Some migrant workers in Taiwan would soon be eligible to receive “intermediate skilled worker” status after working six cumulative years with the same employer, even if they are not consecutive, the Ministry of Labor said, adding that it would enable them to eventually qualify for permanent residency.
The ministry last year launched a worker retention scheme which allowed employers in certain fields — manufacturing, livestock slaughter, construction, agriculture and long-term care — to apply to have their migrant employees designated as “foreign intermediate skilled workers.”
Employees with this designation have no limit to the number of years they can work in Taiwan. They can receive higher salaries, and five years after being granted the status, they can apply for permanent residence.
Photo: CNA
However, migrant workers are required of current regulations to work for six consecutive years to become eligible for the program.
Paul Su (蘇裕國), head of the Cross-Border Workforce Management Division under the ministry’s Workforce Development Agency, said this rule had created problems for migrants, as many migrant workers choose to take a break in their home country, before returning to Taiwan to sign a new contract with their employer after completing a three-year contract.
To resolve this issue, the ministry has proposed revisions to make migrant workers who have worked six years for the same employer in Taiwan eligible for intermediate skilled worker status, Su said, adding that the rules are expected to take effect before the end of next month.
The ministry has also proposed to allowing migrant workers employed at private construction companies — a sector the ministry only opened to migrant labor in June — to obtain intermediate skilled worker status, he added.
In other developments, Su said that restrictions on the hiring of live-in migrant caregivers in Taiwan are expected to be eased no later than next month.
Su said the easing of rules would enable more families to be eligible to hire migrant caregivers without requiring individuals in need of care to undergo a functionality assessment using the Barthel Index.
The Barthel Index is used in clinical practice and research to measure an individual’s ability to complete activities of daily living.
Individuals who have used long-term care for at least six months and those who have been diagnosed with mild dementia would be exempt from the Barthel Index requirements, he added.
Currently, elderly and severely ill citizens in Taiwan are required to receive such an assessment conducted by a hospital if their family wishes to hire a foreign caregiver, with the exception of individuals categorized under “specific disabilities.”
The category of “specific disabilities,” which currently includes individuals facing significant limitations in their physical and mental abilities, would be expanded to include individuals with mild physical disabilities, as well as patients dealing with rare diseases, severe respiratory disorders, and a loss of swallowing function, the ministry said on Sept. 12.
As part of the new policy, individuals aged 75 and older who hold a disability certificate with unlimited validity and have already hired a foreign caregiver would be exempt from a Barthel Index assessment if the contract of their caregiver expires and they need to hire another caregiver.
Foreign tourists who purchase a seven-day Taiwan Pass are to get a second one free of charge as part of a government bid to boost tourism, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. A pair of Taiwan Passes is priced at NT$5,000 (US$156.44), an agency staff member said, adding that the passes can be used separately. The pass can be used in many of Taiwan’s major cities and to travel to several tourist resorts. It expires seven days after it is first used. The pass is a three-in-one package covering the high-speed rail system, mass rapid transport (MRT) services and the Taiwan Tourist Shuttle services,
Drinking a lot of water or milk would not help a person who has ingested terbufos, a toxic chemical that has been identified as the likely cause of three deaths, a health expert said yesterday. An 83-year-old woman surnamed Tseng (曾) and two others died this week after eating millet dumplings with snails that Tseng had made. Tseng died on Tuesday and others ate the leftovers when they went to her home to mourn her death that evening. Twelve people became ill after eating the dumplings following Tseng’s death. Their symptoms included vomiting and convulsions. Six were hospitalized, with two of them
DIVA-READY: The city’s deadline for the repairs is one day before pop star Jody Chiang is to perform at the Taipei Dome for the city’s Double Ten National Day celebrations The Taipei City Government has asked Farglory Group (遠雄集團) to repair serious water leaks in the Taipei Dome before Friday next week, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said yesterday, following complaints that many areas at the stadium were leaking during two baseball games over the weekend. The dome on Saturday and Sunday hosted two games in tribute to CTBC Brothers’ star Chou Szu-chi (周思齊) ahead of his retirement from the CPBL. The games each attracted about 40,000 people, filling the stadium to capacity. However, amid heavy rain, many people reported water leaking on some seats, at the entrance and exit areas, and the
BIG collection: The herbarium holds more than 560,000 specimens, from the Japanese colonial period to the present, including the Wulai azalea, which is now extinct in the wild The largest collection of plant specimens in Taiwan, the Taipei Botanical Garden’s herbarium, is celebrating its 100th anniversary with an exhibition that opened on Friday. The herbarium provides critical historical documents for botanists and is the first of its kind in Taiwan, Taiwan Forestry Research Institute director Tseng Yen-hsueh (曾彥學) said. It is housed in a two-story red brick building, which opened during 1924. At the time, it stored 30,000 plant specimens from almost 6,000 species, including Taiwanese plant samples collected by Tomitaro Makino, the “father of Japanese botany,” Tseng said. The herbarium collection has grown in the century since its