To provide a visual inspection method and a visual inspection device for a tape carrier for a semiconductor device executing visual inspection on a line of a production process, without increasing the number of workers and an in-process inventory.

A photoresist is applied on a conductive layer 14 in a three-layer material provided with the conductive layer 14 via an adhesive layer 12 on a tape base material 13, or a two-layer material with no adhesive layer 12, a wiring pattern 15 is formed thereafter through light exposure, development, etching and photoresist separation processes, an image recognition part 3 for an optical type automatic visual inspection device is provided in a downstream of the photoresist separation process 6 in the production line, in the production line for winding a tape material 2 formed with the wiring pattern, a shape of of the wiring pattern of the tape material 2 is read as a two-dimensional image in the image recognition part 3 to be compared with a master pattern, and the presence of a defect in the wiring pattern is visually inspected optically and automatically.