Asian countries are accelerating the race to find foreign talent with a series of attractive incentive policies such as high income, attractive tax rates, and simple immigration procedures.
Red carpet
Dubbed as a magnet for talent, the Singapore Government has launched the One Pass, an international skilled worker visa. Through the One Pass, Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has affirmed his desire to awaken top talent everywhere, make them pay attention and think seriously about coming to Singapore.
Accordingly, this type of visa is granted to those who earn at least SGD 33,000/month (USD 22,380). Visa holders can stay in Singapore for at least 5 years and work at many organizations. ONE Pass is quite similar to the Employment Pass program that the Singapore Government previously issued, allowing domestic companies to recruit foreign experts and skilled workers, with a minimum qualifying salary. However, ONE Pass is valid for 5 years, longer than the Employment Pass.
Meanwhile, in Thailand, the government has launched a Long-Term Residency visa from September 2022 that will allow global professionals to stay in the country for 10 years. With the Long-Term Residency visa, the Thai government hopes to attract 1 million foreign nationals with skills in leading sectors such as electric vehicles, biotechnology and defense. From January 2023, Thailand will also allow corporate income tax exemptions of up to 13 years for investments in advanced industries such as biotechnology and nanotechnology. Currently, the corporate tax exemption period is 8 years for the most favored industries. Malaysia has a Special Visa program. The application for the programme, launched last year, allows those who can invest 1 million ringgit ($212,766) and have an annual overseas income of about $100,000 to stay and work in Malaysia for up to 20 years.
Important Strategy
China is lagging behind the United States, South Korea, Japan and Singapore in terms of global competitiveness in terms of talent, the South China Morning Post reported. The country also faces fierce competition from other major economies in retaining artificial intelligence (AI) experts. Therefore, accelerating the race to attract foreign talent in key areas such as science and technology has become an important and long-term strategy. Famous Chinese scientists from around the world are invited to settle down; the world's leading scientists are invited to China every year to teach or establish scientific research centers. Shanghai has also implemented a number of measures, including fast-track clearance procedures for research equipment, to help high-level talents quickly settle down and settle down.
South Korea is also stepping up efforts to attract more highly educated foreign nationals, including changing the visa system for foreigners who have completed master's or doctoral programs in the country. As of 2023, about 8,000 foreign talents have been registered in the international talent database in Korea, up about 2,000 (30%) from the previous year. However, according to the "Prospects and Strategies for Attracting AI Talents from Korea, the US, and China" report by the Federation of Korean Industries (FKI), the number of AI talents in Korea ranks only 22nd in the world. South Korea is laying the foundation for a talent recruitment system regardless of nationality for public positions by abolishing annual salary caps for fields with talent shortages. The Ministry of Justice of Korea has launched a Fast Track Visa System specifically for foreign nationals with master's or doctoral degrees, or degrees in science and information technology in Korea, and guarantees their residence status.
Although Japan has welcomed more foreign workers in recent years, they account for only about 1% of professionals and highly skilled workers, compared to 23% in the UK and 16% in the US. As the government identifies AI and semiconductors as key areas and policies for development, Japan plans to narrow the wage gap between the country and other countries. In addition, the government is reviewing and examining issues including taxation, and considering a plan to allow graduates of the world's top universities to stay in Japan for two years to find jobs, significantly increasing the current 90 days. This is one of the proposed revisions to the foreign residence policy as Japan seeks to attract highly skilled workers to work in the country.
THANH HANG
Source
Comment (0)