Keep your Taiwanese phone number active while abroad

Keep a Taiwanese number active abroad on the carrier's product clock. The NCC pages we opened on 29 September 2026, on ncc.gov.tw and ncclaw.ncc.gov.tw, were user-data login and interconnection text; they do not print a prepaid inactivity day count. FarEasTone's service contract and Taiwan Mobile's service contract print a three-to-six-month range for general prepaid, then recover the number. On the same article, unused balance can transfer to another number, or be refunded if there is no other number, and a custody fee starts six months after expiry.

The contract range is not the product clock

Taiwan Mobile's service contract, opened with WebFetch on 29 September 2026, states: "一般預付卡自開通及每次完成儲值設定日起三至六個月有效；短效期預付卡自開通日起一至三十日內有效，有效期限屆滿，該卡門號由甲方收回，服務契約即為終止。" FarEasTone's service contract, Art. 27, opened the same day, states: "一般預付卡自開通及每次完成儲值設定日起三至六個月有效；短效期預付卡自開通日起一至三十日內有效，有效期限屆滿，該卡門號由甲方收回，服務契約即為終止。" Those sentences recover the number at expiry. They do not pick 180 days.

Product pages pick a number. curl.exe of Chunghwa's prepaid intro on 29 September 2026 returned 313,729 bytes of SSR HTML: "每門預付(如意)卡門號自申裝日起180天內有效，基本內含通信費(俗稱主帳戶)經續儲值，門號使用期限將自儲值日起重新起算180天且儲值上限為5,000元，未使用之主帳戶餘額加上儲值金後累計達5,000元以上，將無法儲值。" WebFetch of the same URL that day returned the same 180-day reset.

curl.exe of Taiwan Mobile's prepaid product that day returned 118,503 bytes, and WebFetch of the same URL returned: "一般預付卡自申裝日起 6 個月內有效，一經儲值，門號使用期限將自儲值日起重新起算 6 個月。" That page prints 6 months. It does not print 180 days.

FarEasTone's 易付卡 product is two live sentences on one page. curl.exe that day returned 171,658 bytes; WebFetch returned both bullets. The 申裝 bullet: "預付卡門號自申裝日起180天內有效，自啟用後持續在有效期限內儲值，即可永久保留門號。若您已收到門號到期相關訊息提醒通知，表示您的門號即將到期，請盡速於3日內完成儲值，以確保門號使用權益。若未在有效期截止日前儲值，門號將於使用期限截止日後自動失效。" The refund blurb: "預付卡門號自開通日及之後每次儲值日起六個月內有效，有效期限屆滿，門號將收回，若有未使用之餘額（不含已購買之數據額度及贈送額度），客戶得向遠傳電信辦理將餘額轉入其名下任一遠傳門號，如無其他遠傳門號，得向遠傳電信依個案辦理餘額之退轉作業（例如：轉入第三人名下之遠傳門號或退費）。逾該預付卡門號有效期限六個月後，本公司得酌收該未使用餘額之保管費，直至餘額扣抵完畢為止。" Those stay two sentences. The six-month sentence goes on to a case-by-case refund when there is no other FarEasTone number, then a custody fee that does not print 3%. Six months is not arithmetic from 180.

The cards keep those clocks apart: Chunghwa is the 180-day intro table, Taiwan Mobile is the 6-month product sentence, FarEasTone is the two-sentence product page.

Leftover NT$ is after the number is gone

The number dies first. Chunghwa's intro continues: "門號自啟用後，持續在有效期限內儲值，即可永久保留門號，若未在有效期截止日前儲值，門號將於使用期限截止日後自動失效，倘門號內尚有未使用完之基本內含餘額，可申請移轉至客戶名下或指定之任一中華電信行動門號下繼續使用。" Leftover 基本內含 is a transfer after 自動失效.

Taiwan Mobile's product states: "一般預付卡門號啟用後，若未在使用期限截止前儲值，預付卡門號將於使用期限截止後自動失效。倘用戶門號內尚有未耗用完之通話餘額，可申請移轉至其他台灣大哥大門號繼續使用。門號失效 6 個月後，未辦理移轉之通話餘額本公司將每月酌收保管費直到餘額扣抵完畢為止。" That product paragraph does not print 3%.

