National Development Council

On November 1, National Development Council (NDC) held a press conference to launch the International Talent Taiwan Office. Together, President Tsai Ing-wen, Executive Yuan Premier Chen Chien-jen, and NDC Minister Kung Ming-hsin expressed their commitment to expand the existing Taiwan Gold Card Office to the International Talent Taiwan Office and provide one-stop services to all foreign professional talent and their dependents in Taiwan. In addition to dedicated consulting services in-person, by phone, and online, a single national level portal will be implemented in the future to assist international talent with adapting and dedicating their efforts to the development of Taiwan.

During his speech, Minister Kung Ming-hsin emphasized that since the second term of President Tsai beginning in 2020, the government has implemented key policies such as the “Program for Promoting Six Core Strategic Industries” as well as “Taiwan’s Pathway to Net-Zero Emissions in 2050” that will drive the long-term development of Taiwan. In order for Taiwan to play a key international role, bilingual talent with digital capabilities are indispensable; also, Taiwan is in need of additional international talent to achieve the goal of becoming a hub for international professionals. After taking inventory of Taiwan, President Tsai is concerned with the talent gap of 400,000 that will occur in 2030 and has requested Minister King “submit homework” on how Taiwan can expand its recruitment of international talent. The completion of this “homework” was only possible with the joint support of many related ministries including the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Labor, Overseas Community Affairs Council, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of the Interior, National Science and Technology Council, Ministry of Digital Affairs, and the participation of colleagues across various fields as well as the accounting and law firms in attendance. The NDC took steps to handle a multitude of issues including how to expand recruitment of international talent, how to solve their inconveniences in daily life in Taiwan, and education for their children.

Minister Kung stated that foreigners who came to Taiwan in the past were not so fortunate. Issues such as employment, children’s education, and credit card applications were solved through websites and support networks founded by foreigners who had previously arrived in Taiwan before NDC founded the Taiwan Gold Card Office to offer one-stop services to card holders. Later, under orders from President Tsai and Premier Chen, Talent Taiwan was founded to expand these services from the existing employment gold card holders (approx. 6,000 people) to all foreign talent (approx. 56,000 people), entrepreneurs, and their dependents. The newly established office will expand the number of consulting agents with bilingual proficiency as well as station professional law and accounting firms by inviting them to provide various professional consultation services. Minister Kung also thanked both the President and Premier for their continued support for expanding service capacity in 2024 in order to achieve the President’s talent recruitment target in 2030.

The press conference was attended by President Tsai, Premier Chen, foreign chambers of commerce, leaders of participating ministries and councils, YouTube co-founder Steve Chen, visiting scholar Sana Hashmi of the Taiwan-Asia Exchange Foundation, Ukrainian-American Alex Khomenko who has more than 2 decades of corporate and startup experience, and other gold card holders to bear witness for an important milestone in the government’s recruitment of foreign talent.

In addition to a ribbon cutting ceremony, President Tsai, Premier Chen, and other guests were invited to the office of Talent Taiwan for a guided tour and introduction of the “Consultation Center” and “Public Discussion Area”. The event concluded successfully after the President shared a lively discussion and group photo with the representatives of gold card holders.