The Internet has freed millions of workers from the daily commute. At health insurer Aetna Inc., education services company Kaplan Inc., and several other major US corporations, more than half of all employees regularly clock in from home. The prevalence of high-speed Internet has also led to the emergence of another, though much smaller, cohort of modern professionals known as “digital nomads.” Few of these individuals work full time for a single company. Many provide knowledge-based services, such as app or website development, to several clients. Others are entrepreneurs who have set up online stores.
While the typical telecommuter lives in the same region as his or her employer, digital nomads—as the term implies—can and do roam. Most require nothing more than a laptop and a reliable Internet connection to work and so take advantage of their mobility by staying in places where the cost of living is lower, or the weather better, than at home. Clusters of digital nomads can be found in Indonesia, Mexico and Thailand, with the Thai city of Chiang Mai often being described as the digital nomad capital of the world.
Taiwan, renowned for its cutting-edge information and communications technology industry, has thousands of public locations that offer free wireless Internet, including convenience stores, coffee shops and transportation hubs. According to the website Numbeo, which claims to be the largest database of user-contributed data about cities and countries worldwide, consumer prices including rent are around 35 percent lower in Taiwan than in the United States. And last year, US-based website Lifestyle9 ranked Taiwan as the world’s second-safest country for expatriates.
“Taiwan ought to be a digital nomad’s paradise,” waxes a May 2015 article on Tech in Asia, a site describing itself as “the online community for Asia’s technology and startup ecosystem.” The article praises Taiwan’s “ultra-efficient urban infrastructure, affordable prices ... and jaw-dropping Internet speeds.”
But according to digital nomad Greg Hung, Taiwan is often overlooked by roaming professionals. “I was fortunate in that I have Taiwanese friends in Vancouver. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have come here,” says the Canadian national, who decided to relocate to Taipei after visiting to attend a friend’s wedding. “The country is safe and affordable, and I wanted to learn Chinese while figuring out my business.”
Hung arrived in August 2013 and stayed for almost two years. He now lives in Chiang Mai, running various online businesses related to video. He films and licenses stock footage in addition to teaching video courses through platforms such as Udemy, an online learning marketplace. “Taiwan is well located, just a cheap flight from Japan, Korea, Singapore and Thailand,” he notes.
Not all facets of Taiwanese society are accommodating to this modern nomadic lifestyle, however. Hung says he was discouraged by certain aspects of Taiwan’s work culture. “It’s still very traditional in that people are expected to work for companies,” he states. “I was asked so many times what I do, and when I explained I’m an Internet entrepreneur, even younger Taiwanese didn’t really get it.”
He says one of the main problems faced by digital nomads coming to Taiwan is that renting apartments, particular on a short-term basis, can be quite inconvenient. “In Chiang Mai, it’s easy to get a one-month rental contract,” he notes. “Also, Taiwan is generally more expensive than Thailand, and the digital nomad community is very small.”
According to the website Nomad List, typical living expenses for a digital nomad in Chiang Mai are US$510 per month. The same website gives a figure of US$1,282 per month for Taipei, US$760 for the central city of Taichung, and US$455 for Kaohsiung in southern Taiwan. On his website Chicvoyage Travel, Hung says a digital nomad in Taipei who is single can live quite comfortably on US$1,070 per month.
Hung arrived in Taiwan on a working holiday visa, which are available to nationals of 12 countries. Other digital nomads have benefited from regulations that allow passport holders from 43 nations to stay for up to 90 days without a visa.
The Information for Foreigners in Taiwan website, which is maintained by the National Immigration Agency under the Ministry of the Interior, states that foreigners can work within the Republic of China (ROC) only if their employer arranges a work permit, though there are some exceptions for refugees, researchers, permanent foreign residents and individuals married to ROC citizens. Yet when asked about the legality of digital nomads entering visa-exempt, the Ministry of Labor’s Workforce Development Agency clarifies that, “If a foreigner works for an employer outside Taiwan, no work permit is needed.”
Taxation may be an issue, however. According to tax regulations, foreigners who spend less than 90 days per taxable year—or 183 days if their country has signed a tax treaty with the ROC—do not need to pay any tax on compensation received from a foreign employer. Income derived within Taiwan should be taxed at source. The rules also make it clear that those staying for more than 90 days are liable to be taxed on income received for services rendered while physically present in Taiwan, even if the employer or client is outside the country. But such income is often difficult to detect.
Digital nomads must arrange their own health insurance as only foreigners holding a work permit and their dependents are allowed to join Taiwan’s National Health Insurance system. Even digital nomads who qualify as company owners need to wait six months before they can enroll.
Recent policy initiatives related to the government’s efforts to attract overseas talent may help some digital nomads. “This January, we removed the minimum capital and turnover requirements for innovative Taiwan-based startups wishing to hire foreigners. This July, we launched the Entrepreneurial Visa scheme, under which foreign entrepreneurs can get one-year resident visas,” says Joyce Chen (陳淑貞), a staff officer in the Department of Industrial Development under the Executive Yuan’s National Development Council. Chen explains that among those eligible to apply for such visas are businesspeople who have attracted NT$2 million (US$64,520) in venture capital, winners of international design competitions, and certain patent holders.
It seems more digital nomads are thinking about Taiwan now than a few years ago. “I’ve never been to Taiwan, but it’s on my list because I’ve heard several positive stories,” says Stanislav Katkov, an Estonian currently based in Vietnam. As an administrator on the websites Hashtag Nomads and Digital Nomad Forum, Katkov keeps his finger on the digital nomad pulse. A development team leader for the education services website Saber es Poder, he expects to move to Taiwan when his visa expires in the Southeast Asian nation.
