Taiwan relaxes regulations for employing overseas caretakers
In a bid to address the concern that caregivers might not take care of people with critical illnesses, the Ministry of Labor in Taiwan has introduced several new measures aimed at increasing the supply of caregivers for critically ill people and supporting the hiring process for migrant workers.
New Measures Introduced by the Ministry of Labor
The Ministry plans to allow families of critically ill people to hire migrant workers from other employment categories, provided these workers complete a 20-hour supplementary training program, which can be taken online. This move comes after the launch of a new policy that waives Barthel Index evaluations for Taiwanese aged 80 or older who want to hire live-in foreign caregivers.
The Ministry is also drafting measures expected to be implemented by the end of the month to address potential shortages that might arise from the new policy. These measures are intended to exempt households with members aged 80 or older (or those aged 70-79 with stage II cancer or higher) from the Barthel Index assessment.
To mitigate the concern that caregivers might prefer taking care of people who do not have critical illnesses, the Ministry aims to increase the overall supply of caregivers by broadening the eligibility of migrant workers.
Impact on the Hiring Process for Migrant Workers
The new policy allows migrant workers to switch to caregiving roles with minimal training, increasing the potential pool of caregivers available for families. The "green channel" review system will prioritize households dealing with severe or extremely severe medical conditions, ensuring that these families have access to necessary support during the application process.
Applicants will be eligible to access other long-term care services while waiting for foreign caregivers, providing additional support to families in need. Workers from the manufacturing, agricultural, or construction sectors who wish to switch to live-in caregiving will have to complete 20 hours of supplementary training. Both parties must agree for the transfer to proceed after the training is completed.
Overall, these measures aim to address the caregiver shortage by expanding the pool of available caregivers and ensuring that families with critically ill members receive priority support. The changes are expected to benefit an additional 100,000 households by enabling them to apply for caregivers. Existing rules requiring job transfers to be within the same employment category will be changed under the new measures.
The staff writer of this article is from CNA, and it contains a photo from CNA. The amendment was promulgated, but it might affect the families of critically ill people. Employers can post a seven-day job advertisement on the TaiwanJobs Web site to proceed to the next step. The measures are expected to be implemented by the end of this month.
- The Ministry's new measures intend to increase the overall supply of caregivers by allowing migrant workers from other employment categories to switch to caregiving roles, provided they complete a 20-hour supplementary training program.
- In an effort to prioritize families with critically ill members, the new policy introduces a "green channel" review system, ensuring that households dealing with severe or extremely severe medical conditions receive priority support during the application process for migrant caregivers.
