A number of issues relating to the supply of Indonesian migrant workers to Taiwan are to be discussed today in a videoconference between officials of the two nations, the Indonesian government said yesterday.
The main issues on the agenda include Taiwan’s ban on Indonesian migrant workers due to COVID-19 concerns and a policy set to be introduced by Jakarta to transfer all preparatory costs of migrant workers to Taiwanese employers, the National Agency for the Placement and Protection of Indonesian Overseas Workers said.
The entry ban was imposed on Wednesday last week by the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) and extended the following Friday amid a spike in the number of imported COVID-19 cases from Indonesia.
The decision was made in the interests of protecting the nation’s healthcare system due to the large numbers of imported COVID-19 cases, the CECC said.
The CECC also expressed concern that many Indonesian migrant workers who presented negative COVID-19 polymerase chain reaction tests on arrival had later been found to be infected with the coronavirus.
Indonesian officials have proposed solutions aimed at addressing the COVID-19 test problem, in the hope that Taiwan would lift its indefinite entry ban on migrant workers, sources familiar with the matter said.
However, Taipei has been pushing back on a new Indonesian policy that is to take effect on Friday next week that requires employers to pay the preparatory costs of hiring migrant workers from Indonesia, including their passport and visa processing fees and airfares.
The Ministry of Labor has made it clear that it would not accept the terms of the policy, which it said had been unilaterally decided by Jakarta.
The videoconference is due to begin at 10am.
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