• Last updated:2021-10-18

In order to eradicate the incidents in which arriving foreign workers are abducted by criminals and decrease the events in which departing foreign workers refuse to board or intend to run away at the airport, the Bureau of Employment and Vocational Training of Council of Labor Affairs will officially set up a service station at the CKS International Airport from the 16th of January, 2006 to provide foreign workers guidance upon arrival and a complaint channel upon departure. 

In the hope of improving the problems where foreign workers go missing at the airport, the Council of Labor Affairs have started to discuss relevant prevention measures since 2002. The representative offices of foreign labor providing countries, the police institutions, the CKS International Airport, the Union of Labor Agency and local government have been invited to join the discussion on several occasions. After the solution of setting up the ‘Service Station at the Airport for Arriving and Departing Foreign Workers’ gained joint agreement from all relevant institutions, the Bureau of Employment and Vocational Training started to actively organize the preparation in July 2005. The service is now ready to start and will begin to provide the relevant service to arriving and departing foreign workers and their employers. 

The services provided focus on two main sectors which are of arrival and departure. For arrivals, the service agents will guide the foreign workers through all procedures including reporting to passport control, certificate verification, retrieving baggage and contacts for pick-up until the workers safely get in touch with their employer or representatives. The service also provides the foreign workers essential information on relevant laws. It is expected that the service will effectively stop criminals abducting foreign workers upon arrival. As for departures, an enquiry station at the departure hall and a special telephone line for dealing with complaints have been set up to provide complaint channels for foreign workers upon departure or those who are to leave ahead of their schedule because their contract is terminated early by their employer. Combined with help from the representative offices of foreign labor providing countries, local institutions dealing with disputes between the employer and the employee and all other necessary assistance, the channel for enquiry from foreign workers should be strengthened to reduce the likelihood of foreign workers running away at the airport due to unjustified deportation. 

The Council of Labor Affairs also states that preventing the negative effect on the society due to the introduction of foreign workers and protecting the right of foreign workers have been major aims of their policy on foreign labor management. The setting up of the ‘Service Station at the Airport for Arriving and Departing Foreign Workers’ is not only a revolutionary measure to prevent illegitimate labor and foreign workers going into hiding, but also a constructive measure for protecting the rights of legitimate foreign workers and their employers. This service has already gained huge support from governments of foreign labor providing countries and assistance from the Aviation Police Office and CKS International Airport. Employers and agencies of foreign workers are urged to apply for this service at the service station for foreign workers at the airport 3 days before their arrival whenever a pick-up at the airport is required. This will allow the service agents to undertake the necessary procedures for assisting arriving foreign workers. Governments of foreign labor providing countries and institutions responsible for foreign labor management are also encouraged to promote this new service to foreign workers. 

• Source:Workforce Development Agency
• Publication Date:2006-01-16
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