IMMIGRATION
Adverts prompt warning
Individuals or companies found offering paid immigration services without authorization would be subject to fines of up to NT$1 million (US$32,686), the National Immigration Agency (NIA) said in a news release yesterday. Adverts in a Facebook group have been found offering Vietnamese nationals in Taiwan “low-cost” services to guide them through the process of renouncing their citizenship and applying for citizenship in Taiwan, the NIA said. However, offering paid immigration services without a license and official registration contravenes statutes of the Immigration Act (入出國及移民法) that is punishable by fines of NT$200,000 to NT$1 million, it said. Foreign nationals who have questions about applying for residence or citizenship can call or visit their local NIA service station or call the NIA’s 1990 consultation hotline, it added.
SOCIETY
Turkey donation drive ends
People in Taiwan had made more than 205,000 cash donations totaling NT$1.17 billion to a relief fund for Turkey as of 5pm on Monday, when the government-run fund stopped accepting donations, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said yesterday. Donations received from 5:01pm to 11:59pm were to be calculated and announced later, it said. Turkey was struck by a magnitude 7.8 earthquake on Feb. 6 and several powerful aftershocks in the following days. The death toll in Turkey was nearing 46,000 as of Sunday. The day after the initial massive earthquake, the ministry set up dedicated bank accounts to which people could make cash donations through kiosks at convenience stores, ATMs, or in person at banks or post offices.
SOCIETY
Make-up day rules proposed
The Directorate-General of Personnel Administration on Monday proposed four ways that Saturday “make-up” days could be set around public holidays. Agency Minister Su Chun-jung (蘇俊榮) added that it was equally open to maintaining the system as it is. The possible changes include scheduling make-up days for Lunar New Year’s Eve only, or for Lunar New Year’s Eve and Tomb Sweeping Day, Su said. The other options would be using make-up days for the so-called “three festivals” — Lunar New Year, Dragon Boat Festival and Mid-Autumn Festival — or for the three festivals plus Tomb Sweeping Day and Children’s Day, he said.
ART
‘Hazy Humid Day’ to return
Hazy Humid Day, a Taiwan-inspired work by Japanese artist Yoshitomo Nara, is to return to Taiwan for a 10-year traveling exhibition that starts at Kaohsiung’s Neiwei Arts Center on April 1, organizers said. Nara, who is known for his distinctive and unsettling portraits of children, held a series of solo exhibitions in Taipei, Kaohsiung and Tainan in 2021 and last year, for which he specifically created the painting Hazy Humid Day. Since then, the Taipei-based General Association of Chinese Culture has kept in close contact with Nara and the two sides recently agreed to exhibit Hazy Humid Day at locations across Taiwan over a 10-year period, association secretary-general Lee Hou-ching (李厚慶) told reporters yesterday. The first leg of the exhibition would be in Kaohsiung, where the painting will be displayed from April 1 to Aug. 31, Lee said. It would then be sent back to Japan for three to four months for a special exhibition of Nara’s work before returning to its second destination in Taiwan, which has yet to be decided, he said.
The Ministry of Education (MOE) is to launch a new program to encourage international students to stay in Taiwan and explore job opportunities here after graduation, Deputy Minister of Education Yeh Ping-cheng (葉丙成) said on Friday. The government would provide full scholarships for international students to further their studies for two years in Taiwan, so those who want to pursue a master’s degree can consider applying for the program, he said. The fields included are science, technology, engineering, mathematics, semiconductors and finance, Yeh added. The program, called “Intense 2+2,” would also assist international students who completed the two years of further studies in
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) departed for Europe on Friday night, with planned stops in Lithuania and Denmark. Tsai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Friday night, but did not speak to reporters before departing. Tsai wrote on social media later that the purpose of the trip was to reaffirm the commitment of Taiwanese to working with democratic allies to promote regional security and stability, upholding freedom and democracy, and defending their homeland. She also expressed hope that through joint efforts, Taiwan and Europe would continue to be partners building up economic resilience on the global stage. The former president was to first
Taiwan will now have four additional national holidays after the Legislative Yuan passed an amendment today, which also made Labor Day a national holiday for all sectors. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) used their majority in the Legislative Yuan to pass the amendment to the Act on Implementing Memorial Days and State Holidays (紀念日及節日實施辦法), which the parties jointly proposed, in its third and final reading today. The legislature passed the bill to amend the act, which is currently enforced administratively, raising it to the legal level. The new legislation recognizes Confucius’ birthday on Sept. 28, the
MORE NEEDED: Recall drives against legislators in Miaoli’s two districts and Hsinchu’s second district were still a few thousand signatures short of the second-stage threshold Campaigners aiming to recall Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators yesterday said they expect success in 30 out of 35 districts where drives have passed the second-stage threshold, which would mark a record number of recall votes held at once. Hsinchu County recall campaigners yesterday announced that they reached the second-stage threshold in the recall effort against Legislator Lin Szu-ming (林思銘). A total of 26,414 signatures have been gathered over the past two months, surpassing the 10 percent threshold of 23,287 in Hsinchu County’s second electoral district, chief campaigner Hsieh Ting-ting (謝婷婷) said. “Our target is to gather an additional 1,500 signatures to reach
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