Taiwan eyes easing talent shortage, 200,000 new employees by allowing foreign graduates to stay for 2 years
- Aiming to plug a talent shortage, Taiwan will allow university students to stay on the island for up to two years after graduating, up from between six and 12 months
- Recent study found that 86 per cent of foreign students in Taiwan are willing to seek work on the island after they graduate
Beset by a lack of talent like much of East Asia, Taiwan has followed Hong Kong in relaxing visa rules to allow foreign university students to stay longer after graduation to search for a job – a process that could hand the island as many as 200,000 new white-collar employees by 2032.
On New Year’s Day, the world’s 21st-largest economy and one of Asia’s earliest industrialised nations, extended the limit to two years, a National Immigration Agency spokeswoman said. The previous rule allowed graduates to stay for just six months to a year.
Hong Kong already allows international students to stay up to two years after graduation, while Japan created a “visa framework” in 2023 that could eventually allow foreign graduates to stay up to two years.
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Singapore, meanwhile, allows graduates to stay for just three months.