Tainan City, Taiwan — December 13, 2025
A woman surnamed Chuo has been found to have illegally employed foreign migrant workers at a construction site in Tainan, despite having previously been penalized for violating Taiwan’s Employment Services Act, according to judicial findings released this week.
Records show that Chuo was fined NT$450,000 by the Tainan City Government’s Labor Affairs Bureau in February 2021 for breaching employment regulations, with the penalty becoming final. Within the legally defined five-year period following that ruling, authorities discovered that she had again arranged illegal work for foreign nationals.
Investigators determined that Chuo hired four Indonesian migrant workers to perform steel-rebar tying work at a newly constructed residential complex in Tainan City. The workers were allegedly promised a daily wage of NT$2,000 per person. Chuo defended her actions by citing a labor shortage at the construction site, claiming the arrangement was made as a temporary solution.
The case also involved a man surnamed Han, who was accused of recruiting workers through Facebook groups and charging introduction fees. In 2024, officers from the Tainan Special Operations Brigade of the National Immigration Agency conducted an on-site inspection and found four migrant workers working illegally. Some were runaway migrant workers, while others had overstayed their visas. Subsequent investigations traced the illegal employment back to Chuo, with authorities concluding that she knowingly hired foreign nationals without valid work permits and arranged for multiple workers to enter the site within a short period, constituting a continuous offense.
Han admitted to living with the migrant workers and working alongside them at the construction site but denied acting as an intermediary or receiving commissions. However, the court reviewed communication records that referenced a NT$200 commission per worker, as well as statements regarding wage distribution, transportation, and work assignments. Based on this evidence, the court ruled that Han acted with intent to profit by facilitating illegal employment.
As the migrant workers involved had already departed Taiwan and were unable to testify in court, the court calculated the unlawful gains based on a commission of NT$200 per worker per day. The total illegal profit was determined to be NT$1,600. The court stressed that both employers and intermediaries are legally obligated to comply with labor and immigration laws, warning that violations will be dealt with strictly to safeguard labor order and public interest.