Taiwanese legislators tied down many regulations and laws to household registration. Making it impossible for foreign residents to access services, subsidies, getting certain legal status, be it from central or regional government agencies.
Issues with banking, disability, permanent domicile in Taiwan for tax purposes and many other issues. A big oversight affecting human rights of non citizens in Taiwan.
Most of those laws/regulations do not need to be tied to a household registration at all!
They rather should simply require a residence permit in Taiwan. All Taiwanese have the right to abode in Taiwan and would be included by default.
Currently the way to avoid those issues is to become Taiwanese with a household registration. But not everyone wants to renounce their citizenship just not to be discriminated against.
It sucks for Taiwanese citizens too because since your household registration determines what government benefits you can access. Many younger Taiwanese are registered to their parent’s house, and when renting almost no landlords will let you register there. It’s supposed to be against the law but in practice there’s no way to force it (you could have someone visit you to make the determination that you do in fact live there, but if you do this your contract will not be renewed and you will have to move once it runs out). It matters if you are attempting to get any sort of means tested benefits or disability.
Why did the most prosperous colonies in the British Empire mount a rebellion? Even more puzzling, why did the British do not agree to have American representation in Parliament and quickly settle the dispute peacefully? At first glance, it would appear that a deal could have been reached to share the costs of the global public goods provided by the Empire in exchange for more political autonomy and/or formal representation for the colonies. (At least, this was the view of men of the time such as Lord Chapman, Thomas Pownall and Adam Smith.) We argue, however, that the incumbent government in Great Britain, controlled by the landed gentry, feared that giving political concessions to the colonies would undermine the position of the dominant coalition, strengthen the incipient democratic movement, and intensify social pressures for the reform of a political system based on land ownership. In particular, allowing Americans to be represented in Parliament was problematic because American elites could not credibly commit to refuse to form a coalition with the British opposition. Consequently, the only realistic options were to maintain the original colonial status or fight a full-scale war of independence.
tbh, it would just easier to allow foreigners to get household registration, in Italy for instance we do that.
For the “inconvenient” foreigners who aren’t technically aliens (read Chinese folks), there can still be different rules on how to “transfer” the hukou from the Mainland area to the Taiwan area, so “national security” can still be safeguarded.
Yep, and Japan does this as well. Political rights like voting can be tied to the combo of HHR+nationality.
It is not a household registration. The household register is a specific database maintained by the Dept of Household Registration under the Ministry of the Interior… and at present only nationals are permitted to register.
Not criticizing the HHR, but rather all the laws and regulations requiring it mostly for no reason and out of laziness, rather than just asking for proof of residence in Taiwan or other non discriminatory requirements.
Been said a thousand times. Taiwan needs to drop HR. Not just for reasons to differentiate against China diplomatically, but just as a basic logical decision for us in Taiwan. It’s outdated and stupid. It’s easier to delete and rebuild than to edit. It’s still easy to keep foreigners separate and in a cage, but the home grown HR system is outdated. To try and remain as respectful as possible
The part that really seems wrong is where people vote. You can have HR in Kaohsiung but live in Taipei. People vote in politicians in areas where they don’t even live. No one here seems to see the problem with this.
LOTS of people have huge problems with this. Issue is so many people are "ostriches " and don’t have the confidence to speak out loud, constantly, about this and many other issues.
Political issues that get changed required actual perseverance.
Exact same issue we have in italy, u can vote only where your HHR is, so all students studying in a other region if they don’t go back home can’t vote.
In the UK you pretty much need an address for a bank account unless rich, a driving license , …
They usually check it by asking for a utility bill etc. Actually usually two utility bills. That’s makes it harder for the homeless to get jobs.
Right but it’s not that hard for new immigrants to get a UK address. Once you get your first account and appear in the credit bureau databases then getting subsequent accounts is super super easy.
I went through that whole process when I immigrated to the UK 7 years ago. Going through it all again in Taiwan and I can say pretty objectively…… Taiwan still has a long way to go.
Oh ok. I was the other way around. I rented in the UK and I had no references from other land lords. All the rentals I looked at bar one needed past references. After that it was all fairly easy. However, I know things have changed.
Difference in Taiwan is it has nothing to do with where one lives, it has to do with where their HR is. Things not not being allowed to vote out of town, or country, the widespread problem of LA dlords being shit and not allowing one to register their hr in their building (illegal but super common) and similar issues remain a problem for people trying to vote. Other issues too, but voting is a big one. Schooling is a northern big one!
