The National Development Council (NDC) yesterday officially launched the International Talent Taiwan Office to recruit foreign professionals and help them adjust to life in Taiwan.
The talent office, located at the former NDC office on Songjiang Road in Taipei, is an extension of the Taiwan Employment Gold Card Office that was set up in October 2020 to provide professional consultation services and assistance to Employment Gold Card holders, the council said.
The talent office has expanded the services that were only available to the 8,348 Gold Card holders (as of the end of September) to those with entrepreneur visas and other employed foreign professionals, it said.
Photo: CNA
The one-stop service center is available online and in person, NDC Minister Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) said.
The services include pre-arrival consultations and help for those living in Taiwan, including assistance with housing, banking, children’s education, taxes, insurance and even pets, Kung said.
Two major accounting firms are to provide tax and legal services, he added.
The office aims to make Taiwan’s institutions more friendly and flexible, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) told reporters at a news conference in Taipei announcing the launch of the office.
“If we are to make Taiwan an innovative place, life and work for talented people has to be made easier,” she said, adding that recruiting international professionals and ensuring they remain in the country would be vital in transforming Taiwan into a key economic power.
Since 2021, the NDC has been conducting interministerial meetings, including with top officials from the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the Ministry of Labor, the Ministry of the Interior and the Overseas Community Affairs Council to help identify foreign professionals, students and intermediate skilled workers that form the main target groups in the country’s recruitment plan, Kung said.
The council is seeking to attract 400,000 workers by 2030, including at least 70,000 professionals, with the rest classified as skilled workers.
Premier Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁), Minister of Digital Affairs Audrey Tang (唐鳳) and Steven Chen (陳士駿), the Taiwanese-American cofounder of YouTube, also attended the launch event.
The Internet entrepreneur was the first Taiwan Employment Gold Card holder and has been described by Tsai as “leaving his mark on Taiwan’s history.”
TAIWAN PROTECTION MEASURE: US Army General Charles Flynn would not say where in the Asia-Pacific the missiles would be sent, but only that they would arrive in 2024 The US is to send medium-range missiles including the Standard Missile 6 (SM-6) and Tomahawk to the Asia-Pacific next year to deter a Chinese attack on Taiwan, US military news Web site Defense One reported. The report cited comments US Army General Charles Flynn made during the annual Halifax International Security Forum on Nov. 19. “We have tested them and we have a battery or two of them today,” Flynn was quoted as saying. “In [20]24. We intend to deploy that system in your region. I’m not going to say where and when. But I will just say that we will
UNUSUAL UPTICK: There are more flu-like illnesses in northern China than in the past 3 years, but data from Beijing showed that known pathogens are responsible Responding to an uptick in respiratory illnesses in China, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday said it has instructed international airport and port quarantine centers to raise their alert levels, and plans to issue an alert to healthcare practitioners. The number of flu-like illnesses reported in northern China has been increasing for five consecutive weeks, and is higher than the same period in the past three years, CDC Deputy Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞) said. “According to the WHO’s latest statement, issued yesterday, information provided by Chinese government showed that the illnesses were mainly reported among children, and the illnesses were attributed
LOYALTY: The 10 active and retired soldiers betrayed the nation and its people by leaking and passing on military secrets to China, the High Prosecutors’ Office said Ten former and current military officers were yesterday indicted on charges of spying for China, including two who allegedly filmed themselves pledging loyalty to Beijing. The High Prosecutors’ Office requested life imprisonment for the suspects in light of the severity of the crime. The 10 active-duty and retired officers included members of the 601st Brigade of the Aviation Special Forces comprising attack helicopter squadrons and elite combat units in charge of defending northern Taiwan, including Taipei. The other suspects came from Huadong Defense Command, in charge of defending the eastern coast; Kinmen Defense Command, in charge of defending Kinmen and Matsu; and one
LOCAL INDUSTRY SAFE: Despite global expansion plans, 90% of Taiwanese IC suppliers’ production would stay in Taiwan, the National Development Council minister said Taiwan’s semiconductor firms are expected to invest US$210 billion over the next five years to cement the country’s lead over its peers in the global IC market, National Development Council Minister Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) said on Friday. Digital transformation in the high-tech sector had become an irreversible international trend, Kung told an investment forum on business start-ups. The government would continue to encourage the local semiconductor industry to invest by providing incentives under the Statute for Industrial Innovation (產業創新條例), Kung said. Taiwanese semiconductor firms are expected to move their investments out of the China due to a restructuring of global supply chains amid