The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday promised to conduct a complete overhaul of the legal rights of Chinese spouses married to Taiwanese nationals, promising to coordinate with other government agencies to shorten the time needed for the spouses to obtain identification cards.
After listening to the opinions of civic groups promoting the rights of Chinese spouses, MAC Chairwoman Lai Shin-yuan (賴幸媛) told reporters that the council would coordinate with the Ministry of the Interior and the Council of Labor Affairs so that the spouses could obtain identification cards, work and vote.
Currently, Chinese spouses must reside in Taiwan for eight years before they are eligible to apply for identification cards, compared with three years for spouses from other countries.
However, Chinese spouses are not required to give up their People’s Republic of China nationality, while other foreign spouses are required to renounce their nationality in order to obtain Republic of China citizenship. Only after they have been successfully naturalized as Taiwanese nationals can they receive identification cards.
Lai said she hoped the proposed legal revisions would proceed to the legislature for final approval in the next legislative session. Until then, the council would handle matters on a case-by-case basis, she said.
Lai said that future policies for Chinese spouses would be based on three principles: legal Chinese spouses and their children will be allowed to enter the country; illegal spouses will be blocked; and that the government is responsible for protecting the rights of legally married couples.
“Legal spouses living here are Taiwanese residents, no matter where they come from,” she said. “Their work and civic rights must be protected in line with the law.”
Lai said that President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) had voiced opposition to any discriminatory treatment of legal immigrants when he was a presidential candidate and his election promises would become policy and be put into practice.
One of the immediate examples, Lai said, was changes to financial regulations for immigrant spouses seeking naturalization.
The legislature approved amendments to the Nationality Law (國籍法) this month to scrap an article requiring immigrants seeking naturalization to provide proof that they possess at least NT$420,000.
Chung Chin-ming (鍾錦明), chairman of the Association for Negotiation and Advancement of Cross-Strait Marriages, said that the Statute Governing the Relations Between the Peoples of the Taiwan Area and Mainland Area (台灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例) was the main reason for discrimination against Chinese spouses.
He urged the government to amend the law to shorten the time Chinese spouses need to obtain identification cards and increase the application quota for identification cards and long-term residence.
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