The short version
New international students must show medical and injury insurance that covers at least the first six months from the day they enter Taiwan. Once you hold an ARC and have lived in Taiwan for six months, you must join National Health Insurance (NHI). Foreign students can join through their school. At the current rate the premium is NT$826 a month.
When you arrive
When you register at your school, the Ministry of Education's rules ask new foreign students for proof of medical and injury insurance valid for at least six months from the day of entry. Continuing students show proof of NHI or other insurance. Insurance bought abroad must be verified by a Taiwan (ROC) overseas mission.
Good to know: schools handle this in their own way. For example, National Taiwan University enrolls its degree students in a group medical insurance plan until they can join NHI, at TWD 3,000 for six months, and accepts home-country insurance verified by the Taiwan mission instead. Check your own school's international office page.
The six month rule
- Who must join Anyone with a Taiwan residence document (for students, the ARC) who has lived in Taiwan for six months (National Health Insurance Act, art. 9).
- How six months counts Six months in a row, or with one trip abroad of no more than 30 days. The days abroad are taken off, so you join once you reach six months of actual time in Taiwan.
- If you work ARC holders with a work permit and an employer join from their first day of work, not after six months.
The National Health Insurance Administration (NHIA, 中央健康保險署) gives these examples:
- One trip abroad of 10 days moves your date to join back by 10 days.
- A trip of 50 days restarts the count from the day you come back.
- A second trip abroad also restarts the count, from the earlier return.
How students join
Foreign students can join NHI through their school. At National Taiwan University, for example, degree students upload their ARC to the school system and the school applies for the NHI card; non-degree students there contact the NHIA directly.
What it costs
- Premium NT$826 a month at the current rate, for the insured person alone. This is the share you pay of the NHIA's flat premium in force since 1 January 2021; the central government pays the rest.
- How it is charged By calendar month. You pay a full month for the month you join.
- Part-time pay Wages from an organization other than the one you are enrolled through carry a supplementary premium of 2.11%.
Some schools collect the premium with tuition. National Taiwan University, for example, charges degree students TWD 4,956 for six months.
After graduation
If the NIA lets you stay on after graduating, you extend your NHI enrollment at the NHI district office where you live. → Staying to work after graduation
→ Next: working while you study
Sources (8)
Checked November 2026.
NHIA, Foreign Nationals with an ARC, NHIA, Examples for calculating length of stay, NHIA, Premium Calculation Principles, NHIA, Premium Calculation Examples, NHIA, premium table from 1 January 2021, National Health Insurance Act, Regulations Regarding International Students Undertaking Studies in Taiwan, National Taiwan University, Insurance.