Taiwan to open border to Indonesian migrant workers as soon as this week

台灣本週將盡快向印尼移工開放邊境

Tsai did not say when migrant workers from other countries will be allowed to enter country


TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A Ministry of Labor (MOL) official on Tuesday (Nov. 9) announced that Taiwan will open its borders to Indonesian migrant workers as soon as this week.

During a press briefing, MOL Workforce Development Agency Director-General Tsai Meng-liang (蔡孟良) stated that Taiwanese and Indonesian authorities had held a meeting on the preparations for opening the borders to workers. Among the measures discussed was having labor brokers formulate an epidemic prevention plan and having the plan verified and certified by Indonesian authorities.

The Taiwanese representative office in Indonesia will review the immigration visa procedures while the Indonesian government will provide a list of 47 PCR testing agencies. The Indonesian government pledged to strictly supervise labor brokers' implementation of the epidemic prevention plan.

Tsai said the formal implementation plan for opening the borders to Indonesian workers will be reported to the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) as soon as possible. He predicted that it is possible Indonesian workers can begin entering Taiwan as early as this week.

Regarding questions about the certification process for Indonesians who have been vaccinated, Tsai said that the Indonesian government has deployed an official app to verify the vaccination status of its citizens. As long as an Indonesian national has been vaccinated, their shot record can be accessed through the app. The app has an anti-counterfeiting mechanism, which can be used as proof.

As for the status of the "zero placement fee policy," Tsai said that the focus of the discussions was on strengthening epidemic prevention and giving priority to Indonesian workers to enter Taiwan. Tsai stated that the policy can be revisited once the pandemic is over.

Tsai did not comment on when migrant workers from other countries, such as the Philippines, will be allowed in.

Due to a surge of COVID cases in Indonesia last year, the entry of migrant workers from the country was halted on Dec. 4, 2020. Amid both a spike in local cases and the continued global pandemic, entry by all migrant workers was suspended on May 19 of this year.

The MOL on Nov. 1 proposed a plan in which migrant workers would be allowed into Taiwan this month based on a points system. The points will be allotted based on a migrant worker's vaccination status, the average number of weekly COVID cases in their country, and the type of accommodations provided by their employer.

The lifting of the ban will be very short-lived due to an expected influx of at least 40,000 Taiwanese returning from overseas for the Lunar New Year holiday. The ban on migrant workers is set to be reimposed from Dec. 14 to Feb. 14 to make way for returning Taiwanese.