The Taiwanese government is drawing up a new bill that will allow multi-national and local enterprises to employ talent from China. The new regulation, expected to take effect in the third quarter of 2004, is aimed at filling shortage of highly skilled workers in Taiwan. Restrictions on hiring Chinese talent will be loosened for specialized or technical work.

 

Two categories of corporations are applicable to the new regulation. One is local enterprises with an annual revenues of over NT$1 billion in Taiwan, or over NT$1.5 billion in other regions. The other is multinationals that have more than three overseas business locations. However, the government is now contemplating to reduce the number to one for some promising industries such as biotechnology, which have a smaller business scale. A cap on the number of hires will be also be placed to protect the rights of local employees while a minimum salary level will be imposed to prevent enterprises from hiring blue-collar labor. 

 

Chinese workers will need to be recruited via an offshore office, rather than hiring directly from China. Depending on the profession, skilled Chinese employees can stay in Taiwan for six years or longer.