How to Teach English in Taiwan: The Routes That Actually Work in 2026

How to teach English in Taiwan: the short version

If you want to teach English in Taiwan and this is your first year, our pick is a full-time job at an established chain buxiban (cram school) in Taipei, such as HESS or Kojen. If you already hold a teaching license from home, apply to the government's TFETP program instead, because the pay and benefits are better. Everything else (universities, international schools, freelance tutoring) is either for experienced teachers or legally risky in year one.

The basic rules everyone has to meet

Your work permit is always tied to a specific employer. For buxiban teachers, the Ministry of Labor's qualification standard for cram school foreign teachers (last amended 27 October 2022) says you must:

• Be an adult
• Have graduated from a college or university (an associate degree counts)
• Teach a language that is an official language of your passport country
• If you do not have a bachelor's degree, also hold a language teacher training certificate (in practice, a TEFL or TESOL)
• Work at least 14 teaching related hours a week for your main employer

In real life, most schools only hire passport holders from the US, Canada, the UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, and most want a bachelor's degree even though the law accepts an associate degree plus TEFL.

Documents you will be asked for

• Your degree, usually authenticated by the Taiwan representative office (TECO) in your home country. Taiwan is not part of the Apostille Convention, so an apostille alone is often not enough. Ask your employer exactly which stamp they need before you pay for anything.
• A national criminal background check, also authenticated.
• A health check. This one is specific to buxiban teachers: Taiwan CDC rules say cram school teachers need a certificate issued within the last three months covering a chest X-ray for TB, a syphilis test, a physical exam and proof of measles and rubella immunity. You can do it at home (authenticated by a Taiwan office) or at a designated hospital after you land. Public school and university teachers are generally exempt.
• A TEFL certificate if you lack a bachelor's degree. Even if you have one, a 120 hour TEFL helps you get hired and is required for some TFETP roles.

From job offer to ARC

1. Your school applies for the work permit through the Workforce Development Agency's EZ Work Taiwan system. Online applications are processed in about seven working days.

2. You get a resident visa. If you entered visa-exempt, you can usually convert at the Bureau of Consular Affairs in Taipei with your work permit (if you entered on a landing visa, you may have to leave and reapply).

3. You apply for your ARC at the National Immigration Agency. The official deadline is 30 days from the day after you enter on a resident visa, so do it in your first weeks. Our guide from visa to ARC walks through that step.

Budget around three to six weeks from offer to ARC in hand. Many teachers start working on a permit before the card arrives, so ask your school how they handle that gap.

Route 1: Buxiban (cram schools)

Photo: Wikimedia Commons, public domain

This is where most first-year teachers start. Buxibans are private after-school schools, and Nanyang Street near Taipei Main Station is wall to wall cram school signs.

Who is hiring right now

• HESS Education: one of the biggest kids' English chains, recruiting in 2026 for September and November starts. Their posted rate is NT$680 to 730 per teaching hour, minimum 20 hours a week, with most teachers averaging 25 to 26 hours. They provide training and no prior experience is required.
• Kojen (with ELS): over 40 branches in Taipei, New Taipei and Kaohsiung, teaching kids through adults. They advertise up to around NT$70,000 a month depending on hours and qualifications, a subsidized work permit and health check, airport pickup and 7 nights in a hotel on arrival.
• Smaller independent schools: often pay a little more per hour but vary a lot in quality. Fine for year two, risky for year one.

Why we recommend it for year one: chains handle your work permit and ARC paperwork every week, they hire year round, they train you, and you do not need a teaching license. The trade-off is afternoon and evening hours (roughly 2pm to 9pm) and teaching mostly children.

What to check in the contract: guaranteed minimum hours (at least 14 is the legal floor, but you want 20 or more in writing), paid prep time, and the penalty for leaving before 12 months.

Route 2: Public schools (TFETP and local programs)

Photo: CEphoto, Uwe Aranas via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

Under the government's Bilingual 2030 policy, the Ministry of Education's K-12 Education Administration runs the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program (TFETP). In February 2026 it announced plans to recruit 980 foreign English teachers and full-time teaching assistants, with rolling applications at tfetp.k12ea.gov.tw.

