Why Taiwan?
        Taiwan sits in a geographically prime location for doing business in Asia. With a well-educated Chinese speaking population, it is an ideal spot for starting a business in China or other parts of Asia. Taiwan also has a cheap and under-hired workforce, with a large amount of bilingual speakers. In addition, Taiwan contains world-class expertise in the semiconductors and silicon industries. With a strong vibrant economy, Taiwan is an ideal place for many companies to expand their business.
 
How do I get started?
First you should think about what kind of entity you need to fulfil your business needs. Most foreigners will go with one of four business types:
Subsidiary: Limited Company or Company Limited by Shares
Representative Office
Branch Office
 
What are the differences between business entities?
 
Limited Company or Company Limited by Shares: These are full companies that would not be attached to the home country office and would be able to go public on the Taiwan stock exchange and receive more outside investment. These types of entities also attract the most taxes.
 
Representative Office: A representative office would be a liaison office and would not be able to import/export or sell products to local Taiwanese people. This would be ideal for companies looking to research the Taiwan market or assist the head office overseas in overlooking Taiwan operations. A rep office does not have to pay VAT or corporate income tax, and setup is usually very fast and inexpensive. One drawback is that a rep office may have trouble hiring foreigners. Here is a nearly complete guide to rep office registration:  http://www.forumosa.com/taiwan/viewtopic.php?f=88&t=43055
 
Branch Office: A branch office is a branch of the head company overseas, and is 100% owned by the foreign company. Other than this, a branch has the same power as a company in import/export and issuing invoices. A major advantage to a branch office is that profits sent back to the head office are much less than that of a company.
 
For more information on the differences between types of business entities, please follow the following links:
http://www.healyconsultants.com/taiwan-company-registration/
http://www.winklerpartners.com/?p=1710
http://www.winklerpartners.com/?p=6262
 
Now I have an entity in mind, what to do I have to do to register?
 You would need to prepare the following:
Chinese name of the company and manager
Company seal: A chop or stamp with the company name in Chinese.
Bank Account: Foreigners can open bank accounts in Taiwan. A preparatory bank account is required for entities not yet formed.
Foreign capital: You would need at least 5,000,000 NT if you are hiring foreigners, otherwise sufficient funds for operation costs.
Articles of incorporation
Notarize foreign documents: This will require you to notarize things like your business license in your home country with a notary public, and then authorizing this with the Taiwan consulate or equivalent there.
Statutory filings: Register insurance with the government. How to register with the government site: http://onestop.nat.gov.tw/oss/web/Show/engWorkFlow.do
 
How should I hire employees?
One of the most important decisions when setting up a business is who to hire for your foreign entity. You may search Taiwan on 104 https://www.104.com.tw/ or 1111 https://www.1111.com.tw/, but this may require Chinese language skills to operate. Many people go with trusted friends. I think it would be a good idea to hire someone with bilingual skills as well as experience doing business in Taiwan. Remember, if you hire foreigners, it is important that you have 5,000,000 NT starting capital and yearly income of 10,000,000 NT. The minimum salary for foreigners is 48,000 NT and the average salary for Taiwanese would be 30,000-50,000 NT depending on the job.
 
How much will setting up an entity cost me?
You could go through the registration process yourself to save money, but if you don’t know Chinese and don’t have experience, you could be between a rock and a hard spot. I would recommend finding a local CPA firm or law firm to help with this. If you are looking to save money, look for a small firm. If you are looking for quality, go with a larger firm. Here is a forum discussing this very topic: http://www.forumosa.com/taiwan/viewtopic.php?f=88&t=77674
 
Is there another way?
Yes, say if you have a Taiwanese spouse, you could have your spouse set up a local company. You could also just sell food illegally on the street and get fined every once in a while (which we do not recommend). However these are topics for another time in a separate blog post.
 
For further information, please check out the following websites:
 
Starting Business in Taiwan blogs/websites:
How to start a business in Taiwan. They have a book
http://startabusinessintaiwan.tw/blog/398-taipei-city-government-reaches-out-to-foreign-entrepreneurs-about-grants-subsidies
Why Taiwan?
https://leanpub.com/startabusinessintaiwan/read
Starting a business in Taiwan (short)
https://www.angloinfo.com/how-to/taiwan/working/starting-a-business
 
If you have any questions, be sure to message us.
 
-Larry

Many people have written about getting a driver’s license before. Here is the one we have found most helpful:http://www.tealit.com/article_categories.php?section=transportation&article=drivers_license
 
I don’t want to beat a dead horse by repeating what other bloggers have said; I just want to give my own opinion and advice on getting a driver’s license in Taiwan. You should read the above blog first to get a background on what the test is (as well as through google), because I am just going to supplement what this guy has said.

