Restrictions on the hiring of foreign workers, including skilled and unskilled workers, as well as foreign and ethnic Chinese students, are to be eased to counter a continuing decrease in the nation’s labor force, the Executive Yuan said yesterday.
The Cabinet said it would revise regulations on foreign workers’ employment and stay by the end of this month, with an aim to hire or keep about 6,000 to 7,000 foreign workers in the following year based on the changes.
Ministry of Labor official Liu Chu-chun (劉佳鈞) said that the nation’s labor force has dwindled in recent years, as it has been losing about 20,000 to 30,000 workers per year to other countries.
The government is hoping to attract and retain foreign workers in the face of a brain drain and a shortage of skilled workers, he added.
The ministry has decided to scrap the thresholds on capital and revenue for companies to hire foreign skilled workers, Liu said.
“The requirements regarding foreign employees’ wage and work experience will also be canceled. A point-based system will be introduced instead, with working permits granted for those scoring more than 60 points based on their educational attainment, foreign language ability and professional competence,” he said.
“Those hired with a monthly salary of more than NT$47,971 will be exempted from the point-based assessment,” he added.
“Another big change is the spouse and children of foreign white-collar workers will also be allowed to work as professionals, unbound by thresholds of wage and experience,” he said.
Current regulations that put a cap on the number — 2,500 per year — of foreign graduates of Taiwanese universities, including those of Chinese ethnicity, allowed to stay and work in the country are also to be eased.
Employers would no longer be required to meet minimum capital and revenue thresholds of NT$5 million (US$151,962) and NT$10 million respectively to be able to hire foreign graduates, who would be allowed to stay in Taiwan if they reach 70 in the point-based system, the ministry said.
According to the ministry, about 5,000 foreign students graduate from Taiwanese universities every year, but most of them leave the country after finishing their studies.
“Only 620 stayed in 2012, and about 930 in 2013. The figure almost doubled in 2014, reaching 1,721, because we started the point-based system that year,” he said.
“Also, [thresholds on] wages would no longer be part of the evaluation of the point-based system. It would now be counted simply as a bonus point,” the official said.
Unskilled foreign workers, which numbered about 585,000 as of October, would be recategorized as skilled workers after working in Taiwan for nine years.
The change in working status would make their visa or permanent residency application easier, with the residency of their spouses and dependents also being taken into consideration, Liu said.
SECURITY: As China is ‘reshaping’ Hong Kong’s population, Taiwan must raise the eligibility threshold for applications from Hong Kongers, Chiu Chui-cheng said When Hong Kong and Macau citizens apply for residency in Taiwan, it would be under a new category that includes a “national security observation period,” Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. President William Lai (賴清德) on March 13 announced 17 strategies to counter China’s aggression toward Taiwan, including incorporating national security considerations into the review process for residency applications from Hong Kong and Macau citizens. The situation in Hong Kong is constantly changing, Chiu said to media yesterday on the sidelines of the Taipei Technology Run hosted by the Taipei Neihu Technology Park Development Association. With
CARROT AND STICK: While unrelenting in its military threats, China attracted nearly 40,000 Taiwanese to over 400 business events last year Nearly 40,000 Taiwanese last year joined industry events in China, such as conferences and trade fairs, supported by the Chinese government, a study showed yesterday, as Beijing ramps up a charm offensive toward Taipei alongside military pressure. China has long taken a carrot-and-stick approach to Taiwan, threatening it with the prospect of military action while reaching out to those it believes are amenable to Beijing’s point of view. Taiwanese security officials are wary of what they see as Beijing’s influence campaigns to sway public opinion after Taipei and Beijing gradually resumed travel links halted by the COVID-19 pandemic, but the scale of
A US Marine Corps regiment equipped with Naval Strike Missiles (NSM) is set to participate in the upcoming Balikatan 25 exercise in the Luzon Strait, marking the system’s first-ever deployment in the Philippines. US and Philippine officials have separately confirmed that the Navy Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS) — the mobile launch platform for the Naval Strike Missile — would take part in the joint exercise. The missiles are being deployed to “a strategic first island chain chokepoint” in the waters between Taiwan proper and the Philippines, US-based Naval News reported. “The Luzon Strait and Bashi Channel represent a critical access
Pope Francis is be laid to rest on Saturday after lying in state for three days in St Peter’s Basilica, where the faithful are expected to flock to pay their respects to history’s first Latin American pontiff. The cardinals met yesterday in the Vatican’s synod hall to chart the next steps before a conclave begins to choose Francis’ successor, as condolences poured in from around the world. According to current norms, the conclave must begin between May 5 and 10. The cardinals set the funeral for Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square, to be celebrated by the dean of the College