The government plans to amend a law to extend the time Chinese spouses must wait to get Republic of China identification cards from eight years to 11, a move the spouses say is unfair.
The planned amendment to the Statute Governing the Relations between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday that although the amendment will lengthen the time these spouses must wait to get identification cards, it will considerably reduce the number of trips they are forced take between China and Taiwan.
Under the current law, the spouses must return to China every six months within the first two years of marriage.
The amendment will revoke the rule so that Chinese spouses will not have to make compulsory trips between the two sides in the first two years of marriage, the MAC said.
But the amendment will not be applicable to Chinese spouses who have already obtained the right of abode in Taiwan, which is usually granted two years after they are married. They will, as before, be given identification cards eight years after marriage.
As for Chinese spouses who have applied for right of abode, they are allowed to choose between the original or the amended version of the law, said MAC Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen (
For newly married Chinese spouses who have yet to apply for right of abode, they will have to abide by the amendment, according to the MAC.
Tsai said the government wants to be more strict about granting Chinese spouses identification cards, while trying to make their lives easier by revoking the compulsory trips.
"Since 1992, cross-strait marriages have grown fast and we already have more than 200,000 Chinese spouses in Taiwan. The number is growing by 30,000 every year," Tsai said.
She said the increasing number of relatives brought by Chinese spouses to Taiwan will have a considerable impact on society. The government has to handle the immigration tide carefully, Tsai added.
Compared with Chinese spouses, other foreign spouses must usually wait six months to obtain right of abode in Taiwan and four to eight years to get identification cards, the Ministry of Interior (MOI) said.
There are about 100,000 foreign non-Chinese spouses in Taiwan, according to the MOI.
Chien Tai-lang (
The handling of Chinese spouses is based on the Statute Governing the Relations between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area, whereas the handling of other foreign spouses falls under the Nationality Law (國籍法) and the Immigration Law (入出國移民法), Chien said.
Chien said Chinese and other foreign spouses should not be treated on an equal basis.
"The cross-strait situation is a special case. After the Chinese spouses settle down in Taiwan, their close relatives mostly follow them to Taiwan. We are concerned the number of Chinese people immigrating to Taiwan will increase," Chien said.
"In order to maintain our national security and benefits, [the government] should be more strict with Chinese spouses than with foreign spouses in terms of issuing identification cards," Chien said.
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