The National Development Council (NDC) on Wednesday last week launched a six-month “digital nomad visitor visa” program, the Central News Agency (CNA) reported on Monday.
The new visa is for foreign nationals from Taiwan’s list of visa-exempt countries who meet financial eligibility criteria and provide proof of work contracts, but it is not clear how it differs from other visitor visas for nationals of those countries, CNA wrote.
The NDC last year said that it hoped to attract 100,000 “digital nomads,” according to the report.
Interest in working remotely from abroad has significantly increased in recent years following improvements in digital infrastructure worldwide, the emergence of new jobs that can be done online such as livestreaming, and the COVID-19 pandemic that saw some companies become more flexible in allowing remote work.
Digital nomad visas facilitate this trend by offering legal residency to those doing remote work. For the nomads, potential benefits include better weather and a cheaper cost of living than in their home country, as well as the chance to network with locals and to see new parts of the world. For the countries that host them, the benefits might include the money that nomads would spend while living there, as well as the exposure of the country to potential international tourists or invaluable foreign workers.
Therefore, it makes sense that the NDC would hope to attract digital nomads with the new visa program. However, the requirements and limitations of the program are likely to be a challenge to its goal of attracting 100,000 nomads.
To start with, Taiwan’s digital nomad visa is for six months, while such visas offered by other countries are available for one or more years, with the possibility of extensions. For example, Mexico offers a four-year visa, while Thailand’s is five years.
Rents are also relatively high in Taiwan, and while those who meet the income requirement of US$20,000 for the year prior to application for the visa (or US$30,000 for those over 30) could afford higher rent, they might be tempted to spend their money in a part of the region where their money goes further. Those tempted to come to Taiwan for networking opportunities or other reasons might opt to apply for a Taiwan Employment Gold Card, which has lower income requirements, does not require proof of health insurance and is valid for one to three years.
Simply put, Taiwan’s digital nomad visa is unlikely to be attractive for the majority of digital nomads, who would likely prefer the lower cost of living and year-long beach weather of countries in Southeast Asia like Thailand, Indonesia or the Philippines.
Of course, there are two major benefits of choosing Taiwan as a place to work remotely: reliable infrastructure and ease of communication. Taiwan has some of the fastest Internet speeds in the world and best coverage of any country worldwide with very few mobile network dead zones. Taiwan also experiences very few power outages — something that plagues countries in Southeast Asia — and computer systems and parts from all major manufacturers are available in all of Taiwan’s major cities.
In terms of communication, English is widely understood in Taiwan’s larger population centers, and foreigners interested in learning Mandarin would have the opportunity to do so in Taiwan.
In its report, CNA wrote that nearly a week after applications were first opened, neither the NDC nor the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced or promoted the new visa category on their Web sites in any language.
Given its stated goal for the program, the NDC should consider promoting the new visa on social media and overseas through its representative offices. Better promotion of the visa, and improvement of its terms and conditions, could spur interest.
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