Taiwan to come up with new immigration law to attract foreign skilled workers

The government of Taiwan is mulling the creation of a law committed to immigration to stem its manpower shortage, the National Development Council (NDC) said on 28 December. The legislation would address the shortfalls of existing laws and rules such as the Immigration Act, Employment Service Act, University Act and Nationality Act in order to create an environment which would be more immigration-friendly so that top global talent can be attracted to Taiwan, said the NDC.

An Immigration Act of the Republic of China became effective in 1999 with an aim to protect the national security, to merge entry and exit controls and offer immigration guidance. According to the council, the act does not meet current policy needs of the government. On 27 December in Taipei City, during the staging of Cabinet’s year-end press conference, Lai Ching-te¸ Taiwanese Premier, was quoted by Taiwan Times as saying that the recruitment bill for foreign talent that was approved by the Legislature on 31 October would aid in improving the employment atmosphere for foreign skilled workers.

He said that but Taiwan required a committed immigration policy that is forward-looking, and the government will begin to devise it in 2018. The NDC, citing official statistics, said that the working population of Taiwan started to fall after reaching its peak at 17.37 million in 2015, and the number is projected to fall to 15.16 million by 2030.

The status became tougher with the international migration trends of the country as the council said that many local skilled workers were opting to pursue careers outside their country.

On the other hand, out of the total number of foreign nationals working in Taiwan, over 620,000 were entry-level workers in the sectors of manufacturing and social service and only 31,000 of them were professionals. The NDC said as per the directive of the premier, it will begin taking inventory of Taiwan’s immigration measures and moot new immigration routes to smoothen the legislation.

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