HELP WITH HOUSEHOLD HELP

It is now a little easier to hire domestic help in Taiwan.

 

By Desmond Cheung

Affordable domestic helpers are often an excellent perk for Westerners living in Taiwan - if you qualify to hire them. Couples struggling to cope with hectic two-job work schedules, the fast pace of life in Taipei, plus the demands of children or care for elderly family members often find domestic helpers to be lifesavers. But for a long time in Taiwan, demand for such help has far exceeded supply.

That is because, given the mature local job market, relatively few Taiwanese are interested in such work. Most domestic helpers are thus hired from abroad - the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Vietnam - and the Taiwan government places stiff restrictions on the number of foreign domestic helpers allowed in, and on the number of Taiwan-based families approved to hire such help.

This past November, the Council of Labor Affairs (CLA) opened a new channel, based on salary, for foreign nationals in Taiwan to hire foreign domestic workers. Under it, expatriates working at foreign companies in Taiwan may now qualify for hiring foreign domestic workers if they earn a taxable income of NT$3 million per annum or NT$250,000 per month.

"This is a positive change and we applaud the use of an individual's salary as a basis of approval," says Farrell. But he stresses that current regulations "still put many people out of the running."

The new provision creates a total of four routes expatriates can use in applying for foreign domestic helpers. Other categories of expatriates who may be approved to hire foreign household help are:

• A foreign CEO of a foreign company with at least NT$100 million invested in Taiwan, or a manager-level executive (or above) at a company with NT$200 million invested in Taiwan.
• A CEO-level expatriate at a foreign company in Taiwan with an annual turnover of NT$500 million, or an expatriate at a department head level (or above) in a foreign company in Taiwan with an annual turnover of NT$1 billion. (Note: Various managerial positions at foreign companies in Taiwan are reported in the company's organizational information registered with the Investment Commission, Ministry of Economic Affairs.)
• Expatriates can apply, as Taiwan nationals do, according to a need-based point system (see chart). Need is quantified based on a family's number of young children, elderly family members, or family members requiring full-time nursing care. Each such person collects points for the family total; families with 16 points qualify for a foreign helper. (Families with less than 16 points may also be approved, but are considered lower priority.)

Families seeking to hire foreign domestic helpers must first attempt to hire a local worker by posting an advertisement in a local job center and newspaper. Only when such a notice placed for four days fails to find a local worker, will the applicant be permitted to apply to employ a foreign worker.

In all cases, the government grants approval on a case by case basis. The CLA says any applying family that fulfills one of the criteria will have its application approved. Even if the criteria are not fully met, applications may be approved on a case-by-case basis. Families that meet one of the criteria can expect a two- to three-week wait for approval to hire a foreign helper.

The American Chamber's Human Resources Committee has long lobbied for the ability to hire foreign domestic workers based on employer's salary- in other words, the family's ability to pay the domestic helper. The amended regulations do now take an individual's salary into account but the salary level required is 50 percent higher than the NT$2 million level the committee was hoping for.

"Many people we would like to see qualify may still not," says Farrell. "It is a quality-of-life issue that can seriously affect the stay of expatriate businesspeople in Taiwan." He stresses that expatriates moving to Taiwan from Hong Kong and Singapore, where such regulations are much looser, may find life in Taiwan more difficult. "Take an expatriate couple with a few small children. One spouse may have to provide full-time daycare to the children because they cannot apply for a foreign domestic servant and there just aren't enough local people willing to do this sort of work," says Farrell. "This causes problems if both partners are trying to develop their careers, and it may affect their decision to stay in Taiwan."

Officials at the Council of Labor Affairs say they are eager to make Taiwan more attractive to foreign businesspeople, but they still face limitations. "We made these changes for foreigners because they told us that as they are investing in Taiwan they need the help of these people. We hope their investments will create more job opportunities in Taiwan," says Shiu-yi Su, deputy director general of the CLA's Employment and Vocational Training Administration. "However, we cannot allow everyone employed by foreign companies to hire foreign domestic workers. We still need to regulate it." Su stresses that the salary- or capital-based application routes are not available to ROC citizens. In addition, the council is under pressure to help Taiwan reduce its rising unemployment rate and has agreed to cut the total number of foreign blue-collar workers (domestic helpers, construction workers, and other laborers) in Taiwan by 15,000 before June 2001. Latest CLA figures show 11,356 effective permits for foreign domestic helpers in August 2000, with the actual number of such household workers reaching 7,505.

The November loosening of regulations will likely only allow in 400 to 500 additional foreign domestic helpers, says Su. Such a modest increase falls far short of the goals of the Human Resources Committee. William Farrell says the committee is hoping for another easing of restrictions in the coming year.