12.06.2024

Lecture: Tseng Yen-Fen, "Increase in Immigration Without Settlement: How Taiwan's Skills-Based Immigration Policy Institutionalizes Temporariness of Skilled Migrants"

On Wed, 19 June 2024, Prof. Tseng Yen-Fen will give a lecture on Taiwanese Immigration Policy

We are looking forward to the visit of Prof. Tseng Yen-Fen 曾嬿芬 from the Department of Sociology at National Taiwan University. Prof. Tseng, who is also a member of our Advisory Board, will visit the ERCCT from June 17 to 28, taking part in the Visiting Scholar Programme. On Wednesday, June 19, she will give a public lecture titled 'Increase in immigration without settlement: How Taiwan skills-based immigration policy institutionalizes temporariness of skilled migrants' at 12.15 p.m (CEST). at Keplerstraße 2, room 181. The talk can also be followed online at https://zoom.us/j/95547771512?pwd=Llp3fdVcRlbtmVt5KeGa9bmO0OCoIh.1

Taiwan's skilled immigration policy is designed to address the country's declining population by attracting skilled migrants. This talk focuses on Taiwan's skilled immigration policy and their effects on migrant workers, based on in-depth interviews conducted with foreign individuals who obtained higher education degrees in Taiwan and chose to work and reside in the country. While policymakers have relaxed the qualifications for foreign graduates to obtain work permit, the high income threshold for permanent residency applications has led to most individuals remaining in Taiwan as temporary migrants for a long time. As temporary migrants, these individuals must make various compromises and accept less favorable working conditions and income. Their vulnerable employment status in turn has made it even more challenging for them to transition from temporary to permanent residency. Consequently, their temporary migrant status and their precarious job conditions mutually reinforce each other, perpetuating a cycle of vulnerability. Moreover, as temporary migrants, they are denied access to full social rights such as joining pension system and receiving unemployment aid. 

The increasing number of long-term temporary skilled migrants in Taiwan highlights the commodification of citizenship, where migrants' rights are linked to their market values. I contend that such policy outcomes are not only ethically questionable for migrants but also unsustainable for Taiwan's future. This situation is morally concerning because, as skilled migrants hold on in the hope of meeting the settlement requirements, they bear significant risks, including financial and psychological burdens. The policymakers appear to devalue the migrants' time, as if their time holds no significance. Furthermore, beyond the moral dimension, this situation is also an unsustainable one. Despite claims by Taiwanese policymakers that new immigration policies aim to transform Taiwan into a more immigrant-friendly society, my research underscores a different reality. In a time when Taiwan requires a new population rather than a transient workforce, the government continues to formulate policies that result in the influx and outflow of foreign migrants, with limited prospects for permanent settlement. In my view, the most pressing migration debate in Taiwan, both presently and in the foreseeable future, revolves around how to enhance settlement opportunities for foreign migrants.