Hiring in Taiwan Without a Local Entity? EOR and Entity Setup Options

In This Guide

1. Why a Taiwan Hire Needs a Registered Employer
2. Option 1: Employ Through an Employer of Record
3. The Work Permit Rule That Decides Foreign Hires
4. Option 2: Engage an Independent Contractor
5. Option 3: Set Up Your Own Taiwan Entity
6. Which Option Fits Your Hire
7. FAQs

You are planning your first Taiwan hire, but have no local company or tax registration. Before making an offer, decide who will legally employ the person, how required insurance will be arranged, and whether the person needs an employer-sponsored work permit. If labor-dispatch rules apply, check the recruitment sequence before interviewing or selecting anyone.

Can a foreign company hire in Taiwan without a local entity? Yes, for Taiwanese nationals and, once the structure is checked, others who can work without an employer-specific permit. You can employ them through an Employer of Record (EOR), a third-party company that becomes the legal employer through its own Taiwan entity, or engage them as contractors where the work is genuinely independent.

A foreign national who needs an employer-sponsored work permit is a harder case. The Employment Service Act bars hiring a foreign national in one company's name to work for another, so your own Taiwan entity is the cleaner route, unless the candidate holds their own Employment Gold Card, an open work permit for foreign professionals.

Everything below comes from Taiwan's statutes and the official guidance of the Ministry of Labor and the Bureau of Labor Insurance, checked in October 2026.

1. Why a Taiwan Hire Needs a Registered Employer

Taiwan's social insurance runs through the employer. Under the Labor Insurance Act, the employer is the "insured unit" that enrolls covered workers. Labor insurance is generally compulsory for companies with five or more employees, and the Bureau of Labor Insurance states that smaller employers must still enroll their staff in employment insurance and occupational accident insurance and pay into the labor pension.

The deadlines start on day one:

• Labor insurance and occupational accident insurance: filed on the day the employee starts, under Article 11 of the Labor Insurance Act and Article 12 of the Labor Occupational Accident Insurance and Protection Act
• National Health Insurance: within 3 days, under Article 15 of the National Health Insurance Act
• Labor pension: notified within 7 days, with monthly contributions under the Labor Pension Act

To become an insured unit, an employer files its company or business registration with the Bureau of Labor Insurance. A unit that cannot obtain those papers can file a tax withholding registration instead, and a foreign company's representative office in Taiwan may enroll voluntarily.

Every route the Bureau documents starts with a Taiwan registration of some kind. A foreign company with none has no documented way to enroll an employee.

2. Option 1: Employ Through an Employer of Record

With an EOR, the EOR's Taiwan entity signs the employment contract, enrolls the employee in applicable statutory schemes, and runs payroll and withholding. For employees covered by the new pension system, it contributes at least 6% of the monthly contribution wage assigned under the statutory classification table. You direct the day-to-day work and pay the EOR.

Taiwan law does not use the term "employer of record". It regulates labor dispatch, where a worker employed by one company works under another company's direction, and the Ministry of Labor's guidance treats an arrangement where the client directs the worker as dispatch rather than service contracting. Where an EOR arrangement is dispatch, the Labor Standards Act sets these rules:

• Open-ended contracts: a dispatch employment contract must be for an indefinite term (Article 9).
• Client liability for unpaid wages: if the dispatch employer owes wages and has been fined or ordered to pay without paying, the worker can claim them from the client, which must pay within 30 days (Article 22-1).
• Joint liability for workplace accidents: the client and the dispatch employer are jointly and severally liable for occupational accident compensation (Article 63-1).
• No selection before the contract: if labor-dispatch rules apply, the client may not interview or select the worker before the dispatch employer signs the employment contract. A violation can bring a fine of TWD 90,000 to TWD 450,000. After starting work, the worker has 90 days to request a direct contract with the client in writing. If the client fails to negotiate within 10 days of receiving the request, or negotiations fail, a direct employment contract is deemed formed from the day after that 10-day period ends (Articles 17-1 and 78).

