Efforts afoot to ease permanent residency rules

The nation should amend regulations to help foreigners to more easily obtain permanent residency visas, Minister of the Interior Chang Po-ya (張博雅) said yesterday.

Meanwhile, at a news conference KMT Legislator Apollo Chen (陳學聖) also called for a relaxation of visa regulations.

At least five well-known foreigners who have lived in Tai-wan for decades, have appealed to the government to grant them permanent residency.

Because of their frequent travels out of the country, they never remain in Taiwan long enough to qualify for permanent residency under the current rules.

Currently, under the Immigration Law (入出國及移民法), foreigners who apply for permanent residency have to be present in Taiwan for at least 270 consecutive days per year for seven years. Many foreigners consider the requirement far too strict.

"Minister Chang supports the proposal that foreigners who stay in Taiwan for a total of 183 days for at least ten out of 20 years, should be awarded permanent residency," said Vice Interior Lee Yi-yang (李逸洋).

While the new proposal requires the applicant to have lived in Taiwan for at least 20 years, the requirement of spending 183 days only applies to ten of the 20 years.

In yesterday's meeting of the Ministry of the Interior, Chang argued that Taiwanese regulations related to applications for citizenship are too easy and regulations for applications for permanent residency are much too strict.

Chang said "under the Nationality Law, foreigners living in Taiwan for 180 consecutive days per year for five years are qualified to apply for Taiwanese citizenship, which is far easier than applying for permanent residency."

"We should amend the law to make applications for citizenship harder than applying for permanent residency," Chang said.

According to local media reports, President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) has ordered the ministries of foreign affairs and the interior to deal expeditiously with the issue

Lee Yi-yang (李逸洋), vice minister of the Interior, said that the ministry would support the amendments advocated by Apollo Chen in the Legislature on Feb 2.