A plan to bring Alien Resident Certificate (ARC) and Alien Permanent Resident Certificate (APRC) numbers in line with that of national ID cards is likely to take effect by the first half of next year, Minister of the Interior Hsu Kuo-yung (徐國勇) said on Monday.
To accommodate the new numbering system for the cards, data in government computer systems and drop-down menus on government Web sites would have to be modified, Hsu said by telephone.
“We have been talking to the Cabinet for approval to pay for the project from a reserve fund,” Hsu said. “We hope to get the project started by the end of this year.”
Hsu last week announced the plan in an interview with Taiwan Business Topics, a monthly magazine published by the American Chamber of Commerce in Taipei.
The change would affect more than 1 million ARC and APRC holders — 690,000 migrant workers, 30,000 foreign professionals and 300,000 foreign spouses of Taiwanese who have yet to obtain national IDs — the Ministry of the Interior said.
Hsu said that the measure is part of the government’s efforts to create a friendly living environment for foreign nationals, because it would make their lives easier and increase their sense of belonging.
However, the proposal has been met with mixed reactions, because cardholders would have to change the ID number they use to enroll in the health and labor insurance programs, open a bank account, subscribe to telephone and Internet plans, apply for a driver’s license and a work permit, and gain access to other services.
The national ID number currently consists of a letter and nine numbers, while ARCs and APRCs consist of two letters followed by an eight numbers, which is not always accepted by online registration or booking systems.
Asked how the program would be implemented, a National immigration Agency official said that the agency would try to “minimize any inconvenience caused to ARC or APRC holders.”
All ARC holders would be assigned a new number when they renew their card, which is valid for up to three years, said the official, who requested anonymity because she was not authorized to speak about the issue publicly.
ARC holders would also be allowed to get a card with a new number before their old card expires, she said.
APRC holders would not be required to change the number if they do not want to, because the card does not expire, the official said.
“I absolutely welcome the change,” Eiger Law public relations manager Lloyd Roberts said via e-mail.
“I’m not sure why they did this [used a different format] in the first place. They should have done this years ago,” he added.
A US citizen who has lived in Taiwan for more than 25 years, Roberts said he has encountered problems using his APRC number when booking hotel rooms and applying for banking and insurance services.
“For example, it is impossible to buy travel insurance online with several of the travel insurance companies. Usually, I have to call them and make a special request and then they fax me the forms to fill out,” Roberts said.
In another example, a credit card company might run a special promotion and require people to sign up online, but most of the time “you can’t enter in your APRC number,” Roberts said.
The International Industrial Talents Education Special (INTENSE) Program to attract foreigners to study and work in Taiwan will provide scholarships and a living allowance of up to NT$440,000 per person for two years beginning in August, Minister of Education Pan Wen-chung (潘文忠) told a meeting of the legislature’s Education and Culture Committee yesterday. Pan was giving an update on the program’s implementation, a review of universities’ efforts to recruit international students and promotion of the Taiwan Huayu Bilingual Exchanges of Selected Talent (BEST) program. Each INTENSE Program student would be awarded a scholarship of up to NT$100,000 per year for up to
‘MONEY PIT’: The KMT’s more than NT$2 trillion infrastructure project proposals for eastern Taiwan lack professional input and financial transparency, the DPP said The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus yesterday said it would ask the Executive Yuan to raise a motion to oppose the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus’ infrastructure proposals and prepare to file for a constitutional interpretation if the KMT-dominated legislature forces their passage. The DPP caucus described the three infrastructure plans for transportation links to eastern Taiwan proposed by the KMT as “three money pit projects” that would cost more than NT$2 trillion (US$61.72 billion). It would ask the Executive Yuan to oppose public projects that would drain state financial resources, DPP caucus secretary-general Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) said. It would also file for
SELF-SUFFICIENCY: The project would only be the beginning, as Taiwan needs at least 120 satellites to ensure uninterrupted communication, Wu Tsung-tsong said The Taiwan Space Agency (TASA) yesterday said it plans to launch six low Earth orbit satellites starting in 2026 as part of the government’s plan to boost the resilience of the nation’s communications. The development of the technology gained attention after Ukrainians were able to access the Internet through Space Exploration Technologies Corp (SpaceX) CEO Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite service, despite their infrastructure being severely damaged in the war with Russia. Two of the satellites would be built by the government, while four would involve cooperation between TASA and private contractors. “Over the past 30 years, the satellite technology in Taiwan has
BASIC OPERATIONS: About half a dozen navy ships from both countries took part in the days-long exercise based on the Code for Unplanned Encounters at Sea An unpublicized joint military exercise between Taiwan and the US in the Pacific Ocean last month was carried out in accordance with an international code, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said yesterday. According to a Reuters report citing four unnamed sources, the two nations’ navies last month conducted joint drills in the Western Pacific. The drills were not made public at the time, but “about half-a-dozen navy ships from both sides, including frigates and supply and support vessels, participated in the days-long exercises,” Reuters reported, citing the sources. The drills were designed to practice “basic” operations such as communications, refueling and resupplies,