Taiwan prepares special immigration law to attract mid-level technical staff

台灣準備特別移民法來吸引中級技術人員

New law should make up for shortages of adequate personnel


TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Around the next Lunar New Year, proposals for a special immigration law to address the shortage of local mid-level technical personnel, the National Development Council (NDC, 國發會) said Thursday.

The new law would replace the current immigration law, which is focused on controlling the in- and outflow of immigrants from the viewpoint of national security, the Chinese-language Apple Daily reported.

Economic motives would play a predominant role because it was necessary to find a quick solution to the shortage of suitable staff when both the number of children and of working-age citizens were falling, said NDC Minister Chen Mei-ling (陳美伶).

Taiwan should attract more economic migrants to fulfill the demands of domestic businesses for employees, she said. Under the precondition that domestic employment would not be affected, foreign talent would be imported to bring a positive influence on the Taiwanese economy, the Apple Daily quoted Chen as saying.

The NDC was contemplating the current ways of immigration into Taiwan and drawing up suggestions on how and where to open up new avenues in order to complete a report by late January. An official presentation would follow in mid-February around the time of the Lunar New Year, Chen said.