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Foreign graduate students may get work permits soon

The Council of Labor Affairs is set to allow foreign graduate students to obtain work permits as soon as they begin their studies, as long as their school attests that the work is related to their studies.

The current regulations state that foreign students are not eligible to work in their first year of study.

SHUT OUT

Chen Jui-chia (陳瑞嘉), senior executive officer of the council, said the rule change came about after school officials complained to senior council officials that foreign students were being shut out of research projects that promote their academic advancement because first-year students were unable to obtain work permits.

"Graduate students are often expected to help professors with their research in their first year," Chen said.

"It is unfair to hold them back from academically meaningful projects," he said.

The old rules would remain in place for non-graduate foreign students, Chen said.

These students are not allowed to work at all in their first year and would have to fulfill one of three conditions to work in subsequent years.

MAKING SURE

"In order for foreign students to work in Taiwan, they will either have to show that they are suffering financial hardship, that their work is related to their area of academic expertise or that their work is a part of their studies," Chen said. "We want to make sure that students who come to Taiwan come here primarily to study."

Chen said the rule change would go into effect as soon as it is officially announced by the council around the middle of next month.
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