Taiwan's Invisible Hand: The Rise of Undocumented Migrant Labor

Taiwan’s undocumented Southeast Asian labor has been invisibly spiking. How are hundreds of thousands of illegal migrants surviving, raising families, and creating ecosystems unnoticed inside one of Asia’s most vibrant democracies?

Like so much of the developed world, Taiwan is kept afloat by an expanding migrant workforce. The island’s infamous broker system, used to streamline migrant labor, has been plagued by malpractice. Combined with employer abuse and unheard grievances, more and more of Taiwan’s migrant workers are choosing a life on the periphery.

Whereas established migrant shelters are able to accommodate distressed migrant workers' grievances, the rights of the undocumented is somewhat of a gray area. How does one ask for compensation or even justice when one isn’t even supposed to be there?

Filipino journalist Michael Beltran examines the social and economic conditions faced by the little known growing undocumented Southeast Asian population of Taiwan. In addition, Beltran himself describes the processes of applying to be an overseas worker.