The Ministry of Labor has lifted bans it placed on Vietnamese fishermen, caregivers and domestic helpers ten years ago.
The bans, put in place in 2004 and 2005, came in response to the high incidence of Vietnamese workers absconding from their jobs in Taiwan. The bans did not affect Vietnamese workers in other sectors.
The head of the Workforce Development Agency, Liu Chia-chun, said Wednesday that in the future, Vietnamese caregivers will need to undergo training before they can come to Taiwan. Caregivers will have to complete 90 hours of professional training courses, 200 hours of Chinese language classes and 100 hours of workshops on laws and regulations.
Liu explained how the government will ensure that Taiwanese taxpayers will not have to pay for the detention and deportation of missing Vietnamese workers.
“In order to prevent workers from absconding, we have asked middlemen to sign affidavits promising that if we catch a missing Vietnamese worker, they will cover the costs of the worker’s plane ticket and detention, up front," said Liu.
"That way, the government will not have to pay, and the number of missing workers could go down," he said.