The rest of Taiwan employment law applies as it would to a direct hire: the Labor Standards Act's notice periods, severance and unused leave rules, covered in our guide to terminating an employee in Taiwan, and the contribution schedule in our Taiwan employer costs breakdown.

3. The Work Permit Rule That Decides Foreign Hires

Unless the Act provides otherwise, a foreign national may not work in Taiwan without a permit applied for by the employer, under Article 43 of the Employment Service Act. Article 57 then lists what an employer must not do, including:

• Hiring a foreign national who has no permit or whose permit was applied for by another employer
• Hiring a foreign national in its own name to work for someone else
• Assigning a foreign national work outside the permit

The first two carry fines of TWD 150,000 to TWD 750,000, imposed on both the company and the individual responsible, and a repeat within five years can bring up to three years in prison (Article 63). The Ministry of Labor's guidance for clients using dispatched staff says that where a dispatched worker is a foreign national, the employer must apply for the permit before hiring, cannot take the worker on at short notice, and may assign only the permitted work.

So the route depends on who the hire is:

• Taiwanese nationals: no permit is involved, so an EOR can employ them.
• Employment Gold Card holders: the card combines a work permit, resident visa, resident certificate and re-entry permit, valid for one to three years and extendable where conditions are met, under Article 9 of the Act for the Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals. The official Gold Card site describes it as an open work permit, so no employer permit is needed.
• Foreign spouses and permanent residents: a foreign spouse of a Taiwan citizen with household registration who holds qualifying residence needs no work permit under Article 48 of the Employment Service Act. Permanent residents covered by Article 7 of the Act for the Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals are also exempt. Other permanent residents may apply personally under Article 51.
• Foreign nationals who need an employer-sponsored permit: confirm that the employer and role qualify and that the actual work arrangement complies with Article 57. Do not assume that an EOR's local registration permits every client arrangement. A qualified Taiwan entity can apply to employ the person directly; EOR sponsorship requires confirmation for the specific case.

Since January 1, 2026, foreign professionals doing professional work are covered by the labor pension scheme, from their start date for anyone hired on or after that date, with or without permanent residency, under Article 24 of the Act for the Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals and the Ministry of Labor's guidance, so the 6% employer contribution applies to them as well.

4. Option 2: Engage an Independent Contractor

A contract for services is lawful in Taiwan, but the label does not decide the relationship. The Ministry of Labor's guidelines for determining labor contracts, issued in November 2019, look at the facts of the working relationship as a whole, across three kinds of subordination:

• Personal: whether the company directs how, when and where the work is done, and can discipline the worker
• Economic: whether the worker works for the company's business rather than their own, and bears no business risk of their own
• Organizational: whether the worker is built into the company's team and processes

The Ministry of Labor ties these factors to Judicial Yuan Interpretation No. 740, which turns on whether the worker decides how and when to work and carries their own business risk. A contractor who answers to your manager, works fixed hours and does the same work as your staff will likely be treated as an employee.

If that happens, the guidelines say labor law applies and the company carries employer liability. The exposure includes:

• Labor insurance: where enrollment was mandatory, a fine of four times the unpaid premiums, plus compensation for the worker's losses (Labor Insurance Act, Article 72)
• Pension: a damages claim for the unpaid contributions within five years of leaving, and, if the employer misses an order to correct, fines of TWD 20,000 to TWD 100,000 a month until it files (Labor Pension Act, Articles 31 and 49)
• Severance: if the contract is ended on statutory grounds, half a month of average wage per year of service, capped at six months, for employees in the labor pension scheme (Labor Pension Act, Article 12), or one month per year for service under the older Labor Standards Act system (Labor Standards Act, Article 17)

A foreign national doing contract work while in Taiwan still needs the right to work there. The Gold Card is the clearest route, since the card's site says holders can be self-employed. Our guide to paying contractors in Taiwan covers the payment side.

5. Option 3: Set Up Your Own Taiwan Entity

A foreign company has three forms to choose from, and only two of them can do business.

Table sources: Company Act, Articles 2, 7, 100, 371, 372 and 386; Statute for Investment by Foreign Nationals, Articles 4 and 8; branch registration guidance; InvestTaiwan.

