Officials from Taiwan and Indonesia are to convene in two weeks to resolve a dispute over recruitment costs for Indonesian migrant workers after a meeting on Wednesday left a number of issues unresolved, Deputy Minister of Labor Lin San-quei (林三貴) said yesterday.
Wednesday’s virtual meeting, joined by representatives from the Ministry of Labor and Indonesian officials, sought to handle a policy introduced by the Indonesian government that exempts its migrant workers from the costs they incur to obtain work abroad.
The policy is to take effect next month.
At the meeting, when the Taiwanese participants asked which countries and categories of migrant workers were covered, the Indonesian officials said that the policy applies to all countries, including Taiwan, but only domestic workers, especially newly hired ones, Lin said.
The meeting only covered some of the 11 types of fees that Taiwanese employers would need to pay before Indonesian workers departed for Taiwan, including round-trip airfare and work visa costs, said Workforce Management Division Director Hsueh Chien-chung (薛鑑忠), who also participated.
The Taiwanese side raised the issue that the cost of migrant workers traveling from their residence to the airport could differ depending on the location of their residence, but the Indonesian side responded that further details would be provided at a later date, Hsueh said.
The Indonesian officials contested that Taiwan requires applicants to provide their criminal record, saying that it is the only country importing Indonesian labor to do so, Hsueh said.
Brokerage fees, the price of insurance and health check costs are to be discussed at the meeting scheduled to take place in two weeks, he added.
As of the end of last month, 265,439 Indonesians were employed in Taiwan, with 194,022 of them working as caregivers and domestic workers, ministry data showed.
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