Work Permit

Hello

I don’t know if this is true but someone told me that the old rule that requires a foreigner to have at least one year working experience in order to be able to work in Taiwan has changed. I checked the website regarding rules for the employment of foreigners but it dates from last year and hasn’t been updated. If the rule really changed, what can I do to obtain a work permit? If it hasn’t changed, is there a way to get around it?
Thank you

According to the newspapers it’s being discussed in legislature now and will take 2 - 3 months for it to pass.

I always thought it was two years or zero years
Mostly depending on what Ministry you are going through to get the work permit, and your qualification whether you have a degree, masters or doctorate (Phd)

Ministry of Education has 0 years work experience requirement
Most others are two years post degree

Why, are then getting rid of this requirement or increasing the required work experience period?

IS there a newspaper article on this?

Rules for foreign white-collar workers eased

( 2001/9/5)

The work experience requirement for foreign white-collar workers will be eased by the end of this year when an amendment to the law governing the employment of foreigners is passed into law.

Currently, the government has strict requirements for granting employment to white-collar foreign workers — one year work experience for those with a master’s or Ph.D. degree or two years experience for those with only a bachelor’s degree. The requirements will be waived after the amendment to the Labor Standard Law passes the Legislative Yuan, according to the Council of Labor Affairs (CLA) under the Executive Yuan.

Companies wishing to hire foreign employees with insufficient work experience will have to apply for approval on a case-by-case basis with the central government agencies overseeing their particular industry. For example, a high tech company has to apply to the National Science Council; a finance company to apply o the Ministry of Finance; and a news organization to the Government Information Office, according to the CLA.

The relaxation of the work experience requirement is designed to facilitate the employment of white-collar foreign workers in high technology industries such as the information science and biotechnology fields and other professions that require high-caliber talent.

The amendment has been submitted to the Executive Yuan for review, and will be passed into law in the September session of the Legislative Yuan.

Meanwhile, the CLA proposed another amendment to the Labor Standard Law for stricter enforcement of regulations on local companies hiring foreign employees. Companies that leave labor disputes unsettled, or fail to make deposits for labor pension or labor insurance funds, will not be allowed to hire foreign employees.

The CLA has also decided to amend guidelines governing the management of the employment stability fund. The amendment stipulates that the CLA allocate 10 to 15 percent of the local government fund to sponsoring vocational training programs

Has this amendment been passed yet … and has the relaxation of the two years experience been confirmed by the CLA yet?

If you have been residing in the ROC for five years continuously and have been legally employed during all that time, you can get around this “two year work experience” requirement fairly straightforwardly. See
http://oriented.org/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=29&t=000248&p=

Does anyone know the latest news on the rule change? Has it taken in effect yet?

Actually, I called the Vocational & Training Administration of the Council of Labor Affairs last week. They have moved to a new address at No. 83 Yen Ping North Road, Sec. 2, Taipei.

All the lady there could tell me was that a number of revisions to the Employment Services Act were passed by the Legislative Yuan on December 21, 2001. However, they have not been promulgated by the President yet. That may take another week or two.

As to what you are looking for in terms of a “relaxation of the previous experience requirement”, at this point I am not able to say if such a clause is in the amended articles or not. My advice remains: Keep praying.

I contacted the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and was told that there would be amendments to this rule but it only concerns people working in the IT field. It will be easier for these people to obtain a work permit and avoid the “one year experience” rule. As for the rest of us, the rule still applies and the Ministry will deal with applications on a case by case basis.

I thought the logic behind relaxing of the rules was to allow more foreigners to work in high tech industries, not alone IT, but also Semiconductor, Biotechnology etc, to increase the pool of young talent in Taiwan.

From now on applications for a work permit for a person with under 2 YEARS of post degree related experience will be made by the perspective employer for the perspective employee to the National Science Council, instead of to the Ministry of Economic Affairs as is usually done

My question is how do you differentiate between a high tech company and a not so high tech company?
Since most companies fall under either the Education, Economics or the other one I can’t remember; Ministry

In this way could not many editors and copywriters fall into the category of working in a high tech company

And what criteria will the Council use to allocate one person a work permit and not the other?
Will it be degree based or what?

so has it changed or not?