According to a report by the "4wayvoice", Taiwan has suspended the entry of migrant workers starting from May 19 in response to the warming of the local epidemic. In addition to causing a large shortage of workers in Taiwan, it has also caused migrant workers' wages and agency fees to increase. Many Taiwanese employers are already affected under the epidemic, and they still must face high intermediary fees, which adds to their economic burden.
At present, if Taiwanese employers need to hire social welfare migrant workers for nursing needs, they can only hire existing domestic migrant workers. The application process is not as complicated as the hiring of migrant workers from overseas. Employers who wish to save agency fees may wish to consider direct hiring through the government’s direct hiring system. For the procedure, here is the outline of the steps and important precautions.
First, the employer must first apply for the Barthel Index (巴氏量表) at designated hospitals to complete the medical assessment, to verify whether the care recipient is eligible, and to determine if the employer (applicant) and the care recipient are relatives as required by the Ministry of Labor (MOL, 勞動部) to confirm that the care recipient is eligible to apply. Next is to apply online or to fill out the "Employer's Application for Direct Hiring of Foreigners" (雇主直接聘僱外國人申請書) online or on paper.
Meets one of the required specific disability severity levels. (Photo/Provided by the Direct Hire Service Center)
To protect the employment rights of Taiwanese, the MOL stipulates that the applicant must first apply through long-term care centers to hire a domestic Taiwanese. If the required time has passed and a local caregiver is not found, the long-term care center will voluntarily submit the documents to the MOL to apply for employment. The employer will then receive an "employment permit" letter from the MOL. After obtaining the employment permit, the applicant may start looking for suitable migrant workers in Taiwan. Employers can find foreign workers through NGO referrals for migrant workers in Taiwan, or through public employment service agencies (公立就業服務機構) or through the "job transfer system" (轉換系統), and then register their application with employment service agencies.
There are two types of hiring of domestic foreign workers in Taiwan, “Consensual Transfer” and “End of Contract Transfer” (“合意轉換”和”到期轉換”). For example, if the foreign employee has terminated the employment relationship with the original employer and is waiting to transfer to a new employer or has a three-party agreement with the original employer during the employment period for a new employer to continue the employment, then this is a consensual transfer. "End of Contract Transfer" means that the foreign worker still maintains the employment relationship with the original employer and will transfer to a new employer after the expiration of the contract. After interviewing the new employee and confirming the type of conversion, the new employer can fill up the "Employer’s Direct Hiring of Foreigners Application" online or on paper, and include the foreign migrant’s name and passport number, and other personal information. The applicant should prepare other required documents and send all information to the Direct Hiring Center to apply for a "Hiring Permit".
Satisfies the professional assessment of designated hospitals by the Ministry of Health and Welfare. (Photo/Provided by the Direct Hire Service Center)
If "consensual transfer" is the type chosen, the new employer should prepare the application documents and apply at the MOL through the Direct Hiring Center within 15 days from the day following the renewal of employment of the foreign worker (continued date). If "End of Contract Transfer" is chosen, the new employer should prepare the application documents and apply at the MOL through the Direct Hiring Center within 15 days from the day following the date of signing the agreement to continue the employment of the foreign worker (signature date). After the application is approved, an official document will be received. Finally, the employer should accompany the newly hired migrant worker to the county or city labor bureau to go through the relevant procedures, complete the ID documents, apply for health insurance at the National Health Insurance Administration (健保局), and go to the migrant worker’s home country’s embassy or representative office in Taiwan to apply for "employment contract certification" (聘僱契約認證).
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A diagram of the applicant's blood relations up to three levels. (Photo/Provided by the Direct Hire Service Center)
In response to the epidemic period, the MOL announced in July that the new employer should arrange to transfer workers to a qualified medical institution for PCR testing within 3 days before the day of the renewal of employment (including end of contract transfer). If testing services are not provided on Saturdays and Sundays, or if hospital testing cannot be done because capacity is full on that day, an exception is to postpone the PCR test to within 3 days from the date of renewal of employment. During the waiting period for the PCR test results of the migrant workers, the new employer should arrange for one migrant worker per room, implement epidemic prevention measures, and the testing fee should be paid by the new employer.
If the new employer fails to arrange for PCR test for the migrant workers or fails to arrange for one migrant worker per room during the waiting period for the test results in accordance with the regulations, they will be fined NT$60,000 up to NT$300,000 in violation of Article 57, paragraph 9 of the Employment Service Act (就業服務法) and the employment permits will not be issued. For more information, please refer to: Direct Hiring Service Center.
