The government will grant residence to stateless persons from Thailand and Myanmar who entered Taiwan with fake passports before May 21, 1999, as long as a local court has processed their case, National Immigration Agency officials said on Friday.
If the stateless persons have turned themselves in to authorities and a court has decided not to indict them, commuted their indictment or settled their case, those court documents can be used as verification of their stateless status during their application for permanent residence.
Under the Immigration Act (
That documentation proved nearly impossible to get, leaving the cases of many of the illegal immigrants in limbo. Following Friday's decision, that documentation is no longer necessary.
Those individuals from Thailand and Myanmar who arrived with fake travel documents before May 21, 1999 but did not turn themselves in and had no contact with local courts can still report to authorities to obtain court verification of their stateless status.
The new measure is intended to resolve the dilemma faced by ethnic Chinese refugees from northern Thailand and Myanmar who have entered Taiwan with fake travel documents.
Many of them are descendants of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) soldiers who retreated to the region after losing the civil war in China in 1949.
The problem remained unanswered after the implementation of the Immigration Act, which stipulates that stateless people coming to Taiwan from Thailand, Myanmar or Indonesia before the law's implementation shall be granted residence in the country.
“China is preparing to invade Taiwan,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an exclusive interview with British media channel Sky News for a special report titled, “Is Taiwan ready for a Chinese invasion?” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today in a statement. The 25-minute-long special report by Helen Ann-Smith released yesterday saw Sky News travel to Penghu, Taoyuan and Taipei to discuss the possibility of a Chinese invasion and how Taiwan is preparing for an attack. The film observed emergency response drills, interviewed baseball fans at the Taipei Dome on their views of US President
ECONOMIC BENEFITS: The imports from Belize would replace those from Honduras, whose shrimp exports have dropped 67 percent since cutting ties in 2023 Maintaining ties with Taiwan has economic benefits, Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials said yesterday, citing the approval of frozen whiteleg shrimp imports from Belize by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as an example. The FDA on Wednesday approved the tariff-free imports from Belize after the whiteleg shrimp passed the Systematic Inspection of Imported Food, which would continue to boost mutual trade, the ministry said. Taiwan’s annual consumption of whiteleg shrimps stands at 30,000 tonnes, far exceeding domestic production, the ministry said. Taiwan used to fill the gap by importing shrimps from Honduras, but purchases slumped after Tegucigalpa severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan
The Executive Yuan yesterday approved a southwestern extension of the Sanying MRT Line from New Taipei to Bade District (八德) in Taoyuan, with a goal of starting construction by late 2026. The 4.03-kilometer extension, featuring three new stations, will run from the current terminus at Yingtao Fude Station (LB12) in New Taipei City to Dannan Station (LB14), where it will connect with Taoyuan’s Green Line, New Taipei City Metro Corp said in a statement. This extension will follow the completion of core Sanying Line, a 14.29-kilometer medium-capacity system linking Tucheng (土城), Sansia (三峽)
CARGO LOSS: About 50 containers at the stern of the ‘Ever Lunar’ cargo ship went overboard, prompting the temporary closure of the port and disrupting operations Evergreen Marine Corp, Taiwan’s largest container shipper, yesterday said that all crew members aboard the Ever Lunar (長月) were safe after dozens of containers fell overboard off the coast of Peru the previous day. The incident occurred at 9:40am on Friday as the Ever Lunar was anchored and waiting to enter the Port of Callao when it suddenly experienced severe rolling, Evergreen said in a statement. The rolling, which caused the containers to fall, might have been caused by factors including a tsunami triggered by an earthquake in Russia, poor winter sea conditions in South America or a sudden influx of waves,
RSS