Pre-employment Training Lecture for Employer

According to Article 48(1) of the Employment Services Act, employers should participate in the pre-employment training lecture of the competent authorities or their entrusted non-profit organizations before they hire foreigners for the first time to work as domestic care workers or domestic helpers. At the time of applying for permission, attach the supporting documents that have participated in the lecture training.

The pre-employment training has been implemented since from July 1, 2016, and the first time employer (including the change of employer) who hires a foreigner to enter or continue to hire after the date time (including) should complete the pre-employment training before proceeding. Issue a hiring or subsequent employment permit. If you have any problems with your employer, please contact the Labor Development Department of the Ministry of Labor (contact line: 02-8995-6000)

Entry notification and management

Employers applying for employment in accordance with Article 46, paragraph 1, paragraphs 8 to 10 of the Employment Services Act, shall be implemented in accordance with the competent authority.  If the employer violates the provisions of the preceding paragraph, the local competent authority shall notify the deadline to improve. The plan for the foreigners should be planned as follows:

1. The safety of accommodation and healthy meal

2. Individual safety and protection

3. Information on cultural and recreational facilities and religious activities. (Housemaid or Family nursing jobs are exempted)

4. Life consulting services. (Housemaid or Family nursing jobs are exempted)

5. Accommodation and living care service of personnel.

6. Other matters stipulated by the central competent authority.

Employers who hire foreigners to work as domestic helpers or family care workers are exempt from the provisions of the third and fourth paragraphs of the preceding regulations.

If the employer changes the paragraph 5 ,Article 1, employer shall notify the local competent authority of the place where the foreigner works and the place of residence in writing within 7 days after the change.

Salary

The salary of family nursing and housemaid is based on the labor contract signed by both parties. As for workers in the construction, manufacturing, institutional nursing job, marine fishing work, because of the application of the Labor Standards Act, their wages must not be lower than the basic wages set by Labor Standards Act.

According to Article 43 of Regulations on the Permission and Administration of the Employment of Foreign Workers, when paying the wage/salary to type B foreign worker(s) in accordance with the labor contract(s), the employer shall issue and deliver to the type B foreign worker(s) and keep a copy themselves the table of wage/salary indicating both in Chinese and in the native language of the type B foreign worker(s)’s national country stating the wage/salary actually received, the items accountable for the wage/salary, the total amount of the wage/salary, the payment method of wage/salary, the items of expenses incurred and the corresponding amount thereto about National Health Insurance premium, Labor Insurance premium, Income Tax withhold or boarding fees, worker bonus, detained amount of money under the detain order from court or administrative agents, or other items or amount directly deducted from wage according to laws. Of which copies should be kept by the foreign worker(s) for five years.

The Employer shall prepare and keep labor contract(s) and verified Foreign Worker’s Affidavit regarding expenses incurred for entry into the Republic of China to work and his/her wage/salary for the inspection of the competent authorities.

The employer who recruit type B foreign worker(s) in accordance with Paragraph 2 of Article 27 are exempted from preparing and keeping the Affidavit as referred to in the preceding paragraph.

The said wage/salary as referred to in Paragraph 1, except the amount incurred by foreign worker(s), shall be paid by the employer in full amount by cash directly to type B foreign worker(s). But when paying by other methods, the employer shall issue relevant evidence documents to the type B foreign worker(s) and keep a copy themselves.

Should the Employer not pay the said wage/salary as referred to in Paragraph 1 in full amount, the competent authorities may require the Employer to pay in full within the limited period.

Ministry of Labor has amended bilingual salary slip sample (Indonesian, English, Thai, Vietnamese) for employer to hire migrant worker on January 12, 2009 and published on MOL website/service/download for employer to download.

[Reminders]

1. The salary income of migrant workers working in Taiwan should be subject to income tax in accordance with Income Tax Act.

2. All workers who are applicable to Labor Standard Act, regardless of domestic workers or foreigners, are applicable to regulations to basic salary. However, family nursing job and housemaid do not applicable to Labor Standard Act, the salary is based on the employment contract signed by both parties whereas the salary of a Thai family nursing worker is applicable to Labor Standard Act due to the regulations of Thailand employment contract.

3. According to Article 21 of Labor Standard Act, a worker shall be paid such wages as determined through negotiations with the employer, provided, however, that such wages shall not fall below the basic wage.

Based on this, both parties shall adjust the contract in response to the increase of the basic wage. Family nursing job and housemaid do not applicable to Labor Standard Act. If the employer has any problem, please contact Labor office of county and city government.

