Taiwan hopes to hold 2nd meeting with India over migrant workers in February

Taipei, Jan. 14 (CNA) Taiwan's Ministry of Labor (MOL) said Tuesday it hopes to hold a second working group-level meeting with India by the end of February to discuss specifics of a plan to recruit Indian migrant workers.

The two countries signed a memorandum of understanding in February last year that established a mutual willingness to allow Indian migrant workers to work in Taiwan.

However, much of the details of such an initiative, such as procedures and regulations, have yet to be settled.

Through working groups, the two sides held their first meeting on Nov. 8 last year and set a cap of 1,000 Indian workers in Taiwan for the early stages of the initiative.

The two sides agreed the workers would be prioritized for traditional manufacturing and that 5 percent of the quota would be recruited through direct hiring.

Chuang Kuo-liang (莊國良), deputy head of the Workforce Development Agency's (WDA) Cross-Border Workforce Management Division under the MOL, told CNA that the second meeting is likely to take place by the end of February but that the relevant agencies in India have not confirmed the date.

The second meeting will discuss details of the agreements reached during the previous meeting and will include an introduction to the direct hiring system used in both countries, Chuang said.

Specifically, Chuang said, the WDA will ask India's Protector General of Emigrants some questions about the eMigrate 2.0 portal through which cases of Indian workers to be recruited through the direct hiring scheme will be processed.

Taiwan's direct hiring of migrant workers is overseen by the Direct Hiring Service Center under the WDA.

Direct hiring plans are customizable and initiated by employers in select sectors, including domestic care, long-term care, manufacturing, distant-water fishing, and construction. The scheme applies to workers from Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam, and Thailand, according to the center.

The majority of job openings for blue-collar migrant workers in Taiwan, however, are controlled by manpower brokers.