I know plenty of other foreigners who live in Taiwan with no license and no vehicle. That's cool for you bro, but frankly, you are missing out on so much that Taiwan has to offer. If you only take public transportation you are limiting yourself to places you can go, people you can see, food you can eat, and marvels to enjoy. My advice, get a license. If you are staying in Taiwan for the short term, just use an international driving permit.

For the long term: if you ever want to stop borrowing your girlfriend’s family scooter, you will want to buy your own. You will need a license.

As for renting cars and scooters, see my blog post about it (coming soon).

So I've convinced you get a real license. How do you do this? Technically you should go take a driver’s test, show your passport, your original country’s driver’s license, pay some fees and that's that. However if you are not feeling confident about passing, or you don’t have a license in you home country, go to a driver’s education class (this is what most Taiwanese people do). I don’t know if they offer classes in English though. If you are good at driving, let me teach you the ways of passing the drivers exam without paying for driver’s education.
 
Passing the Taiwan Road Test without Driver’s Education Classes:

Written test: This might be the hardest part. Get your hands on the English questions: http://www.thb.gov.tw/sites/ch/modules/download/download_list?node=30892007-f4d7-45f0-8a7e-863e7822fe5c&c=e94977a2-5a11-45ce-b530-5ca55d709ed3
You need to download four parts: 1. Rules T/F, 2. Signs T/F 3. Rules Multiple-Choice 4. Signs Multiple-Choice
Read them. If you really want a good score, print them out and study. Signs are easy. Rules multiple choice is going to be the hardest. You can get a perfect score if you memorize the penalties for breaking the law. You will need at least an 80 to pass. 

Also, take the simulator test to see how you are doing: https://www.mvdis.gov.tw/m3-simulator-drv/. This simulator is exactly the same as the real written test.
 
Scooter Driving Test

Scooter: This test is pretty easy. But that is if you are steady and know how to balance on a scooter. This will probably take most of your practice time. You can’t put your foot on the ground. As far as the test itself, remember to look over your shoulder every time you turn as well as make turn signals. You should pass if you do these things. 
I'm not spending any more time on scooters because it is so simple.

Car Driving Test
 
If you can pass the driving test in America, you can pass it in Taiwan. But you should be aware of a few differences:

1. You have to inspect the car before you drive. This means checking tire pressure by putting your finger above the triangle on the outside of the tire. If the instructor is nice, they will walk you through this part. Check every tire. Also, check the mileage, gas level, oil level, and temperature.
2. Stopping uphill. Easy.
3. Backing into a space. Relatively easy.
4. The S curve. Hard. I will explain that below.

 
Below is a map of the entire test (sorry no English):


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​Here is the whole test:
1. Inspect the vehicle. This means checking tire pressure by putting your finger above the triangle on the outside of the tire. If the instructor is nice, they will walk you through this part. Check every tire. Also, check the mileage, gas level, oil level, and temperature. Also be sure to put on your seatbelt, adjust mirrors, adjust your seat, and take off the parking brake before you start the car.
2. Back into a parking space: This means back in from a 90 degree angle, or back in from around a corner. To practice for this, borrow a friend’s car and just practice backing around corners in a parking lot; it's really not that hard.
3. Parallel parking: To practice for this, borrow a friend’s car and just practice. For me personally what I kept messing up was turning too late. Make sure when you go back diagonally you turn a good couple feet before your back tire hits the curb.
4. S Curve: This is by far hardest. They don’t test this in America, and you can't really practice for it. But you can watch this YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vR-QgC0MWtg This video is pure gold. There is a memorable method for passing this. Watch this a bunch of times and at least visualize what’s going on. I will take the time to translate it into English if someone wants me to, so tell me in the comments if you want it or not.
I messed up the S curve. It still takes some real life practice to get it down. If you want, you can get some sidewalk chalk and draw it in a parking lot. But even if you mess up on the s curve you can pass the test, like me.
Personally I think the S curve had very little real life application and should be removed from the car test.
      5. Go around a round-about
      6. Stop on a hill
      7. Stop for a train
      8. Stop for pedestrians.
      9. Road test: this is a new test that as of now is not required. I was the first person foreign or Taiwanese to pass it. It's really easy, just drive down the road outside of the DMV and do two U turns. Remember to turn on signals check blind spots and follow the speed limit. I don't know if this part of the test will ever see the light of day because of insurance policy problems. But I think it's great because the inside test is robotic. So many people pass and are too afraid to actually drive on the road.
 
As a side note, my friend from Utah exchanging a driver’s license based on principles of equity:https://tpcmv.thb.gov.tw/English/ServicesEng/LicenseEng/ManagementEng/ManagementEng02.htm
 
This is the end of our rant. I hope it was helpful. Do not hesitate to ask any specific questions about this topic in the comments. We will answer as soon as we can. If you want a quicker response, ask us on Twitter.
 
-Larry


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