Employers of migrant workers whose employment permits are set to expire from Jan. 1 to March 31 will have them automatically extended for an additional three months, according to the Workforce Development Agency (WDA).

The permits will be extended automatically and employers do not need to apply in advance for an extension, the WDA said in a statement issued Thursday.

Citing an example, the agency said an employer whose employment permit is due to expire Feb. 25 can have it automatically extended until May 25.

Based on current regulations, employers wishing to recruit migrant workers from abroad must apply to the Ministry of Labor (MOL) for a six-month permit, with their foreign workers required to arrive in the country within that period.

It is estimated the automatic extension will benefit about 70,000 employers in Taiwan, the WDA said.

According to the latest MOL statistics, there were a total of 675,672 migrant workers in Taiwan as of the end of November 2021, of which the majority are from Indonesia at 35.34 percent, followed by Vietnam (35 percent), the Philippines (21.19 percent) and Thailand (8.46 percent).

Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel