Friends had asked for a performance, and no one had discussed pay. That was an American English teacher's account of a ticketed show on November 20, 2020. The teacher already held Taiwan work permits. The court still found unauthorized work (judgment).
Two cram schools (補習班) had obtained work permits for the teacher. The company that runs the live-music venue had signed a performance contract with the band and applied, as employer, for a permit covering the teacher's performance. That permit was never granted. Sixty-eight tickets sold at NT$400, for NT$27,200; the venue company kept 60 percent and the performers 40 percent, and one band member collected NT$8,000 for the band. The consequences arrived more than a year later. On December 15, 2021, the Ministry of Labor revoked the permit a third cram school had obtained for the teacher that September, ordered the teacher to leave within 14 days of receiving the decision, with the employer handling the departure, and barred any further work in Taiwan. An administrative appeal to the Executive Yuan failed, and on March 30, 2023 the Taipei High Administrative Court dismissed the teacher's suit (case 111-Su-1020).
A permit belongs to one employer's job
Article 43 of the Employment Service Act says that, unless the Act provides otherwise, a foreigner may not work in Taiwan without a permit applied for by an employer. For this employer-specific permit, the employer applies. Apart from three exceptions in the same paragraph, Article 48, paragraph 1, requires an employer hiring a foreigner to submit the relevant documents to the central competent authority and apply for the permit.
So a permit is tied to the employer that applied for it. Article 73 lists the cases in which the permit is revoked, and the first two fit a side gig: working for an employer other than the one that applied for the permit (item 1), and taking on work outside the permit on your own initiative, without your employer's assignment (item 2). The official English translation says the permit "shall be annulled." The Ministry is given no choice.
Why one show counted as work for someone else
By playing that night, while the two cram-school permits were running, the teacher had worked for an employer other than the one in the permit, in breach of Article 73, item 1, the court found. Whether the teacher later took any share of the NT$8,000 made no difference, it said. The court leaned on two Ministry interpretations that it found consistent with the Act. One says that "employment" turns on whether labor was provided and covers contracts for work (承攬), not only employment contracts. The other says that whether something is work does not depend on the form of the contract or on pay, so even unpaid work is work (judgment).
Nor did the teacher's other arguments help. The contract existed only in Chinese, which the teacher could not read. Friends had extended the invitation. The teacher had asked the venue again and again and been told the permit was approved, and the venue's representative told investigators that it had filed extra documents on November 17 and assumed the application had gone through. But by the night of the show the venue had received no permit document, and the teacher had seen none. The court gave neither account any weight (judgment).
In an interview with the Taipei City labor office, quoted in the judgment, the teacher said that oral confirmation was not enough and that from now on the permit itself had to be seen. The cram school had never sent the teacher to perform. Music was a hobby outside work (judgment).
Three years before the next application
Why would a 2020 show sink a permit issued in 2021? Because of a look-back rule. Article 2-1 of the qualification standard for work under items 1 to 6 of Article 46, paragraph 1 of the Act covers foreigners doing the work that standard governs (Article 2, paragraph 1). Among the grounds it lists, such a foreigner must not, within three years before the application date, have worked without a permit (item 1) or worked for an employer other than the permitted one (item 2). The third cram school applied on September 7, 2021 (judgment). The show was less than a year before that.
So, the court held, the Ministry could not lawfully issue that permit; one granted despite the three-year rule is unlawful, and the Ministry could take it back. The Ministry also said the May 2021 extensions of the two earlier permits should not have been granted, but it left them in place out of respect for the settled legal order and legal stability (judgment). A teacher hired by a cram school under the separate cram-school teacher standard faces the same three-year look-back in Article 6 of that standard.
Not knowing did not stop the order to leave
Under Article 74, paragraph 1, a foreigner whose permit has expired or been revoked under Article 73 shall, unless the Act provides otherwise, be ordered to leave immediately and may not work in Taiwan again. Paragraph 3 lifts the immediate-departure requirement in two situations: certain students employed under the Act, and workers who, during employment, missed or failed a periodic health check and then passed a re-check the health authority allowed. Student jobs are discussed in part-time work for foreign students.
There had been neither intent nor negligence, the teacher argued in the lawsuit. The court's answer was that the order to leave and the bar on further work are regulatory measures that keep the permit system working, not administrative penalties for wrongdoing, so the Ministry could make them regardless of fault. It added that the teacher was not free of fault anyway: knowing a permit was needed, and after checking with the venue more than once, the teacher still went on stage without seeing a formal or written permit (judgment). According to the same judgment, the Taipei City Government's Department of Labor separately fined the venue company NT$150,000 in May 2021.
