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.
During their deliberations in May, Taiwan’s National Immigration Agency said increasing the limit to two years “would quickly solve the labour shortage issue”.
Taiwan is particularly short of workers in manufacturing, semiconductors, retail, food services, hospitality and construction, according to Sherry Chiang, an associate with the 104 Job Bank in Taipei.