Taipei: Several lawmakers from the main opposition Kuomintang (KMT) have voiced concerns over a recent incident at Taoyuan International Airport, where a Vietnamese migrant worker managed to overstay her permit, revealing shortcomings in government measures to prevent such occurrences.

According to Focus Taiwan, KMT lawmaker Wang Yu-min highlighted the case during a news conference at the Legislature, stating that the Vietnamese worker had reached her legal working limit in Taiwan and was required to leave the country. The worker, escorted by her manpower broker to the airport, managed to evade authorities by disguising herself after a phone call, as shown by surveillance footage presented by the KMT caucus.

The footage captured the woman swiftly exiting the terminal within 11 minutes, taking a taxi to escape the airport. KMT lawmaker Wan Mei-ling suggested the involvement of an organization aiding the worker to find illegal employment in Taiwan, urging authorities to investigate and hold accountable those implicated.

Addressing the incident, KMT lawmaker Wang Hung-wei pointed out a significant security lapse and called for a comprehensive airport investigation. Wang Yu-min cited government data indicating that over 200 migrant workers who should have departed Taiwan between 2020 and 2024 had absconded, with the number of unaccounted-for migrant workers rising to 90,269 by November 2024 from 48,545 in January 2020.

The lawmakers emphasized the need for the government to develop strategies to better manage migrant workers and enhance their working conditions to deter absconding. In response, the Ministry of Labor suggested that manpower brokers should involve airport police in repatriating workers at risk of overstaying.

Furthermore, the ministry pledged to enforce rules against manpower brokers with high absconding rates among their workers. The National Immigration Agency stressed the importance of a coordinated interdepartmental approach, involving the ministries of labor and agriculture, to address the issue through wage increases and recruitment channel reviews.

Local governments are encouraged to conduct labor inspections to improve the living and working conditions of migrants. The agency acknowledged that reducing the absconding rate requires collaborative efforts and committed to supporting the labor ministry with insights gained from tracking unaccounted-for migrants.