Despite the Executive Yuan’s preference to maintain current regulations regarding naturalization in the Nationality Act (國籍法), Minister of the Interior Lee Hong-yuan (李鴻源) yesterday said he supports amendments proposed by lawmakers across party lines to relax regulations to better protect immigrants’ rights.
At the moment, foreign residents seeking naturalization must provide documents proving that they have given up their native nationalities, they have no criminal records and “behave well.”
“How do you define ‘behave well?’” Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Tuan Yi-kang (段宜康) asked Lee at the legislature’s Internal Administration Committee while reviewing proposed amendments to the Nationality Act.
“There’s a case I found on the official Web site of a household registration office in which a foreign resident’s application for naturalization was turned down because she was fined for an offense. In another case, a foreign resident was accused of gambling and the prosecutor decided to drop the charge after investigations, but her application for naturalization was rejected,” Tuan said. “Do you find such rejections reasonable?”
He added that he supports the requirement that applicants have no criminal record, but he thinks that the clauses requiring immigrants to “behave well” and rejecting their applications because of minor offenses should be deleted.
“If the judiciary finds someone not guilty of a crime, then the Ministry of the Interior should not act like a religious court and declare the person morally guilty,” Tuan said.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) agreed with Tuan.
“The definition of ‘behaving well’ is rather vague and gives the government too much power to decide whether a person is ‘behaving well,’” Chiang said. “I think this requirement should be deleted.”
In addition, Chiang proposed that the rule that immigrants must renounce their original nationalities before becoming naturalized should be changed, too.
Chiang said that he received a petition from a stateless physician surnamed Gan (顏), originally from Malaysia, who had given up his Malaysian nationality, yet his application for Republic of China (ROC) citizenship was turned down and he is now without a nationality.
“Gan ran a clinic with a Taiwanese partner in a remote village in the mountains in Heping District [和平], Greater Taichung, serving communities where medical resources are scarce,” Chiang said. “Later, his Taiwanese partner left the clinic because life was too harsh there, but since our laws require foreign physicians to team up with Taiwanese physicians, Gan was fined NT$300,000 for running the clinic by himself and it was this violation that barred him from becoming a naturalized citizen.”
Chiang said that the case shows how unreasonable parts of the Nationality Act are, in requiring foreign immigrants to renounce their nationalities before obtaining ROC nationality, and considering a minor offense as serious as a crime.
DPP Legislator Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) also supported the proposal to void the requirement for immigrants to renounce their nationalities in advance.
“It’s a known fact that President Ma Ying-jeou’s [馬英九] daughters have dual nationality. If we think it’s okay for the president’s daughters to have dual citizenship, why do we try to stop immigrants from keeping their original nationality?” Hsiao said.
Hsiao suggested that the 10-year ban on naturalized citizens running for public offices should be lifted.
The minister of the interior responded positively to the lawmakers’ proposals.
“I totally agree that immigrants should not be required to renounce their nationalities before obtaining ROC nationality. I also agree that the ‘behaving well’ clause should be deleted and as for requiring naturalization seekers to have no criminal record, I am also in favor of disregarding minor offenses, like many of you suggested,” Lee said.
“However, this is only my personal opinion. The Executive Yuan favors maintaining the current regulations, but I will try my best to convince Premier Jiang Yi-huah [江宜樺],” he added.
Lee said that some rules may have been created to prevent immigrants from sharing nationals’ resources, but things have changed and immigrants are being welcomed to make contributions to the country.
“Strict rules will only push talented people away,” he said. “I have foreign friends teaching at National Taiwan University who are not sure about staying, because they don’t want to give up their original nationalities to become ROC citizens. However, if they don’t become ROC citizens, they will not be able to receive a monthly pension when they retire, and the one-time retirement payout of NT$3 million to NT$5 million is really not sufficient to lead a quality life in retirement anywhere in the world.”
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
A magnitude 4.1 earthquake struck eastern Taiwan's Hualien County at 2:23pm today, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). The epicenter of the temblor was 5.4 kilometers northeast of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 34.9 km, according to the CWA. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was the highest in Hualien County, where it measured 2 on Taiwan's 7-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 1 in Yilan county, Taichung, Nantou County, Changhua County and Yunlin County, the CWA said. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
‘WORSE THAN COMMUNISTS’: President William Lai has cracked down on his political enemies and has attempted to exterminate all opposition forces, the chairman said The legislature would motion for a presidential recall after May 20, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday at a protest themed “against green communists and dictatorship” in Taipei. Taiwan is supposed to be a peaceful homeland where people are united, but President William Lai (賴清德) has been polarizing and tearing apart society since his inauguration, Chu said. Lai must show his commitment to his job, otherwise a referendum could be initiated to recall him, he said. Democracy means the rule of the people, not the rule of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), but Lai has failed to fulfill his
RSS