It was announced yesterday that Taiwan is to further liberalize regulations on the rights of Chinese wives of Taiwan nationals to remain in Taiwan, allowing those who are pregnant to stay in Taiwan for up to one year, and extending the right for three years once they have given birth.
Currently, Chinese brides are allowed to enter Taiwan to visit their husbands for up to six months if not pregnant. Those who are seven months or more pregnant may remain for one year.
The government will also double the maximum period that Chinese spouses who have applied for Taiwan residence permits may spend abroad within a consecutive two-year period from 60 days to 120 days.
Because of national-security considerations Chinese spouses of Taiwanese nationals do not gain permanent-residence rights in Taiwan simply by virtue of their marriage. To acquire a permanent-residence permit they must first have been married for at least two years and then have lived in Taiwan for two years after submitting their application.
A quota of 3,600 residence permits is issued each year to Chinese nationals in Taiwan. Chinese spouses of Taiwan nationals whose applications are not included in the quota for two consecutive years are automatically issued with a residence permit four years after submitting their application.
The changes were approved at an inter-ministerial meeting yesterday and announced by the director of the Mainland Affairs Council's (MAC) department of legal affairs, Jeff Yang (
Yesterday's meeting also approved revisions that would entitle Chinese spouses of deceased, mentally retarded or physically handicapped Taiwanese nationals, who have parents-in-law over 65 year-old or children under 18 in Taiwan to apply to come to Taiwan to take care of such persons.
As to the extension of the number of days allowed to remain overseas while a permanent-residence permit is under application, Yang said the time constraints put Chinese spouses who wish to go home under a lot of pressure.
Air travel is prohibitively expensive for ordinary Chinese and it can take days to travel form one city to another by other means of transport.
"The extension from 60 days to 120 days can help improving this situation," Yang said.
The revision will benefit an estimated 130,000 cross-strait couples, according to statistics from the Straits Exchange Foundation.
The council will send the relevant administrative orders to the Executive Yuan for approval. Revisions of administrative orders do not need the approval of the Legislative Yuan.
MAC Vice Chairman Jonathon Liu (
The SEF released a newsletter on Wednesday saying that some Chinese brides had been ordered to abort their pregnancies during trips back to China since the beginning of last year.
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