The recruitment and employment of foreign professionals is based on the degree of their professional qualifications and categorized into foreign professionals, foreign specialist professionals, and foreign senior professionals. “Foreign specialist professionals” refers to a foreign professional who possesses specific expertise needed by the State in science & technology, digital economy, the economy, education, culture & the arts, sports, finance, law, architectural design, national defense, environmental protection, biotechnology, and other fields as announced by the central competent authorities, or who have been recognized by the competent authority in consultation with the relevant competent authority as possessing specific expertise.
The consideration for those “who have been recognized by the competent authority in consultation with the relevant competent authority as possessing specific expertise” addresses the rapidly evolving industries in today’s digital era. Endless advancements in new industries, enterprise operations, development models, and job roles has caused applications from qualified foreign professionals to become problematic due to being outside the scope of competent authorities in existing sectors; as a result, these applicants cannot be determined as foreign specialist professionals. In order to solve this and similar problems, paragraph 2, Article 4 of the Act stipulates that the central competent authority (National Development Council) may define policies governing foreign specialist professionals with specific expertise in consultation with the relevant competent authority.
Currently, the relevant competent authorities have been targeting specific professional talent to work in Taiwan for the purpose of accelerating industry transformation, including sectors such as:
- Science & Technology (20220916)
- Digital economy (20230505)
- Economy (20251230)
- Education (20211217)
- Culture & the Arts (20230525)
- Sports (20251226)
- Finance (20251229)
- Law (20201022)
- Architectural Design (20180221)
- National Defense (20211102)
- Environmental protection (20251231)
- Biotechnology(202512)
- Those who have been recognized by the National Development Council via special consultation (20211025)
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Most recent monthly salary of at least NT$160,000 means a monthly salary or average monthly salary of NT$160,000 or above within the three years preceding the month of the application; documentary proof of salary or tax payment means one of the following:
Salary withholding certification or tax certification. But if such certification cannot be presented owing to provisions of tax law, it may, after explanation of the tax law provisions preventing its presentation, be replaced by employer’s certification.
The employment contract of intended future employment in the ROC.
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Documents not made in Mandarin or English shall be attached with translations.
Documents issued in the Mainland area have to be attested and examined by the institutions instituted or appointed by the Executive Yuan, or non-governmental organizations entrusted by the Executive Yuan (Strait Exchange Foundation) in accordance with the rule in Article 7 of“Act Governing Relations between Peoples of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area”；Documents from the following countries/regions must be verified by an overseas ROC representative office: Afghanistan, Algeria, Bengal, Bhutan, Myanmar, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cuba, Ghana, Iran, Iraq, Laos, Nepal, Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan, Senegal, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Syria, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Indonesia.