When is the best timing to come to
Taiwan? Well, if you ask me, I would say… it depends on your purpose of visit.
1. Purpose: Travel
Summer season begins in
May and ends in August. Summer temperature in Taiwan is exceedingly hot (in
average 35 degrees Celsius) and humid, especially in July and August. You can
sweat easily by staying outdoors for a couple of minutes. Not really
comfortable. June, July, and August also be known as typhoon season. Strong
wind, heavy rain, and flooding will always be associated with typhoon strike,
depends on the typhoon strength. Flight delay or cancellation and typhoon break
holiday may happen too if typhoon strike is severe. You may need strong
umbrella for conquering typhoon days.
Autumn season begins in
around September to November. September: you can still wear short during the
day, but you will need thin jacket or long pants for the night. Typhoon
sometimes occurs in September too, but not as frequent as in summer season.
October: a bit chill during the day and getting colder at night. You probably
need to bring a jacket and begin to store your shorts inside closet. November:
approaching winter and you need to wear warm jacket, long sleeve, and long
pant.
Winter season begins in
December and ends in February. The average lowest winter temperature reaches
about 8 degree Celsius. Cold, humid, and raining frequently, especially in
December and January. The thing I don’t like most from winter is that I can’t
dry my clothes naturally indoor, so I need drying machine at self-service
laundry shop. If you stay at hotel, make sure that they provides heater because
there are quite a lot nice, above average priced hotels don’t provide heater.
Spring season is relatively
short. If you want to enjoy Taiwan cherry blossom season, come around February
until mid of March. When the temperature is getting hotter in March, the
flowers start shriveling up. Spring ends around April. Spring rainy season is
around Mach and April.
Conclusion: From my
opinion, the best timing to visit Taiwan for travel purpose is around end of
May (because there is still plenty of rain in early May), September, and
October.
2. Purpose: Working
If you come to
Taiwan to find a job, you should know one thing. Taiwan taxable year begins
from January 1st till December 31th. So, if you
arrive at Taiwan and start working in August (for example), by means until
December, your staying in Taiwan is less than 183 days in a year, your salary
is subject to 18% income tax, which is more than regular income tax rate (no
matter in which categories your income falls under).
Conclusion: (1) if it is
possible, arrive at Taiwan before July 2nd or (2) if you sign
one year contract, start the contract on 1st January and ends
on December 31th is preferably, although I know it is difficult
to control when employer wants to hire us.
3. Purpose: Study
Fall semester in
Taiwan begins from September to January, whereas spring semester starts from
February to June. The official new academic year always starts from fall
semester, by means new batch of student in Taiwan universities usually enter
new program in September. However, the number of universities who allows
foreign students to join the program in spring semester is increasing too. So,
you have to make sure that the university or program you are applying for
allows you to enter the program in either fall semester only or both.
Conclusion: Ideally,
you should come to Taiwan at least one month before the new semester begins
because there are several things need to do, such as finding a place to live
(if you don’t stay in school dormitory), choosing/ adding course, applying for
ARC, and so on.
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