The Ministry of the Interior (MOI) yesterday passed a proposed amendment to the Immigration Act (出入國及移民法) granting amnesty to descendents of former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) soldiers in Southeast Asia who entered the country on forged passports.
Following the KMT’s defeat in the Chinese Civil War, tens of thousands of its soldiers moved across the Chinese border with Myanmar and Thailand. They became trapped there when the KMT regime collapsed in China and fled to Taiwan.
When the governments of Myanmar and Thailand refused to grant them residency or citizenship, they became stateless.
For decades, the Overseas Compatriots Affairs Commission (OCAC) and the Ministry of Education (MOE) had programs to bring descendents of the soldiers to study at Taiwanese universities.
As most of them were stateless, they entered Taiwan on forged or purchased passports, but were granted citizenship after residing in Taiwan for a period of time. That path to citizenship closed, however, when the Immigration Act took effect in 1999.
The OCAC and the MOE continued their recruiting programs, however, without explaining to new participants that they would not be granted citizenship after coming to Taiwan.
As a result, hundreds of students who arrived after 1999 on forged passports have overstayed their visas, but are unable to return to Myanmar or Thailand legally because they have no citizenship.
After several meetings with some of those left in this situation, the MOI decided to seek an amnesty.
“Those stateless people or [Republic of China (ROC)] nationals without household registration records who have entered the country to study between May 21, 1999 and Dec. 26, 2007 from Thailand and Myanmar with approval of the government bodies involved and cannot be deported will be permitted to reside [in the country] by the National Immigration Agency [NIA],” the amendment says.
The nationals referred to in the text are a small group of the stateless students who have documentation proving that their grandparents had ROC citizenship.
All of those who qualify would be cleared of legal responsibilities for entering the country on forged or bought passports if the amendment is promulgated.
“While those who have [other] criminal offenses during the past five years may not be granted residency, those whose offenses are related to passport forgery or using other people’s identities for the purpose of entering the country will not be subject to sanctions,” the amendment says.
“We asked these people to register last month and issued them temporary residency permits that were valid for a year,” NIA official Tsao Ku-ling (曹顧齡) said.
The amendment will be sent to the Cabinet and the legislature. Once it is passed, official alien resident certificates will be issued to the students, he said.
Eventually they could apply for citizenship under the standard regulations applying to foreigners in Taiwan.
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Monday called for greater cooperation between Taiwan, Lithuania and the EU to counter threats to information security, including attacks on undersea cables and other critical infrastructure. In a speech at Vilnius University in the Lithuanian capital, Tsai highlighted recent incidents in which vital undersea cables — essential for cross-border data transmission — were severed in the Taiwan Strait and the Baltic Sea over the past year. Taiwanese authorities suspect Chinese sabotage in the incidents near Taiwan’s waters, while EU leaders have said Russia is the likely culprit behind similar breaches in the Baltic. “Taiwan and our European
The Taipei District Court sentenced babysitters Liu Tsai-hsuan (劉彩萱) and Liu Jou-lin (劉若琳) to life and 18 years in prison respectively today for causing the death of a one-year-old boy in December 2023. The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said that Liu Tsai-hsuan was entrusted with the care of a one-year-old boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), in August 2023 by the Child Welfare League Foundation. From Sept. 1 to Dec. 23 that year, she and her sister Liu Jou-lin allegedly committed acts of abuse against the boy, who was rushed to the hospital with severe injuries on Dec. 24, 2023, but did not
LIKE-MINDED COUNTRIES: Despite the threats from outside, Taiwan and Lithuania thrived and developed their economies, former president Tsai Ing-wen said Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Saturday thanked Lithuania for its support of Taiwan, saying that both countries are united as partners in defending democracy. Speaking at a reception organized by the Lithuania-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Group welcoming her on her first visit to the Baltic state, Tsai said that while she was president from 2016 to last year, many Lithuanian “friends” visited Taiwan. “And I told myself I have to be here. I am very happy that I am here, a wonderful country and wonderful people,” Tsai said. Taiwan and Lithuania are in similar situations as both are neighbors to authoritarian countries, she
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) is to visit the UK during her ongoing European trip, which originally included only Lithuania and Denmark, her office said today. Tsai departed Taiwan for Europe on Friday night, with planned stops in Lithuania and Denmark, marking her second visit to the continent since her two-term presidency ended in May last year. Her office issued a statement today saying that Tsai would also visit the UK "for a few days," during which she is to meet with UK politicians and Taiwanese professionals, and visit academic and research institutions. Following Tsai's stop in Denmark, she is to visit the
RSS