The Ministry of Labor yesterday launched a program to provide a pathway to permanent residency for migrant workers, and foreign and “overseas compatriot” students who earn an associate degree in Taiwan.
The program focuses on the long-term retention of students and migrant workers employed in manufacturing, construction, fisheries, caregiving and agriculture, the ministry said.
Migrant workers employed in one of those fields for six years are eligible to be reclassified as “mid-level skilled workers,” which their employer can apply for them and can be renewed every three years without limit, the ministry said.
After working as a “mid-level skilled worker” for five years while meeting the minimum wage requirement, they can apply for permanent residency, in accordance with the provisions of the Immigration Act (入出國及移民法), it said.
For migrant workers employed in the manufacturing, construction, agriculture and fishing industries, the minimum wage requirement for application eligibility is NT$33,000 per month, the ministry said.
Caregivers at institutions would be required to make at least NT$29,000 per month, while those working in private homes would have to show that they make NT$24,000 per month, it said.
The income requirement has faced criticism, especially from caregivers working in private homes, who say their average monthly salary is only about NT$17,000.
A total of 659,382 migrant workers, mainly from Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam, were working in Taiwan at the end of March, but only about 208,351 were eligible to apply for the program, ministry data showed.
For foreign and overseas compatriot students who graduate from a Taiwanese college with an associate degree, they can be immediately classified as “intermediate-skilled labor” at their job, but must earn a minimum of NT$30,000 per month to qualify for permanent residency, it said.
The program seeks to retain at least 80,000 migrant workers, and 80,000 foreign and overseas compatriot students by 2030, the Executive Yuan said in a statement.
Overseas compatriot students refer to people of Chinese ethnicity who were born and lived overseas, or to Taiwanese nationals who had resided overseas for more than six consecutive years until their return to Taiwan for studies.
Japanese footwear brand Onitsuka Tiger today issued a public apology and said it has suspended an employee amid allegations that the staff member discriminated against a Vietnamese customer at its Taipei 101 store. Posting on the social media platform Threads yesterday, a user said that an employee at the store said that “those shoes are very expensive” when her friend, who is a migrant worker from Vietnam, asked for assistance. The employee then ignored her until she asked again, to which she replied: "We don't have a size 37." The post had amassed nearly 26,000 likes and 916 comments as of this
US President Donald Trump said "it’s up to" Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) what China does on Taiwan, but that he would be "very unhappy" with a change in the "status quo," the New York Times said in an interview published yesterday. Xi "considers it to be a part of China, and that’s up to him what he’s going to be doing," Trump told the newspaper on Wednesday. "But I’ve expressed to him that I would be very unhappy if he did that, and I don’t think he’ll do that," he added. "I hope he doesn’t do that." Trump made the comments in
Tourism in Kenting fell to a historic low for the second consecutive year last year, impacting hotels and other local businesses that rely on a steady stream of domestic tourists, the latest data showed. A total of 2.139 million tourists visited Kenting last year, down slightly from 2.14 million in 2024, the data showed. The number of tourists who visited the national park on the Hengchun Peninsula peaked in 2015 at 8.37 million people. That number has been below 2.2 million for two years, although there was a spike in October last year due to multiple long weekends. The occupancy rate for hotels
A cold surge advisory was today issued for 18 cities and counties across Taiwan, with temperatures of below 10°C forecast during the day and into tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. New Taipei City, Taipei, Taoyuan and Hsinchu, Miaoli and Yilan counties are expected to experience sustained temperatures of 10°C or lower, the CWA said. Temperatures are likely to temporarily drop below 10°C in most other areas, except Taitung, Pingtung, Penghu and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties, CWA data showed. The cold weather is being caused by a strong continental cold air mass, combined with radiative cooling, a process in which heat escapes from
RSS