Foreign migrant workers' advocacy groups yesterday filed a petition at the Executive Yuan to abolish a six-year time limit for employing foreign migrant workers.
"This restriction is rather puzzling to us, as it is unheard of in other places. Hong Kong and Singapore have set quotas for incoming migrant workers, but never an employment time-limit restriction," said Ku Yu-Ling (顧玉玲), secretary-general of the Taiwan International Migrants' Association.
As Dec. 18 is International Migrants Day, a group called Promoting Alien for Household Services Act yesterday gathered over 30 foreign workers, including blue and white-collar professions, to fight for three rights: working rights, immigration rights and the right of political participation.
At the Executive Yuan, the group was received by representatives from the Ministry of the Interior (MOI), the Council of Labor Affairs (CLA) and the National Police Administration.
The MOI's department of household administration, which is responsible for drafting a comprehensive immigration policy, stated that it would consider including migrant workers in the policy.
"Although no conclusion was reached during today's meeting in regard to our three calls, I was pleased with the government's sincerity in having invited several cross-administration representatives to talk to us," Ku said.
In response, the CLA said that the purpose of the six-year restriction was to curb immigration by long-term residents -- previously, they could apply for naturalization -- and to prevent a loss of revenues. Fees paid by employers who hire foreign migrant workers are reduced over time.
Article 52 of the Employment Service Law (就業服務法) stipulates that a blue-collar foreign worker cannot be employed here for more than an accumulated six years.
"This law was enacted before the amendment to the Immigration Law (
Furthermore, Liao added, a company that has employed a foreign worker for more than five consecutive years is entitled to pay lower fees and other benefits.
As immigration problems are no longer a concern, Liao said the elimination of the six-year employment restriction was likely.
Liao said differences in policies governing the employment of blue and white-collar foreign workers did not indicate discrimination.
"The importation of blue-collar foreign worker has been a supplementary policy, where supply meets demand ... the employment of white-collar foreigner workers has been policy for societal-effectiveness," Liao said.
Taiwan is stepping up plans to create self-sufficient supply chains for combat drones and increase foreign orders from the US to counter China’s numerical superiority, a defense official said on Saturday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, the official said the nation’s armed forces are in agreement with US Admiral Samuel Paparo’s assessment that Taiwan’s military must be prepared to turn the nation’s waters into a “hellscape” for the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Paparo, the commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, reiterated the concept during a Congressional hearing in Washington on Wednesday. He first coined the term in a security conference last
Prosecutors today declined to say who was questioned regarding alleged forgery on petitions to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators, after Chinese-language media earlier reported that members of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Youth League were brought in for questioning. The Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau confirmed that two people had been questioned, but did not disclose any further information about the ongoing investigation. KMT Youth League members Lee Hsiao-liang (李孝亮) and Liu Szu-yin (劉思吟) — who are leading the effort to recall DPP caucus chief executive Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) and Legislator Wu Pei-yi (吳沛憶) — both posted on Facebook saying: “I
Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), who led efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), was released on bail of NT$80,000 today amid outcry over his decision to wear a Nazi armband to questioning the night before. Sung arrived at the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office for questioning in a recall petition forgery case last night wearing a red armband bearing a swastika, carrying a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and giving a Nazi salute. Sung left the building at 1:15am without the armband and covering the book with his coat. Lee said today that this is a serious
A court has approved Kaohsiung prosecutors’ request that two people working for Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lin Dai-hua (林岱樺) be detained, as a probe into two cases allegedly involving her continues. The request was made on Friday, after prosecutors raided Lin’s two offices and the staffers’ residences, and questioned five on suspicion of contravening the Anti-Corruption Act (貪汙治罪條例). The people included the directors of Lin’s Daliao (大寮) and Linyuan (林園) district offices in Kaohsiung, surnamed Chou (周) and Lin (林) respectively, as well as three other staffers. The prosecutors’ move came after they interrogated Lin Dai-hua on Wednesday. She appeared solemn following
RSS