Taiwan Migrant Workers Retention Scheme Adds New Open Categories and Long-term Employment Program

Taiwan’s Migrant Worker Retention Scheme, which has already approved the transition of over 4,000 migrant workers to mid-level positions, is currently being amended by Taiwan’s labor department to further relax regulations. New additions include mid-level technical jobs in slaughterhouses and an increase in the number of hours for in-house training courses provided by manufacturing and slaughterhouse businesses to 80 hours as a technical qualification. Furthermore, the scheme now allows the spouse, direct blood relatives, and

collateral blood relatives within the third degree of kinship to employ as migrant caregivers who have worked for 11.5 years and have already left the country.

The slaughterhouse industry in Taiwan has been open to migrant workers for six years. To retain experienced migrant workers in the slaughterhouse industry for mid-level technical positions, considering the increasing demand for meat consumption and the yearly increase in the number of slaughterhouses, there’s a need for mid-level manpower with slaughtering skills. Thus, the scheme now includes the possibility for migrant workers to transition to mid-level technical slaughterhouse jobs. Recognized slaughterhouse employers can now hire senior migrant workers who have worked for up to six years and have obtained professional slaughterhouse certifications or completed training courses, transitioning them to mid-level technical positions. Salary conditions are set at a monthly wage of at least 33,000 New Taiwan Dollars (NTD), with those earning over 35,000 NTD exempt from providing technical qualification proof.

This amendment also relaxes the requirements for in-house training courses offered by manufacturing and slaughterhouse businesses as a technical qualification. Employers in these industries who have employed the same migrant worker for more than three years and have participated in employer-conducted industry upgrade and transformation training courses for over 80 hours will meet the technical qualification conditions for corporate training. Additionally, the calculation method for the total number of mid-level technical workers that employers can hire has been relaxed. Under current regulations, the total number of foreign professional workers, mid-level technical workers, and migrant workers employed by an employer cannot exceed 50% of the total number of employees. However, for industries with special characteristics approved by the Ministry of Labor and other relevant departments, the number of white-collar professional employees will not be included in this calculation, allowing for an increase in the number of mid-level manpower that can be employed.

Regarding the new provision that the spouse, direct blood relatives, and collateral blood relatives within the third degree of kinship to employ as migrant caregivers who have worked for 11.5 years and have already left the country, the original regulation limited this transition to mid-level caregiving positions to applications by the original employer only. However, considering practical scenarios where the original employer may have passed away or is unable or unwilling to continue as the employer, this amendment aims to address the care needs of the care recipient and humanitarian considerations by relaxing the qualifications for employers applying to hire foreign nationals for mid-level technical home caregiving positions. Relatives up to the third degree of kinship or other specified relatives or spouses of the care recipient can now hire migrant workers who have worked abroad for 11.5 years to return to Taiwan and transition to mid-level caregiving positions. For example, a migrant worker originally employed by the spouse of the care recipient (the uncle) who has completed 11.5 years of work and left the country can now be employed by a new employer (the nephew) to return to Taiwan and continue caring for the uncle.