Taiwan passes amendment to foreign talent recruitment bill

The draft amendment of the Act for the Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals, put forth by the National Development Council (NDC), aims to attract more foreign talent to Taiwan to ease labour shortages in areas of science, economics, culture, and education. 

Besides allowing foreign professionals to enjoy extended tax deductions and health insurance coverage, the amendment will make it easier for them to become permanent residents of Taiwan. 

In addition, the amended bill will ease requirements for foreign teachers in response to Taiwan’s plan to become a Chinese-English bilingual nation by 2030. 

Also, fresh graduates from the world’s top 500 universities will be able to seek a job in Taiwan without the current criterion of two years of work experience. 

However, legislator Ann Kao of the Taiwan People’s Party said, though the amended regulation is likely to retain more foreign white-collar professionals, it fails to address the issue of blue-collar workers who are in high demand.

She warned that the country would become merely a “training centre” for skilled foreign blue-collar workers if it continues to limit their employment period. 

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In response, NDC Minister Kung Ming-hsin agreed that though keeping blue-collar talent in Taiwan is very important to industries and the issue was not covered in the draft amendment, the council is in talks with Vice Premier Shen Jong-chin and economic experts to deal with it separately, he said, according to Taiwan News.