Taking a second job the lawful way
Subject to the exception in paragraph 2, the lawful route runs through Article 53, paragraph 1. If, while your permit is valid, you need to change employers or to be employed by two or more employers, the new employer shall apply for a permit. When you change employers, the new employer shall also attach proof that you left the previous job.
Cram-school language teachers have hour rules on top. Article 5-1 of the cram-school teacher standard requires at least 14 teaching-related hours a week from a foreign professional hired for full-time foreign-language teaching (Article 3, item 2). The teacher must be an adult, have graduated from college or above, and teach an official language of the country of their passport nationality. Without a bachelor's degree, the teacher also needs a certificate of successful language-teacher training (paragraph 2). When that teacher is also hired by another employer under Article 53, paragraph 1, during the permit, the hours with each new employer must be at least 6 a week (paragraph 3). The total may not exceed 32 hours a week (paragraph 4).
Some people need no employer application at all. Article 48, paragraph 1 exempts advisers or researchers engaged by government bodies at any level and their academic research institutions; a foreigner who is married to a national with household registration in Taiwan and has been granted residence; and lecturing or academic research at a public or registered private university, recognized by the Ministry of Education. The Employment Gold Card is a separate regime, and permanent residence is a different status again.
In the 2023 case the venue did apply, as employer, before the show. The permit never came. One evening on stage without it cost the teacher the permit a third cram school had obtained, along with the right to keep working in Taiwan (judgment).
What a Taiwan lawyer can do here
Before you agree to a show, private lessons or a weekend project, a lawyer can read your permit letters against the offer and tell you whether it needs its own permit. If it does, the lawyer can help the second employer prepare the Article 53 application and, for a cram-school teacher, check the offer against the 14-, 6- and 32-hour limits in Article 5-1.
When a labor authority has already started asking questions, a lawyer can help you prepare a written account before the interview. In the 2023 case, a Taipei City labor office took separate statements from the teacher and from the venue. After a revocation, a lawyer can file the administrative appeal (訴願) within the period stated in the decision, represent you in the administrative court, and work with your employer on the departure deadline. None of this comes with a promised result.
If you are weighing an offer like this, or a revocation letter has arrived, you can write to Hovering International Law Firm at wei@hoveringlaw.com.tw to consult an English-speaking lawyer in Taipei. The office is at 7F-2, No. 35, Sec. 1, Chengde Rd., Datong Dist., Taipei City 103, Taiwan. Include your current permit and the proposed work terms, or the revocation letter.
Official sources
- Employment Service Act (就業服務法), Art. 43, Art. 48, Art. 53, Art. 73, Art. 74; current text, last amended January 20, 2025; official English translation
- Qualifications and Criteria Standards for Foreigners Undertaking the Jobs Specified Under Subparagraph 1 to 6 of Paragraph 1 of Article 46 of the Employment Service Act (外國人從事就業服務法第四十六條第一項第一款至第六款工作資格及審查標準), Art. 2, Art. 2-1; current text, last amended August 1, 2024
- Qualification and Criteria Standards for the Employment of Foreign Professionals as Teachers by Short-term Supplementary Learning Centers (短期補習班聘僱外國專業人才從事教師工作資格及審查標準), Art. 3, Art. 5-1, Art. 6; current text, last amended October 27, 2022
- Taipei High Administrative Court, Judgment 111-Su-1020 (111年度訴字第1020號), March 30, 2023, Judicial Yuan judgment database
Checked: October 19, 2026
Frequently Asked Questions
- I was not paid for the gig. Can it still count as work?
- In the 2023 Taipei High Administrative Court case it did. The court accepted the Ministry of Labor's interpretations that employment turns on whether labor was provided and that work is not judged by the form of the contract or by pay, so even unpaid work counts. It held that the teacher's show was work for an employer other than the one in the permit under Article 73, item 1 of the Employment Service Act, whether or not the teacher received any of the band's NT$8,000.
- What happens to my permit and my right to stay?
- Under Article 73 of the Employment Service Act, the permit shall be revoked if the foreigner works for an employer other than the one that applied for it. Under Article 74, paragraph 1, a foreigner whose permit is revoked under Article 73 shall, unless the Act provides otherwise, be ordered to leave immediately and may not work in Taiwan again. For work covered by the qualification standard or the cram-school teacher standard, a new permit also requires that the foreigner did not work for an unpermitted employer within three years before the application date.
- How do I take a second job lawfully?
- Under Article 53, paragraph 1, the new employer must apply for a permit if you need to work for two or more employers while your permit is valid, unless paragraph 2's exception applies. For full-time foreign-language teachers hired by cram schools under the cram-school teacher standard, the teacher's teaching-related hours with each new employer must be at least 6 a week, and the weekly total may not exceed 32.
This article provides general information and is not legal advice on any individual matter.
