Foreign spouses of Taiwanese nationals who had been allowed to legally stay in Taiwan might be able to work without a work permit by the end of 2004, a Cabinet official said yesterday.
"As more and more foreigners get married with Taiwanese nationals, we feel it's important to take heed of those problems associated with cross-national marriages and figure out a way to deal with the problems as soon as possible," said Vice Minister of the Interior Lin Chung-seng (
According to Lin, there are about 250,000 foreign spouses married to Taiwanese nationals; and the number is increasing.
While two thirds, or 160,000, of the 250,000 are from China, the remaining one third, or 80,000, are from other foreign countries.
In addition to planning to amend the Employment Services Act (就業服務法) by the end of 2004 to allow foreign spouses to work without a work permit, Lin said that the Cabinet is also planning to amend the same law to offer job training courses or employment information to foreign spouses of Taiwanese nationals who are abused and don't have a residence permit. "Hopefully, it'll help them find a job within a short period of time and become financially independent," Lin said.
Lin made the remarks after the two-hour closed-door meeting of the Cabinet's Committee for the Promotion of Women's Rights (
To tackle the problem of fake marriages, Lin said the Cabinet is studying the possibility of making the punishment of such offenses more severe.
In addition, to help foreign spouses of Taiwanese nationals solve the problem of visa overstay, the Cabinet is planning to amend the Immigration Law (
In addition, to help underprivileged single mothers purchase or rent apartments, the Cabinet encourages qualified individuals to participate in a trial scheme in which certain discounts are offered.
According to the scheme, underprivileged single mothers who qualify for the purchase of an apartment in a public housing complex are entitled to 20 percent off the market price and a preferential rate on loans.
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