Taiwan Rent Subsidy for Foreigners: How Much and How to Apply

Rent is the biggest monthly expense for most people renting in Taiwan. The NT$30 billion Expanded Rent Subsidy Program, run by the Ministry of the Interior's Land Management Agency, pays part of that rent straight into your bank account every month.

Most people who miss out are not rejected for being ineligible. They are stopped by a landlord who does not want the tenancy on record, or by one missing number on the lease. This guide covers the eligibility rules, how much you actually get, and both of those obstacles.

Can foreigners apply? (read this first)

Yes — in the most common cases. Foreign household members are identified by the unified ID number (統一證號) on the ARC, so you do not need a Taiwanese national ID card to be the applicant.

You can be the main applicant if you are:

• The foreign spouse of a Taiwanese national, or
• Widowed or divorced, and raising a minor child who holds Taiwanese nationality

In both cases you apply with your ARC plus household registration or kinship documents that prove the relationship.

If you hold a work or student ARC and neither case above applies to you, your eligibility is not automatic. Check the eligibility screen on the official application site before assuming either way, or call 1990 (24 hours, Chinese/English/Japanese).

The three basic conditions

Every applicant, Taiwanese or foreign, must meet all three:

1. No home of your own. No one counted in your household — you, your spouse, and your minor children — owns residential property anywhere in Taiwan.
2. Income under the ceiling. Average monthly income per household member must be at or below three times the local minimum living cost for the city or county where the rental is — relaxed to 3.5 times under the 2026 youth marriage-and-childbirth project. Only you, your spouse, your minor children and your wards are counted.
3. A legal, residential address. The property needs a legal door-plate number, and it cannot be registered for industrial or commercial use.

How much you get

The payment is a base amount multiplied by a bonus multiplier.

The base runs from NT$2,000 to NT$8,000 per month, set by your household level and by the township or district the rental is in — not by county. New Taipei, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung each span two district groups, so use the official calculator for your own area rather than any county table. On top of that, these multipliers apply — and this is where new immigrant families gain the most:

From January 2026 there is a further top-up on the marriage and childbirth side: +50% for a marriage registered within the last 2 years, and +50% for each additional minor child — +100% for a child born in 2026 or later. It stacks without a cap on the number of times.

Worked example. You rent in urban New Taipei City, where the base is NT$4,000. You are a new immigrant raising one minor child, at the bottom of the child-raising range:

NT$4,000 × 1.4 = NT$5,600 per month

More children move you up that range. The one hard ceiling: the subsidy can never exceed the rent actually written on your lease, so a large multiplier on a small rent is capped at the rent.

The socially disadvantaged category matters here: it is the route that protects many vulnerable new immigrant women, and it is often missed because applicants assume it requires a court case. It requires approval from the Social Affairs Bureau.

You do not need your landlord's permission

Two things trip up nearly everyone, and both are myths:

• You do not need the landlord's consent. You apply online yourself with the lease agreement and a copy of your bankbook. You do not need a copy of the landlord's ID card — but the lease must show the landlord's ID number.
• You do not need to move your household registration to the rented address. Your registered address and your actual rented address can be completely different.

Why landlords object anyway

When you apply, the property is automatically recorded as a public-interest rental. Landlords worry this exposes past undeclared rental income, or costs them the owner-occupied rate when they later sell.

How to talk them round

The government attached real tax benefits to being a public-interest landlord. These are the three points worth raising:

1. House tax and land value tax do not change. Even with the tenancy declared, the landlord keeps the low owner-occupied rate. It does not get reclassified as commercial or non-owner-occupied.
2. NT$15,000 per month per property is exempt from income tax. If the rent is NT$15,000, the landlord's income tax on it is effectively zero.
3. No retroactive tax chasing. The Ministry of the Interior has stated that cooperating as a public-interest landlord will not be used as grounds for auditing past years.

If the landlord threatens you anyway

Raising the rent or forcing you out mid-contract because you applied breaches the Rental Housing Market Development and Management Act. You can:

1. Refuse the increase. A landlord has no right to raise rent unilaterally during the contract term.
2. Call 1950, the consumer service hotline, or file with your local consumer protection officer. Penalties reach NT$500,000.

A contract clause saying you may not apply for the subsidy is void and unenforceable.

Why applications get rejected

Three avoidable mistakes account for most rejections:

1. An incomplete lease. The landlord's ID number is missing, or the signatures and seals of both parties are not there.
2. No building or tax registration number. If the landlord will not give it, look it up yourself using the address through the land administration service portal or your local tax office.
3. Renting from a lineal relative. You cannot claim on a home rented from parents or grandparents. Renting from collateral relatives — siblings, aunts and uncles — is allowed.

How to apply

Applications are open from 9:00 on 1 January to 17:00 on 31 December and are handled as they arrive — it is not a timed draw, so filing on day one buys you nothing. If you were approved last year and nothing changed, your case is carried into the system automatically and you do not re-apply.

1. Prepare your lease agreement, a copy of your bankbook, your ARC, and the documents proving your relationship to a Taiwanese spouse or child.
2. Apply online through the official rent subsidy system. The full household-level and amount tables are on the rent subsidy page.
3. Review takes roughly 1 to 2 months.
4. Once approved, the money is paid monthly into your own account — never through the landlord.
5. If you move, submit the new lease within 3 months; the amount is recalculated for the new address.

Where to get help

• 1990 — the hotline for foreign residents (24 hours, Chinese/English/Japanese), for eligibility questions.
• 1950 — the consumer service hotline, for landlord disputes.