The Executive Yuan has rejected an appeal from a 13-year-old Chinese student surnamed Lu (陸), whose permanent residency was revoked after immigration officers discovered he held a Chinese passport.
Lu in December 2023 applied to settle in Taiwan to be with his mother, surnamed Lin (林), who is a Taiwan resident, an appeal decision released this month by the Executive Yuan showed.
Lin settled in Taiwan after marrying a Taiwanese man in 2003, but the two divorced in 2011, and after marrying a Chinese man, she had Lu, the Executive Yuan’s appeals committee said.
Photo: Bloomberg
Lu’s application was approved in December 2024, and in March last year he submitted evidence that he had renounced his household registration in China, the decision said.
He completed his Taiwanese household registration in April last year.
However, when Lu arrived in Taiwan in October last year, the National Immigration Agency discovered he had a Chinese passport valid until July 3 next year, which officers found in a folder carried by his mother, it said.
Under the Measures for the Permission of Family-based Residence, Long-term Residence and Settlement of People from the Mainland Area in the Taiwan Area (大陸地區人民在臺灣地區依親居留長期居留或定居許可辦法), a person who is registered to a household in China or holds a Chinese passport loses their status as a person of Taiwan, and their permanent residency status can be revoked and their household registration can be canceled, it added.
Lu said in his appeal that he was studying in Thailand before coming to Taiwan, and that his Thai student visa was registered using his Chinese passport.
He exited Thailand on his Chinese passport, which is why he brought it to Taiwan, but he would not use it again, and planned to apply for a Thai student visa using his Taiwanese passport, which he used to enter Taiwan, he said.
As a minor, he did not intentionally possess the passport, and maintaining household registration in Taiwan is crucial to his growth and life, Lu said, requesting that the original cancelation be reversed.
Lu traveled to and from Thailand on his Chinese passport from April 17 to Oct. 3 last year, demonstrating that he continued to use his Chinese passport after obtaining household registration in Taiwan, the Ministry of the Interior said.
The revocation of his Taiwanese settlement is legal 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), the ministry said.
The article states that “the people of the Taiwan Area may not have household registrations in the Mainland Area or hold passports issued by the Mainland Area” or they would lose their status as a person of Taiwan, the Executive Yuan’s appeals committee said.
Lu has been living in China and studying in Thailand, while only staying in Taiwan for 47 days from his first arrival on July 11, 2024, until he canceled his Chinese household registration, the ministry said.
In addition, he on Oct. 31 last year applied to return to China and restore his household registration, it added.
Lu can still apply for residency in Taiwan based on special humanitarian grounds, because he is the underage child of a Taiwan resident, the ministry said.
After legally residing in Taiwan for two consecutive years, for more than 183 days each year, he may apply for permanent residency, it said.
SPACE VETERAN: Kjell N. Lindgren, who helps lead NASA’s human spaceflight missions, has been on two expeditions on the ISS and has spent 311 days in space Taiwan-born US astronaut Kjell N. Lindgren is to visit Taiwan to promote technological partnerships through one of the programs organized by the US for its 250th national anniversary. Lindgren would be in Taiwan from Tuesday to Saturday next week as part of the US Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs’ US Speaker Program, organized to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said in a statement yesterday. Lindgren plans to engage with key leaders across the nation “to advance cutting-edge technological partnerships and inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers,”
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday said it opposes the introduction of migrant workers from India until a mechanism is in place to prevent workers from absconding. Minister of Labor Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) on Thursday told the Legislative Yuan that the first group of migrant workers from India could be introduced as early as this year, as part of a government program. The caucus’ opposition to the policy is based on the assessment that “the risk is too high,” KMT caucus secretary-general Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) said. Taiwan has a serious and long-standing problem of migrant workers absconding from their contracts, indicating that
UNREASONABLE SURVEILLANCE: A camera targeted on an road by a neighbor captured a man’s habitual unsignaled turn into home, netting him dozens of tickets The Taichung High Administrative Court has canceled all 45 tickets given to a man for failing to use a turn signal while driving, as it considered long-term surveillance of his privacy more problematic than the traffic violations. The man, surnamed Tseng (曾), lives in Changhua County and was reported 45 times within a month for failing to signal while driving when he turned into the alley where his residence is. The reports were filed by his neighbor, who set up security cameras that constantly monitored not only the alley but also the door and yard of Tseng’s house. The surveillance occurred from July
TRADE-OFF: Beijing seeks to trade a bowl of tempura for a Chinese delicacy, an official said, while another said its promises were attempts to interfere in the polls The government must carefully consider the national security implications of building a bridge connecting Kinmen County and Xiamen, China, the Public Construction Commission (PCC) said yesterday. PCC Commissioner Derek Chen (陳金德), who is also a minister without portfolio, made the remarks in a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, after Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Hsu Fu-kuei (徐富癸) asked about China’s proposal of new infrastructure projects to further connect Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties with Xiamen. China unveiled the bridge plan, along with nine other policies for Taiwan, on Sunday, the last day of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun’s (鄭麗文) visit
RSS