The short version
If you came to Taiwan to study, you can apply to the National Immigration Agency (NIA) after graduating, before your residence ends, to extend it by one year, and once more, for up to two years in total. Since 1 January 2026, graduates with a Taiwanese associate degree or higher can work in any kind of job during that extension without a work permit. To stay on in a professional job after that, the main routes are the usual degree and experience rules, a 70-point scheme for Taiwan graduates, and the Employment Gold Card.
The graduate extension
- Who Foreigners who came to Taiwan to study, after graduating.
- When to apply Before your residence period ends, to the NIA.
- How long One year from the day after your current ARC expires. You can extend once more if needed, for a total of two years at most.
- Family A spouse and minor children who were resident with you may also apply.
- Since The two year total has applied since 1 January 2024 (Regulations Governing Visiting, Residency, and Permanent Residency of Aliens, art. 11).
If you don't extend your residence for another purpose, you return the ARC at an NIA service center and complete departure procedures. If you do stay, you extend your National Health Insurance at the NHI district office where you live. → Looking for work
Working during the extension
Under the Act for the Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals (外國專業人才延攬及僱用法, art. 12), a new graduate with a Taiwanese associate degree or higher who has NIA permission to extend residence can work during that period without applying for a work permit. The Workforce Development Agency says this covers any category of work, for two years at most. Work that needs a professional license or registration, such as a doctor's, still needs that qualification.
Routes into a professional job
For specialized or technical work, the pay must not be lower than the amount the Ministry of Labor announces: unless other rules apply, an average monthly salary of at least NT$47,971.
The usual qualifications
Without the points scheme, the Ministry of Labor's standards ask for one of: a professional license; a relevant master's or higher; a relevant bachelor's plus two years of relevant experience; one year at a multinational company and a transfer to Taiwan; or five years of experience with outstanding performance.
Under the Act for the Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals (art. 6), a master's or higher from any university, or a bachelor's or higher from a university on the Ministry of Education's list of the world's top 1,500, means you don't need a period of work experience to be hired for this work. Licensing and other rules still apply.
Under art. 11 of the same Act, someone who in the last five years earned a bachelor's or higher from a university on the Ministry of Education's world top 200 list can apply directly to the Ministry of Labor for permission to do professional work, for two years at most, with no extension or new application.
The 70-point scheme (評點制)
Foreign students, overseas Chinese students and other ethnic Chinese students who graduated from a Taiwanese university with a bachelor's or higher, or from a Taiwanese college with an associate degree in manufacturing, construction, agriculture, long-term care, e-commerce or similar fields, can be hired for specialized or technical work with at least 70 points, without meeting the usual degree and experience rule. The points from the official table:
| Item | Points |
|---|---|
| Education: doctorate / master's / bachelor's / associate | 30 / 20 / 10 / 5 |
| Monthly average salary: NT$47,971 or more | 40 |
| Salary: NT$40,000 to under NT$47,971 | 30 |
| Salary: NT$35,000 to under NT$40,000 | 20 |
| Salary: NT$31,520 to under NT$35,000 | 10 |
| Work experience of 2 years or more | 20 |
| Work experience of 1 to under 2 years, or 1 year or more of internship while studying in Taiwan | 10 |
| Special expertise needed for the position | 20 |
| Chinese proficiency test: level 流利 or above / 高階 / 進階 | 30 / 25 / 20 |
| Two or more languages besides Chinese | 20 |
| One language besides Chinese, or 6 years or more growing up in another country | 10 |
| Employed by a company in a government industry policy area, or a graduate of a national-policy special program or G2G admission | 20 |
| Government scholarship, or top 30% of the class | 20 |
| School scholarship, or top 50% with a GPA of 3 or above | 5 |
The table names the Chinese test levels in Chinese only.
The Employment Gold Card
An open work permit for foreign special professionals, applied for directly, without a job offer. → The Employment Gold Card
Health insurance and permanent residence
- Foreign professionals hired for professional work, and their dependents, join National Health Insurance without the six month wait (art. 23).
- For permanent residence, time resident for study does not itself count toward the five years (art. 18). A Taiwanese degree does reduce the residence needed: for foreign professionals, a doctorate counts for 3 years, a master's for 2 years, and a bachelor's or associate degree for 1 year; for foreign special professionals, a doctorate counts for 2 years and a master's for 1 year.
Sources (11)
Checked November 2026.
Regulations Governing Visiting, Residency, and Permanent Residency of Aliens, amendment history, NIA, 0902 Guidelines, Act for the Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals, Act history, EZ Work Taiwan, work permit exemption for new graduates, Qualifications and Criteria Standards, points table (PDF), EZ Work Taiwan, wages and work experience, NHIA, Foreign Nationals with an ARC, National Taiwan University, ARC extension notice.