Under a legal revision drafted at the Ministry of the Interior on Thursday, Chinese spouses of foreign specialized professionals will be able to seek non-Taiwanese nationals to be their guarantors here. The move will ease strict requirements on spouses that have drawn criticism from foreign chambers of commerce in Taiwan.
"The current regulation stipulates that in order for a Chinese spouse of a foreign specialized professional to live in Taiwan, a Taiwanese guarantor is required," said Ho Jung-chun (
The draft will revise articles in the Regulations Governing Entrance for the Mainland-Area Peoples to Taiwan (
Another minor revision drafted in the meeting will end the requirement that Chinese passports or travel documents belonging to Chinese spouses of foreign specialized professionals be retained by the bureau upon entry into the country. Instead, only copies of travel documents will be made.
The Council for Economic Planning and Development held a meeting in June with the ministry to discuss the issue, which has concerned some foreign expatriates and white-collar employees.
"Some foreign chambers of commerce in Taiwan had made known to us that some of their members faced a hard time finding Taiwanese citizens to be their spouses' guarantors," an officer within the Council's legal department stated yesterday. "Therefore, we conducted research into the legal aspects of this issue and brought it up with the relevant authorities."
The Council of Labor Affairs was able to provide statistics for the number of white-collar foreign workers in Taiwan.
"Before January this year, the hiring of specialized foreign workers was handled and approved by different government offices, depending on occupation type," the council's white-collar department officer said. "Unfortunately, none of the offices kept statistics. Only by January did the [council] take over the work-permit administration of white-collar foreign workers. Therefore, the CLA is unable to estimate the number of white-collar foreign workers in Taiwan."
But academics downplayed the significance of the revision, saying it does not address the needs of Chinese spouses who plan to stay in Taiwan long-term.
"This revision did not touch upon the main difficulties faced by these spouses: permission to work and the ability to leave and enter Taiwan [without red tape]," said Tso Chen-dong (
"Once a Chinese spouse of a specialized foreign professional is to stay here long-term, he or she may want to find a job or be able to travel in and out of the country easily. But current regulations do not allow for such freedom," he said.
The revised draft is currently under review at the Mainland Affairs Council and will later be forwarded to the Executive Yuan for final approval.
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