Despite promises from Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs Commission (MTAC) Minister Kao Su-po (高思博) that more than 100 stateless Tibetan refugees in Taiwan would obtain residency this month, Taiwan Tibetan Welfare Association chairman Jamga (蔣卡) said yesterday that most had yet to hear from the government.
“It’s been half a year and most of the [Tibetan refugees in Taiwan] are still waiting to obtain their residency,” Jamga told the Taipei Times by telephone. “Every time we ask the commission and the National Immigration Agency [NIA], we are told to wait.”
In December, more than 100 Tibetan refugees living in Taiwan without proper documents began a sit-in at Liberty Square in Taipei asking the government to grant them asylum.
Most of the refugees had years ago crossed the Himalayas into Nepal or India and entered Taiwan on visitor visas with forged Nepalese or Indian passports.
Having overstayed their visas, they became illegal residents and since they are stateless, they have no country to be sent back to.
Their pleas were finally heard when in January the Immigration Act (入出國及移民法) was amended at the legislature to grant them residency.
Yet, as most are still waiting to obtain residency, representatives of the Tibetans turned to the MTAC again yesterday
“We all respect and obey to [sic] the [MTAC] and keep on wait[ing],” the Tibetans said in a petition letter written in English and delivered in person to the commission yesterday.
“Now we are entering in July and there is nothing response from any commission or agency,” it said.
“Things are getting delay[ed] and more delay[ed],” the statement said.
Only nine Tibetans who held Identity Certificates — a document issued by the Indian government for Tibetan refugees — were granted residency last month.
Some Tibetans who met MTAC officials said they suspected that the government was intentionally delaying the process for political reasons.
However, commission chief secretary Chien Shih-yin (錢世英), who received the Tibetans, denied those accusations and urged them to be patient.
“We [the MTAC] finished verifying the identities of 115 Tibetan refugees in Taiwan in May and immediately sent all the documents to the NIA,” Chien said. “The NIA then has to do its own checks.”
He said that since only stateless refugees under certain circumstances could be granted residency without having to go through the regular application process, the NIA must first ensure that the Indian and Nepalese passports the Tibetans held when they entered the country were forged as claimed.
“To verify that information, the NIA has to contact the Indian and Nepalese governments through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and wait for a reply,” Chien said, adding that the NIA must also await court decisions on the Tibetans regarding their violations of immigration laws.
“We would like to get the job done as soon as possible, but the processes take time,” Chien said.Despite promises from Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs Commission (MTAC) Minister Kao Su-po (高思博) that more than 100 stateless Tibetan refugees in Taiwan would obtain residency this month, Taiwan Tibetan Welfare Association chairman Jamga (蔣卡) said yesterday that most had yet to hear from the government.
“It’s been half a year and most of the [Tibetan refugees in Taiwan] are still waiting to obtain their residency,” Jamga told the Taipei Times by telephone. “Every time we ask the commission and the National Immigration Agency [NIA], we are told to wait.”
In December, more than 100 Tibetan refugees living in Taiwan without proper documents began a sit-in at Liberty Square in Taipei asking the government to grant them asylum.
Most of the refugees had years ago crossed the Himalayas into Nepal or India and entered Taiwan on visitor visas with forged Nepalese or Indian passports.
Having overstayed their visas, they became illegal residents and since they are stateless, they have no country to be sent back to.
Their pleas were finally heard when in January the Immigration Act (入出國及移民法) was amended at the legislature to grant them residency.
Yet, as most are still waiting to obtain residency, representatives of the Tibetans turned to the MTAC again yesterday
“We all respect and obey to [sic] the [MTAC] and keep on wait[ing],” the Tibetans said in a petition letter written in English and delivered in person to the commission yesterday.
“Now we are entering in July and there is nothing response from any commission or agency,” it said.
“Things are getting delay[ed] and more delay[ed],” the statement said.
Only nine Tibetans who held Identity Certificates — a document issued by the Indian government for Tibetan refugees — were granted residency last month.
Some Tibetans who met MTAC officials said they suspected that the government was intentionally delaying the process for political reasons.
However, commission chief secretary Chien Shih-yin (錢世英), who received the Tibetans, denied those accusations and urged them to be patient.
“We [the MTAC] finished verifying the identities of 115 Tibetan refugees in Taiwan in May and immediately sent all the documents to the NIA,” Chien said. “The NIA then has to do its own checks.”
He said that since only stateless refugees under certain circumstances could be granted residency without having to go through the regular application process, the NIA must first ensure that the Indian and Nepalese passports the Tibetans held when they entered the country were forged as claimed.
“To verify that information, the NIA has to contact the Indian and Nepalese governments through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and wait for a reply,” Chien said, adding that the NIA must also await court decisions on the Tibetans regarding their violations of immigration laws.
“We would like to get the job done as soon as possible, but the processes take time,” Chien said.
The Taipei Department of Health yesterday said it has launched a probe into a restaurant at Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store after a customer died of suspected food poisoning. A preliminary investigation on Sunday found missing employee health status reports and unsanitary kitchen utensils at Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in the department store’s basement food court, the department said. No direct relationship between the food poisoning death and the restaurant was established, as no food from the day of the incident was available for testing and no other customers had reported health complaints, it said, adding that the investigation is ongoing. Later
REVENGE TRAVEL: A surge in ticket prices should ease this year, but inflation would likely keep tickets at a higher price than before the pandemic Scoot is to offer six additional flights between Singapore and Northeast Asia, with all routes transiting Taipei from April 1, as the budget airline continues to resume operations that were paused during the COVID-19 pandemic, a Scoot official said on Thursday. Vice president of sales Lee Yong Sin (李榮新) said at a gathering with reporters in Taipei that the number of flights from Singapore to Japan and South Korea with a stop in Taiwan would increase from 15 to 21 each week. That change means the number of the Singapore-Taiwan-Tokyo flights per week would increase from seven to 12, while Singapore-Taiwan-Seoul
BAD NEIGHBORS: China took fourth place among countries spreading disinformation, with Hong Kong being used as a hub to spread propaganda, a V-Dem study found Taiwan has been rated as the country most affected by disinformation for the 11th consecutive year in a study by the global research project Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem). The nation continues to be a target of disinformation originating from China, and Hong Kong is increasingly being used as a base from which to disseminate that disinformation, the report said. After Taiwan, Latvia and Palestine ranked second and third respectively, while Nicaragua, North Korea, Venezuela and China, in that order, were the countries that spread the most disinformation, the report said. Each country listed in the report was given a score,
POOR PREPARATION: Cultures can form on food that is out of refrigeration for too long and cooking does not reliably neutralize their toxins, an epidemiologist said Medical professionals yesterday said that suspected food poisoning deaths revolving around a restaurant at Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 Store in Taipei could have been caused by one of several types of bacterium. Ho Mei-shang (何美鄉), an epidemiologist at Academia Sinica’s Institute of Biomedical Sciences, wrote on Facebook that the death of a 39-year-old customer of the restaurant suggests the toxin involved was either “highly potent or present in massive large quantities.” People who ate at the restaurant showed symptoms within hours of consuming the food, suggesting that the poisoning resulted from contamination by a toxin and not infection of the