A Vietnamese worker in Taiwan. (Source: vov.vn) Hanoi (VNA) — Vietnamese labourers who want to work in Taiwan have to pay higher fees than regulated by the Ministry of Labour, Invalid and Social Affairs.
Under the ministry’s regulations, a person has to pay a maximum fee of 4,000 USD for a labour export company to work in Taiwan. The fee includes expenses for agency, recruitment, passport and other legal procedures.
However, the real fee was much higher, Voice of Vietnam’s online newspaper VOV reported on April 7.
Nguyen Van Tuan from the central province of Nghe An said he had to pay 4,500 USD for the fee to work in Taiwan a few years ago. But now it was different. Labour export companies often required Tuan’s friends to pay a fee of 5,500 USD to 6,500 USD.
Explaining the situation, Tran Lan, deputy head of Vinaincomex – a company with 15 years of experience sending people to work in Taiwan - said the company calculated that if a labourer pays a fee of 4,500 USD and signs a contract that allows them two hours of extra time daily, they can earn more money.
It brings them more benefits compared with paying a fee of 4,000 USD and having no extra time, she said.
Nguyen Luongng Trao, Chairman of the Vietnam Labour Export Association, said the issue needs to be fixed but it requires cooperation between labour export companies and labourers, he said.
Trao also said Taiwan is a potential market so a lot of labourers still want to work there despite the high fees since they can earn money.
Statistics from the ministry’s Vietnam Association of Manpower Supply showed that more than 67,100 people were sent to work in Taiwan in 2015, accounting for 66.7 percent of the total number of labourers sent to Northeast Asian countries in 2015.
Vietnam began sending workers to Taiwan in 1999. Eighty percent were domestic helpers. In 2005, Taiwan stopped accepting them due to the high number who left their place of employment while in Taiwan working illegally.-VNA
