A total of 1,450 applicants have requested live-in migrant caregivers under relaxed eligibility rules that went into effect on Aug. 1, Minister of Labor Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) said today before attending a meeting at the Legislative Yuan.
There had been 1,450 applicants under the amendment as of Sunday, and the number of applicants during the second week of the month doubled from the first week, Hung said.
Photo: Lin Chih-yi, Taipei Times
Before the new rules took effect, the Ministry of Labor forecast an increase of 100,000 applications for domestic caregivers, but that rush has yet to materialize.
Hung said applications recorded during the second week indicated that "demand is growing."
"Which direction it will take remains to be seen. The ministry, as the governing agency, will have accompanying measures in place in light of a rise in demand," Hung said.
Opposition lawmakers from the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People's Party (TPP) in December last year pushed through bills to relax rules on recruiting migrant caregivers, allowing people aged 80 and older to hire migrant live-in caregivers without passing a Barthel Index assessment.
Additionally, the legal revision allowed people aged 70 to 79 who have been diagnosed with stage two or later-stage cancer to hire a live-in caregiver without passing the assessment.
Previously, anyone who wanted to hire a migrant caregiver to provide full-time care had to pass a Barthel Index assessment to prove they had the need, but people aged under 80 needed a lower score (showing they were more seriously ill) than those aged over 80 to qualify.
Based on ministry estimates of new caregiver demand under the new rules, there were concerns the changes would make it harder or more expensive for severely ill people to get live-in help, as caregivers opted to work for clients who were easier to care for.
There were also predictions of caregiver shortages because of the difficulty of recruiting and training so many new migrant workers.
However, the ministry has continued to say that it would prioritize applicants with critical care needs when reviewing applications.
Eight Chinese naval vessels and 24 military aircraft were detected crossing the median line of the Taiwan Strait between 6am yesterday and 6am today, the Ministry of National Defense said this morning. The aircraft entered Taiwan’s northern, central, southwestern and eastern air defense identification zones, the ministry said. The armed forces responded with mission aircraft, naval vessels and shore-based missile systems to closely monitor the situation, it added. Eight naval vessels, one official ship and 36 aircraft sorties were spotted in total, the ministry said.
INCREASED CAPACITY: The flights on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays would leave Singapore in the morning and Taipei in the afternoon Singapore Airlines is adding four supplementary flights to Taipei per week until May to meet increased tourist and business travel demand, the carrier said on Friday. The addition would raise the number of weekly flights it operates to Taipei to 18, Singapore Airlines Taiwan general manager Timothy Ouyang (歐陽漢源) said. The airline has recorded a steady rise in tourist and business travel to and from Taipei, and aims to provide more flexible travel arrangements for passengers, said Ouyang, who assumed the post in July last year. From now until Saturday next week, four additional flights would depart from Singapore on Monday, Wednesday, Friday
The Ministry of National Defense yesterday reported the return of large-scale Chinese air force activities after their unexplained absence for more than two weeks, which had prompted speculation regarding Beijing’s motives. China usually sends fighter jets, drones and other military aircraft around the nation on a daily basis. Interruptions to such routine are generally caused by bad weather. The Ministry of National Defense said it had detected 26 Chinese military aircraft in the Taiwan Strait over the previous 24 hours. It last reported that many aircraft on Feb. 25, when it spotted 30 aircraft, saying Beijing was carrying out another “joint combat
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) today said that if South Korea does not reply appropriately to its request to correct Taiwan’s name on its e-Arrival card system before March 31, it would take corresponding measures to alter how South Korea is labeled on the online Taiwan Arrival Card system. South Korea’s e-Arrival card system lists Taiwan as “China (Taiwan)” in the “point of departure” and “next destination” fields. The ministry said that it changed the nationality for South Koreans on Taiwan’s Alien Resident Certificates from “Korea” to “South Korea” on March 1, in a gesture of goodwill and based on the
RSS