As many of us have read in the news, well-known American YouTuber Hailey Jane Richards (莫彩曦) has been granted an Employment Gold Card by the Taiwanese government for her promotion of Taiwan through online videos and foreign media. First of all, I am glad to see this happen. It shows that the determination of who deserves the gold card isn’t as restrictive and exclusive as one may have originally imagined, and that Taiwan is recognizing newer forms of young artists (instead of only the ones that have won significant international awards, as the other requirements for the gold card suggest)
However, in another news article, someone accused her of filming videos on a tourist Visa, generating income, and only paying taxes to the US for a period of time.
Since I do not know if there is any truth to that, I am not commenting on her situation or accusing her of anything.
However, this raises a fundamental issue that I think is worth discussing:
If any form of endeavor that resembles work outside of the main job isn’t allowed for people on a work permit, how is a young professional supposed to legally gain experience and credentials while meeting the income threshold in Taiwan if they want to be qualified for the Gold Card one day?
If tourists aren’t allowed to film travel videos and post them on their own channel, doesn’t it make almost all traveling content creators illegal?
Personally, I think it’s absurd to consider that illegal since Youtube revenue is more like a passive income that isn’t taking away local jobs in any way. If one chooses not to pay taxes in Taiwan, I could imagine that part of the reason will likely be that by reporting earnings, they might get caught for “working” while they’re just posting their own videos on their own social media platform, that happens to be monetized. What are they supposed to do? Tell Youtube to stop paying them?
One may argue that the Gold Card is designed to attract highly skilled foreign talent and isn’t meant to be for everyone, however, there is no doubt that a fully legal path to advance one’s career and becoming a highly skilled professional that the government wants is lacking due to the bureaucracy and legal restrictions in place, since you need the experience to be granted a work permit/gold card, yet can’t get experience unless you’re allowed to practice whatever craft legally.
This is a chicken and egg problem, and it seems to come down to luck if one gets busted for taking on projects outside of their teaching jobs and uses it as proof of experience when they apply for other forms of work permit or the gold card.
Taiwan has pretty high standards for what they consider as a highly-skilled professional, however, there are plenty of laws that actively prevent a foreign professional from advancing their careers past being a buxiban teacher.
It’s kinda like the saying “又要馬兒好,又要馬兒不吃草”
I would love to see them open a path for foreigners to legally apply to be freelancers and Youtubers (with a reasonable income requirement or proof that they are legit) so that they can report their earnings without the fear of being caught doing work outside of their jobs.
What is your take on this issue?