence of three years or more (or a first-instance case in a High Court) who are being questioned for the first time, and for them it also covers the detention hearing. Outside those categories, ordinary legal aid may still be possible, subject to a means test. Its eligibility page says foreign nationals ordinarily need to reside lawfully in Taiwan, with a few listed exceptions.
Whoever you call, get a lawyer involved before you sign a statement, not after.
Reading the transcript before you sign
The transcript (筆錄) is the record of what you said, but it is typed by the officers, not by you. Article 41 governs it, and Article 43-1 extends the same rules to police questioning. It has to be read to you or handed to you to review, and you are asked whether it contains errors. If you or your lawyer ask for something to be added, deleted or changed, your statement about it goes into the transcript. You then sign, stamp or fingerprint the end, and if you refuse, the reason is noted.
Ask for the transcript to be interpreted back to you sentence by sentence. Check dates, names, whether "I saw" has become "I did," and whether an answer you gave as "maybe" is written as "yes." Ask for each correction to be written into the transcript before you sign. Do not sign a page you have not understood.
Arrested: the first 24 hours
At an arrest the officers must tell you the reason and the Article 95 warnings on the spot, and give written notice to you and to relatives or friends you name. You and the person you name must also be told in writing, within 24 hours and in a language you understand, that you or anyone else can ask the local district court to review the arrest (提審, under the Habeas Corpus Act).
If a prosecutor decides detention is needed, the prosecutor must file a written motion with the court within 24 hours of the arrest (Article 93). Otherwise you must be released, although the prosecutor may instead order bail (具保), release to a responsible person (責付) or a residence restriction (限制住居). Some time, such as travel, sudden illness and the waits mentioned above, is not counted, so the 24 hours are not a countdown to the minute.
The detention hearing, bail and travel limits
A detention hearing (羈押審查) is held before a judge. Detention is allowed only where suspicion is serious, there is a specific risk such as flight or tampering with evidence or witnesses, and detention is really needed (Article 101). You and your lawyer are told the facts and reasons relied on. If you have not hired a lawyer, the presiding judge must appoint one for the hearing, unless you have waited more than four hours for that lawyer and yourself ask to be questioned (Article 31-1).
Bail lets the court lift detention against a guarantee. The court sets the amount, and you or a third party may pay it. The prosecutor or the court can attach conditions, and for a foreigner the important ones are surrendering your passport and travel documents and staying within a set area.
Bail cannot be refused for minor offences (maximum sentence of three years or less, with exceptions such as repeat offenders), from the fifth month of pregnancy until two months after birth, or for an illness that is unlikely to heal without treatment outside detention. Separately, a prosecutor or judge can bar you from leaving the country (限制出境、出海) where suspicion is serious and there is a risk of flight or tampering; our guide to exit bans on foreigners covers the full list of grounds and how to challenge one.
When a criminal case reaches your visa
A criminal case can affect your stay. A court can order a foreigner sentenced to imprisonment to be deported after the sentence is served or pardoned (Article 95 of the Criminal Code). For residence permits there is one bright line: a final sentence of one year's imprisonment or more leads the National Immigration Agency (移民署) to revoke the permit and cancel the ARC, unless the offence was one of negligence or the sentence was suspended (Article 32 of the Immigration Act; Article 33 has the same rule for permanent residence). A criminal record can also be a ground for refusing entry later.
A pending criminal case does not by itself stop removal. If you fall within a removal ground in Article 36 of the Immigration Act, such as a revoked permit or activities outside what it allows, the agency must notify the prosecutors or court ten days before removing you, but unless you are detained, under arrest or barred from leaving, it can still remove you or order you to leave. That is why the immigration question belongs in your first meeting with a lawyer: it changes how a plea, a settlement or a request for a suspended sentence should be weighed.
What to bring, and what to leave alone
Bring your passport and ARC (Alien Resident Certificate), the notice or summons itself, and your employer's or school's contact details. Add any documents about the events that your lawyer has reviewed with you. If officers ask for your phone or documents, ask calmly whether this is a request or a seizure. Do not physically resist a seizure; your lawyer can raise objections and ask that they be recorded. And do not write up new "evidence" or edit existing files before the interview.
Never delete messages, coach a witness or leave the country to avoid the process. That can turn a manageable case into a serious one and can support a finding of risk of tampering or flight when bail is decided.
First contact
If you or someone close to you has received a police notice or prosecutor's summons in Taiwan, email Hovering International Law Firm (昊鼎國際法律事務所) with the date on the paper, the office that issued it, your nationality and permit type, and whether you have already made any statement. Tell us the language you would like to use. A conflict check comes first, and consultation language and scope can be discussed after that.
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
- Code of Criminal Procedure, Article 95: https://law.moj.gov.tw/LawClass/LawSingle.aspx?pcode=C0010001&flno=95
- Code of Criminal Procedure, Article 99: https://law.moj.gov.tw/LawClass/LawSingle.aspx?pcode=C0010001&flno=99
- Code of Criminal Procedure, Article 93-1: https://law.moj.gov.tw/LawClass/LawSingle.aspx?pcode=C0010001&flno=93-1
- Legal Aid Foundation, lawyer accompaniment for police and prosecutor questioning: https://www.laf.org.tw/service-project-detail/19
- Legal Aid Foundation, eligibility page: https://www.laf.org.tw/service-assistance-des
- Code of Criminal Procedure, Article 93: https://law.moj.gov.tw/LawClass/LawSingle.aspx?pcode=C0010001&flno=93
- Code of Criminal Procedure, Article 101: https://law.moj.gov.tw/LawClass/LawSingle.aspx?pcode=C0010001&flno=101
- Code of Criminal Procedure, Article 31-1: https://law.moj.gov.tw/LawClass/LawSingle.aspx?pcode=C0010001&flno=31-1
- Criminal Code, Article 95: https://law.moj.gov.tw/LawClass/LawSingle.aspx?pcode=C0000001&flno=95
- Immigration Act, Article 36: https://law.moj.gov.tw/LawClass/LawSingle.aspx?pcode=D0080132&flno=36
Checked: September 29, 2026. Statutes change; check the current text and your own dates with a lawyer or with the office named on your paper.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Do I have to answer questions if the police invite me to a station?
- A suspect may stay silent and does not have to speak against their own will, and the police must tell you so before questioning. You may also choose a lawyer. Ignoring a lawful police notice sent to you as a suspect, without a good reason, can lead to a request for an arrest warrant, so it is better to respond and speak to a lawyer first.
- How long can I be held after an arrest in Taiwan?
- For an investigation-stage arrest, the prosecutor has to ask the court to detain you within 24 hours of the arrest or release you, though certain waiting times such as for a lawyer or an interpreter do not count. Detention itself is a separate court decision. What applies to you depends on the facts of your case.
- Can a criminal case affect my residence permit in Taiwan?
- It can. A court may order a foreigner sentenced to imprisonment to be deported after the sentence is served, and the National Immigration Agency has its own powers under the Immigration Act. A final sentence of one year or more, unless suspended or for a negligence offence, leads to revocation of a residence permit. Whether your status is at risk depends on the offence, the outcome and your permit type.
This article provides general information and is not legal advice on any individual matter.
