Refugees still wait for their identity

In the autumn of 1990, when nine children from northern Thailand were caught travelling on false passports as they returned to Taiwan to study, they cried out in fear, "Give us citizenship! We want identity papers!" In the autumn of 1995, newspapers carried reports that citizenship problems for 100 descendants of KMT forces still in northern Thailand would be over soon.

On the eve of the 2000 mid-autumn festival, several dozen students from northern Thailand lifted placards and cried, "Give us citizenship! We want identity papers!" Once again, the papers reported that a solution was within sight for the citizenship problems of KMT soldiers' descendants in northern Thailand. But 10 years have passed and still the desired solution to the citizenship problem lies in the future.

On Oct. 1, 1995 the Overseas Chinese Affairs Commission (僑委會) issued the "Essential Points Regarding The Legal Status of Overseas Chinese Students From Northern Thailand Who Returned to Taiwan Between 1985 and 1991" (七十四到八十年間泰北回國僑生身分處理要點) and agreed to solve the legal status for a portion of the students. But what about those who had returned to Taiwan between 1991 and 1995, as well as those who had failed to register -- because of misgivings -- with the Overseas Chinese Affairs Commission in October 1993, so that the government could carry out a head count. Weren't any officials concerned about the basic survival problems they faced because of their lack of legal status? Was it reasonable to burden children with a criminal record for "forged documents," when a policy mistake was responsible for enticing refugees in northern Thailand and Burma to buy other people's passports in order to send their children to Taiwan to study?

I repeatedly petitioned the government through legislators, requesting that officials from the relevant departments go to northern Thailand and educate people about the laws that applied in this case, impressing on them that they cannot continue to use illegal methods to acquire Thai citizenship and passports. I got no response whatsoever.

Nowadays, the attitude of officials facing a second wave of students requesting a solution to their own lack of legal status is, "How can you ask for legal status after illegally entering the country?" What marvellous reasoning! The poor students have no way to answer this unreasonable question. They can only hold up their placards once again.

The students are not the only ones who need identity papers. I don't know how many women from northern Thailand, married to ROC residents, have called to complain that a parent is sick or has died and that they feel devastated. I always tell them, "After the Immigration Act is passed, your problems will almost be over. Give the government a little time. You'll be able to return home and see your relatives very soon."

The fact is, the Immigration Act only allows them to reside in Taiwan, there is no provision to give them identity papers. When officials in the relevant departments were establishing the bylaws on the Implementation of the Immigration Act (移民法施行細則), they claimed to have loosened restrictions on the residency period in a humanitarian way. They allowed brides from northern Thailand to apply for seven-year settlers' visas (定居證), with the condition that travel abroad would be forbidden, after they had received a three-year Stateless Overseas Chinese Residency Visa (無國籍外僑居留證). In other words, a year after the Act was passed and when the work of issuing resident visas has just begun, those refugees who are already married must wait another 10 years before they can return home to visit their parents. (Students from northern Thailand still haven't obtained resident visas. The time limit for unmarried Stateless Overseas Chinese Residency Visas is five years and the holder of this visa is not permitted to work in Taiwan. A settler's permit of seven years duration may subsequently be obtained.)