Taiwan · City guide

Taipei

Taipei runs a small, old, high-trust international-school market: two flagship schools in the same northern district, a Christian network, a Japanese school, and a strict passport rule that decides who gets in before fees are even discussed. The semiconductor boom has added a second market an hour south in Hsinchu.

The defining rule

The passport question comes before everything

Illustration of the Taipei skyline with Taipei 101 and an international school campus in the foreground

In most cities the first question is fees or curriculum. In Taipei it is citizenship. Taiwan’s licensed schools for foreign nationals — the schools this page covers — may only enrol children holding foreign passports. Taipei American School states the rule plainly: a child “must hold foreign (non-ROC) nationality and reside in Greater Taipei with at least one parent or guardian,” and families must submit the child’s valid foreign passport plus a second supporting document (an ROC entry record, an ARC/APRC, or US civil documents). ↗

The rule bites in specific situations. Mixed families: a child holding only ROC nationality cannot enrol, whatever the other parent’s passport. Dual nationals — common among overseas-Taiwanese returnee families — can attend on the foreign passport; Hsinchu International School’s published profile notes its students are local-culture kids almost entirely, but “no local students unless they have foreign passports.” And Taiwanese families without a foreign passport are routed to the licensed bilingual private sector — Kang Chiao and peers — which is a different legal category of school entirely. ↗

Two consequences shape the market. First, enrolment tracks the expat cycle — corporate and semiconductor postings, AIT and diplomatic staffing — rather than local demand, so seats open when posting seasons turn. Second, the bilingual schools absorb enormous local demand and operate on their own terms; do not confuse the two sectors when comparing fees.

The flagship

Taipei American School — price, priority, calendar

TAS is the market’s anchor: an independent non-profit founded in 1949 (it celebrated its 75th anniversary in 2024-25), teaching ages 4-18 on its Tianmu campus, with both the IB Diploma and AP courses in the upper school. ↗

The 2026-27 cost, first-party: NT$956,770 per year for pre-Kindergarten to Grade 5 and NT$1,055,105 for Grades 6-12, billed in two semesters — plus a NT$50,000 non-refundable enrolment deposit and a one-time NT$350,000 capital fee for new students. That makes TAS the most expensive school in Taiwan by a clear margin, at roughly USD 30,000-33,000 a year at recent exchange rates. ↗

The priority system is the detail most guides miss. TAS ranks applications by passport: Category 1 is a parent employed by the American Institute in Taiwan (the de facto US embassy), Category 2 is a parent holding a US passport, Category 3 is both parents holding non-US passports — with sibling and alumni priority layered on top. In practice, a European corporate family is queueing behind the entire American community for leftover seats. ↗

The calendar: applications open 1 August of the preceding school year, TAS receives more applications than it has space for, and many grade levels fill by April for first-semester entry. New applicants pay NT$10,000; Grades 5-12 need standardised scores (ISEE, SSAT, CTP or equivalent). One more honest note from the school itself: TAS supports mild learning differences only, and states that students with moderate and severe needs cannot be adequately supported — families with SEN children should scope alternatives early. ↗

The European alternative

Taipei European School — three schools in one

TES formed around 1990 when the Taipei British School, the École Française de Taipei and the Deutsche Schule Taipei merged into a single non-profit foundation supervised by the Taipei City Government. The model is unique in the region: three national sections — British, French and German — running their own curricula in parallel on shared campuses, converging on IGCSE and the IB Diploma. It is an IB World School with FOBISIA membership and AEFE (French) and ZfA (German) affiliations. ↗

Scale and footprint: about 1,750 students from over 50 nationalities and 30 first languages. Primary children (ages 3-11) attend the Swire European Primary Campus on Wenlin Road in Shilin, completed 2007; from age 11 students move to the Swire European Secondary Campus up on Yangmingshan, where the High School opened in 2002. The split matters for housing — primary parents live close to Tianmu, secondary parents live with the bus ride up the hill. ↗

2026-27 fees (aggregator-compiled, graded medium confidence in our dossier): NT$553,800 in Kindergarten 1, NT$674,200 in Grades 1-5, NT$786,600 in Grades 6-8, NT$820,800 in Grades 9-10 and NT$836,000 in Grades 11-12, plus a NT$50,000 one-time registration fee, with sibling discounts of NT$10,000-15,000 per semester. Meaningfully cheaper than TAS at every level — and the same foreign-passport rule applies. ↗

The rest of the map

Morrison, Dominican, the lycée — and the schools locals use

Morrison Academy is the Christian option: founded 1961, ACSI- and WASC-accredited, Bible-integrated, with discounts for missionary families. The Taipei campus sits in Linkou, New Taipei (about NT$512,000-628,000 a year per relocation data), with sister campuses in Taichung and Kaohsiung — relevant if a posting might move you around the island. ↗

Dominican International School — Catholic, American curriculum with IB/AP, in Zhongshan District — runs NT$354,246 (kindergarten) to NT$591,715 (Grade 12) in 2025-26 plus a NT$25,000 placement fee. The Lycée International Français de Taipei charges NT$378,900-440,100 (2025-26) with 10-20% sibling discounts. Taipei Adventist American School is the value American option at NT$440,000-488,000, and the Taipei Japanese School serves the Japanese corporate community. ↗

The bilingual sector is a different market, not a cheaper version of this one. Kang Chiao International School (Xindian, New Taipei) is the giant: a Taiwanese private school under local law, open to ROC citizens, running domestic and international tracks to the IB Diploma at roughly NT$300,000-700,000 a year across five campuses. For dual-passport families it competes directly with TAS and TES; for ROC-only families it is the main English-medium route. ↗

The Hsinchu angle

The semiconductor boom built a second market

An hour south, the Hsinchu Science Park — TSMC’s home turf — has grown its own school cluster on the back of semiconductor postings. If your job is there, these beat any Taipei commute:

Hsinchu American School: 2026-27 fees of NT$513,000 (Grades 1-5) to NT$573,000 (Grades 9-12) plus a NT$75,000 capital fee; fully accredited, and described as primarily serving science-park expat families. ↗
Hsinchu International School: about 300 students of 23 nationalities — mostly overseas-Chinese Americans, then Japanese and Korean — at NT$370,000 (kindergarten) to NT$512,400 (Grades 7-12). ↗
Pacific American School (Zhubei): US + IB, NT$621,000-765,000, described as popular with TSMC and semiconductor-industry expat families. And the International Bilingual School at Hsinchu Science Park (IBSH): the government-supported bilingual option (IB MYP/DP) for science-park employees’ children. ↗

The practical read: Hsinchu postings usually come with the school question pre-answered — the cluster exists because the companies do. Rents near the Hsinchu schools (NT$25,000-30,000 a month) run roughly half of Tianmu’s.

Neighbourhoods

Tianmu is the market

Taipei’s international-school geography is unusually simple: Tianmu and Shilin, in the northern district, anchor almost everything. TAS sits on Zhongshan North Road, the TES primary campus is minutes away in Shilin, and the neighbourhood’s housing stock, clinics, international groceries and bus routes all built up around the two schools. Families who choose Dominican (Zhongshan) or Morrison (Linkou) trade the Tianmu ecosystem for a different commute — worth modelling before the lease.

The budget context, per relocation data: average rents near the Taipei schools run around NT$55,000-65,000 a month, against NT$25,000-30,000 in Hsinchu. And remember the TES split — a family with a 6-year-old and a 14-year-old has children on two campuses a hillside apart. ↗

Parent ground truth

What families actually warn each other about

Forum material is texture, not evidence — we attribute it as reported experience. The recurring themes across parent guides and expat threads on Taipei:

The passport audit comes first. Returnee Taiwanese families warn each other to check the child’s documentation before paying any application fee — a child with only an ROC passport is redirected to the bilingual sector no matter the budget. TAS requires the foreign passport plus a second supporting document, and all TAS students must travel on foreign passports for school trips.
The old schools have the longest lines. Parent-facing guides note that Taipei’s oldest schools — TAS, TES, Morrison — are the largest, best-equipped and longest-waitlisted in the market; TAS itself says many grades fill by April. Apply a full cycle ahead, and hold a backup. ↗
TAS’s priority system surprises non-Americans. European and Asian corporate families report learning late that AIT and US-passport families queue ahead of them — factor it into how many backups you need.
SEN provision is thin at the top. TAS’s own admissions page limits support to mild learning differences; families with higher-support children report being pointed toward the bilingual sector or specialist provision.

