You need to subscribe to read the whole article, but of that 400,000 many will be high-level expats. They’re changing visa rules to make it easier for companies to obtain employment visas for executive and upper-managerial level expats, due to the brain drain of Taiwanese executives to China.
Perhaps, but it’s also due to the fact that companies currently can’t easily obtain employment visas for high-level expats. They have historically been mostly given to English teachers.
They put out those articles every couple of years since I arrived here. The fact is there used to be more high level expats in Taiwan than there are now decades ago. China is doing a good job at scaring away a lot of people and Taiwan’s shit salaries and benefits does the rest. IMHO its already very easy to get a work permit here and get setup if somebody wants to do that.
Right, because they all went to China and Hong Kong in the 90’s and 2000’s (my family included). They had less stringent visa laws (not to mention higher pay, at least in HK).
That was the money for sure.The money here isn’t good enough still and the other big issue is lack of international companies and orgs to work for.
I don’t want to be a debbie downer but they don’t look like they will change things mucb here. China is doing its best to discourage foreigners investing here.
Theres a few bits and pieces here and there I know, mostly taiwanese people working for them though like google htc (my ex landlord taiwanese mgr there).
I think the future trend is that a lot of international companies will soon be relocating their offices from HK and China to Taiwan, but that’s anyone’s guess.
Generally they arent going to invest in Taiwan they see it as too risky and a lot of expats won’t move here. They just stuck an air raid bunker sticker on my building you know what I mean!
Riskier than HK and China? Ten years ago, maybe. But things have changed in the last few years. Foreign companies are now finding the Chinese government irrational and belligerent, and many are considering relocating their Chinese offices out of China.
HK expats are similarly leaving every day ever since the implementation of the National Security Law.
Yes and some are coming here from HK but most are not.
I’m not saying Taiwan can’t prosper in some regard but really there are few people moving here overall and plenty of longtermers leave too. I almost left already although somehow still here. :)…Foreign companies mostly looking at Vietnam, India, Singapore, those kind of places I reckon.
Happy to be proven wrong.
May I ask what a possible alternative country would be there for you? I guess you looked into some possibilities, or? Just curious.
100%. You have to distinguish between what some government planners envision and what actual companies want / will do.
A few weeks ago I was asked to present about my company’s situation with hiring foreigners, the trends and issues and so forth. My first slide was a long excerpt from an interview with a past CEO about how we had a plan to hire 200 new foreign employees, blah blah blah. Then I asked the room, Which of our past CEOs said this, and when? The answer: it was from 2004. We never got anywhere close to that 200, and though the numbers have gradually risen over the years, it’s up and down and we’re about where we were in 2017.
Things are changing, no doubt, but … slowly. There are a lot of factors working against hiring foreigners, especially into higher management positions, and those factors are not going to be overcome by government decree.
Yes some in Europe, some in South East Asia. Taiwan is a very easy place to live if you have an APRC/JV ARC, local in-laws, speak Chinese etc. Have looked at Thailand, Malaysia , Vietnam etc all have their pros and cons. Europe including my own country has some serious issues right now with refugees, housing and public services.
Very easy if you are single but with family these things get complicated fast.
They sure do
Government wants more foreigners - Taiwan / Living in Taiwan - Forumosa
Financial services in Taiwan - Business / Money - Forumosa
Remember when… failed ideas in Taiwan - Taiwan / Living in Taiwan - Forumosa
few years ago when Microsoft and Google were investing big, I was hopeful. I think all the cross-straits shit, especially since PeloisPalooza has scared away foreign companies
Sure
Quoted from one of the links you provided:
According to the council’s plan, Taiwan could take in up to 1 million skilled and investment immigrants by 2050.
Well, it’s not 2050 yet, and I guess we’re still on track for 400,000 by 2030. 
Now there is the gold card
For China business, hasn’t recent relocation been to Singapore? Moving forward, wouldn’t Malaysia, Vietnam, or Indonesia make more sense?
I don’t see what long term attraction Taiwan holds in a world that is decoupling from China while watching the Chinese military train to eventually force unification.
It isn’t the driving, food, air quality, work culture, low cost real estate, or demographics… what’s the attraction?
Yes, some. But Singapore is further down in SE Asia, and that little island can’t take on all those companies moving out of China alone.
If you’re going to set up a Greater China regional office, wouldn’t it make more sense to do so in Greater China, where everybody speaks Chinese and eats Chinese food and understands Chinese culture?
How is a local Indonesian employee going to work in a marketing team targeting the China market? I would imagine those SE Asian counties would be better suited to host the SE Asia regional office.
LOL I got some for being a suspected illegal. Was fun telling them I didn’t have a visa for China.
A lot of those expats came to the train locals as their replacements.