Working hours

The working hours of family nursing and housemaid must be handled in accordance with the labor contract signed by both parties. Due to the application of the Labor Standards Act, the daily, weekly and overtime working hours for migrant workers in the construction, manufacturing, institutional nursing job, ocean fishing work must handle in accordance with Labor Standards Act. A worker shall be permitted to have a break for at least thirty minutes after having worked for four continuous hours; provided, however, that such break may be rescheduled by the employer to be taken within other working hours if a rotation system is adopted or work of a continuous or urgent nature is involved. If the employer has any problem, please contact Labor office of county and city government.

Vacation and Annual Leave

The vacation of family nursing and housemaid is based on the employment contract signed by both parties whereas worker in the construction, manufacturing, institutional nursing job, ocean fishing work shall have two regular days off every seven days. One day is a regular leave and the other one is a rest day. Besides, Leaves shall be granted for national holidays, holidays, and Labor Day which are designated as holidays by the Ministry of the Interior and holidays designated by other Central Competent Authority. A worker who has worked continually for the same employer or business entity for a certain period of time shall be granted annual paid leaves on an annual basis.

Regular leave is mandatory. It is to interrupt the work of a worker for consecutive days to protect the health of a worker. Employer shall not deprive this right.

Rest day is more flexible. It is considered as an extended working hour. Employers who require workers to work on rest days may seek the consent of workers to attend work under the premise of Articles 24, 2, 3, 32, and 36 of the Labor Standards Law. If the employer has any problem, please contact Labor office of county and city government.

[Special reminder] If a migrant worker needs to return to his country due to an emergency or for a holiday, he/she should go to the Immigration Department where the migrant worker works to apply for re-entry permit. Filipino and Indonesian workers should have a verified employment contract and overseas work permit before returning to his country.

Affidavit of Expenses and Wages for Migrant workers

Employers should sign a written Employment Contract and "Affidavit of Expense and Wages for migrant workers’": According to the current regulations, employers should pay the whole amount of salary to migrant worker, and employers must sign a written labor contract and "foreigner's entry". The national work expenses and wages cut-off book shall be used as the basis for the local labor authorities to investigate whether there is any illegality in the future. If the employer has any problems, please contact the county and city government labor bureaus.

Taxation for salary income

When paying wages, employers should provide the detailed list of wages printed in Chinese and language of the foreign worker, including the calculation payment of wage, total amount deductions, etc. for foreign workers to sign., Both worker and employer should have a copy for verification.

Foreign workers receiving wages from employers will be different depending on whether the foreign workers are “resident” or “non-residents”. If the employer has any questions, please contact the county and city government's Taxation Bureau (Contact line: 0800-000-321):

 (1)   "Resident" taxation method

◎If foreign workers have a total of less than 183 days in Taiwan during the year of assessment, they are “residents” and should pay settlement and tax payment according to law. The applicable tax rate is from 5% to 45%. If the employer is a withholding agent as stipulated in the Income Tax Law, it must be deducted according to the choice of foreign workers in accordance with the choice of foreign workers, or deducted according to the deductible method according to the salary income, and the total amount of the full-month payment is deducted. For those who take 5%, if the withholding tax does not exceed NT$2,000 each time (ie, the income does not exceed NT$40,000), the withholding tax is exempted; The total monthly salary payment for the year of assessment is below NT$73,000 and there is no need to withhold.

◎Foreign workers shall apply for the settlement of the comprehensive income tax of the previous year from May 1 to May 31 of the following year;

If the foreign worker leaves the company before the beginning of the annual reporting period (May 1 of the following year), the settlement report should be made one week before departure.

◎If the foreign worker leaves the country before the end of the tax year, the tax bureau  accepts the declaration of the foreign worker. If the tax refund is calculated, the tax bureau will issued a refund cheque no later than the end of April.

 (2) "non-resident" taxation method

◎   If the foreign worker has a total of 183 days in Taiwan during the year of assessment, they are n-resident, and the employer is a withholding agent under the Income Tax Law, the foreign worker receives the salary from the employer. Pay personal income tax. The total monthly salary payment. If the Executive Yuan approves the basic salary of 1.5 times or less, the tax shall be withheld by 6% of the total salary payment. If the monthly salary is higher than 1.5 times of the basic salary approved by the Executive Yuan, the total salary shall be paid. The 18% withholding tax is exempt from the comprehensive income tax settlement report.

◎   If foreign workers come to Taiwan to work as domestic helpers or family care workers, since the employer is not a withholding agent as stipulated in the Income Tax Law, the employer will not withhold the tax when paying the wages, and the foreign workers should declare and pay personal income tax according to the prescribed withholding rate.

If a foreign worker loss contacts or absent at work for three consecutive days, result in unknown whereabouts. After the employer has notified authority and found the foreigner illegally work for an employer without permit, the taxation office of Taiwan will still levy income tax.

