Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers are divided over whether a draft bill to relax restrictions on foreign graduates seeking internships in Taiwan would create a loophole for firms to introduce cheap foreign workers and lower average salaries.
The Cabinet has proposed granting one-year visas to foreign college graduates within two years of their graduation and a two-year internship visa to specialists in the fields of science, technology, engineering and math.
At present, only current students can apply for internship visas, not graduates.
Photo: CNA
The bill would also relax constraints on residence and work permits, taxation, healthcare and retirement benefits to attract foreign white-collar workers to make up for a brain drain Taiwan is experiencing and boost the nation’s competitiveness.
The Cabinet draft is under review at the legislature.
DPP Legislator Lin Shu-feng (林淑芬) on Monday said that the internship rules were only made to relieve “the shortage of cheap white-collar workers for businesses.”
While businesses are required to pay at least NT$47,971 per month for a foreign white-collar worker, there is no minimum or maximum on intern salaries, which Lin said would allow businesses to hire cheap workers instead of high-salaried specialists.
The outflow of white-collar workers Taiwan is experiencing has been caused by wage stagnation, and easing rules on internship visas would only prolong the stagnation, Lin said.
“If foreign graduates are allowed to intern in Taiwan within two years of their graduation, will they take over low-level white-collar jobs?” Lin said on Facebook.
DPP Legislator Karen Yu (余宛如) has come under fire for her support of the Cabinet’s proposal.
Yu said the National Development Council estimates that the relaxation would have a limited effect on Taiwan’s labor market, and the legislation would only allow for an increase of 200 foreign interns per year.
There were only 458 foreign interns last year, and increasing that number would hardly affect the job market, regardless of the interns’ salary level, Yu said.
“Is it not strange to link the wage stagnation problem of Taiwan’s job market — which has more than 10 million workers — with that handful of foreign interns?” she said.
The law was drafted taking into account the immigration laws of other nations, she said.
Changes must be made to the industrial structure to enable Taiwan to compete in the future, she said.
MAKING WAVES: China’s maritime militia could become a nontraditional threat in war, clogging up shipping lanes to prevent US or Japanese intervention, a report said About 1,900 Chinese ships flying flags of convenience and fishing vessels that participated in China’s military exercises around Taiwan last month and in January last year have been listed for monitoring, Coast Guard Administration (CGA) Deputy Director-General Hsieh Ching-chin (謝慶欽) said yesterday. Following amendments to the Commercial Port Act (商港法) and the Law of Ships (船舶法) last month, the CGA can designate possible berthing areas or deny ports of call for vessels suspected of loitering around areas where undersea cables can be accessed, Oceans Affairs Council Minister Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) said. The list of suspected ships, originally 300, had risen to about
DAREDEVIL: Honnold said it had always been a dream of his to climb Taipei 101, while a Netflix producer said the skyscraper was ‘a real icon of this country’ US climber Alex Honnold yesterday took on Taiwan’s tallest building, becoming the first person to scale Taipei 101 without a rope, harness or safety net. Hundreds of spectators gathered at the base of the 101-story skyscraper to watch Honnold, 40, embark on his daredevil feat, which was also broadcast live on Netflix. Dressed in a red T-shirt and yellow custom-made climbing shoes, Honnold swiftly moved up the southeast face of the glass and steel building. At one point, he stepped onto a platform midway up to wave down at fans and onlookers who were taking photos. People watching from inside
Japan’s strategic alliance with the US would collapse if Tokyo were to turn away from a conflict in Taiwan, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said yesterday, but distanced herself from previous comments that suggested a possible military response in such an event. Takaichi expressed her latest views on a nationally broadcast TV program late on Monday, where an opposition party leader criticized her for igniting tensions with China with the earlier remarks. Ties between Japan and China have sunk to the worst level in years after Takaichi said in November that a hypothetical Chinese attack on Taiwan could bring about a Japanese
The WHO ignored early COVID-19 warnings from Taiwan, US Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Services Jim O’Neill said on Friday, as part of justification for Washington withdrawing from the global health body. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Thursday said that the US was pulling out of the UN agency, as it failed to fulfill its responsibilities during the COVID-19 pandemic. The WHO “ignored early COVID warnings from Taiwan in 2019 by pretending Taiwan did not exist, O’Neill wrote on X on Friday, Taiwan time. “It ignored rigorous science and promoted lockdowns.” The US will “continue international coordination on infectious
RSS