Taiwan's 'one-stop service' website for new migrant domestic workers now online

台灣新住民家庭看護工“一站式服務”網站上線

Streamlined service for new migrant domestic helpers goes into effect on Jan. 1


TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The Ministry of Labor (MOL) last Friday (Dec. 16) announced that applications for a "one-stop service" for migrant domestic workers will start on Tuesday (Dec. 20) on its new website and the system will go into effect on Jan. 1, providing migrant workers with pre-employment training and easing the application process for employers.

In a press release issued by the MOL's Workforce Development Agency, Paul Su (蘇裕國), head of the agency's Cross-Border Workforce Management Division, said the new system was devised under the recommendation of the Control Yuan and legislators and with the cooperation of the Ministry of Interior, and the Ministry of Health and Welfare. Su added, after more than a year of integrating statutory regulations, operating procedures, and information systems for the legal matters that must be handled when migrant domestic workers enter the country, the "one-stop service has been" established.

Su explained that with the new service, migrant domestic helpers can cut down procedures that used to take up to one and a half months to complete to just the third day after pre-employment training is finished. Su announced that the MOL will launch the Migrant Workers One-Stop Website on Tuesday, enabling employers and labor brokers to log in and apply for new migrant domestic workers to enter the country after Jan. 1, 2023.

At the same time, the Migrant Workers One-Stop Center has been established in Taoyuan City and Kaohsiung City. As long as the employer recruits new domestic helpers from overseas or hires domestic helpers who have not participated in pre-employment training for five years, they must register under this new system.

The new system stipulates that employers must log in and apply online five days before migrant workers enter the country. Su reminded employers that if the registration and application are not completed, migrant domestic workers will not be allowed to depart the airport of their home country and will not be allowed to come to Taiwan for work.

Regarding the pre-employment training, Su said that the service center would pick up the workers, arrange for accommodations, and send them to the classes. The course will be delivered over the course of "eight hours, three days, and two nights."

The course will be taught by bilingual lecturers combined with videos. On the morning of the third day, the employer or labor broker will pick the workers up. Employment permits, Alien Resident Certificates, National Health Insurance, and occupational accident insurance can all be obtained that same day.

In terms of the fees under the new system, Su said that during the training period, the employer must pay the worker's salary, while the MOL will subsidize the online login, room and board, and transportation expenses, and employ more than 100 service personnel. According to Su, in the future, the service will be expanded to migrant fishery and factory workers.

The new service is anticipated to benefit about 50,000 employers and domestic migrant workers per year, said Su.