1. Purpose
For the sake of speeding up industrial upgrading, the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) has drawn up these guidelines for assisting the private sector in the recruitment of overseas industrial and technical specialists.

2. Targets of Recruitment
The overseas industrial specialist (called the "specialist" hereunder) depicted in the Guidelines herein refers to a person currently living abroad and having the nationality of the Republic of China or a foreign country, or a person from mainland China living abroad, who possesses one of the following qualifications and a specialization that will effectively help solve the upgrading problems facing domestic industries in the areas of key technology, R&D, management, and market operation:

a.	A Ph.D. degree and two or more years of work experience in related fields;
b.	A master's degree and four or more years of work experience in related fields;
c.	A bachelor's degree and six or more years of work experience in related fields; or
d.	A specialization that will help elevate the technical level and added value of an enterprise. Enterprises with the intention to recruit a qualified specialist may apply, and each case will be reviewed individually by the "Review Committee for Recruitment of Overseas Industrial Specialists" (the Committee).

3. Subsidy Item and Applicant Eligibility

a.	Subsidy item The salary of the recruited specialist.
b.	Eligibility
	(1)	Domestic private enterprises that are found eligible after review.
	(2)	Private enterprises depicted in the Guidelines herein refer to businesses that meet the criteria for medium and small enterprises and have the intention to build new plant(s), or to develop new fields or new products.
	(3)	Private enterprises that have received subsidies from relevant government agencies will not be eligible for subsidies under this program.

4. Delegation of Responsibility

a.	The Industrial Development and Investment Center of the MOEA (referred to as the "agency-in-charge" hereunder) shall be responsible for promoting the various operations of this subsidy program.
b.	The agency-in-charge will appoint an institution or professional organization (referred to as the "authorized agency" hereunder) to carry out a survey of the needs of domestic industries, collation of data, propagation of the program, provision of specialist recommendation and matching services, and other related matters. The authorized agency shall compile data and set up files, and make them available to MOEA-designated representative offices abroad (referred to as "overseas windows" hereunder), domestic private enterprises, and relevant agencies.
c.	Overseas windows will accept the applications of interested specialists and forward the information to the authorized agency, and actively seek out and recommend specialists based according to indicated demand, with the help of local Chinese technology organizations if deemed necessary.

5. Application Procedure

a.	A specialist may submit an application directly to any of the overseas windows, which will then forward the application to the authorized agency for collation, recommendation, and the provision of matching services.
b.	A specialist, either recommended by the authorized agency or recruited by a private enterprise itself, shall work with his/her employer to submit a project proposal to the authorized agency for review by the agency-in-charge.

6. Review of Project Proposal

a.	The agency-in-charge will invite the Ministry of Education, National Science Council, National Youth Commission, Industrial Development Bureau, the Industrial Technology Department, and Medium and Small Business Administration of the MOEA, as well as 2-4 scholars and experts in related fields, to comprise a Review Committee for Recruitment of Overseas Industrial Specialists (referred to as the Committee below) to carry out the review of project proposals.
b.	The Committee will give priority consideration to applications that help the upgrading and transformation of medium and small enterprises as well as traditional enterprises.
c.	In observing the basic spirit that private enterprises should shoulder their own cost of specialist services, the Committee will take the subsidy requested by the applicant as a percentage of the specialist's salary into consideration.

7. Subsidy Standards and Period

a.	Subsidy standards:

Degree		Practical Experience
Ph. D.	> 8 years	4 ~ 8 years (over 4, but less than 8 years)	2 ~ 4 years (over 2, but less than 4 years)
Master's	> 12 years	6 ~ 12 years (over 6, but less than 12 years)	4 ~ 6 years (over 4, but less than 6 years)
Bachelor's	> 14 years	8 ~ 14 years (over 8, but less than 14 years)	6 ~ 8 years (over 6, but less than 8 years)
Subsidy	First-year subsidy is 50% of the specialist's salary as provided in the employment contract, up to NT$80,000 per month per person; the 2nd-year subsidy is 70% of the 1st- year subsidy; and the 3rd-year subsidy is 40% of the 1st- year subsidy.	First year subsidy is 50% of the specialist's salary as provided in the employment contract, up to NT$65,000 per month per person; the 2nd year subsidy is 70% of the 1st year subsidy; and the 3rd-year subsidy is 40% of the 1st-year subsidy.	First-year subsidy is 50% of the specialist's salary as provided in the employment contract, up to NT$50,000 per month per person; the 2nd-year subsidy is 70% of the 1st-year subsidy; the 3rd -year subsidy is 40% of the 1st-year subsidy.

b.	The subsidy shall be calculated on a monthly basis; for work of less than one month, the subsidy will be prorated by the actual days worked.
c.	The cumulative subsidy period per specialist may not exceed three years; the subsidy for the second and the third year will be reduced to 70% and 40% of the first-year subsidy, respectively.
d.	The same specialist may be employed by different private enterprises, which will apply for subsidy individually; each application is treated as a new case. But the cumulative period of subsidy for the same specialist is limited to three years.
e.	A private enterprise may submit only one project proposal in the same year, and the total subsidy it may receive shall not exceed NT$1.5 million for the first year.

8. Check-up of Project Implementation
The contract signed by a private enterprise that accepts subsidy and the authorized agency provides that the MOEA and the authorized agency may, during the implementation of the proposed project, dispatch personnel to the premises of the private enterprise to investigate the actual situation, exchange views with the employer and the specialist it employs, and provide assistance where necessary. In addition, the employer shall, within two months following the completion of the project, submit a report in triplicate to the authorized agency for reference.

9. Payment and Reimbursement
The authorized agency will dispense the funds for approved project proposals and submit required documents to the MOEA for reimbursement.

10. Funding
This subsidy program will be funded by the MOEA