How I Applied for the Parental Leave Allowance in Taiwan

When my first child was born, I didn't really have the chance to take unpaid parental leave (育嬰留職停薪). It was a critical time for the company, I had a lot of work, and to be honest, taking care of one baby didn't feel impossible. After my second baby, things changed. My wife was taking care of two babies under 2, and I felt I really needed a long break from work.

After some research, I understood better how the parental leave allowance (育嬰留停津貼) works in Taiwan, and I decided to apply for it. In this post I'll share my experience and some simple tips, in case you are also thinking about taking unpaid parental leave.

What Is This Allowance and How Much Is It?

The Bureau of Labor Insurance (勞保局) provides an allowance for parents who take unpaid parental leave. The amount is 80% of your insured salary (投保薪資), and many people confuse this with their actual monthly salary.

The insured salary is the number your company reports to the labor insurance system. It is usually close to your real salary but not always exactly the same. The allowance is calculated based on this number, not the money you actually receive in your bank account every month.

Who Can Apply and For How Long?

For each child, before they reach the age of 3, one parent can receive this allowance for up to 6 months. To be eligible, you need to have worked at the same company for at least one full year.

Because of this rule, and because life with two babies is really exhausting, I told my company that I would need one year of unpaid parental leave. I also explained that I might not come back after the leave, so they could start looking for a new engineer to replace me. It was not an easy decision, but it felt honest and fair to everyone.

What Happens to Labor and Health Insurance?

Once your unpaid parental leave starts, your company will stop paying your labor and health insurance. So you have to handle this part yourself.

For health insurance, you need to go to your district's Household Registration Office (戶政事務所) to apply, so you stay covered during your leave. For labor insurance, when you apply for the allowance, you can choose whether you want to continue it or not.

If you continue labor insurance, you also choose whether you pay the fees every month as usual or postpone the payment for up to 3 years. Since your income is lower during the leave, it can be helpful to delay the payment if you need to keep more cash on hand.

Applying In Person vs. Online

You can apply for the allowance either in person or online.

If you apply in person, you need to prepare the official application form (you can find it on the BLI website) and bring the unpaid leave document from your company (育嬰留職停薪證明) with the real company stamps (大小章) which should look like the document provided here. A simple PDF copy is not enough.

With my first child, I applied in person and only had the PDF version of the company document. My application was rejected, and BLI sent the paper back directly to my company. They re-stamped it and sent it again, which made the whole process much slower.

For my second child, I learned from that experience and decided to apply online, through their e-portal (e化服務系統). When you apply online, it's actually okay to upload PDF documents from your company, which is a bit funny because they are stricter with paper applications.

Why I Still Think It's Worth It

In Taiwan, it's still not very common for people to take such a long leave from work, especially in tech. Income during the leave is much lower than normal, and taking care of babies full time is actually more tiring than working.

But for me, this break was totally worth it. My wife didn't have to handle two babies alone, and I could really spend time with my family during a very special stage of their lives. Babies grow fast, and you only get this period once.

I also used this time to bring my whole family to Medina, which would have been almost impossible if I was still working full time. On top of that, I worked on my portfolio and started exploring new opportunities for my career.

If you are thinking about unpaid parental leave and the allowance, I hope my experience can give you a clearer picture. It's not an easy decision, but if your situation allows it, it can be a very meaningful and valuable break.