Taiwan News
Date: 2016-08-20
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – More than 16,000 foreigners were found to be staying illegally in Taiwan between January and June of this year, with most of them runaway foreign laborers and slightly more women than men, the Ministry of Interior announced Saturday.

The total figure of 16,791 people detained was 19.2 percent higher than in the same period last year, reports said. Slightly more than half, 8,631 or 51.4 percent, were women, and 8,160 or 48.6 percent were men. More than 60 percent of the arrested illegals were former foreign laborers who had run away from their jobs and stayed in Taiwan longer than they should have, reports said.

Vietnam, Indonesia and China were the three countries which supplied the vast majority of the illegals and overstayers, the MOI said. Vietnam accounted for 42.6 percent of the cases, or 7,146 people, closely followed by Indonesia with 38.6 percent or 6,480 people, and by China as a distant third at 6.7 percent or 1,133 individuals.     [FULL  STORY]