A group of DPP legislators yesterday urged the government to reassess its immigration policy in a bid to prevent foreign spouses from abusing the system and generating social problems in the country.
"Given the culture and language differences, many foreign brides find it hard to assimilate into Taiwanese society," DPP Legislator Tang Huo-shen (湯火聖) said at a joint press conference held with colleagues Chien Chao-tong (簡肇棟), Lin Yu-sheng (林育生) and Su Chih-fen (蘇治芬).
"As a result, a social storm is slowly taking shape in Taiwan with issues concerning their children's education, property inheritance, broken homes and the like," Tang said.
PHOTO: FANG PIN-CHAO, TAIPEI TIMES
The legislators said many Southeast Asian brides, casting greedy eyes on Taiwan's comfortable living, have taken advantage of the nation's lax immigration rules to gain citizenship and thus enjoy all the rights and benefits citizens enjoy such as national health insurance and social welfare.
"Such cases are especially frequent with foreign brides from Vietnam, who blatantly ignore law and order but seek immigration loopholes to earn citizenship not just for themselves but also for their kin back home," Tang said.
According to Tang, there are numerous cases of Vietnamese spouses who, after obtaining citizenship through marriage to Taiwanese, demand an immediate divorce. They then remarry Vietnamese laborers working here before taking them, along with kin from Vietnam, to apply for citizenship in this country.
"This is not only unjust to Taiwanese husbands victimized by these marriages, but these cases also generate many tricky issues such as broken homes, children's education, property inheritance and the like," Chien said, urging the government to heighten its immigration regulations to prevent false marriages, especially as numerous foreign spouses have in the past turned out to be prostitutes.
Su also urged the government to strengthen its consultation services for foreign brides to help them to become more acquainted with the country.
According to a report presented by Minister of the Interior Yu Cheng-hsien (余政憲) at a Cabinet meeting last month, as of the end of last year, more than 87,000 foreign women had married Taiwanese.
In terms of nationality, Vietnamese formed the largest group of foreign brides, totaling 42,713 at the end of last year, followed by Indonesians at 10,662.
Other countries who have at least 1,000 women married to Taiwanese men were Thailand, the Philippines, Cambodia and Malaysia.
The Ministry of Education (MOE) is to launch a new program to encourage international students to stay in Taiwan and explore job opportunities here after graduation, Deputy Minister of Education Yeh Ping-cheng (葉丙成) said on Friday. The government would provide full scholarships for international students to further their studies for two years in Taiwan, so those who want to pursue a master’s degree can consider applying for the program, he said. The fields included are science, technology, engineering, mathematics, semiconductors and finance, Yeh added. The program, called “Intense 2+2,” would also assist international students who completed the two years of further studies in
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) departed for Europe on Friday night, with planned stops in Lithuania and Denmark. Tsai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Friday night, but did not speak to reporters before departing. Tsai wrote on social media later that the purpose of the trip was to reaffirm the commitment of Taiwanese to working with democratic allies to promote regional security and stability, upholding freedom and democracy, and defending their homeland. She also expressed hope that through joint efforts, Taiwan and Europe would continue to be partners building up economic resilience on the global stage. The former president was to first
Taiwan will now have four additional national holidays after the Legislative Yuan passed an amendment today, which also made Labor Day a national holiday for all sectors. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) used their majority in the Legislative Yuan to pass the amendment to the Act on Implementing Memorial Days and State Holidays (紀念日及節日實施辦法), which the parties jointly proposed, in its third and final reading today. The legislature passed the bill to amend the act, which is currently enforced administratively, raising it to the legal level. The new legislation recognizes Confucius’ birthday on Sept. 28, the
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Monday called for greater cooperation between Taiwan, Lithuania and the EU to counter threats to information security, including attacks on undersea cables and other critical infrastructure. In a speech at Vilnius University in the Lithuanian capital, Tsai highlighted recent incidents in which vital undersea cables — essential for cross-border data transmission — were severed in the Taiwan Strait and the Baltic Sea over the past year. Taiwanese authorities suspect Chinese sabotage in the incidents near Taiwan’s waters, while EU leaders have said Russia is the likely culprit behind similar breaches in the Baltic. “Taiwan and our European
RSS