A story that had a happy ending, but only because he found someone to marry.
There should be more rights for those who have been resident on the rock for decades non? I say OUI .
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The truth is Taiwan is a very difficult place to migrate to unless you have some Taiwanese relatives. This guy has been treated terribly.
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Simon also went through his own issues. When he reached the age of
20, he automatically lost his dependent resident visa. He applied for a
student visa, but that procedure erased all records of his years in
Taiwan, as if he had just arrived, making it pointless for him to apply
for an Alien Permanent Resident Certificate (APRC).
That’s obviously something they could work on…
Levy’s father, Dominique, and other long-term residents who were
experiencing a variety of administrative hassles found support from a
small group of lawmakers, notably Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT)
Legislator Pan Wei-kang (潘維剛), then-president of the Taiwan-France
Parliamentary Friendship Association, who were able to help cut through
the red tape.
And then there’s that…
If we become citizens of Taiwan, then Taiwan becomes our country too. That is something people need to realize.
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The guy in the article is a lifelong resident, but not a citizen. Like many he baulked at the need for military service and giving up his French passport.
Even if he did, children will never stop pointing at him and shouting “wai guo ren”. Everyone else will merely be thinking it.
Aside from foreign children -if I read the news correctly, the ones born here have it even worse, can’t stay after 16- we were discussing the issue -again!- of bringing our parents here. Virtually mission imposible.
I was also thinking about my relatives from NY who just decided to retire in Filipinas. He’s a retired doctor, my aunt was a professor at SUNY. Both wanted a cheaper place, and Filipinas struck to them at somewhere where the elderly are respected… more than in the ol country. It would be wonderful for Taiwan to have such residents here, maybe if we could set up some retirement villas a la ol country for foreign vacationers/retirees. Just dreaming, I know. Safety, medical care, transportation hub, all advantages…elderly local population that can also benefit… but no. No such thing is even considered…
Still waiting…
Nothing new here, really, but he still has a point:
Fahey believes that diverse talent is the “secret sauce” for Taiwan to transform into a knowledge-based economy, and that controlled immigration is an important part of the solution to the country’s demographic crisis and shrinking workforce.
As such, Taiwan will benefit from retaining these bilingual and bicultural people.
Furthermore, the difficulty of raising a family here will become a deterrent for more experienced professionals, which is the kind of talent that Taiwan wants.
Also:
Fahey is “cautiously optimistic” about the proposed act, but is worried that it will still restrict permanent residency applicants to Class A professional and technical work so that only people who are university graduates will be able to make use of it.
“They need to keep in mind the diversity of these people,” Fahey says.
Class A or type A is shorthand for Art. 46.1.1 to 46.1.6 of the Employment Service Act, aka “white collar”.
A press release from the Ministry of Labor dated Nov 11:
It’s a response to some of the recommendations in the 2017 position papers of the European Chamber of Commerce, particularly (some of) the recommendations of the Human Resources Committee. You can find the bilingual position papers at http://www.ecct.com.tw/publications_position.aspx?pcseq=2&cseq=14.
The press release mostly addresses the “rest day” issue. However, it also mentions this:
另經核准在臺工作之外國人，均享有「國民待遇」，適用國內相關法規，並無因其身分而有不平等的對待。另外，為營造友善外籍人士來臺工作條件與環境，勞動部將修法使取得永久居留外國人可免除申請工作許可，並放寬外國專門技術人才之配偶得從事兼職之專門技術工作，並檢討僑外生工作配額評點制簡化申請文件。
Unofficial translation:
Additionally, foreigners approved to work in Taiwan enjoy “equal treatment with [ROC] nationals” and are subject to the relevant domestic laws and regulations, definitely not having unequal treatment due to their identity. Furthermore, to create a friendly environment and work conditions for foreign persons coming to Taiwan, the Ministry of Labor will amend the law to make foreigners who have obtained APRC’s able to avoid applying for work permits, and it will relax [regulations] for the spouses of foreign talent in specialized and technical work to engage in part-time specialized and technical work, and it will look into a points system and simplification of application documents for overseas Chinese [according to the ROC definition] and foreign students.
Abolishing work permits for APRC holders seems clear enough: they would then have immediate permission to work (same as foreign spouses) without needing to apply for open work permits.
It’s not clear to me how they plan to reconcile the “equal treatment” claim with restricting foreign spouses of APRC holders to part-time work. It’s like they think being a spouse is already a full-time job, and you can’t have two full-time jobs… 
The regulation is being proposed to only allow part-time work? Don’t most companies want full time employees. So isn’t this part of the proposed regulation basically worthless?
兼職 means simultaneous jobs, but it’s generally understood as meaning part-time work. The unambiguous term is 部分時間工作. I don’t know for certain what their intent here is.
Their intent is to put needless restrictions on people, that’s all.