Vietnamese people in Taiwan
Encyclopedia
Vietnamese people in Taiwan form one of the island's larger communities of foreign residents. Of the roughly 80,000 Vietnam
ese workers who resided in Taiwan
as of 2006, 60,000 are employed as domestic helpers, 16,000 work in factories, 2,000 in marine-based industries, and the remainder in other lines of work. They compose 21% of the island's foreign workers. 42% work in Taipei
City, New Taipei City, and Taoyuan County. Additionally, 118,300 Vietnamese women who met Taiwan men through international matchmaking services resided in Taiwan as of 2005.
and behind Malaysia; Taiwan maintained its importance as a destination even as migration to South Korea and Japan dropped off.
Since Taiwan's Council of Labor Affairs
granted approval for their employment beginning in 1999, Vietnamese domestic helpers began to compose a significant proportion of the Vietnamese women in Taiwan. Between 2000 and 2003, the number of Vietnamese domestic helpers grew by fifteen times, from 2,634 individuals to 40,397 individuals, making them the second-largest group of domestic helpers by nationality, ahead of Filipinas and behind Indonesians; they composed one-third of all foreign domestic helpers on the island. Filipinas had formerly been the largest nationality among the population of domestic helpers, as widespread English language
education in their country made them ideal tutors for the children of employers. However, their excellent command of English also disturbed the expected power dynamic between them and their employers, who often spoke very poor English; Vietnamese and Indonesians came to be preferred precisely because of their lower level of English, which put them at a disadvantage relative to their employers, and also served as a barrier to restrict their access to networks of support and information outside of the employer's home.
By 2004, Vietnam was sending 37,700 labourers to Taiwan each year, the bulk of them as domestic helpers and hospital workers. However, in 2005, frustrated by the desertion rate of Vietnamese workers, which was the highest rate among labourers of all Asian nationalities in Taiwan, the CLA imposed a freeze on the hiring of Vietnamese labourers in order to have time to discuss the situation with Vietnam's Department for Authority of Foreign Employed Labour, the department responsible for Vietnamese workers abroad. By the following year, the two departments had renegotiated the standard labour contracts for Vietnamese workers, extending them from three to six years and cutting down on red tape, as well as adopting a formal grievance policy through which employees could seek redress against their employers; however, the deposit required of workers was also increased, in an effort to address the high rate of contract termination by employees.
. 73% were of Kinh
ethnicity, the majority group in Vietnam, while the remaining 27% were of Chinese descent. 72,411 (60%) of all Vietnamese brides in Taiwan as of 2005 had married within the past ten years. Vietnamese women married to Taiwan men composed 85% of the 11,973 people who naturalised as Republic of China citizens
in 2006. The Vietnamese government established a variety of regulations on international marriages between 2002 and 2005, including prohibiting some marriages where the age gap was too large, and also requiring marriage partners to have a common language of communication. The Republic of China government also seeks to limit the amount of spousal migration, but unlike the Vietnamese government, the only tool with which they can effectively control it is visa policy. Their implementation in this regard has changed over the years; they originally conducted individual interviews for spousal visas, changing to group interviews in 1999; in 2005, they imposed a limit of 20 visa interviews per day. By 2007, the number of new brides had fallen off from a peak of around 14,000 per year to just one-third that size.
According to statistics of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
, an estimated 3,000 Vietnamese women formerly married to Taiwan husbands have been left stateless after their divorces; the women had given up Vietnamese nationality to naturalise as Republic of China citizens at the time of their marriage, but then returned to Vietnam following their divorces and gave up their Republic of China nationality in the process of applying for restoration of Vietnamese nationality. Their children, who hold only Republic of China nationality and have never previously been Vietnamese nationals, are ineligible to enter publicly-supported schools in Vietnam.
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
ese workers who resided in Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
as of 2006, 60,000 are employed as domestic helpers, 16,000 work in factories, 2,000 in marine-based industries, and the remainder in other lines of work. They compose 21% of the island's foreign workers. 42% work in Taipei
Taipei
Taipei City is the capital of the Republic of China and the central city of the largest metropolitan area of Taiwan. Situated at the northern tip of the island, Taipei is located on the Tamsui River, and is about 25 km southwest of Keelung, its port on the Pacific Ocean...
City, New Taipei City, and Taoyuan County. Additionally, 118,300 Vietnamese women who met Taiwan men through international matchmaking services resided in Taiwan as of 2005.
Labour migration
Taiwan is one of the major destinations for Vietnamese labour migrants, especially in the manufacturing and fisheries industries. In 2002, Vietnamese workers in Taiwan composed 28.5% (13,200 individuals) of the 46,200 Vietnamese workers deployed overseas, making Taiwan the second most popular destination ahead of LaosLaos
Laos Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ Sathalanalat Paxathipatai Paxaxon Lao, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic, is a landlocked country in Southeast Asia, bordered by Burma and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south and Thailand to the west...
and behind Malaysia; Taiwan maintained its importance as a destination even as migration to South Korea and Japan dropped off.
