Gov’t to Relax Alien Residency Regulations to Attract More Talent

Gov’t to Relax Alien Residency Regulations to Attract More Talent

Source: Taipei newspapers     August 17, 2012

 
Lack of talent is a problem in Taiwan in recent years. Therefore, how to attract more talent to Taiwan and make Taiwan more competitive has become the government’s concern. In order to coordinate with the policy direction of the Executive Yuan’s Council for Economic Planning and Development (行政院經濟建設委員會) to “conserve talent, keep talent and recruit talent,” the Interior Ministry, in its top executive meeting yesterday, passed certain draft amendments to the Immigration Act (入出國及移民法) proposing to relax relevant regulations governing the residency of new arrivals (including aliens and holders of ROC passports without domicile in Taiwan). 

According to the Interior Ministry, the amendment bill would be sent to the Executive Yuan for approval, and would require legislative action.     

According to the draft amendment, aliens who receive temporary residency permits will be given a thirty-day grace period to apply for an Alien Resident Certificate (ARC) in contrast to the current rules which only allow 15 days to apply for the certificate.   

The regulations governing alien residency in Taiwan have been criticized for being too stringent. For instance, aliens who intend to apply for permanent residency in Taiwan need to reside in Taiwan for at least 183 days a year for five years in a row. In addition, they are also required to meet other conditions, either work requirements, special contributions to our country, top professional talent, winners of international competitions, or investment immigrants.

The National Immigration Agency (NIA) thus decided to relax the 183-day requirement. However, how many days aliens would be required to reside in Taiwan each year in order to be eligible for ARC was still under discussion, according to the NIA. 
 
Moreover, current regulations stipulate that in applying for permanent residency, dependents are not included. In order to attract more foreign talent to Taiwan, the draft amendments will allow dependents of outstanding aliens (such as investment immigrants, or high-level professionals from such fields as electro-optical technology) to apply for permanent residency as well.   

In addition, in order to attract foreign-born children of ROC citizens, who hold ROC passports, to come back to Taiwan, they will be allowed to apply for domicile in Taiwan. Expatriates who do not have domicile in Taiwan are no longer required to apply for permits to work or reside in Taiwan in order to facilitate their return to Taiwan.
 

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