A number of upcoming rule changes by the Council of Labor Affairs (CLA) will reduce the amount of red tape faced by foreign laborers and their employers, CLA officials said yesterday.
At a regularly scheduled news conference, the CLA announced that a number of requirements and restrictions on foreign laborers who want to switch jobs will be lifted soon.
According to current rules, a foreign laborer who wishes to leave one position for another must register at one of the CLA's employment service centers and wait for the center's mediation. The center then matches the worker with an employer offering a job of the same nature in the same region and wait for both parties to agree to the match. If the worker is not successfully matched with an employee after three mediations, they face repatriation.
"Foreign laborers are excessively burdened by these limitations," said Tsai Meng-liang (
Under the new rules, the workers will be free to find their own jobs, which need not be in the same region or line of work as their old jobs.
"A factory worker can find a new job as a domestic worker, and vice versa," Tsai said.
"As long as the current employer, the worker and the new employer all consent to the move, the worker will be able to register for their new job with the CLA without delay," Tsai said.
The changes will go into effect soon after the relevant articles in the Employment Service Act (
In another move aimed at improving circumstances for foreign workers and their employers, the CLA is instituting an official direct employment agency that will allow employers to employ foreign workers without going through private employment agencies.
The first phase of the project will target returning workers who have already completed a three-year term in Taiwan and are seeking to re-new their original employment for another term.
In addition to allowing workers and employers to avoid the hefty fees charged by most private employment agencies, the official agency will also streamline the application process for returning foreign laborers, reducing the length of time the worker needs to remain abroad as paperwork is completed from more than a month to as little as just one day, said Tsai.
The details of the project will be unveiled at a press conference towards the end of the year, Tsai said.
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