Foreign nationals — including overseas Taiwanese — who earned a bachelor’s degree or higher within the past five years from a university on Taiwan’s official “world top 200” list can apply directly to Taiwan’s Ministry of Labor for a professional work permit, without needing a job offer to go through the usual employer-sponsored process first, according to Taiwan’s Workforce Development Agency.
The pathway runs under Article 11 of the Act for the Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals: anyone who graduated from a listed university in the preceding five years can apply on their own to the Ministry of Labor to take up professional work in Taiwan. The permit is valid for up to two years and cannot be renewed or extended — holders who want to stay longer need to switch to another visa or residency category before it expires. The list of qualifying universities itself is published by Taiwan’s Ministry of Education, which periodically updates which institutions count toward the “world top 200” standard; recent reporting has put the current list at 201 named institutions, spanning the Americas, Europe, Asia, Australia, and the Middle East.
The policy is one piece of a broader push by Taiwan’s National Development Council and Ministry of Labor to attract skilled foreign professionals, alongside related 2026 amendments to the Act that, among other changes, let foreign professionals’ adult children apply for their own work permits and let holders of the Employment Gold Card apply for extensions.
Applicants apply online through Taiwan’s dedicated portal (ezwp.wda.gov.tw) rather than filing paper applications, per the Workforce Development Agency’s guidance. The exact roster of qualifying universities is maintained and updated by the Ministry of Education, which is the authority to check for the current, named list of a specific school.
References
Taiwan Workforce Development Agency, Ministry of Labor – 世界大學前200名畢業外國人逕向本部申請許可從事專業工作 / National Development Council – 外國專業人才延攬及僱用法第11條工作許可