Since Taiwan's Council of Labor Affairs
Council of Labor Affairs
The Council of Labor Affairs , established in 1987, is a cabinet-level unit under the Executive Yuan.- List of ministers :* Cheng Shuei-chih * Chao Shou-po * Hsieh Shen-shan * Hsu Chieh-kuei * Chan Huo-shen...
granted approval for their employment beginning in 1999, Vietnamese domestic helpers began to compose a significant proportion of the Vietnamese women in Taiwan. Between 2000 and 2003, the number of Vietnamese domestic helpers grew by fifteen times, from 2,634 individuals to 40,397 individuals, making them the second-largest group of domestic helpers by nationality, ahead of Filipinas and behind Indonesians; they composed one-third of all foreign domestic helpers on the island. Filipinas had formerly been the largest nationality among the population of domestic helpers, as widespread English language
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
education in their country made them ideal tutors for the children of employers. However, their excellent command of English also disturbed the expected power dynamic between them and their employers, who often spoke very poor English; Vietnamese and Indonesians came to be preferred precisely because of their lower level of English, which put them at a disadvantage relative to their employers, and also served as a barrier to restrict their access to networks of support and information outside of the employer's home.
By 2004, Vietnam was sending 37,700 labourers to Taiwan each year, the bulk of them as domestic helpers and hospital workers. However, in 2005, frustrated by the desertion rate of Vietnamese workers, which was the highest rate among labourers of all Asian nationalities in Taiwan, the CLA imposed a freeze on the hiring of Vietnamese labourers in order to have time to discuss the situation with Vietnam's Department for Authority of Foreign Employed Labour, the department responsible for Vietnamese workers abroad. By the following year, the two departments had renegotiated the standard labour contracts for Vietnamese workers, extending them from three to six years and cutting down on red tape, as well as adopting a formal grievance policy through which employees could seek redress against their employers; however, the deposit required of workers was also increased, in an effort to address the high rate of contract termination by employees.
Matchmaking and marriages
International matchmaking services flourish in Vietnam despite their illegality; 118,300 Vietnamese women, largely from the south of Vietnam, were married to Taiwan men as of 2005. As early as 2001, Vietnamese women composed 49% of all foreign brides in Taiwan. Their average age was between 25 and 26 years old, while that of their grooms was 36; 54% came from Ho Chi Minh CityHo Chi Minh City
Ho Chi Minh City , formerly named Saigon is the largest city in Vietnam...
. 73% were of Kinh
Vietnamese people
The Vietnamese people are an ethnic group originating from present-day northern Vietnam and southern China. They are the majority ethnic group of Vietnam, comprising 86% of the population as of the 1999 census, and are officially known as Kinh to distinguish them from other ethnic groups in Vietnam...
ethnicity, the majority group in Vietnam, while the remaining 27% were of Chinese descent. 72,411 (60%) of all Vietnamese brides in Taiwan as of 2005 had married within the past ten years. Vietnamese women married to Taiwan men composed 85% of the 11,973 people who naturalised as Republic of China citizens
Nationality Law of the Republic of China
The Nationality Law of the Republic of China defines and regulates nationality of the Republic of China . It was first promulgated by the Nationalist Government on February 5, 1929 and revised by the Taipei-based Legislative Yuan in 2000, 2001, and 2006.The Act, like the Constitution of the...
in 2006. The Vietnamese government established a variety of regulations on international marriages between 2002 and 2005, including prohibiting some marriages where the age gap was too large, and also requiring marriage partners to have a common language of communication. The Republic of China government also seeks to limit the amount of spousal migration, but unlike the Vietnamese government, the only tool with which they can effectively control it is visa policy. Their implementation in this regard has changed over the years; they originally conducted individual interviews for spousal visas, changing to group interviews in 1999; in 2005, they imposed a limit of 20 visa interviews per day. By 2007, the number of new brides had fallen off from a peak of around 14,000 per year to just one-third that size.
According to statistics of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees , also known as The UN Refugee Agency is a United Nations agency mandated to protect and support refugees at the request of a government or the UN itself and assists in their voluntary repatriation, local integration or resettlement to...
, an estimated 3,000 Vietnamese women formerly married to Taiwan husbands have been left stateless after their divorces; the women had given up Vietnamese nationality to naturalise as Republic of China citizens at the time of their marriage, but then returned to Vietnam following their divorces and gave up their Republic of China nationality in the process of applying for restoration of Vietnamese nationality. Their children, who hold only Republic of China nationality and have never previously been Vietnamese nationals, are ineligible to enter publicly-supported schools in Vietnam.
Notable individuals
- Father Nguyen Van Hung, human rights activist
- Ching Hai, self-titled founder and spiritual teacher of the Quan Yin Method
See also
- Koreans in TaiwanKoreans in TaiwanKoreans in Taiwan numbered 3,158 individuals , making them the 30th-largest population of overseas Koreans, according to South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.- History :...
- Mongolians in TaiwanMongolians in TaiwanMongols in Taiwan form a small portion of the island's population. Labour migration from Mongolia to Taiwan began in 2004.-History:There were a few ethnic Mongols from Inner Mongolia—citizens of the Republic of China, not of Mongolia—who came with the Kuomintang during their 1949...
- Manchu people in TaiwanManchu people in TaiwanThe Manchu people in Taiwan constitute a small minority of the population of Taiwan. The Manchu people living in Taiwan arrived primarily in two waves of migration. The first wave was during the Qing Dynasty period. During this period, the Manchu-led government annexed Taiwan into the Qing Empire...
- Indonesians in TaiwanIndonesians in TaiwanIndonesians in Taiwan form one of the island's larger communities of foreign residents. There are 144,651 people who have nationality of the Republic of Indonesia reside in Taiwan as of December 2010. Including 19,554 males and 125,097 females...