By Teng Pei-ju,Taiwan News, Staff Writer
2018/03/10 15:36
The Employment Gold Card is a 4-in-1 personal employment pass combining work permit, resident visa, alien resident certificate (ARC), and re-entry permit
After the legislation for attracting foreign talent to work and live in Taiwan went into force on February 8, the first Employment Gold Card has been issued to YouTube co-founder Steve Chen (陳士駿).
Born in Taipei in 1978, Chen is a Taiwanese-American who has worked at online payments system provider PayPal, and co-founded video-sharing website YouTube and technology company AVOS. Chen joined Google Ventures, a venture capital investment firm, in 2014 as an advisor.
The National Development Council (NDC) released a statement on Friday saying the first Employment Gold Card had been handed over to Chen by Premier William Lai (賴清德), who said the government was implementing policies that would build up a friendly environment and provide incentives for foreign professionals to work and live in Taiwan, including the Act for the Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals (AREFP) and Statute for Industrial Innovation.
Lai added a services unit would be set up where foreign job seekers would have all their questions, work-related or not, answered and attended.
According to NDC, the Employment Gold Card is a 4-in-1 personal employment pass that combines work permit, resident visa, alien resident certificate (ARC), and re-entry permit. It allows the card holder to look for employment or change positions without going through employers. The relatives of the card holder will also be granted permission to stay in Taiwan for one year at the longest.
In addition, the card holder with an annual income surpassing NT$3 million will benefit from tax exemption of as high as 50% for three years upon their first entry. The card has a duration of one to three years and can be renewed when it is expired.
The Employment Gold Card is established under the AREFP intended for foreign professionals with expertise in either of the following eight fields: technology, economics, education, arts, sports, finance, law, and architecture. Applicants with different professional backgrounds are asked to fulfill requirements formulated by relevant authorities.