Moving to New Taipei City: more room, right next door to Taipei

Finding your people: Life here happens district by district, so your circle will come from what you join: Mandarin classes, hiking groups, a gym, or the bigger foreign community in Taipei a short metro ride away. Pick a home near a station and that last option stays easy.

Healthcare: Taiwan's National Health Insurance covers foreign residents once they qualify. If you work for a Taiwan employer, you're enrolled from your start date. Everyone else with a resident card joins after six months of living in Taiwan, and a second trip abroad, or one longer than a month, restarts that count. Bring international coverage for the gap; Hunter Schultz, our healthcare coach, and ExpatInsure can help you plan it. For bigger needs, Far Eastern Memorial Hospital in Banqiao is a full medical center with 81 specialties and an International Medical Center for foreign patients.

Working remotely: Home internet runs about $25 a month. With the metro, you can work from a Taipei cafe whenever you want company.

LGBTQ expats: Same-sex marriage has been legal in Taiwan since May 2019, a first in Asia. By March 2020, less than a year in, New Taipei had registered 722 same-sex marriages--the most of Taiwan's six largest cities. Taiwan Pride is held in Taipei each October; around 150,000 people marched in 2025.

Black Americans: We didn't find a first-hand account from a Black American living in New Taipei itself. Accounts from elsewhere in Taiwan describe warmth mixed with curiosity: one Black American man wrote that he was welcomed with real hospitality, though he sometimes had to clear up misconceptions about Black American culture. A Black Fulbright teacher in Kaohsiung was once introduced to his school as President Obama. Talk to Black expats already living in greater Taipei before you commit.

Limited mobility: Every Taipei Metro station has elevators and accessible gates, and that includes the stations in New Taipei's districts. Off the trains it's patchier, since older neighborhoods can be uneven and some districts climb into the hills. Walk your daily route in person and confirm a building has an elevator before you sign a lease.

Retirement: Lower rents than Taipei and a major hospital in Banqiao make New Taipei worth a look for retirees, but Taiwan has no dedicated retirement visa. One option is the Employment Gold Card, whose salary route is open in certain fields and counts only wages on a tax statement: an average of about $5,000 a month before tax as of 2026 (Taiwan sets it at NT$160,000), from any year in the three years before you apply. Pension income doesn't count. Our retirement visa guide compares countries with an easier path, and our Taiwan moving guide walks through the other visa options.