The legislature yesterday gave preliminary approval to an amendment to the Act for the Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals (外國專業人才延攬及僱用法) that would allow foreign professionals who legally stay in Taiwan for 10 years or longer to access certain disability benefits and long-term care services.
However, lawmakers still need to negotiate whether or how foreign nationals’ undergraduate and graduate degrees in Taiwan can be used to offset the minimum residency required.
The amendment, which was proposed by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Wang Ting-yu (王定宇), says that, under current regulations, foreign professionals who are permanent residents are not entitled to use the nation’s social services or receive benefits.
Photo: Lin Liang-sheng, Taipei Times
“However, as the government has been actively recruiting professionals from overseas, who have the potential of staying here for the long term, we have proposed an amendment to the Act for the Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals that would create an environment friendly to foreigners and ensure an efficient use of our social welfare resources,” Wang said.
The amendment states that foreign professionals who have legally stayed in Taiwan for 10 years or longer and resided in the nation for 183 days or longer each year can apply for services and subsidies for the disabled and people who need long-term care services in compliance with Articles 50 and 51 of the People with Disabilities Rights Protection Act (身心障礙者權益保障法).
However, foreign nationals cannot offset residency by the time they spent getting degrees in Taiwan or living as dependents of those who are Taiwanese residents.
DPP legislators Lai Jui-lung (賴瑞隆), Chiu Yi-ying (邱議瑩) and Loh Mei-ling (羅美玲) also proposed an amendment to Article 14 of the Act for the Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals that would allow foreign nationals to use their degrees to offset the minimum residency period by a specific ratio.
However, some lawmakers had reservations about that proposal, as they said that the measure would lower the threshold for employment for foreigners.
The National Development Council needs to carefully study how the amendment could affect the employment of Taiwanese first, they said.
STILL COMMITTED: The US opposes any forced change to the ‘status quo’ in the Strait, but also does not seek conflict, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said US President Donald Trump’s administration released US$5.3 billion in previously frozen foreign aid, including US$870 million in security exemptions for programs in Taiwan, a list of exemptions reviewed by Reuters showed. Trump ordered a 90-day pause on foreign aid shortly after taking office on Jan. 20, halting funding for everything from programs that fight starvation and deadly diseases to providing shelters for millions of displaced people across the globe. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who has said that all foreign assistance must align with Trump’s “America First” priorities, issued waivers late last month on military aid to Israel and Egypt, the
France’s nuclear-powered aircraft carrier and accompanying warships were in the Philippines yesterday after holding combat drills with Philippine forces in the disputed South China Sea in a show of firepower that would likely antagonize China. The Charles de Gaulle on Friday docked at Subic Bay, a former US naval base northwest of Manila, for a break after more than two months of deployment in the Indo-Pacific region. The French carrier engaged with security allies for contingency readiness and to promote regional security, including with Philippine forces, navy ships and fighter jets. They held anti-submarine warfare drills and aerial combat training on Friday in
COMBAT READINESS: The military is reviewing weaponry, personnel resources, and mobilization and recovery forces to adjust defense strategies, the defense minister said The military has released a photograph of Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) appearing to sit beside a US general during the annual Han Kuang military exercises on Friday last week in a historic first. In the photo, Koo, who was presiding over the drills with high-level officers, appears to be sitting next to US Marine Corps Major General Jay Bargeron, the director of strategic planning and policy of the US Indo-Pacific Command, although only Bargeron’s name tag is visible in the seat as “J5 Maj General.” It is the first time the military has released a photo of an active
CHANGE OF MIND: The Chinese crew at first showed a willingness to cooperate, but later regretted that when the ship arrived at the port and refused to enter Togolese Republic-registered Chinese freighter Hong Tai (宏泰號) and its crew have been detained on suspicion of deliberately damaging a submarine cable connecting Taiwan proper and Penghu County, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement yesterday. The case would be subject to a “national security-level investigation” by the Tainan District Prosecutors’ Office, it added. The administration said that it had been monitoring the ship since 7:10pm on Saturday when it appeared to be loitering in waters about 6 nautical miles (11km) northwest of Tainan’s Chiang Chun Fishing Port, adding that the ship’s location was about 0.5 nautical miles north of the No.
RSS