Summary of Forward Taiwan’s Complete List of Immigration Reform Proposals
The following proposals with the full text of proposed amendments to the law can be found on Forward Taiwan's website. Here I've provided a brief summary of all proposals, please check the Forward Taiwan PDF (English | Chinese) for details and an explanation of the benefits associated with each change.
Statistics:
|
Taiwan
|
South Korea
|
Japan
|
Hong Kong
|
Singapore
|
Shanghai
|
Permanent Residents (% of pop.)
|
0.04%
|
0.008%
|
0.328%
|
?
|
10.004%
|
0.001%
|
Professional Workers (% of pop.)
|
0.118%
|
0.094%
|
0.112%
|
0.987%
|
6.143%
|
0.71%
|
Overview and Summary
of Issues
Residence Rights:
Proposal
|
Current
Situation
|
Set a target of 200,000 (0.87%) foreign professionals (FPs)
|
No target for number of FPs
|
Recognize lawful marriages and civil unions in foreign jurisdictions
|
Unrecognized
|
Allow for gaps in ARC continuity for Permanent Residence (PR)
applicants as long as the 183 day requirement is met
|
Gaps in ARC continuity reset the PR clock
|
Allow a university degree as an alternative requirement for spouses
and children of PRs to obtain work rights
|
Same work rights for spouses and children of PRs as for non-resident
foreigners, i.e., heavily restricted
|
Quota and point system immigration to take effect after Taiwan attracts
at least 100,000 FPs
|
No quota system or points system in place
|
Count aggregate income of PR and PR’s spouse for monetary
requirements towards PR spouse’s own PR application
|
Already counted this way for spouses of TW nationals; only individual
income currently counted for PR spouses (who are often dependents and don’t
have enough income on their own for PR)
|
Allow change of residence and employment to be reported online
|
Already allowed for TW nationals; FPs must report in person at NIA
office
|
Allow FPs to engage in activities not specified on their ARC (i.e.,
performing arts, unpaid volunteer work, rallies and assemblies)
|
Not allowed; deportable offense
|
Employment:
Proposal
|
Current
Situation
|
Specify in the law that all provisions of the Labor Standards Act
apply to all FPs
|
Unspecified; Results in confusion about which labor laws apply to FPs
|
Loosen restrictions on FPs employed in the Culture and Innovation
industry (visual arts, music, performing arts, exhibitions, handicrafts, TV
& radio, design, etc.)
|
Heavily restricted or unavailable for FPs
|
Allow PR dependents the same work rights as dependents of a TW
national
|
Must secure own work permit; often not possible due to work permit regulations
|
Allow FPs to leave employment without being sanctioned
|
Leaving employment without notice may leave FPs ineligible for a
future work permit
|
Remove two-year work experience requirement
|
Two-years post-university work outside of Taiwan in a related field
is required for FP work permit
|
Adjust FP minimum salary requirements to be more competitive with local
salaries and other advanced countries, i.e., Singapore
|
FPs must have a salary that is more than double the average
entry-level worker’s salary in Taiwan
|
Eliminate or scale business capital requirements for hiring FPs with
the size of the company
|
High capital requirements to employ FPs favors large businesses and
prevents small businesses from accessing international talent
|
Reduce operating expenditure requirements for foundations to employ
FPs to 1,000,000 NT in the past three years; reduce membership requirement to
30 members
|
Foundations must have operating expenditure of 5,00,000 NT in the
past 3 years to employ FPs; membership requirement of at least 50 members
|
Reduce or eliminate capital requirements for start-ups bringing in
managers/directors, or employees
|
Same capital requirements as for large, established enterprises
|
Nationality:
Proposal
|
Current
Status
|
Remove requirement to renounce foreign citizenship to naturalize
|
Must renounce original citizenship as part of the naturalization
application process; success of application is not guaranteed
|
Allow dual nationals to teach at public schools and universities
|
Dual nationals are not allowed to teach in public schools and
universities since they are government employees and dual nationals may not
hold any government office
|
Living in Taiwan:
Proposal
|
Current
Status
|
Equal access to credit
|
Banks are allowed to discriminate against foreigners on the grounds
that they are more likely to leave Taiwan and not repay credit
|
Deferred retirement benefits (pension) for teachers and university
faculty
|
Pension must be paid as a lump sum; significantly reduces deferred
compensation
|
Require businesses that use TW ID numbers to also allow using ARC
numbers
|
Many businesses require TW ID numbers (i.e., booking tickets or
making online purchases) and do not accept ARC numbers
|
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