Taiwanese can file complaints with the Tourism Administration to report travel agencies if their activities caused termination of a person’s citizenship, Mainland Affairs Council Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday, after a podcaster highlighted a case in which a person’s citizenship was canceled for receiving a single-use Chinese passport to enter Russia.
The council is aware of incidents in which people who signed up through Chinese travel agencies for tours of Russia were told they could obtain Russian visas and fast-track border clearance, Chiu told reporters on the sidelines of an event in Taipei.
However, the travel agencies actually applied for single-use Chinese passports on their behalf, he said.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
Paragraph 4 of the Regulations on the Annulment of Citizenship and Residency of People Within the Taiwan Area (廢止臺灣地區人民身分及戶籍作業要點) stipulates that the National Immigration Agency (NIA) should, upon learning that a person has applied for or acquired a Chinese passport or citizenship, immediately notify the person’s household registration office and cancel their Taiwanese citizenship.
The office should also notify the person to return their national identification card and, if they are single, their household registration.
Taiwanese are prohibited from holding a Chinese passport or household registration. If found to have a Chinese ID, they can lose their resident status under Article 9-1 of the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例).
If a person was unaware and unwittingly contravened the regulations because a travel agency submitted the application on their behalf, the person can report the agency to the Tourism Administration, Chiu said.
Restoration of citizenship would require those involved in the incident to submit a report to the NIA and file for restoration of citizenship under applicable laws, he said.
Travel and tourism podcaster Hua Yeh (花爺) on Friday last week said that some Chinese travel agencies say they could provide visas that guaranteed “quick passage” through Russian customs, but what they call visas are “one-time” Chinese passports.
Such incidents are rare.
The NIA said that according to the Regulations on Restoration of Taiwanese Citizenship to Chinese Citizens (在台原有戶籍大陸地區人民申請回復台灣地區人民身分許可辦法), one must have made significant contributions to Taiwan’s national defense, bolster the nation’s international image or have performed actions to help uphold the stability of Taiwanese society for their application to be considered.
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