There are two tiers:

• Foreign English Teacher: bachelor's degree, police check, and one of a home-country teaching license, a TEFL/TESOL/CELTA certificate, or a related degree plus teaching experience. Pay follows an official scale based on education and experience, with airfare, housing reimbursement and insurance on top.
• Teaching Assistant: a lighter role for newer graduates, paid a fixed monthly salary (listed at NT$50,000 from August 2024), with TEFL reimbursement and a transport allowance.

Taipei City public schools also hire directly through their own one-year contracts (the 2026 postings run 2 August 2026 to 31 July 2027). These appear on individual school websites and the Taipei City Department of Education site, mostly in spring.

Our take: if you hold a teaching license, this is the best deal in Taiwan: daytime hours, school holidays and the housing reimbursement. The catch is placement. You do not choose your city, and many spots are in rural counties, not Taipei. If being in Taipei matters to you, a buxiban is more predictable.

Route 3: Private, bilingual and international schools

Schools like Taipei American School and Taipei European School hire certified teachers with several years of experience, usually through international recruitment fairs a year in advance. Bilingual private schools are less strict but still prefer licensed teachers. From July 2026, foreign teachers at bilingual schools can also teach arts, PE, music and activity classes, which widens options for licensed teachers in other subjects. Not a realistic first-year route unless you are already a qualified teacher.

Route 4: Universities

Photo: Daderot via Wikimedia Commons, CC0

University English lecturer posts generally expect at least a master's degree (often in TESOL, linguistics or English) and a few years of teaching. Treat this as a year three goal.

Route 5: Kindergartens (do not)

You will see ads for morning kindergarten jobs. Skip them. Under the Employment Service Act, foreign language teachers can only be employed by schools and registered short-term cram schools, and kindergartens cannot get work permits for foreign teachers. Inspections do happen: a past Taipei and New Taipei sweep of 173 kindergartens found around 60% using foreign teachers illegally. Kindergartens face fines of NT$60,000 to 300,000, and you face the consequences of working outside your permit. Teaching kids of the same age inside a registered buxiban, in its own classrooms, is a different situation, so ask where you would actually be teaching.

Route 6: Private tutoring and online teaching

This is the part people get wrong. Your work permit only covers the employer named on it. Private tutoring on the side, without another permit, is illegal work. Under Article 68 of the Employment Service Act, a foreigner working without a permit can be fined NT$30,000 to 150,000, ordered to leave and barred from working in Taiwan again.

The legal ways to earn more:

• A second employer with its own permit. The cram school rules allow it, as long as you work at least 6 hours a week for each new employer and no more than 32 hours a week in total.
• An Employment Gold Card or permanent residency (APRC). Both give you an open work permit, so freelancing and private students become legal.

Where to find jobs

• Dave's ESL Cafe (eslcafe.com): the Taiwan board still carries HESS and other chain ads.
• Tealit (tealit.com): a long-running Taiwan classifieds site for teaching jobs.
• Facebook groups: search "Taiwan English teaching jobs". Lots of noise, so vet the school before you reply.
• TFETP and school websites for public school roles.

Be wary of recruiters who charge you a fee. Reputable schools and the TFETP do not.

Our recommendation, again

For a first-year teacher without a license: get a contract with a large chain buxiban in Taipei, insist on at least 20 guaranteed hours in writing, and let the school handle your permit and ARC. After a year, move to a better-paying school, a second permit or a public school role. For what each route actually pays, see our English teacher salary in Taiwan guide, and to see how far that money goes, check our Taipei monthly cost of living budget.

Getting housed

Buxiban jobs mean evening finishes, so living within one or two MRT stops of your school makes a real difference. If your school only covers a week in a hotel, start with where to stay your first two weeks, and read how to rent before your ARC arrives. When you are ready to look for an apartment, TRA can help you find a place near your school. Many of our past clients are English teachers; you can read what they say. Here's what we do: we view places with you in person, talk to landlords in Chinese, check the lease allows ARC address registration, and go through the contract clause by clause before you sign. Most searches take 3 to 5 days once started, which fits inside a short school-paid hotel stay. If you also need airport pickup or move-in cleaning, our TRA Live team handles those, and you can contact us with your school's address to start.

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