Coronavirus crisis open thread - March

[Charlie_Jack]

@GreatInternetMaster

How would it affect foreign workers (non-APRC) in Taiwan if a company decided to have them working remotely? I mean as related to work permits, which usually require that they work in a specific location.

Is this allowed? Are they supposed to require a special permit for this? Or are changes due to measures designed to avoid epidemic allowed by law?

I hereby endeavor to protect my hindquarters with the following: I am not licensed to practice law in Taiwan, and nothing that is written below is meant to be understood, interpreted, or taken as legal advice.

Short answer to your questions (and I’m not trying to be a smart-aleck in saying this): I don’t know.

I have an open work permit now, but tonight I looked through my old year-to-year work permits (at least the ones I managed to avoid losing). Now, for all I know, my old work permits may be outdated in terms of format, and are certainly outdated as to authority (that is, they all say “Council of Labor Affairs,” and that outfit has been replaced by the Ministry of Labor), but anyway, these work permits have my employer’s address on them. Still, I’m not sure one way or the other whether working at another location by order of my employer or with my employer’s permission would have put me in violation of some rule or other.

Below are English translations (I don’t know Chinese, but the Chinese version is available on the website where I got these English versions) of some of the “scary” laws and rules that I have heard about, read about, or stumbled upon in days of yore, and to me they are indeed scary, but my main point in quoting them is that I don’t see anything about addresses in them.

Now, law is big, and maybe I have just been imagining things all this time, but it seems to me that law is kind of skimpy about telling people what they are allowed to do and in informing them of what they won’t get in trouble for doing. Maybe I’m wrong about that, and of course there are exceptions (there are even a couple of those exceptions below), but that’s how it seems to me. In other words, if there isn’t a law, rule, or ruling that specifically says that you are allowed to work at home in certain exceptional circumstances, why, I don’t think that’s unusual.

Still, I’m not sure about it, and for all I know, there may be administrative rules or rulings that I have no knowledge of, and you’re right to want more certainty.

Hopefully @yyy or @tando or someone similar will show up and add light to the subject.

But anyway, on to the mostly scary rules:

Unless otherwise specified in the Act, no foreign worker may engage in work within the Republic of China should his/her employer have not yet obtained a permit via application therefore.

–Employment Services Act, Article 43

(Chinese version here.)

Anyone that violates . . . Article 43 . . . shall be fined therefore an amount of at least NT$ 30,000 and at most NT$ 150,000.

. . .

Any foreign worker who violates Article 43 shall be immediately ordered to depart from the Republic of China and banned from further engaging in work in the said territory. Where a foreign worker has violated the provisions of Article 43 . . ., but such foreign worker fails to depart as ordered by the competent authority from the Republic of China by the end of the specified period, the entry and exit administrative authority may enforce such departure and may provide therefore provisional shelter prior to deportation.

–Ibid., Article 68

(Chinese version here.)

National Immigration Agency shall not permit an alien’s application for residence or the alien’s application for modification of reasons for residence which was submitted pursuant to the preceding Paragraph if the alien meets one of the following circumstances:

. . .

11. Has been involved in activities or employment that is different from the purposes of his or her entry.

–National Immigration Act, Article 24

(Chinese version here.)

Aliens who are visiting or residing in the State may not engage in activities or employment that is different from the purposes of their visits or residence.

The acts of filing petitions or imitating lawful assembly and procession by those aliens who reside legally shall not be subject to the foresaid restriction.

–National Immigration Act, Article 29

(Chinese version here.)

The National Immigration Agency shall forcibly deport an alien if he/she commits any of the following offenses:

. . .

4. Having violated the provisions stated in Article 29 by engaging in employment or activities that are inconsistent with the purpose of visit or residence indicated in the application.

–Ibid., Article 36

(Chinese version here.)

During the period of their stay or residency, if aliens engage in tourism, visiting relatives and friends, and other activities that are necessary in daily life and not prohibited by law but not declared on their E/D card or resident visa form, Subparagraph 4 of Paragraph 2 of Article 36 of the Act shall not apply.

–Enforcement Rules of the Immigration Act, Article 19

(Chinese version here.)