Taiwan is considering easing a pandemic-induced moratorium from May and using a points-based system to allow entry for overseas contract workers, Labor Minister Hsu Ming-chun (???) said Monday.
Hsu told members of the Legislature's Social Welfare and Environmental Hygiene Committee that prospective migrant workers will be given points for things such as being fully vaccinated and having a relatively stable COVID-19 situation in their home countries.
Employers applying to bring in workers from overseas, meanwhile, will also be assessed and awarded points based on their level of pandemic preparedness, she added.
According to the Ministry of Labor's Workforce Development Agency Director-General Tsai Meng-liang (???), those with the highest points will be given priority for entering Taiwan.
Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam are currently the four biggest sources of foreign workers in Taiwan.
Among them, Indonesia is reporting an average of around 1,000 new daily COVID-19 cases, while the figure for the other three countries is more than 10 times that, Hsu said.
She said her ministry had decided to introduce stricter measures regarding entry for foreign contract works in order to maintain Taiwan's hard-won low infection rate.
Taiwan first banned the entry of Indonesian contract workers in December 2020 due to the COVID-19 situation in that country.
The government further barred all new overseas contract workers from entering the country beginning May 19 this year, following an unprecedented spike in COVID-19 cases in Taiwan.
However, the country has been experiencing an acute labor shortage that has gotten worse since a local outbreak of COVID-19 in May.
In order to address the problem, Hsu said Taiwan was considering reopening entry to foreign contract workers given that the country recently saw its first-dose vaccination rate pass 70 percent.
A draft plan on this measure has been presented to the Central Epidemic Command Center for review, the labor minister said, and she expressed hope that Taiwan could open its doors to overseas contract workers later this month.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel