Newsletter
WHITE-COLLAR WORK PERMIT APPLICATIONS NOW HANDLED BY BEVT
From 15 January 2004, all applications for for-eign white-collar specialist personnel to work in Taiwan are to be handled by the Bureau of Em-ployment and Vocational Training (BEVT) of the Council of Labor Affairs (CLA). Henceforth, all applications by employers for permission to employ foreign specialist personnel should be addressed to the BEVT, except for the following: applications to employ foreign crew members on vessels will be handled by the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC); applications for lawyers to employ foreign law-yers and associates will be handled by the Min-istry of Justice; and applications for manufac-turers located within the science-based industrial parks to employ foreign specialist and technical personnel, or managers for overseas Chinese or foreign-invested enterprises, will be handled by the Science Park Administration.
Issuance of a work permit by the BEVT should generally take seven to ten days from receipt of the application, which represents a substantial reduction in processing time. Work permits for foreign and overseas Chinese students studying in Taiwan, which were previously issued by the Ministry of Education and authorized educa-tional institutions, will also now be issued by the BEVT.
Except as otherwise ordered by the CLA, the categories of work open to foreign white-collar personnel are limited to the following: (1) spe-cialist or technical work; (2) managerial posi-tions in enterprises invested in or established by overseas Chinese or foreign investors with the permission of the ROC government; (3) foreign teachers in educational institutions; (4) foreign language instructors at short-term supplementary schools; (5) sports coaches and athletes; (6) re-ligious workers, artists, and performing artistes; and (7) crew members for merchant vessels, working vessels, and other vessels permitted by the MOTC.
In view of the need for frequent redeployment of international staff, if a foreign corporate entity sends a foreign national to Taiwan to carry out specialist or technical work in performance of a hire of work, purchase, or technical collaboration contract, no work permit is required if the foreign national will be working in Taiwan for no more than 14 days; if the foreign national will be working in Taiwan for 15 to 90 days, an appli-cation may be made within 15 days after arrival in Taiwan, and the normal requirements regard-ing qualifications, experience, and salary do not apply. However, for those working in Taiwan for more than 90 days, the normal provisions shall apply.