Taiwan
Employment Gold Card: health insurance requirements
No insurance mandate for this visa
Not in the usual way. Taiwan has no classic digital nomad visa, and the route in, the Employment Gold Card (an open work permit + residence + re-entry, valid one to three years), does not require private insurance: it routes you into National Health Insurance instead. The catch is timing, self-employed holders wait about six months to enrol in NHI, so you bridge that gap with private or international cover. You qualify by professional field or, in some, a recent monthly salary of at least NT$160,000 (about US$5,000).
The requirements at a glance
| Local-licensed insurer required | No: compliant international IPMI is accepted |
|---|---|
| Accepted proof | No private-insurance requirement: Gold Card holders enrol in Taiwan's National Health Insurance (NHI). Self-employed holders must complete about six months of continuous residence before NHI enrolment, so carry private or international cover for that initial gap. |
Qualify under one of several professional fields (science and technology, economy, education, culture and arts, sport, finance, law, architecture, plus national defence) or, in several fields, by a recent monthly salary of at least NT$160,000 (about US$5,000) gross. The card bundles an open work permit, resident visa/ARC and re-entry permit, valid one, two or three years, with a path toward permanent residency. Apply online at the official Gold Card portal.
Who qualifies for the Taiwan nomad visa
The income bar is what decides most applications, and it is the number people look for first. Here is the current one, with the conditions that come attached to it.
- Income required
- TWD 160,000/mo (≈ $5,000) — salary route
- Length of permit
- 36 monthsrenewable
- Who can apply
- Employed remotely, Freelancer, Business owner
The income test applies only to the salary route; most applicants qualify via professional-achievement categories with no income requirement.
Tax
Qualifying holders can exclude 50% of salary above NTD 3M/yr from income tax for up to 5 years.
That is a summary of the rule, not tax advice. Residence for immigration and residence for tax are decided separately, and the second one tends to arrive quietly, usually after you have been in the country long enough to stop thinking about it. Take proper advice before the year you need it.
What the income bar really means
Two things get people rejected on income even when they earn enough. The first is proving it: consulates want a documented, repeating history, usually bank statements and contracts covering several months, not a screenshot of a good quarter. Irregular freelance income clears the bar on average and fails on paper. The second is dependants, who almost always raise the threshold, and by a percentage of the base figure rather than a flat amount.
Treat the number above as the floor for the paperwork, not as a comfortable income for living there. It is set by the country’s own cost of living or minimum wage, which means it moves, and in several countries it is re-set every year.
Taiwan has no classic nomad visa; the Employment Gold Card routes holders into National Health Insurance (which covers ~99.9% of the population) rather than requiring private cover, but self-employed holders wait about six months to enrol, a gap to bridge with private insurance.
Our take
Taiwan is the rare place where the visa does not ask for insurance, because it hands you one of the world's best public systems, but only after about six months.
Bridge that window with private or international cover; before NHI you self-pay, which is cheap for routine care but not for a serious admission.
What happens if you get it wrong
Going bare during the six-month NHI wait is the real risk: a serious admission before enrolment is self-pay.
Tourists and short-stay nomads are not NHI-eligible at all, so they need their own cover.
Interactive
Verified pricesWhat would it cost in Taiwan without insurance?
A fever you assume is flu until the platelet count comes back. Common across the places nomads spend winters.
| The first doctor visit, before anyone worries | $13–$25 |
| Back again, this time to emergency | $60–$155 |
| Four nights on fluids and monitoring | $876–$940 |
| You pay, out of pocket | $949–$1,120 |
Priced as one lump instead of itemised, a serious admission in Taiwan runs $95 to $250.
That is the bill you carry alone. Insurance exists for exactly this.
See what cover costsTypical private-care estimates for illustration, not a quote. Actual bills vary by hospital, city and severity.
FAQ
Not a classic one. The route is the Employment Gold Card, an open work-and-residence permit valid one to three years; you qualify by professional field or, in some, a recent monthly salary of at least NT$160,000 (about US$5,000).
No private-insurance mandate; you enrol in National Health Insurance instead. But self-employed holders wait about six months to enrol, so bridge that gap with private or international cover.
You self-pay, which is cheap for routine care, but a serious admission is on you, so carry private cover for the first six months.
One, two or three years (your choice), with a path toward permanent residency.
No. Tourists and short-stay nomads are not NHI-eligible and self-pay (at low rates).
How to apply
- Processing time
- Over 60 business days from submission of a complete application (official).
- Government fee
- By validity period, for most foreign-passport holders: NT$3,700 (1 year), NT$4,700 (2 years), NT$5,700 (3 years). US-passport holders applying from abroad pay more (NT$7,605 to NT$9,605). Holders of a valid resident certificate pay less.
- Where to apply
- Entirely online via the Foreign Professionals Online Application Platform (goldcard.nat.gov.tw); physical card pickup at a National Immigration Agency service centre in Taiwan.
- 1
Choose your qualifying field (for example Digital, Economy, Science and Technology, Finance, Culture and Arts) and confirm you meet that field's criteria.
- 2
Create an account on the Foreign Professionals Online Application Platform and complete the single combined application, which covers an open work permit, residence permit, and entry visa in one submission, uploading your documents and photo.
- 3
Pay the fee online by international credit card; the application is then reviewed jointly by the National Immigration Agency, the Ministry of Labor, and the relevant field ministry.
- 4
If abroad, after approval download the approval certificate to enter Taiwan, or present your passport to a Taiwan overseas mission if requested.
- 5
Collect the physical Gold Card at a National Immigration Agency service centre in Taiwan within 30 days of the collection notice.
Fees and processing times move, sometimes without announcement, and a consulate can add a document the published checklist does not mention. Treat the above as the shape of the process rather than a guarantee, and check the current requirement with the mission handling your application before you book anything.
What policy actually satisfies this visa
This route does not make insurance a condition of the application, so nobody will ask you for a certificate. That is worth separating from the question of whether you should carry cover, because the immigration rule and the hospital bill are decided by different people.
The countries that impose no insurance rule are not, as a group, the countries where being uninsured is cheap. Several of them expect payment before treatment and fly serious cases abroad. The absence of a rule is not the absence of a risk, and the calculator above puts a figure on the difference.
The visa tells you the minimum. It does not tell you what to actually carry. Those are different questions, and the paperwork minimum is nearly always the smaller of the two answers.
Get a policy that satisfies this visa
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