TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Amid a severe shortage in the domestic labor force, the Cabinet on Thursday (Feb. 17) announced its plans to enable foreign blue collar workers to apply for permanent residency as long as certain criteria are met.

During a Cabinet meeting to discuss the planned program to enable foreign mid-level skilled workers to obtain permanent resident status, the Ministry of Labor stated that the rule changes will come in the form of an executive order, without the need for an amendment. When asked by the media why it would not consider enacting the New Economic Immigration Law (新經濟移民法), the MOL stated that the Employment Service Act (就業服務法) and the Act for the Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professional Talent (外國專業人才延攬及僱用法) are already very comprehensive, so it is not considering amending any laws for the time being.

An official from the MOL stated that the current plan is to loosen the permanent residency requirements for mid-level technicians who have attained a certain level of experience and pay. The planned requirements include "working in Taiwan six years, being skilled in technology, meeting a certain salary level, and working for five years after applying," reported the Liberty Times.

In June of last year, the Legislative Yuan passed the third reading of a draft amendment of the Act for the Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals (外國專業人才延攬及僱用法). Among other incentives, the amendment relaxed the rules for obtaining permanent residence for white-collar "foreign special professionals," but this did not apply to blue-collar workers.

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the opening of Taiwan's borders to foreign migrant workers. The number of migrant workers peaked at 719,487 in February 2020 but dropped to 675,672 by November 2021, as the borders had been closed to them due to the surge of local COVID cases that summer.

source: By Keoni Everington

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