The Ministry of the Interior’s proposed amendments to the Nationality Act (國籍法) would fail to guarantee the naturalization rights of foreign nationals, civic groups said yesterday, demanding the full repeal of discriminatory provisions.
About 20 campaigners from the Taiwan International Family Mutual Help Association, Taiwan TransAsia Sisters’ Association and other immigrant advocacy groups gathered outside of the Legislative Yuan, shouting for the legislature to remove the “shackles” migrants face when naturalizing.
“The current law allows for our citizenship to be stripped at any time within the first five years for any kind of a police record — even a speeding ticket,” the Taiwan TransAsia Sisters’ Association’s Yadrung Chiu said.
“Government discretion to strip our citizenship is not fair because we have already gone through an extremely rigorous review process, including proving that we had no criminal record in the past,” she said. “A citizen is a citizen — if the government does not have the right to strip native Taiwanese of their citizenship, we should not be treated differently.”
Because foreign spouses are required to give up their native citizenship before naturalizing, being stripped of Taiwanese citizenship makes them stateless, leaving them in an administrative “black hole” if their relationship with their Taiwanese spouse ends because of death or divorce, she said.
A woman originally from Thailand named Tiponda said she had been stripped of citizenship after the broker who arranged her marriage was accused of fraud in cases involving other couples, and that she had forfeited her only opportunity to appeal because she did not understand that the appeal had to be filed within a week.
The death of her husband the same year ended any possibility of renaturalizing, she said.
“When I go to the Thai representative office, they say they cannot help me because I am Taiwanese now, but when I go to the National Immigration Agency, they say I am Thai,” she said, adding that she could only extend her resident rights in three month increments, making it nearly impossible for her to find stable employment, as well as making her ineligible for National Health Insurance.
Wong Lennon (汪英達), the director of the Serve the People Association’s service center and shelter for migrant workers, blasted the draft legislation for giving the government the right to strip new citizens of legal residency, as well as citizenship, if they fail to prove they have given up their original citizenship within a year, saying that the legislation perpetuated double standards on dual citizenship.
“The Taiwanese government in practice allows for dual citizenship by Taiwanese nationals, but still refuses to allow foreigners to maintain their original citizenship,” he said.
“We have to spend five years before getting a national ID card, but even after we get it, we still do not have the same rights as Taiwanese,” said Melisa Huang (黃麗莎), originally from Indonesia, criticizing draft legislation for failing to drop requirements that naturalized citizens wait 10 years before standing for public office.
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