Taipei, 31 March – The European Chamber of Commerce Taiwan (ECCT) today commended the Taiwan government for taking another important step towards making Taiwan more competitive. This follows an announcement last week by the Ministry of Interior (MoI) that it will relax regulations governing the residence status of the adult children of foreign nationals (over the age of 20) who wish to live with their parents in Taiwan. Under the new rules, long-term residents of Taiwan will be allowed to extend their stays by up to six years (two three-year extensions). The rules will apply to foreign nationals born in Taiwan who have legally resided in the country for at least 183 days each year for 10 years, as well as foreign nationals born abroad who have legally resided in Taiwan for at least 270 days each year for 10 years. The changes announced by the MoI also provide a grace period of six months before they are required to leave Taiwan for foreign students graduating from local universities and for white-collar foreign workers finishing a work contract.

This breakthrough comes after a number of years of efforts by the ECCT, particularly its Better Living committee. The issue appeared in the Better Living committee's position paper for several years. Prior to this announcement the Better Living committee had argued that the rules had made it difficult for multinational firms to attract and retain talented individuals, namely senior staff with adult children, to live and work in Taiwan. The committee therefore regards this as an important development that will help to improve Taiwan's friendliness and attractiveness to investors, multinational firms and talented senior individuals.