The Immigration Office Police Agency yesterday said that its officers interviewed a total of 1,203 Chinese spouses between Sept. 1 and Thursday.
"Among those interviewed, 56 were determined to have committed marriage fraud and were deported on the spot; 664 were suspected of fraudulent marriages and underwent a second round of interviews," the agency said in a statement.
On Thursday, immigration officials at CKS International Airport detected 14 cases of fake marriage as the purported Chinese spouses attempted to enter the country.
The detainees were put back on the planes they had arrived on and returned to their points of
departure.
On the same day, 93 Chinese spouses already in the country underwent a second round of interviews and one person was deported after failing the interview while another 19 individuals were ordered to leave within 10 days, according to the agency.
According to the Ministry of the Interior, as of Oct. 1, all Chinese spouses arriving in Taiwan for the first time are being interviewed at the port of entry. Those found to be involved in bogus marriages face immediate repatriation.
According to the ministry, the policy is aimed at cracking down on Chinese who enter the country by claiming to be married to a Taiwanese but actually intend to engage in prostitution or work illegally.
The ministry said it would not discuss the interviews or the questions which are being asked.
"These questions will remain confidential in order to prevent Chinese from devising answers in advance," said ministry spokeswoman Huang Hsiu-mei (
According to the Immigration Office's statistics, as of Tuesday, there were approximately 190,000 Chinese married to Taiwanese and 171,582 of them have applied to enter the country. So far 13,149 have obtained settlers' visas and 10,053 have received Republic of China identification cards.
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