5. Situations of Illegal Foreign laborers in Taiwan
5.3 Viewpoint on working abroad
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立 政 治 大 學
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N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
Philippine 1 7 3 1 0
others 0 2 1 0 1
Note: A question with multiple answers.
Owing to the high flight rate among Indonesian laborers, the government of Taiwan froze the import of Indonesian laborers on August 1, 2002. When the ban was lifted on December 20, 2004, in order to develop the systematic and transparent mechanism of the export of Indonesian laborers, the Indonesian labor department wanted the payment for Indonesian laborers going to Taiwan to be handled by financial institutions, and it further designated a specific bank to provide monetary loans and remittance services for Indonesian laborers going to Taiwan. Nevertheless, S2 expressed that,
Some Indonesian laborers were unaware of this and in addition to the agreement between Indonesia and the government of Taiwan about the brokerage payment, brokers charged them extra money.
As for the Vietnamese laborers, S3 indicated that,
The government of Taiwan regulates that the brokerage fee cannot be deducted from salary, so they mortgaged their house or land. One said that the broker considered the carpet his father bought when working in the Middle East nice and then took it away.
5.3 Viewpoint on working abroad
(1) Considerations of choosing country for working abroad
Foreign laborers go abroad to work for economic reasons; thus, whether they are work visa holders or non-work visa holders, the prime consideration is a higher salary;
the next is better protection of human rights. For work visa holders, the higher salary accounts for 45.8%, better protection of human rights accounts for 29%, and cheaper broker fees accounts for 10.7%. As for non-work visa holders, higher salary accounts for 28.9%, better protection for human rights accounts for 15.6%, and having friends or relatives there accounts for 13.3%. The reasons for choosing Taiwan as a working
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location were also the higher salary and better protection of human rights. For work visa holders, as many as 70.2% chose Taiwan for the higher salary; better protection for human rights and cheaper broker fees accounted for 9.9% and 7.1%, respectively.
The reasons non-work visa holders came to Taiwan also varied: the higher salary, 28.9%; better protection for human rights, 19.5%; and having friends or relatives here, 14.6%. This proves that the high salary in Taiwan is indeed the most attractive incentive luring foreign laborers to work here. With regard to the protection of human rights, Taiwan also has a good reputation.
Table 5.12 Cross-tabulation between visa * considerations in choosing a country for overseas work Note: A question with multiple answers.
Table 5.13 Cross-tabulation between visa * reasons for choosing Taiwan as a working location
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Note: A question with multiple answers.
Nevertheless, they were recruited in the rural areas through the local brokers and lived in deep poverty with limited information. Even though they would like to choose a better place to work, it was uncertain if they would have the chance. As S3 said,
It depends, take Indonesia for example, it has 15,000 small islands, once the job opportunity was offered, everyone rushes to grab it.
(2) Predetermined stay in Taiwan
Based on cross-tabulation analysis shown in Table 5.14, if not for being arrested, 62.2% of the work visa holders would like to stay in Taiwan for as long as possible.
Non-work visa holders who had the same idea accounted for 56.3%. Only 20.2% of the work visa holders wished to stay in Taiwan for less than 3 years; plans to stay for 7 to 10 years and 4 to 6 years accounted for 8.4% and 17.8%, respectively. As for non-work visa holders, 37.5% intended to stay for less than 3 years, and 6.3% wanted to stay for 7 to 10 years. This indicates that work visa holders wished to stay in Taiwan for longer periods than did non-work visa holders. The reason might be that work visa holders had already paid expensive brokerage fees; in order to pay back the money, they could hardly earn any money of their own until the third year in Taiwan.
Consequently, only if they worked longer in Taiwan could they repay the fees.
Non-work visa holders, however, did not need to pay brokerage fees in advance, so the pressure to work a certain period of time to cover the cost was nonexistent. S5 expressed that the reason she worked in Taiwan by fraudulent marriage was that she would not want to stay for very long; the contract of a foreign laborer was too lengthy.
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Table 5.14 Cross-tabulation between visa * predetermined stay in Taiwan
≦3 yrs 4-6 yrs 7-10 yrs ＞10 yrs As long as
(3) Evaluation of working in Taiwan
A total of 64.1% of the work visa holders said that considering the cost effect, it had been worth it to come to Taiwan this time, but only 33.3% of the non-work visa holders thought it worthwhile. Of the work visa holders, 56.3% deemed that they would suggest friends or relatives to work in Taiwan; however, only 16.7% of non- work visa holders would do this. This is consistent with the previous result that if they did not find it cost-effective to work in Taiwan, they would tend not to recommend that friends or relatives come. Even so, judging from the percentage of the cost effect and advising friends or relatives to come, it was found that in spite of the impression that working in Taiwan was cost-effective, some still would not suggest that friends or relatives come.
Table 5.15 Cross-tabulation between visa * cost effect and recommending Taiwan to friends or relatives
Cost effect Recommend friends or relatives to Taiwan
Worthwhile Not
worthwhile Total Yes No Total Work visa 75
It was uncertain whether they would tell the truth about their conditions in Taiwan to their friends, relatives or townsmen. S3 expressed that,
They would like to save face when they went back, so they just mentioned good
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國立 政 治 大 學
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aspects of being in Taiwan, as for those bad experiences, they tended to swallow them without speaking out.
S4 also had similar viewpoints:
It is for sure that they would bring some information back; nevertheless, whether they would describe the reality here was another story.
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國立 政 治 大 學