The Executive Yuan is still reviewing a proposal to expand eligibility for one-child families to hire foreign domestic helpers and is expected to announce details of the policy and related support measures as soon as the end of the year, an official said today.
In September, President William Lai (賴清德) pledged to allow all families with one child under age 12 to apply to hire foreign domestic helpers.
The current regulations state that families with three children under six, or four children of whom two are under six, can apply.
Photo: Taipei Times
Under the Employment Service Act (就業服務法), families who hire foreign domestic helpers must pay an employment stabilization fee of NT$5,000 per month.
The Cabinet is considering raising to NT$8,000 under the new policy to control demand and ensure adequate helpers are available.
To hire foreign domestic caregivers to care for the sick and the elderly, families must pay an employment stabilization fee of NT$2,000 per month.
The Cabinet first finalized plans to allow the hospitality sector and ports to hire intermediate-skilled migrant workers, provided they increase the monthly salary of their lowest-paid domestic worker by NT$2,000 for every foreign hire, starting next year.
The policy was announced on Thursday last week, without including any details of the upcoming changes to the foreign domestic helper policy.
As Lai’s proposal is more complicated, officials today said that the government wishes to first complete consultations before announcing any details.
As Lai’s proposal attracted criticism, the Ministry of Labor, Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Cabinet have been in discussions with various organizations and held multiple meetings to explore policy directions, the unnamed official said.
There are currently 850,000 migrant workers in Taiwan, of whom 220,000 held social welfare-related jobs, with 2,000 hired as domestic helpers, labor ministry statistics showed.
Most of the remaining 218,000 are employed as domestic caregivers caring for the sick and elderly.
The new policy must not undermine Taiwan’s long-term childcare support system and should be categorized as a labor policy, not a social welfare policy, the official said.
It must also ensure that adequate helpers are available for children with rare diseases who are most in need and may be disadvantaged by the new policy, they said.
Other issues under review include whether stay-at-home parents could also apply, or whether families must first prove that both parents are working full-time, and whether grandparents or elderly family members in the home would affect eligibility, they added.
CALL FOR SUPPORT: President William Lai called on lawmakers across party lines to ensure the livelihood of Taiwanese and that national security is protected President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday called for bipartisan support for Taiwan’s investment in self-defense capabilities at the christening and launch of two coast guard vessels at CSBC Corp, Taiwan’s (台灣國際造船) shipyard in Kaohsiung. The Taipei (台北) is the fourth and final ship of the Chiayi-class offshore patrol vessels, and the Siraya (西拉雅) is the Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) first-ever ocean patrol vessel, the government said. The Taipei is the fourth and final ship of the Chiayi-class offshore patrol vessels with a displacement of about 4,000 tonnes, Lai said. This ship class was ordered as a result of former president Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) 2018
UKRAINE, NVIDIA: The US leader said the subject of Russia’s war had come up ‘very strongly,’ while Jenson Huang was hoping that the conversation was good Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and US President Donald Trump had differing takes following their meeting in Busan, South Korea, yesterday. Xi said that the two sides should complete follow-up work as soon as possible to deliver tangible results that would provide “peace of mind” to China, the US and the rest of the world, while Trump hailed the “great success” of the talks. The two discussed trade, including a deal to reduce tariffs slapped on China for its role in the fentanyl trade, as well as cooperation in ending the war in Ukraine, among other issues, but they did not mention
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi yesterday lavished US President Donald Trump with praise and vows of a “golden age” of ties on his visit to Tokyo, before inking a deal with Washington aimed at securing critical minerals. Takaichi — Japan’s first female prime minister — pulled out all the stops for Trump in her opening test on the international stage and even announced that she would nominate him for a Nobel Peace Prize, the White House said. Trump has become increasingly focused on the Nobel since his return to power in January and claims to have ended several conflicts around the world,
GLOBAL PROJECT: Underseas cables ‘are the nervous system of democratic connectivity,’ which is under stress, Member of the European Parliament Rihards Kols said The government yesterday launched an initiative to promote global cooperation on improved security of undersea cables, following reported disruptions of such cables near Taiwan and around the world. The Management Initiative on International Undersea Cables aims to “bring together stakeholders, align standards, promote best practices and turn shared concerns into beneficial cooperation,” Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said at a seminar in Taipei. The project would be known as “RISK,” an acronym for risk mitigation, information sharing, systemic reform and knowledge building, he said at the seminar, titled “Taiwan-Europe Subsea Cable Security Cooperation Forum.” Taiwan sits at a vital junction on
RSS