Today eight legislators invited the public to give feedback regarding the proposed law changes for hiring foreigners. In attendance were four legislators under the leadership of DPP Legislator Wan Ju Yu 余宛如 who listened attentively to all feedback.
Nearly 100 people had registered for the event and about 25 of them were foreign entrepreneurs.
This event comes after proposed law changes had been stopped in January after some organizations like unions expressed concerns that these changes would result in foreigners coming in and stealing all the jobs from Taiwanese.
The event started with two entrepreneurs and one representative from the Taipei Startup Stadium giving longer presentations. After that, people in the audience that had submitted opinions had a chance to stand up and voice their opinions.
Brian Yang, Venture Partner in Garage+, said that Taiwanese companies need to be able to attract foreign talent to break into new industries.
Holly Harrington from Taipei Startup Stadium said that every week some startup asked her for help hiring foreigners. The startup has then come to the realization that they need someone who has the language skills or foreign market understanding that they lack. Holly lamented that she had to inform the startups that they do qualify to hire a foreigner because they do not reach 10,000,000 in annual revenues.
Jeff Hsu, CEO of Integration Sports, gave a passionate speech that pointed out the ridiculous situations that immigration laws can result in.
Claire Ling from EZ Permit, a work permit/ARC consultancy, brought up that blue collar workers by law can only work in Taiwan up to 12 years. This means that companies loose experienced workers.
Most people spoke in support of changes to the law changes to make it easier for Taiwanese companies to hire foreigners. Let’s hope that everyone is listening and learning.
