Taipei, Feb. 23 (CNA) The Ministry of Labor's (MOL) decision to start proactively checking and verifying the results of health check ups undertaken by potential migrant workers, that went into effect on Jan. 1, 2017, has improved the time taken to approve employment applications by those individuals by an average of nearly two days.

Previously, employers looking to hire migrant workers were required to submit the results of potential employees' health check ups to be reviewed by the ministry together with the rest of the employment application, a process that took an average of 7.31 days.

According to the MOL Workforce Development Agency, the Ministry of Labor and the Ministry of Health and Welfare's decision to create a joint platform to store the results of health check ups undertaken by foreign nationals applying to work as migrant workers in Taiwan has reduced average application approval time to 5.55 days.

Since Jan. 1, 2017, the MOL has reviewed more than 206,000 cases in the database, checking them off before the other components of the employment application are filed, the agency's press statement noted.

This has effectively expedited the process through which migrant workers are issued basic employment insurance and they are thereby able to start working in Taiwan sooner.

The Workforce Development Agency issued a reminder that migrant workers with renewed contracts are required to undertake a health check up within three days of returning to Taiwan.

If the results do not fulfill government regulations, they need to provide supplemental information that meets existing regulations within 65 days of receiving notification from the government.

Those unable to do so will have their employment contract terminated.

(By Yu Hsiao-han and Kuan-lin Liu)
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