The New Immigrant Development Agency is to be established next year with an annual budget of NT$700 million (US$23.68 million), Deputy Minister of the Interior Wu Tang-an (吳堂安) said today.
Wu was speaking at a joint meeting of the legislature's Judiciary and Organic Laws and Statutes Committee and Internal Administration Committee to review proposed amendments to Article 5 of the Organization Act of the Ministry of the Interior (內政部組織法).
The ministry said in a written report that it has instructed the National Immigration Agency to prepare for the establishment of the new agency, and seven meetings have already been held on the matter.
Photo: Taipei Times file photo
The new agency is expected to have four departments overseeing 12 divisions with about 100 full-time staff, the ministry said.
It would take time to prepare for the new agency as it would serve a wide range of immigrants and be tasked with an extensive scope of work, it said.
It is the ministry's duty to take care of new immigrants, and it would promote new immigrant affairs, including work, health, welfare and education, in accordance with the New Immigrants Basic Act (新住民基本法), Wu said.
The New Immigrants Basic Act, which passed its third reading in July last year, requires the ministry to establish a dedicated “third-level” administrative agency for new immigrant affairs.
Article 4 of the act states that the agency would be “responsible for overall planning, research, consultation, coordination, promotion, and facilitation of matters related to new immigrants’ education, employment, empowerment, care, assistance, and diverse services.”
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