The ECCT's Better Living and Human Resources committees jointly hosted a lunch featuring guest speaker Jonathan Liao, Managing Director of the International Talent Taiwan Office & Taiwan Employment Gold Card Office (國際人才服務及延攬中心暨台灣就業) At the event, the speaker clarified some of the employment and immigration regulations that apply to foreign professionals working in Taiwan. He also gave an update on recent policies and programmes.

The International Talent Taiwan Office is a national level service centre sponsored by the National Development Council (NDC) dedicated to attracting and assisting foreign talent in Taiwan. It aims to be the top resource for professionals exploring opportunities. It is part of the government's broader initiatives to address Taiwan's ageing and shrinking population and maintain dynamism in the labour market. The speaker noted that legislation and regulations have undergone several changes over recent years since the initial passage of the Act for the Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals in 2018 with the aim of improving Taiwan's attractiveness to foreign talent and ease the process for interested applicants. Besides targeting foreign professionals, Taiwan has eased regulations to attract labourers and technical workers.

Among the amendments to the act introduced in recent years were the relaxation of existing categories and the addition of new industry categories (including a “special case” category for applicants who don't fit into other categories), shortening of the time to three years to allow foreign special professionals to apply for permanent residency, extending eligibility for income tax deductions from three years to five years for foreign special professionals and exempting graduates from the world's top 500 universities from having two years' work experience.

Since 2021, eight government ministries and agencies have been working together to adapt Taiwan's immigration and recruitment regulations to changing needs. Efforts to maintain Taiwan's economic growth momentum in this regard have focused on strengthening the recruitment of foreign professionals, expanding the attraction and retention of overseas students and actively retaining foreign technical personnel.

Currently, there are about 70,000 foreign professionals in Taiwan. The goal is to recruit 120,000 new foreign professionals by 2028 to help develop key industries, 50,000 overseas students and 10,000 digital nomads.

To encourage foreign and overseas Chinese students to work in Taiwan, a new scoring system has been introduced, which introduces flexibility to the formerly rigid criteria. Points are awarded for educational qualifications (30 points for a doctorate, 20 points for a master's degree and 10 points for a bachelor's degree), points for various levels of monthly salary (up to 40 points for a salary over NT$47,971), work experience, Chinese ability, other foreign language skills, alignment with government programmes (such as if the employer is involved in an industrial development programme) and points for scholarships. Students with a combined 70 points or more qualify to work in Taiwan. By making the qualifications and process simpler, the government hopes to encourage foreign graduates from Taiwan's universities to find a job in Taiwan after graduating.

The speaker went on to introduce the Employment Gold Card to guests not familiar with the programme. As of the end of 2024, 11,831 Gold Cards had been issued to people from 110 nationalities.

At the beginning of 2025, the Digital Nomad Visa programme was launched. The programme is open to holders of a digital nomad visa from another country, those aged 30 or above, with an annual income of at least US$40,000 in the past two years and those aged 20-29, with an annual income of at least US$20,000 in the past two years. The visa is valid for six months, after which holders must either transition to another type of status or leave Taiwan (although they may apply for a new Digital Nomad visa). The process to apply is fairly simple. Once again, the intention is to encourage digital nomads to find work and settle in Taiwan.

The International Talent Taiwan Office provides a bilingual help desk for foreign talent and a one-stop website. Liao went on to give a demonstration of the website in real time, which provides information on visas, job resources, and guidance on moving to, and living in Taiwan.

In the Q&A session, Liao said that there had been some successful cases of local companies hiring foreign talent, indicating that efforts are bearing fruit. He also urged ECCT member companies to provide feedback to his office on areas for improvement in regulations and services and what kind of talent companies most lack.