Source: Taiwan Economic Forum

In recent years, the NDC has adopted various talent recruitment policies to address the issues of a future labor shortage caused by low birth rates and the need for major global companies to attract talent after moving to Taiwan due to the U.S.-China Trade War. These policies include enacting the Act for the Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals in 2018 and establishing a Taiwan Gold Card Office in October 2020 to offer dedicated consulting services for gold card applicants and holders. These recruitment efforts have taken effect in the form of approval for 56,714 foreign professionals as of October 2023, an 83.4% growth compared to 30,927 foreign professionals at the end of 2017, prior to the act's implementation.

In order to boost recruitment, the National Development Council has coordinated with relevant ministries to initiate the Strengthening Population and Immigration Policies special program in August 2021. The program proposes to expand recruitment of foreign professionals to the higher goal of 70,000 from 2021-2030 and to expand recruitment of foreign professionals in a regular, continuous manner. Building on the successes of Taiwan Gold Card Office, the NDC will broaden services from gold card holders (approximately 8,000) to foreign professionals, entrepreneurs, and their dependents; for this purpose, the national recruitment program Talent Taiwan was established in November 2023.

In order to promote Talent Taiwan, the NDC hosted a press conference on November 1, 2023 to celebrate the opening of the International Talent Taiwan Office. Guests such as President Tsai Ing-wen, Premier Chen Chien-jen, and NDC Minister Kung Ming-hsin attended the ribbon cutting ceremony to witness an important milestone in our nation's talent recruitment policy. In the future, Talent Taiwan will operate as a physical location and a one-stop portal website to provide foreign professionals with comprehensive consultation services. Furthermore, a variety of other global recruitment activities will be conducted by coordinating with relevant ministries so that foreign professional talent who intend to contribute their expertise in Taiwan are welcomed with open arms.