More than 2,000 foreign nationals who are in Taiwan illegally have turned themselves in or been detained over the past month under an expanded amnesty program launched in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the National Immigration Agency (NIA) said on Friday.
As of Friday, 2,074 people — 1,413 migrant workers who ran away from their employees before their visa expired, and 661 foreign spouses or white-collar office workers who overstayed their visas — had been reached by law enforcement officers since March 20 under the Expanded Overstayers’ Voluntary Departure Program that began on April 1 and runs through June 30.
Of those, 1,094 turned themselves in, while 980 were found by authorities, the agency said.
Among those who reported to authorities, 610 were from Indonesia and 329 were from Vietnam, it said.
The agency urged other migrant workers in Taiwan illegally to turn themselves in, because it would help them return home faster and at a lower cost.
Authorities are concerned that illegal migrants might become a loophole in efforts to control the spread of the virus as they do not have access to health insurance, which might make them less likely to seek treatment when ill.
Undocumented migrant workers who turn themselves in for voluntary departure under the program are exempt from mandatory detention and face a fine of NT$2,000 and no re-entry ban.
Those who do not turn themselves in could face a maximum fine of NT$10,000 and a one-to-10-year ban on entering Taiwan.
NIA Pingtung County Specialized Operation Captain Chen Ssu-tsun (陳泗村) said that 23 undocumented migrant workers have turned themselves in, including an Indonesian caregiver who absconded from her employer shortly after arriving in 2016.
The woman contacted the NIA on Friday to help her return to Indonesia, because she did not have enough money to pay the standard fine and a plane ticket home after wiring her savings to Indonesia to pay for her ill husband’s medical care, Chen said.
Her husband died recently, and she wanted to go home, Chen said.
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