The Ministry of Education is seeking a solution that would allow children born to Chinese spouses of Taiwanese nationals from a previous marriage to non-Taiwanese to stay in Taiwan until they finish their university education here, instead of only to the age of 20, a ministry official said yesterday.
“It is out of humanitarian considerations” that the ministry is seeking ways to free such foreigners from having to suspend their university studies in Taiwan and leave the country once they turn 20, if they do not obtain residency, said Liu Chih-min (劉智敏), a senior executive officer at the ministry’s Department of International and Cross-strait Education.
He was responding to a protest by new immigrants at the ministry earlier in the day, who called for the relaxation of the regulations.
Under the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (台灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), the children of Chinese spouses from their previous marriage to a non-Taiwanese national can stay in Taiwan until they are 20 years old on a family reunion visa, Liu said.
However, if such people fail to obtain residency before they turn 20 and they are studying at a university in Taiwan, they have to quit their studies and leave the country.
To help such students, most universities allow them to apply for a temporary suspension of schooling, and then let them come back to finish their studies once they acquire residency, Liu said.
While the immigration authorities said that the age limit must be maintained, the ministry is brainstorming on a way that will allow this group of students to finish their university education in Taiwan without disruption, he said.
Liu estimated that there are now fewer than 1,000 Chinese teenagers in Taiwan who may encounter this problem in the near future.
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