Q: What is the scope of language competency required for social welfare category intermediate skilled work?
Answer:
The language competency required for social welfare category intermediate skilled work must conform to one of the following qualifications:
(1) Must attain “basic level” or higher spoken language or listening comprehension in the Ministry of Education’s Chinese as a Foreign Language (TOCFL) test or “basic level” or higher Hoklo language proficiency certification (spoken language and listening comprehension).
(2) Must attend 36 hours or more of classes and obtain a course competition certificate from a Mandarin Chinese language proficiency training program organized by an educational institution that enrolls students from overseas to study Chinese and is commissioned by a special municipality or county (city) government or authorized by the Ministry of Education.
(3) When a foreign worker has been hired to engage in institutional care work or live-in care work by the same employer for three years or more and the employer self-assesses the spoken language ability of the worker to meet the declared standard of the Central Competent Authority, namely that the worker meets the required standards in five out of six assessment items for spoken language expression.
In addition, the training program and language competency requirements can be waived when a foreign worker hired to engage in intermediate skilled institutional care work receives a regular monthly salary of NT$31,000 or more, or a foreign worker hired to engage in intermediate skilled live-in care work receives a total monthly salary of NT$26,000 or more.