Where a foreign company does business in Taiwan without registering a branch, the person acting for it faces up to one year in prison and a fine of up to TWD 150,000, or either, and bears civil liability personally (Company Act, Article 371). That is why a representative office suits market research and liaison, and a subsidiary or branch suits sales and delivery.

The steps for a subsidiary run in this order: foreign investment approval from the Ministry of Economic Affairs' Department of Investment Review, remittance of the capital and a check of the amount, then company registration with a CPA's capital certification. The statute requires a decision on the investment application within one month of a complete file, or two months where other agencies are involved (Article 8).

For the approval stage alone, InvestTaiwan, the government's investment service, publishes an estimate of two to four days for unrestricted investments of up to TWD 500 million.

Hiring a foreign professional through your new entity has its own threshold, set by the qualification standards for foreigners doing work under Article 46 of the Employment Service Act:

• The general test (Article 36), which applies to many specialized and technical roles, including manufacturing and wholesale work: a company under one year old needs TWD 5 million in paid-in capital, TWD 10 million in turnover, USD 1 million in imports and exports, or USD 400,000 in agency commissions. After its first year, it needs average annual turnover of TWD 10 million or the trade equivalents. A branch can use its Taiwan operating capital.
• The lower test for a manager (Articles 38 and 39): a government-approved, more than one-third foreign-owned company under one year old can qualify to sponsor its first eligible manager with TWD 500,000 in paid-in capital, TWD 3 million in turnover or qualifying trade figures. Additional managers hired under this category must meet the specialized or technical work requirements.

An entity also changes your tax position. Taiwan's Income Tax Act treats a foreign company with a "fixed place of business", such as a branch or office, or a "business agent" that regularly negotiates and concludes contracts for it, differently from one without.

An EOR handles employment, but it does not by itself settle your company's Taiwan tax position. Obtain tax advice if your Taiwan staff will negotiate or sign contracts for you.

6. Which Option Fits Your Hire

Many companies use the routes in sequence: an EOR for the first local hires while the market is tested, then a subsidiary once the team, the revenue or a foreign hire justifies it. Our comparison of EOR and your own entity works through where the cost lines cross.

How Slasify Handles Taiwan Hiring for You

We were founded in Taiwan in 2016. Our Employer of Record service supports employment contracts, payroll and statutory compliance. For a Taiwan hire, speak with our team about the employing structure and any work-permit requirements before making an offer.

From the first hire through every payroll:

• An employment contract that meets the Labor Standards Act
• Labor insurance and occupational accident insurance filed on the start date
• National Health Insurance within 3 days and the labor pension within 7 days
• Monthly payroll and withholding with the employer's pension contribution
• Notice, severance and leave handled under the Labor Standards Act when a role ends
• A view on the right route for each hire and on when your own entity makes more sense

For the full product scope, see our Employer of Record and Global Contractor services, and our Taiwan employment guide.

We support payroll and hiring in over 150 countries across 130+ currencies, serving more than 1,000 companies worldwide, and we hold ISO 27001 certification for information security.

Taiwan Hiring FAQs: Hiring Without a Local Entity

Sources

Employment and Worker Classification: Labor Standards Act; Ministry of Labor: Labor Dispatch and Service Contracting Guidelines; Ministry of Labor: Labor Contract Classification Guidelines.

Statutory Insurance and Pensions: Labor Insurance Act; National Health Insurance Act; Labor Pension Act; Labor Occupational Accident Insurance and Protection Act, Article 12; Bureau of Labor Insurance: Employer Registration; Bureau of Labor Insurance: Coverage for Businesses with Fewer Than Five Employees; Bureau of Labor Insurance: Monthly Pension Contribution Wage Table; Ministry of Labor: Foreign Professionals and the Pension System in 2026.

Work Permits and Foreign Professionals: Employment Service Act; Act for the Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals; Foreign Professional Work Permit Qualification Standards; Taiwan Employment Gold Card: Work and Residence Rights.

Company Registration, Investment and Tax: Company Act; Act for Investment by Foreign Nationals; Income Tax Act; InvestTaiwan: Investment Application Procedures and Review Times.