In order to allow certain individuals born before 1982 gain Taiwanese citizenship, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) yesterday said she would push for changes in the Nationality Law (國籍法).
Revisions made in 2000 to Article 2 of the law allowed children with one Taiwanese and one foreign parent to obtain Republic of China citizenship, but the revisions only covered people who were children at the time, meaning that the revisions offered nothing to people born before 1982.
PHOTO: LIAO CHEN-HUI, TAIPEI TIMES
Hsiao, who herself is the product of a cross-cultural marriage, said that her wish to revise the law is inspired by the case of George Laverne Jennings, a 28-year old man who, despite having a Taiwanese mother and having lived in Taiwan most of his life, has not been able to obtain Taiwanese citizenship.
Jennings -- or "Little Black," as he is affectionately known to his Taiwanese friends -- is the child of an African-American father and a Taiwanese woman.
He has lived in Taiwan for 19 years and speaks fluent Taiwanese and Chinese. Because his father was American and because he himself was an adult before the law was revised in 2000, Jennings cannot claim Taiwanese citizenship.
Jennings has US citizenship, but is in limbo regarding his status in Taiwan. He does not have a national identity card because he and his mother neglected to fill out forms regarding his stay in the country when he was in high school. Without an identity card, he has been unable to hold a regular job.
At the time that Jennings came to Hsiao's attention, Jennings had overstayed by eight years his legally-sanctioned stay in Taiwan and was facing deportation.
Thanks to the help of local politicians including Hsiao, Jennings has been given an exemption and will be able to stay in Taiwan.
Returning from a brief trip from Hong Kong yesterday, Jennings said that he would begin taking language classes at Feng-chia University.
"I am already a Taiwanese," Jennings said.
"As long as I can get a national identity card, I am even willing to do military service," he said.
US climber Alex Honnold is to attempt to scale Taipei 101 without a rope and harness in a live Netflix special on Jan. 24, the streaming platform announced on Wednesday. Accounting for the time difference, the two-hour broadcast of Honnold’s climb, called Skyscraper Live, is to air on Jan. 23 in the US, Netflix said in a statement. Honnold, 40, was the first person ever to free solo climb the 900m El Capitan rock formation in Yosemite National Park — a feat that was recorded and later made into the 2018 documentary film Free Solo. Netflix previewed Skyscraper Live in October, after videos
Starting on Jan. 1, YouBike riders must have insurance to use the service, and a six-month trial of NT$5 coupons under certain conditions would be implemented to balance bike shortages, a joint statement from transportation departments across Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan announced yesterday. The rental bike system operator said that coupons would be offered to riders to rent bikes from full stations, for riders who take out an electric-assisted bike from a full station, and for riders who return a bike to an empty station. All riders with YouBike accounts are automatically eligible for the program, and each membership account
A classified Pentagon-produced, multiyear assessment — the Overmatch brief — highlighted unreported Chinese capabilities to destroy US military assets and identified US supply chain choke points, painting a disturbing picture of waning US military might, a New York Times editorial published on Monday said. US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s comments in November last year that “we lose every time” in Pentagon-conducted war games pitting the US against China further highlighted the uncertainty about the US’ capability to intervene in the event of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan. “It shows the Pentagon’s overreliance on expensive, vulnerable weapons as adversaries field cheap, technologically
NUMBERs IMBALANCE: More than 4 million Taiwanese have visited China this year, while only about half a million Chinese have visited here Beijing has yet to respond to Taiwan’s requests for negotiation over matters related to the recovery of cross-strait tourism, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. Taiwan’s tourism authority issued the statement after Chinese-language daily the China Times reported yesterday that the government’s policy of banning group tours to China does not stop Taiwanese from visiting the country. As of October, more than 4.2 million had traveled to China this year, exceeding last year. Beijing estimated the number of Taiwanese tourists in China could reach 4.5 million this year. By contrast, only 500,000 Chinese tourists are expected in Taiwan, the report said. The report
RSS