Direct Hiring of Foreign Workers Initiated

The hiring of foreign workers has become more economical and convenient with the recent establishment by the Council of Labor Affairs (CLA) of a Direct Hiring Service Center where employers can hire foreign workers directly. Initial priority will be given to the direct hiring of family caregivers. The CLA points out that under the past model, after foreign caregivers had served three years in Taiwan their employers had to go through labor brokers to rehire them, at a cost to the employee and the caregiver of about NT$100,000 and a process that took two to three weeks at least, during which time the employer had to arrange for another caregiver. Now, employers can go to the Direct Hiring Center and make visa and other arrangements ahead of time. After the caregivers return to their home countries, they can go to the Taiwan representative office there to obtain the necessary documents and re-enter Taiwan in as little as one day. This simplifies the hiring of foreign caregivers and reduces the fees paid to labor brokers by both employer and caregiver. The Direct Hiring Center will use short message service or the Internet to notify the employer about the caregiver’s labor and health insurance, resident permit, and physical examination. An employer who wants to rehire the same caregiver can apply to do so four months prior to the expiration of the caregiver’s original length of service. In addition to the Direct Hiring Center in Taipei, five Employment Service Centers of the CLA’s Bureau of Employment and Vocational Training — Luodong, Jhongli, Taichung, Tainan, and Kaohsiung — have established windows to take applications and provide information.