The National Immigration Agency (NIA) yesterday announced new measures to make it easier for foreign workers to apply for an Alien Resident Certificate (ARC).
The revised regulations, which are designed to better protect foreign workers’ rights, take effect tomorrow, it said.
Based on current regulations, foreign workers who arrived in Taiwan with a recruitment permit (招募許可函) had to wait until they obtained a letter of approval for the employment of foreign workers and a certificate of employment before they could apply for an ARC.
However, under the new regulations, foreign workers may directly apply for an ARC prior to receiving a letter of approval from the Council of Labor Affairs (CLA), the NIA said in a statement.
The new measures would also cut the processing time for an ARC from 30 days at present to within 10 days of an application.
“A foreign worker needs an ARC to enjoy welfare coverage such as labor insurance or national health insurance, but since it takes time for a foreign worker to get an approval letter from the CLA, it might create some inconvenience for both the foreign worker and the employer alike during the waiting period,” NIA Director-General Hsieh Li-kung (謝立功) said.
“To better protect foreign workers’ rights to labor or health insurance, the NIA — after a careful assessment — has revised regulations related to ARC issuance so that foreign workers can receive their ARC, which is valid for six months, before getting an approval letter from the CLA,” Hsieh said.
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