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MOL to ease restrictions on hiring foreign caregivers
Courtesy of ICRT
The Ministry of Labor (MOL) says it will start lifting restrictions on the hiring live-in caregivers from overseas beginning in September.
Deputy MOL Minister Wang An-pang says the move is expected to benefit some 55,000 individuals. Wang says this rule change will mean that certain individuals who require full-time care will no longer need to undergo a functionality assessment using the Barthel Index before hiring a foreign caregiver.
The changes will cover individuals aged 80 year and above, with long-term documented medical histories, those with specific and irreversible disabilities, and certain people in remote areas.
The announcement comes amid ongoing discussions in the Legislative Yuan about whether to waive the Barthel Index evaluation for those over 80 years of age as the prerequisite for hiring migrant domestic caregivers.
The deputy MOL minister has told lawmakers that a previous relaxation of rules has already yielded positive results and that broadened accessibility to the service for people with rare diseases and mental or physical disabilities has benefitted more than 32,000 people as of April.