WebFetch of Chunghwa's recharge notes on 29 September 2026 states: "門號逾期回收6個月內，未提出餘額處理之申請，本公司得自逾期第7個月起，每月酌收餘額3%保管費，直至餘額抵扣完畢為止。" Month 7 is after recycle.

Taiwan Mobile's contract states: "但超過有效期限六個月後，甲方得每月酌收該未使用餘額之百分之三保管費，直至餘額扣抵完畢為止。" FarEasTone's contract, Art. 27, opened the same day, states: "但超過有效期限六個月後，甲方得每月酌收該未使用餘額之百分之三保管費，直至餘額扣抵完畢為止。"

Nepal's leftover rupees can already sit while the line is barred. Mexico's unused-balance year credits expired pesos onto a recharge made within the following year. Germany's TKG remainder is a refund at contract end. Taiwan's leftover on the pages we opened is a transfer or refund after the number is already gone, then a custody fee.

Each carrier picks 180 days or 6 months

Chunghwa sells the 180-day reset on the intro page, and the 3% custody sentence on the recharge page. Taiwan Mobile sells 6 months on the product page, and recovers the number in a three-to-six-month range in the contract. FarEasTone prints both 180 days and six months on one product page; the contract is the three-to-six-month range.

Tourist and short-term cards are not those keep-abroad clocks. They stay off the three cards.

Holding, parking, porting or letting the number go is compared on the options page.

What we could read

An NCC-hosted prepaid-template URL was not opened on 29 September 2026. The ncc.gov.tw and ncclaw pages we did open that day were user-data login and interconnection text, not a prepaid inactivity day count.

pdf-parse of Taiwan Mobile's 20250612A contract on 29 September 2026 splits 有效 in the short-term clause, 有 at the end of one line and 效 at the start of the next. FarEasTone's Art. 27, read the same day with WebFetch and with pdf-parse, keeps 有效 whole. Its line breaks fall before 預付卡, before 六個月, and before 額. The sentences quoted here are those clauses joined across the breaks.

Chunghwa's 2019 prepaid contract PDF at https://www.cht.com.tw/home/cht/-/media/Web/PDF/apply-download/consumer/prepaid_1080624_4G.pdf was WebFetched the same day. This session's text extract did not yield the 第五章 rows in grep. That PDF stays unquoted. The live intro HTML already carries 180 days, and the recharge HTML carries the 3% custody sentence.

Chunghwa's intro names the tourist card separately: "「預付服務門號卡」即觀光預付卡，於門號開通成功後，持續在有效期限內儲值，仍無法永久保留門號，且門號將於使用期限截止日後自動失效。" That sentence is why the tourist card is not a keep-abroad method on this site.

Open Doors Fast Facts puts Taiwan at 23,263 students in the United States in 2024/25, 2.0 percent of the total, up 0.5 percent from 23,157 in 2023/24. When a rule on this site moves, it is logged on the changelog.

Questions people ask

Is 180 days how long I keep a Taiwan prepaid number?

Chunghwa's intro prints 180 days from 申裝, then a 180-day reset from each recharge. Taiwan Mobile's product prints 6 months from 申裝, then a 6-month reset from recharge; that page does not print 180. FarEasTone's product prints both: 180 days in the 申裝 bullet, six months in the refund blurb. FarEasTone's contract and Taiwan Mobile's contract print 三至六個月 for 一般預付卡. Those are not one number.

Does leftover prepaid credit keep a Taiwanese number active?

No. On Chunghwa's intro, the number 自動失效 first, then leftover 基本內含 can transfer. On Taiwan Mobile's product, the number 自動失效, then leftover talk credit can move; custody starts after 6 months if it has not been moved. FarEasTone's refund blurb recovers the number at six months, then leftover excluding purchased data and gift credit can transfer to the customer's own FarEasTone number, or be refunded if there is no other FarEasTone number. A custody fee on that same sentence does not print 3%. Nepal leftover can already be unusable once validity expires. Mexico credits unused balance onto a later recharge inside a year. Germany refunds remainder at contract end. Taiwan leftover on the pages we opened is money after the number is gone.

If validity has already expired, is the leftover money gone too?

On Chunghwa's recharge page, leftover can sit for 6 months after recycle, then 3% a month from month 7 until it is used up.