Retiring in Taiwan as a French National: Stay, Pension Taxation and Health

The pages of the National Immigration Agency (immigration.gov.tw) describe the procedures for residence, extension and permanent residence. They do not present a “retiree” category: residence permits rest on employment, family attachment, investment or a particular qualification. A retiree who wishes to settle in Taiwan should therefore identify their purpose of stay with the Agency (information line 1990, free, 24 hours a day, with an English-language service) or the Taipei Representative Office in France before leaving.

For an exploratory stay, French nationals enter without a visa for under 90 days (France Diplomatie, the French foreign ministry). The visitor visa, for its part, can be extended on request, up to a total stay of six months: the application is filed at a service centre of the Agency, up to fifteen days before expiry, for a fee of NT$300; limited extensions exist in the event of hospitalisation or a family emergency. A visa-free entry cannot be extended under these rules. The passport must remain valid for more than six months after entry, and the online arrival card (TWAC) is completed within the three days before arrival.

The National Immigration Agency sets the general route: five consecutive years of legal residence, with at least 183 days per year. The applicant is an adult, has no criminal record, acts in the national interest of Taiwan and, as a general rule, can support themselves. They prove one of the following resources:

• an average monthly income over the past year of more than twice the Ministry of Labor’s minimum wage (that is, more than NT$59,000 per month for a minimum wage of around NT$29,500), supported by tax documents;
• personal and real-estate assets in Taiwan valued at more than NT$5,000,000 for over a year, or a deposit certificate of NT$5,000,000 accompanied by the origin of the funds and recent statements;
• a professional or technical competence certificate equivalent to a higher degree.

The file also includes the passport, the ARC in force, a medical certificate, the criminal record of the country of origin for the last five years and that of Taiwan, for a fee of NT$10,000 and a processing time of about 14 days. The spouse or child of a holder of a household registration in Taiwan follows a rule of its own: more than ten years of legal residence, with at least 183 days per year over the last five. Once permanent residence has been obtained, average presence must remain at 183 days per year over the last five years, failing which the permit can be withdrawn; professionals benefit from exceptions.

Taiwan is not covered by the Franco-Chinese tax treaty: the BOFiP (the French tax administration’s official doctrine) indicates that the territory is governed by article 77 of Law no. 2010-1658 of 29 December 2010 (amending finance law for 2010), applicable from 1 January 2011. According to the text published on Légifrance:

• private retirement pensions and similar remuneration in respect of past employment are taxable only in the territory of residence of the beneficiary;
• sums paid under a public social security scheme are taxable in the territory that manages that scheme: France for a French scheme, Taiwan for a Taiwanese scheme;
• pensions paid by the State for public services are taxable in the territory of the payer, with exceptions depending on nationality and the place where the service was performed;
• double taxation is eliminated in France by a tax credit.

Each fund specifies the nature of its pension (private, social security or public); the tax administration invites you to request it and then to consult the applicable treaty. A resident of Taiwan is taxed from 183 days of presence in the year, on the progressive scale from 5% to 40% (Ministry of Finance eTax portal). The treatment of your file should be confirmed with the Taiwanese tax administration and the tax office for non-resident individuals.

According to Assurance retraite (the French pension insurance fund), when tax residence is no longer in France, the CSG, CRDS and Casa (French social levies) are no longer withheld from the pension; a health insurance contribution of 3.20% can apply if the retiree comes under a French health scheme or, for a foreigner, if they have at least 15 years of old-age insurance in France. The retiree notifies their fund of their change of address; the pension is paid into a French or foreign account, and an annual proof-of-life certificate, completed by a local authority, is to be returned on time.

Form S1, which allows a retiree living in the European Union to be treated at France’s expense, does not apply to Taiwan, and France has no social security agreement with the territory (CLEISS list; CLEISS is the French Centre for European and International Social Security Liaison). The retiree holding an ARC, without an employer, enrols in National Health Insurance with the local administrative office, after six consecutive months of residence (NHIA, the National Health Insurance Administration). The co-payment is NT$50 at a clinic; with a referral letter, NT$100 at a regional hospital and NT$170 at a medical centre.

The CFE offers its retirees’ offer, reserved for holders of a pension from a French basic scheme, without professional activity, with no health questionnaire and no possible exclusion of the member. It covers care received abroad with immediate cover if membership takes place before departure or within three months of settling in, and without a waiting period on return to France. The contribution is calculated on the simulator at cfe.fr according to age, family situation and country of residence. International insurance complements the cover for medical repatriation. See the guide health insurance for retirees abroad, the page retirement insurance abroad and the guide healthcare reimbursement in Taiwan.

No official rent statistics have been used for this page: the budget is built on recent listings, city by city. The public benchmarks available are wages and incomes: the regular average monthly earnings of all employees are around NT$49,000 (DGBAS, the national statistics office), and average disposable income per person is around NT$450,000 a year. The exchange rate and inflation benchmarks are in the “Economic indicators” block of this page. For a retiree, the health item (NHI enrolment, private supplement, repatriation) is added to housing and everyday life.

Taipei brings together most services: the Taipei French Office (Taipei 101, Xinyi District), the schools of the French network and the hospitals. The high-speed train links the main cities of the island, including Taichung and Kaohsiung, faster than flying according to France Diplomatie. The east coast, around Hualien, offers mountain landscapes, but France Diplomatie points out that the secondary roads there are difficult; mountain areas also call for vigilance in the rainy season.

France Diplomatie describes Taiwan as a safe island, at normal vigilance, in an area of high seismic activity, with a typhoon season from July to October. For driving, the French licence alone is not enough; for two-wheeler travel, a helmet is compulsory. See the page living in Taiwan for safety, schools and settling-in formalities.