In order to prevent others from illegally embezzling the tax refund of foreign workers, it is recommended that foreign workers should carefully choose to authorize trustworthy persons to collect tax refunds and agency payments when signing the “authorization tax refund authorization letter and contact foreign labor countries.

 If foreign workers are still unclear about the payment of income tax and tax refund, contact the Regional Taxation Office. If foreign worker failed to report for the income tax in Taiwan, they should be fined less than 2 times of the tax amount; if they fail to apply for the Salary declaration income tax according to law, they will be fined less than 3 times of the tax amount.

Work Place

Foreign workers cannot change employers and work without the permission from the Ministry of Labor. Foreign workers can only work according to the work permit issued by the Ministry of Labor. Employers cannot assign foreign workers to work outside the scope of the permit. Foreign workers are not allowed to work outside the scope of the permit. In addition, foreign workers can only work in the location stipulated in the work permit issued by the Ministry of Labor. Employer should not change the work place without any permission.

 If employers will change the workplace of the worker, employer should apply for permission from the Ministry of Labor or deploy within the scope of the regulations. If employer have any questions, please contact the County and City Labor Bureau and the Immigration Department of the Ministry of the Interior (contact line: 02-2388-9393) or please refer to the criteria from Ministry of Labor.

[Reminder]

Caretaker dispatch to work in a nursing home institution attached to the hospital, to take care of a patient with chronic disease or a respiratory care should apply for permission from Ministry of Labor.

(1) Dispatch to the residence or residence of the employer or others’:

The employer is exempted from the permission of the Ministry of Labor, and dispatch the employed foreign workers accompanied by the caregivers to perform family care work.

(2) Dispatch to a medical institution:

The employer is exempted from the permission of the Ministry of Labor, and dispatch the employed foreign worker accompanied by the ward to medical institution. However, it the employer dispatch the foreign worker to work in a nursing home institution attached to the above hospital to take care of a ward with chronic disease or a respiratory care, the employer should apply in advance for permission from Ministry of Labor. The principle of each period of dispatch may not exceed six months, after the expiration, the employer may apply for extension, but the cumulative period shall not exceed 18 months in 3 years.

(3) Employer dispatch foreign worker accompanied the ward to an institution to do caregiving work shall apply for a permit in advance to accompany the ward to an institution to do caregiving work. The principle of each period of dispatch may not exceed six months, after the expiration, the employer may apply for extension, but the cumulative period shall not exceed 18 months in 3 years.

Work Qualifications and Regulations for foreign workers

Currently, the jobs open for migrant worker to work in Taiwan through DHSC are: family nursing jobs, housemaid jobs, institutional nursing jobs, manufacturing jobs, construction jobs and ocean fishing works

Qualify age for coming to Taiwan

The age for a worker coming to Taiwan is above 16 years old and above, and the age of a worker as family nursing, housemaid and institutional nursing job must be 20 years old and above.

Number of Working years

According to Article 52 of the Employment Service Act, employment duration of a migrant worker in Taiwan may not exceed 12 years. However, if the family nursing worker has special performance permitted by professional training or self-reliance, and meets the qualifications and conditions determined by the Ministry of Labor, the employer may apply with the documents such as the application for inspection to extend the working years to 14 years.

Work content of foreign worker

Family nursing job: taking care of daily lives for disabled persons or patients in households.

Housemaid jobs: performing house cleaning, food cooking, taking care of daily lives of members of households, or other related household service tasks.

Manufacturing jobs: directly engaged in the production of manufactured goods and other related physical tasks.

Ocean fishing work: crews on boat, cage culture staff and other labor workers excluding the captain, second mate, chief engineer, engineer and engineering members, telecommunication staff and power boat driver and aides

Institutional nursing jobs: taking care of daily lives for accepted disabled persons or patients in the institutions or hospitals stipulated by Article 20 of the Standards.

Construction jobs: directly engaged in the construction work at construction sites or other related places, or other related physical tasks.

[Special reminder] According to Article 57, paragraph 3 of the Employment Service Act, employer can not assign a foreigner to work outside the permit, otherwise employer will be fined NT$30,000 to NT$150,000. If not improved after a specific period of time, one or all of the recruitment and employment permit shall be revoked.

The consequences of unclear illegal work

According to Articles 73 and 74 of the Employment Service Act, migrant workers who have lost contacts for three consecutive days will be revoke and ordered to leave the country and will not be allowed to work in Taiwan. Migrant workers will be fined NT$30,000 to NT$150,000, if working illegally when being caught will be pursued and ordered to leave sent abroad at any time and may not work in Taiwan for any reason.