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Guy
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Well i dont rly need to renounce as is…
So its more for other ppl.
But if u dont want to say it. Its fine.
NT$6 million is about US$200K. It’s a lot for Taiwan (it is) but is not really much for a lot of areas outside of Taiwan. It was reported 8 years ago that a San Francisco BART (local train) janitor made US$270K a year without having to do much work. Probably more now. I remember seeing data showing regular police officers of a smaller California city (not a super wealthy area) made $270K-$350K a year and this was more than 5 years ago. It’s not just California. Austin school district officials make $200K or more. The Superintendent makes $360K. The income level isn’t everything but if it’s used as a key criterion for the new program, make it much higher to make it count so that only the best and brightest will get them.
It’s not about best and brightest, that’s the plum blossom card. It is purely based on income, spending and possible taxes.
Don’t think that’s right. The boffins in the NDC think that someone probably has skills that Taiwan could use if an employer in another country is willing to pay them a high salary by Taiwan standards. It’s a kind of third-party verification. In the case of the US they simply don’t understand how high salaries are.
But notice that police officers and BART workers are not eligible for gold cards because they do not work in one of the eight designated fields. Neither are medical doctors in another obvious example. Taiwan doesn’t think it needs foreign doctors.
Tgere are some controls and filter in place. The numbers coming have been decent but nowhere close to overwhelming. I think they have the balance about right.
The average salary in the US is around $68,124. You can cherry pick outliers in any western country to come up with ridiculous figures. Note the janitor in question was fleecing the system, claiming overtime not worked.
If this was an entitlement program for Americans, average US household income should be used. This is a program for Taiwan trying to attract the best people to contribute to the Taiwanese economy.
I used numbers of janitors, police officers, etc. so that I wasn’t cherry-picking. The janitor got paid that that much because the system allowed it (not the cheating part.) 1/10 of the US homes are over US$1 million, including condos, run down homes in rural areas, all homes essentially. Crazy amounts of money out there. When the (Taiwanese) government makes a policy, it’s better to take that into account so that the policies can do what they are intended to do.
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Taiwan is not targeting people from the west with this new program.
If you want a country that targets westerners, check out Singapore. Need US$22k/month salary for their 2nd highest visa [mom-gov.sg].
Never mind their GIP investor route that requires US$7-15 million personal investment, with partner-level or founder experience at US$200-500m funds or startups [edb.gov.sg]. If on W-2 salary, need not apply.
Suddenly US$300k/year income seems small, right? California themselves states that US$500k/year income is middle class [ftb.ca.gov], so quite frankly, a US$2 million house means nothing in SF or LA. Hell, might not mean much in Taipei, too.
I’d hazard a guess they are targeting well heeled chinese… as most of these schemes do with the exception of Taiwan.
First of all that’s not realistic. Second, Taiwan policy makers need to think globally. Not just about the US.
Third, the Gold Card policy is more or less doing what it was intended to do. Most people who come have something to do with tech. We do not have American janitors coming to Taiwan. Sure there are a few freeriders who are not exactly what Taiwan wants or needs. But that’s to be expected.
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Singapore is a much more competitive destination, they can set the criteria for non-sponsored migration to whatever level they want. They also have the luxury of targeting chinese which many of the so called “golden” visas around the world do. Taiwan has a very different market that they are targeting.
Yes I agree with all your points, that’s why I have no problem with this digital nomad visa (see my previous posts).
I’m mainly countering people who say “but the true talent makes more $ in the US! Taiwan should compete directly with US”
Currently the “best” thing Taiwan can offer to attract top talent is naturalization without renunciation. But they already do this via 梅花卡. Yet they only grant 10-20 per year. Mainly because so few apply, probably due to Taiwan’s subpar business environment (read: banking system).
Aside: Creating a unified fintech app + back end money transfer infrastructure will do more for Taiwan than any of these visa programs, both for Taiwanese and attracting new foreigners. Why exactly do banks close at 3 pm?
Also Taiwan cannot open the investment floodgates (like Singapore) lest be bought out by China (which Singapore wants to be, and is, bought out).
Best thing by far would be more English. I understand there are cultural considerations but practically nothing beats an English speaking first world country when it comes to attracting immigrants.
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Has any country ever become english speaking, or at the very least english official language plus english education. Without a history of British colonisation or by being an American territory etc? Sounds like a pipe dream.
I don’t think anyone ever really tried either
Last time I checked neither Jamaica nor Belize are doing that well in attracting skilled immigrants.
The context is about averages, or medians though. Here’s the REAL numbers from the USA BLS:
Janitor: $35,020/year
Police officers and detectives: $74,910/year
High school teacher: $65,220/year
Post-secondary school administrator: $102,610
Your figures of $200,000 to $360,000 are absolutely cherry-picked outliers.
As for the comment about “Has any country become English speaking without British colonization” yes, The Netherlands and their businesses have flourished. They have had so much immigration that it’s now becoming an anti-immigrant country because way, way too many people want to move there.
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Also Berlin.
Yeah, in Irvine, CA, which has a high cost of living, janitors start at less than $24/hr, or <$50k/year. Deputy sheriffs max out around $130k plus good benefits and pension, probably a lot more with overtime.
Irvine pays in 2023
Santa Clara isn’t exactly a high income area in the San Francisco Bay Area, though the Bay Area income level is much higher than US average. We are still talking about a large area with 7 million population.
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