In order to raise the incentive for highly qualified foreign talent to stay and work long term in Taiwan, Articles 14 and 16 of the Foreign Professionals Act relax the qualifying conditions for foreign professionals and their dependent relatives to become permanent residents. Details of the relaxation are as follows:
- Flexible calculation of applicants’ days of a year spent in Taiwan: Considering that international professionals move frequently across borders, and so cannot easily tot up a full 183 days of stay in Taiwan each year, the calculation of applicants’ qualifying time of stay in Taiwan is changed from 183 days each year to an average of 183 days per year.
- Reduction of the number of years that foreign professionals must continuously reside in Taiwan before they can apply for permanent residency:
- Foreign professionals: The current requirement of five years’ continuous residence in Taiwan is retained, but this can be reduced by one year for those who have obtained a master’s degree in Taiwan, or by two years for those who have obtained a doctoral degree in Taiwan. So, for example, in the case of a foreign professional who would originally have been required to lawfully and continuously reside in Taiwan for five years in order to apply for permanent residency, they would only need to have lawfully and continuously resided in Taiwan for three years if they had obtained a doctoral degree in Taiwan, and to have stayed in Taiwan for an average of 183 days or more in each of those years, in order to be eligible to apply to the NIA for permanent residency.
- Foreign special professionals: The current requirement of five years’ continuous residence in Taiwan is reduced to three years, and can be further reduced by one year for those who have obtained a doctoral degree in Taiwan.
- Easing of the qualifying conditions for dependent relatives of foreign professionals to obtain permanent residency: Once a foreign professional or foreign special professional has been granted permanent residency, their dependent relatives are eligible to apply for permanent residency after five years of continuous residence in the former case and three years in the latter case, having stayed in Taiwan for an average of 183 days or more in each of those years. They do not need to show proof of ability to be self-supporting.
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