Because of the ongoing instability in Thailand, where international airports have been blockaded by protesters, the Council of Labor Affairs (CLA) yesterday announced that employers would be able to extend the period of their Approval Letter for the Employment of Foreign Labor if their laborer’s arrival in Taiwan had been delayed because of flight cancelations.
The council said this would apply to all employers of foreign laborers who had not arrived in Taiwan to start work because of flights being canceled in the wake of the protests.
The employee or employer must obtain proof of purchase of a flight ticket and proof that the flight was canceled from the airline company. The application for an extension should be filed 30 days before the date of expiration of the original approval and the approved period can be extended for as much as three months.
Meanwhile, in related developments, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday said that two of the nation’s air carriers were to bring home Taiwanese who have been stranded in Thailand because of the occupation of Bangkok’s two airports.
“We have coordinated with China Airlines and EVA Airways to help bring our people back,” deputy ministry spokesman James Chang (章計平) said.
He said about 500 people were stranded in Bangkok and that they would be transferred to airports outside Bangkok from where the two airlines would schedule flights to return them to Taiwan.
Around 1,500 other Taiwanese have already been taken to other Thai airports and were waiting to return home, officials at the Tourism Bureau said.
China Airlines dispatched an additional flight to Chiang Mai International Airport in northern Thailand yesterday to bring 313 stranded Taiwanese home, the airline said in a statement.
In addition to EVA, Thai Airways International has also agreed to help evacuate the Taiwanese tourists stranded in Thailand, Chang said.
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