I think that’s what’s going to have to be done eventually is suing the government as I doubt they will budge otherwise. Right now it’s just for optics
Thank you for both corrections, Brian, and my apologies for having misunderstood you.
I vaguely recall the MOI making noises about protecting the Americans here by placing further restrictions on Indonesian migrant workers, because some of them might join ISIS. (This was about a year ago, so maybe they’ve dropped it.) It’s not difficult to think of more compelling dangers to the well-being of foreigners here, especially if we are including SE Asian groups like Indonesians in our calculations.
If the “super-foreigner” regulations were being administered “by the book,” then local Gulenists would probably get a bunch of their people in. The imams of the mosques here are all ROC citizens, I think. But there are about a zillion Christian missionaries who would argue that they’ve contributed to Taiwan, for example, by leading anti-gay protests or whatever.
The big group I’m waiting to see rulings on is the university professors. There could be a hundred or so eligible naturalization candidates in theory.
Icon, your geography is a bit off. There are some (mostly Kazakh) Muslims living in Mongolia, but if they immigrate to East Asia, they’d be most likely to pick South Korea. There are Muslims all over China, but if you want to see a bunch of them in one place, the places to go would be Xinjiang (Uyghurs, Kazakhs) and Gansu / Ningxia (Hui people, i.e. Chinese-speaking Muslims). Taiwan has a tiny, but very old community of Hui descendants who don’t follow Islam anymore, but maintain fascinating customs such as not sacrificing pork to their ancestors.
Some professors got a waiver already, its not clear to me if they still have residency restrictions before they get the full passport though.
Great thread. Thanks for keeping us all posted.
Guy
I was being sarcastic! Since all that China sees China wants and the Constitituion stil says Mongolia is ROC…
But mostly, yes, there are very well connected Muslim Chinese -you know from their special last names- who have very good representation, part of the reason they are so friendly to Muslims here in Taiwan.
So I think it might be a bit harder to find a Muslim representative that has been here 30 years working on behalf of the poorest/most vulnerable and yet has no nationality. Most are nationals by blood right.
I’d be shocked beyong belief if they ever give the nationality to those foreigners who supported Taiwan’s democratization way back when. Human rights fighters on behalf of South East Asian workers and women. Or some Tibetan monk that has feed the orphans 40 years. That will be a cold day in hell. Then they will give it to professors and us riff raff.
Now let me have my coffee to get in a better mood.
Aren’t Tibetans supposed to be in the same category as other Mainlanders?
Depends on the Tibetan.
How many? Is there a list somewhere? I only know of one.
Tibetans used to be handled by the Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs Commission, which was just abolished / absorbed into other departments. I can ask my wife to remind me of their nationality situation. I think a bunch of them stayed stateless.
Just saw a post on Facebook of a prof in Tai Da, and saw some other mentioned previously.
This article mentions four professors–one French, three Americans:
https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/3189708
Was the Tai Da guy one of these?
We also have a letter to the Taipei Times from David Pendery, an associate professor at National Taipei University of Business, who says he was stonewalled when he tried to apply. I suppose I should go to Household Registration and see if they can explain what the REAL rules are.
Last time I did they told me they haven’t received it yet and anyways, it is not for them to decide, they receive their orders from above - NIA says MOI, etc…
It’s probably A Tsai and Hsianghsiang who are really calling the shots. 
Tai Da guy was a gal.
They have some evaluation form, I dont what it includes to be honest.
You see you have to apply to different industry or academic groups and then they validate you or no,t, the whole thing is very very subjective and could be prone to nepotism.
Which is why I am so pissed off at the whole thing.
The household registration office is no use beyond giving you the contact for the different windows. You need to apply directly to these windows or at least establish communication with them . The household registration guys are just a kind of a conduit and their info is often wrong , they dont decide anything.
Any idea where this evaluation form is to be found?
Icon, how recently did you inquire?
No you need to get the contact info from the household reg office and see which industry group to apply to for evaluation.
I know about the Household Registration window thing. I would still like to get a preview of the evaluation form. For example, professors are supposed to publish an unspecified number of papers through journals “such as” the ones listed in citation indices. How many papers? Are there any answers yet, or will the committee just decide whether it likes me? The form might give some clue.
Do you think you could persuade your Tai Da friend to describe her experiences of the process for us?
About a month or two. The thing is that Household only receives your paperwork but makes no decisoon over it. It sends it to NIA, which sends it to MOI, who talks it over to BOCA and MOFA and… you get the picture.
At this juncture, it should be online. In intricate gongwen-style, meaning Sung dynasty Chinese.
I don’t know that prof I saw post on Facebook.
Would it be possible to send her a message?
PS Thank you, Icon!
As soon as I have a day off I will go and give the Household people mafan about this. I encourage many others to do the same. You know, the droplets can wear out the stone.