On May 9, Taiwanese and Tibetan married couples held up signs with slogans such as “Please don’t break up my family, grant my Tibetan husband the right of abode” and “Evil law, a Mother’s Day spent weeping,” in a protest outside the Executive Yuan. Accompanied by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators Chen Chieh-ju and Tien Chiu-chin, they urged the government to annul its policy of writing “no right of abode” on visas that are issued to Tibetans, and to give Tibetan spouses in Taiwan a permanent right of residency. The Cabinet responded by saying that an interagency meeting would be held within a month to discuss how the issue is to be resolved.
Tien says the Ministry of Foreign Affairs claims it is not a discriminatory policy, and that the reason Tibetans in exile cannot be granted the right of abode, despite being married to a Taiwanese citizen, is that they come to Taiwan using “Yellow Books,” which are basically travel visas issued by the Indian government.
One Tibetan spouse who attended the protest said that being unable to apply for residency status, having to leave the country every six months, being unable to work and not having health insurance, on top of having to spend NT$60,000 on travel expenses and processing fees every time he has to leave, is a heavy burden for his family.
(Liberty Times, Translated by Kyle Jeffcoat)
Photo: Reuters
照片：路透
多位高舉著「請不要拆散我家，請給藏夫居留權」、「惡法刁難、哭泣的母親節」等標語的台藏聯姻家庭成員，五月九日在民進黨立委陳節如、田秋堇等人陪同下至行政院陳情，要求政府取消在藏人簽證註記「不得改辦居留」的規定，讓藏人配偶可以在台長期居留。政院則允諾一個月內召開跨部會議討論如何解決這項問題。
田秋堇指出，外交部指稱流亡海外藏人所持的是印度政府核發的「黃皮書」，屬於「旅行簽證」，即使與台灣人結婚，仍無法給予藏人居留權，根本是歧視性規定。
到場陳情的藏人配偶指出，在台不能辦居留，每隔半年就要出境，無法工作，也沒有健保，每次離台的旅費與手續費就要新台幣六萬元，造成家庭的沉重負擔。
（自由時報記者黃維助）
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