The National Immigration Agency (NIA) yesterday rebutted reports by several local media outlets that a Chinese immigrant surnamed Ye (葉), whose daughter wrote to first lady Chow Mei-ching (周美青) for help in her residency case, was rejected because she had divorced her Taiwanese husband.
Earlier this month, an 11-year-old girl nicknamed Ying (小瑩) wrote to Chow asking her for help with her mother's residency status, as her mother, a Chinese immigrant married to a Taiwanese man, had her residency application rejected and had been ordered to leave the country by today.
In the letter, Ying said that she wanted to stay in Taiwan and hoped that her mother could stay with her.
“I wrote to Auntie Mei-ching, because my mom told me Auntie Mei-ching was always happy to help kids,” Ying told reporters.
The Presidential Office said the letter had been received and transferred to the Ministry of the Interior to see what the ministry could do to help.
While most local media outlets, including the Chinese-language China Times and TV news channels CTS and PTS, reported that Ye's residency application was rejected because she divorced her husband after being subjected to domestic abuse, the NIA said divorce was not necessarily a reason for rejecting an immigrant spouse's residency application.
“According to the law, an immigrant spouse can continue to legally reside in the country even after a divorce if they have guardianship of their children [who have Republic of China nationality],” NIA spokesman Hu Ching-fu (胡景富) told the Taipei Times via telephone.
“However, even under those circumstances, the residency application of an immigrant spouse would be turned down if the applicant has broken the law,” Hu said.
He added that according to the NIA's record, Ye has been found guilty of crimes including “harming morals” and “harming a family” — legalese for prostitution and adultery.
Hu did not give details of Ye's case.
“We’re a government authority and we're supposed to follow the laws and defend them,” Hu said. “Whether to make an exception is something that needs to be carefully assessed and thought out.”
He said that if the majority of the public thinks there's a need to change the policy, then it may be more ideal to revise the law rather than to make an exception for an isolated case.
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