The employment Gold Card program is to be expanded to attract more foreigners with critical skills to cover a wider range of industries, the Executive Yuan said yesterday.
A national-level foreign talent recruitment services center, tentatively named Talent Taiwan, is to be opened to facilitate the enlargement of the work visa program by the end of the year, the Cabinet told a post-meeting news conference.
The program expansion builds on the basis of previous successes and its implementation is to be supplemented by measures aimed at attracting foreigners to study in Taiwan, the National Development Council said in a news release.
Photo courtesy of the Executive Yuan
Taiwan is pushing to recruit workers with critical skills through educational initiatives to attract international students, legal reforms to encourage foreign students to work in Taiwan after graduation, and improved financial, housing and educational services for foreign residents, it said.
As of March last year, the nation had close to 55,000 skilled foreign workers, and 7,000 Gold Cards were granted to workers with critical skills in sectors including semiconductors, offshore wind power, finance, and arts and culture, the council said.
An array of educational initiatives are being implemented to boost the domestic supply of highly skilled workers, it said.
Last year, the number of Taiwanese undergraduate and graduate students in STEM majors rose to about 6,600, while 10 universities established research institutions on artificial intelligence, semiconductors and other key fields via business-academic collaborations, it said.
Additionally, 10 education-to-employment initiatives were approved to prepare a workforce for the six core strategic industries: information and digital technology, cybersecurity, precision health, green and renewable energy, national defense and strategic stockpile, it said.
The government continued to promote Mandarin-English bilingual education by funding universities and scholarships for 400 students and postdocs studying abroad over the past two years, the council said.
Separately, the Ministry of Digital Affairs on Tuesday posted a notice of a new policy that would enable foreign information technology (IT) professionals to apply for Gold Cards regardless of educational attainment, if they have eight years of on-the-job experience.
The policy was prompted by the urgent demand for qualified workers in software development, IT services, digital content creation and e-commerce, it said.
The notice period for the policy has been shortened to 30 days, in which the public could voice their opinion about the measures before its implementation, it said.
Eligible professionals would be able to apply for Gold Cards by submitting verifiable records of work experience, including employment by a recognized international platform, examples of work, or digital participation in charitable or social causes, it said.
Cardholders would be granted an open work permit and the right to be enrolled in the National Health Insurance program with their dependents after getting employed or starting a business, the ministry said.
They would be entitled to a 50 percent tax break on income of more than NT$3 million (US$97,599) earned during the first five years of working in Taiwan and visa or residence permits for their dependents and family members, it said.
People with a doctoral degree in digital science from a top-ranking university, a degree in digital science plus four years of work experience, or those recently employed in the digital field with a salary of NT$160,000 or more per month would also be eligible for the Gold Card, it said.
The ministry continues to collaborate with other government agencies and enterprises to secure supply of workers, ease the sector’s ability to recruit internationally and promote industrial upgrade, it said.
The Taipei City Government yesterday said contractors organizing its New Year’s Eve celebrations would be held responsible after a jumbo screen played a Beijing-ran television channel near the event’s end. An image showing China Central Television (CCTV) Channel 3 being displayed was posted on the social media platform Threads, sparking an outcry on the Internet over Beijing’s alleged political infiltration of the municipal government. A Taipei Department of Information and Tourism spokesman said event workers had made a “grave mistake” and that the Television Broadcasts Satellite (TVBS) group had the contract to operate the screens. The city would apply contractual penalties on TVBS
The lowest temperature in a low-lying area recorded early yesterday morning was in Miaoli County’s Gongguan Township (公館), at 6.8°C, due to a strong cold air mass and the effect of radiative cooling, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. In other areas, Chiayi’s East District (東區) recorded a low of 8.2°C and Yunlin County’s Huwei Township (虎尾) recorded 8.5°C, CWA data showed. The cold air mass was at its strongest from Saturday night to the early hours of yesterday. It brought temperatures down to 9°C to 11°C in areas across the nation and the outlying Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties,
A new board game set against the backdrop of armed conflict around Taiwan is to be released next month, amid renewed threats from Beijing, inviting players to participate in an imaginary Chinese invasion 20 years from now. China has ramped up military activity close to Taiwan in the past few years, including massing naval forces around the nation. The game, titled 2045, tasks players with navigating the troubles of war using colorful action cards and role-playing as characters involved in operations 10 days before a fictional Chinese invasion of Taiwan. That includes members of the armed forces, Chinese sleeper agents and pro-China politicians
STAY VIGILANT: When experiencing symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning, such as dizziness or fatigue, near a water heater, open windows and doors to ventilate the area Rooftop flue water heaters should only be installed outdoors or in properly ventilated areas to prevent toxic gas from building up, the Yilan County Fire Department said, after a man in Taipei died of carbon monoxide poisoning on Monday last week. The 39-year-old man, surnamed Chen (陳), an assistant professor at Providence University in Taichung, was at his Taipei home for the holidays when the incident occurred, news reports said. He was taking a shower in the bathroom of a rooftop addition when carbon monoxide — a poisonous byproduct of combustion — leaked from a water heater installed in a poorly ventilated
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