Katkov says one of his criteria when evaluating a potential destination is that meals costing less than US$10 should be available around the clock. “I don’t need Western food. I’m OK with local food,” he notes. And he is also keen to explore heritage sites. “Temples are often a good place to work for a few hours when you want a change, and I hear Taiwan has thousands of them,” he adds.
Similarly, Elizabeth Hubertz and Nathan Arnold first heard about the benefits of Taiwan by word of mouth. They recently spent two months in Taipei while working remotely for startups in California. “We’re both software developers. I’m a web developer, and Nathan is an iOS and Android developer,” explains Hubertz.
The American couple relocated to Taiwan after spending two months in the Thai cities of Chiang Mai and Ko Lanta. “We wanted to stay in one city rather than travel around since that makes it a lot easier to put down roots, make friends and establish a routine. Taipei met all our criteria: good food, beer and coffee; fast and reliable Internet access; clean air, nice parks, [convenient] public transportation, and walkability,” she explains.
According to Hubertz, several factors make the country suitable for digital nomads. “Taiwan has a very well-developed café culture. There are countless local cafés designed for patrons who want to camp out with a laptop for hours on end. Most serve coffee, food and alcohol, so you have everything you need for a long workday,” she explains.
She also appreciated the kindness of local residents. “Taiwanese are extremely friendly to foreign travelers. We were approached many times by helpful local people offering to translate, find our next bus stop, or give us directions,” Hubertz adds. “Also, Taiwan in general is beautiful. We spent a weekend at Taroko National Park and were in awe.”
Ian Serlin is another American digital nomad who found Taipei to be a good base. Founder-owner and CEO of FlavorPlease, an online food truck reservation platform, and Useful IO, a web application provider, he has been interested in Taiwan since he made a Taiwanese friend at an international camp during high school. He went on to take Mandarin lessons, and in 2006 spent five months studying the language at Peking University in mainland China.
After living in California for 15 years, Serlin and his girlfriend, Lele Lew, who also works at FlavorPlease, decided they wanted a change of lifestyle. They arrived in Taipei in May 2015 and stayed for just over two months. “We chose Taipei because we’d been here on vacation, and realized it’s very different, yet very comfortable,” he says. Serlin and Lew are tentatively planning to return to Taipei in late 2015. If they could get one-year visas, they would certainly stay that long, he notes.
Serlin found Taiwan’s capital to be a very convenient place to live. “Literally everything we needed was within walking distance, and many businesses stay open until late,” he says, adding, “There’s a huge variety of things to do, and Taipei is cleaner than many Asian cities.”
Countries that attract digital nomads likely benefit not only from the money they spend, but also from the jobs they create and the businesses they inspire. However, Serlin—like Hung—felt the absence of a critical mass of like-minded people. “There is a startup/entrepreneur culture here in tech, but it can be hard to find because most events are just promotional. I’ve been looking to hire local developers/designers and QA [quality assurance] people here, but haven’t found a right match yet,” he explains. “I ran three technology meet-ups while in Taipei around the technology Useful IO writes apps in, but I don’t yet know how to cast my net wide enough inside Taiwan to find the right person.”
If foreign digital nomads struggle to meet others engaged in similar work, it is not for a lack of co-working spaces. These are places where, for a monthly or daily fee, digital nomads—as well as home-based workers who fancy a change of scenery—can sit and use super-fast wireless Internet as well as facilities like conference rooms. The Tech in Asia website compiled a list of 10 in Taiwan, including MakerBar in central Taipei. The fees at many local co-working spaces such as MakerBar, which offers a daily rate of NT$300 (US$10), are similar to comparable establishments in Southeast Asia.
Jason Jenkins is different to many digital nomads in that he is married with children. In fact, his family’s peripatetic lifestyle is motivated largely by a desire to give son Jamie, 13, and daughter Felicia, 9, an international education. What is more, rather than building an online business, Jenkins—originally from the US state of Georgia—supports his family by freelancing for the advertising agency where he used to work full time in Tokyo, as well as by writing articles for The Japan Times and other publications.
In summer 2013, Jenkins and his Japanese wife, Keiko Yoshikawa, sold, placed in storage or gave away most of their possessions, moved out of their apartment, and booked air tickets. The family’s first port of call was Tainan in southern Taiwan, a city both Jenkins and Yoshikawa knew well. “We spent three years teaching there in the late 1990s, and some of our friends from that time still live there,” he says. “It meant a lot to us to show the kids where we used to call home, and to introduce them to some of the places and people who have meant so much to us.”
Their children soon joined soccer and table tennis clubs, but also had to study. “We’re homeschooling the kids as we go. I really believe this is the best way for our family,” says Jenkins. “We have more time together, the kids can learn at their own pace, and we can teach them skills I believe aren’t emphasized enough in schools: computers, writing, the arts, history, critical thinking, as well as resourcefulness, patience and self-reliance.”
Jenkins documents the family’s adventures, which have since taken them to several other nations in the region, on his website An Epic Education, and believes that Taiwan is an excellent destination for any family considering moving to East or Southeast Asia. He notes that his family greatly enjoyed living in Tainan as it is a stronghold of local cultural traditions. “Taipei is more convenient, as the public transportation is better and more people speak English,” he says, “but Tainan is our favorite because we could experience Taiwanese and Chinese culture.”
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Steven Crook is the author of Taiwan: The Bradt Travel Guide.
Copyright © 2015 by Steven Crook