4 indicted in Yunlin over illegal recruitment of foreign workers

Taipei, June 10 (CNA) Yunlin prosecutors on Wednesday indicted four individuals, including a Thai national, on charges of recruiting foreign nationals on visitor visas or who had overstayed their visas to work on farms and charging excessive brokerage fees.

The group, led by a 50-year-old man surnamed Tsai (蔡), included two other Taiwanese -- a woman surnamed Lin (林) and a man surnamed Chang (張) -- as well as a Thai woman who had overstayed her visa, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors found Tsai and Lin arranged for 19 Thai nationals who had overstayed their visas to work on farms and in wholesale markets in Yunlin and Changhua counties for an hourly wage of NT$60-NT$150 (US$1.9-US$4.6), below Taiwan's NT$196 minimum hourly wage, since December 2023.

They also said Tsai, working with the indicted Thai suspect, fraudulently brought two Thai nationals from Thailand to Taiwan on visitor visas with promises of employment.

Chang was also found to have recruited two Vietnamese nationals who overstayed their visas to work with Tsai as part of the illegal foreign worker brokerage scheme, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors did not specify how many foreign nationals were exploited, but said Tsai had made more than NT$1 million in illegal profits.

The victims were charged NT$6,000-NT$65,000 in brokerage fees and NT$2,000 a month for accommodation and utilities, according to prosecutors.