Professionals and businesspeople joined Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers at a legislative hearing yesterday to demand changes to regulations that they said make Taiwan unattractive to foreigners, white-collar workers and business owners.
DPP legislators Chung Chia-pin (鍾佳濱) and Yu Wan-ju (余宛如) collaborated with the Taiwan Thinktank to organize the hearing.
Yu said there are more than 662,000 foreign nationals holding valid work permits in Taiwan, and about 550,000 of these are caregivers or blue-collar workers.
About 17,000 people, or 2.58 percent, are foreign white-collar workers in the business, technical, engineering, media or professional sectors, teachers, researchers or missionaries.
Chung said Taiwan has to meet the challenges of globalization and the nation has a shortage of skilled workers, and it is time offer incentives and improved conditions to attract more foreign professionals.
“We have to face these problems now. There are foreign students who are studying here, and they want to stay and work in Taiwan. We have foreign professionals who are attracted by the friendly people and the lifestyle, but they get tired of the bureaucratic red tape, so they end up leaving,” he said.
Elias Ek, from Sweden, attended the hearing to talk about the problems he faced as a foreign worker. Living in Taipei for 17 years and married to a Taiwanese woman, Ek said that he is the founder and general manager of Enspyre, a B2B telemarketing firm in Taiwan.
Ek said he faces difficulty in his daily life and conducting business which Taiwanese do not, such as problems dealing with banks and applying for credit cards, and not being able to use e-commerce or make online payments because his ID number is different from those of Taiwanese.
“I went to a telecom service office to apply for a second mobile phone for a family member, but was told I cannot, because as a foreigner, government regulations mean I can only have one phone number,” he said.
“Because of the different ID number for foreigners, I am constantly reminded that I am a foreigner. My hope is to end the different treatment for people like me who have a family in Taiwan. Instead of a foreigner, I would like to be known as a Taiwanese citizen of Swedish descent,” he said.
Chung said he and DPP lawmakers would work on a labor bill and other laws which would lift the restrictions and relax rules on minimum salary, residency period requirements and professional work experience for foreign professionals.
The first two F-16V Bock 70 jets purchased from the US are expected to arrive in Taiwan around Double Ten National Day, which is on Oct. 10, a military source said yesterday. Of the 66 F-16V Block 70 jets purchased from the US, the first completed production in March, the source said, adding that since then three jets have been produced per month. Although there were reports of engine defects, the issue has been resolved, they said. After the jets arrive in Taiwan, they must first pass testing by the air force before they would officially become Taiwan’s property, they said. The air force
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy’s (PLAN) third aircraft carrier, the Fujian, would pose a steep challenge to Taiwan’s ability to defend itself against a full-scale invasion, a defense expert said yesterday. Institute of National Defense and Security Research analyst Chieh Chung (揭仲) made the comment hours after the PLAN confirmed the carrier recently passed through the Taiwan Strait to conduct “scientific research tests and training missions” in the South China Sea. China has two carriers in operation — the Liaoning and the Shandong — with the Fujian undergoing sea trials. Although the PLAN needs time to train the Fujian’s air wing and
STRIKE: Some travel agencies in Taiwan said that they were aware of the situation in South Korea, and that group tours to the country were proceeding as planned A planned strike by airport personnel in South Korea has not affected group tours to the country from Taiwan, travel agencies said yesterday. They added that they were closely monitoring the situation. Personnel at 15 airports, including Seoul’s Incheon and Gimpo airports, are to go on strike. They announced at a news conference on Tuesday that the strike would begin on Friday next week and continue until the Mid-Autumn Festival next month. Some travel agencies in Taiwan, including Cola Tour, Lion Travel, SET Tour and ezTravel, said that they were aware of the situation in South Korea, and that group
Taiwanese celebrities Hank Chen (陳漢典) and Lulu Huang (黃路梓茵) announced yesterday that they are planning to marry. Huang announced and posted photos of their engagement to her social media pages yesterday morning, joking that the pair were not just doing marketing for a new show, but “really getting married.” “We’ve decided to spend all of our future happy and hilarious moments together,” she wrote. The announcement, which was later confirmed by the talent agency they share, appeared to come as a surprise even to those around them, with veteran TV host Jacky Wu (吳宗憲) saying he was “totally taken aback” by the news. Huang,
RSS