Sources

Where the numbers on this page come from

Every fee figure and policy claim above traces to our Taipei research dossier. Primary sources: TAS’s 2026-27 fee schedule and admissions rules, Taipei European School, and Morrison Academy’s handbook. Aggregated fee data: the International Schools Database (graded medium confidence — confirm against each school’s own schedule). Market texture: TaiwanHousing, KOTRA’s Taipei office survey, and parent-facing guides, attributed where used.

Fees and policies expire. This page was researched on 2 September 2026 and is re-verified each academic year — see our research standard for how claims are graded, and corrections if you spot something stale. Browse every profiled school in the school directory, and the rest of the playbooks in our guides library.

Coverage priorities

What we investigate here

The defining rule: Taiwan’s licensed international schools are for foreign-passport holders — what that means for mixed-nationality and local families.

Taipei American School: 2026-27 fees to NT$1,055,105, the AIT-first priority system, and the application calendar.

Taipei European School: three national sections (British, French, German), one IB Diploma exit, and two Tianmu-area campuses.

The rest of the map: Morrison Academy, Dominican International, the French lycée, and the bilingual schools (Kang Chiao) locals actually attend.

The Hsinchu angle: the science-park schools riding the TSMC posting cycle, and when they beat a Taipei commute.

Neighbourhoods and commutes: why Tianmu anchors the market, and how rents track the school run.

Research in progress

We publish clusters, not placeholders.

This city opens in full when its first connected group of school profiles, fee explainers, and admissions guidance has passed our evidence and editorial gates.

Read our publication standard →

Common questions

What families ask about Taipei

Can Taiwanese citizens attend Taipei’s international schools?

Generally no — this is the market’s defining rule. Licensed schools for foreign nationals (TAS, TES, Morrison and peers) may only enrol children holding foreign passports: Taipei American School states flatly that a child “must hold foreign (non-ROC) nationality” and requires a valid foreign passport plus a second supporting document. Taiwanese families wanting English-medium schooling use licensed bilingual private schools instead — Kang Chiao is the biggest name — which are Taiwanese schools under local law, not international schools. Dual-national children with a foreign passport can attend either system.

How much do Taipei international schools cost?

First-party and published 2026-27 figures: Taipei American School totals NT$956,770 (pre-K to Grade 5) and NT$1,055,105 (Grades 6-12) per year, plus a NT$50,000 deposit and a one-time NT$350,000 capital fee for new students. Taipei European School runs NT$553,800 (KG1) to NT$836,000 (Grades 11-12) plus NT$50,000 registration. Dominican International runs NT$354,246-591,715 (2025-26), Morrison Taipei about NT$512,000-628,000, and Taipei Adventist NT$440,000-488,000. TAS is the market’s price ceiling by a wide margin.

TAS or TES — how do families choose?

Passport and curriculum decide most of it. TAS is the American track (US diploma plus AP or the IB Diploma), prioritises American Institute in Taiwan families first and US-passport families second, and costs the most. TES runs British, French and German national sections under one roof, converging on IGCSE and the IB Diploma — the natural choice for European families and for anyone who wants to keep a French or German education running abroad. Both sit in the Tianmu/Shilin area, both are oversubscribed, and both take applications a full cycle ahead.

When should we apply to TAS?

A year out, minimum. TAS opens applications on 1 August of the preceding school year, states it receives more applications than space available, and reports many grade levels full by April for first-semester entry. Grades 5-12 applicants need standardised test scores (ISEE, SSAT, CTP or equivalents). The application fee is NT$10,000 for new applicants, and priority goes to AIT families, then US-passport families, then others.

We are posted to Hsinchu, not Taipei — what are the options?

A real cluster has grown around the science park: Hsinchu American School (NT$513,000-573,000 in 2026-27, primarily serving science-park expat families), Hsinchu International School (~300 students, NT$370,000-512,400), Pacific American School in Zhubei (US + IB, NT$621,000-765,000, popular with TSMC-industry families), plus the government-backed International Bilingual School at Hsinchu Science Park (IB MYP/DP) for science-park employees. For a semiconductor posting, these beat a daily Taipei commute by any measure.

Where do international-school families live in Taipei?

Overwhelmingly in Tianmu and Shilin in the northern district — TAS and both TES campuses are there, along with the international shops, clinics and housing stock that built up around them. Average rents near the schools run around NT$55,000-65,000 a month in Taipei against NT$25,000-30,000 near the Hsinchu schools. TES families should note the split: primary children stay on the Swire campus in Shilin while secondary students ride up to Yangmingshan.