They don’t even give two shits about the local Taiwanese working conditions let alone the foreign workers.
There was a survey recently that found the majority of companies have employees punch out and work off the clock daily. Which we already knew.
As to the fact that the foreign workers can’t naturalize, they used to ensure that the workers resident visa didn’t go beyond 3 years continuous before being sent home so that they didn’t need to confer citizenship, conveniently the workers could go home and pay the brokers again to come back.
Actually, Dan, the ones that naturalize are the few lucky ones because otherwise, as I have explained before, after they give birth to the babies, they are no longer of value. They were “bought” to take care of elderly parents and produce offspring. We often hear in the news of the ones that make it in business or politics, but even those have tales of hardship.
Think of yourself as a foreign spouse. Your wife dies and her family takes the insurance and inheritance and kids and leaves you on the street. That happens all the time. If you are lucky, maybe the family will take the money and kick you and your kids out. Even nowadays they try to kick people out of the country. All for money. So unless you have ROC nationality, you cannot put up a fight.
Most Taiwanese women lose their kids in the divorce, unless they are married to a foreigner and can pull the “glory of Taiwan” card. But even that is changing. They are giving guys some slack. Foreign women that win the kids are once in a blue moon.
Think about the case that spurred the same-sex marriage action this year. A couple that had been together 30 years… no rights whatsoever to have a say in medical procedures or inheritance. My first thought was that if it had been a foreign woman and a local man, the result would have been the same. Even if they were married.
This article is more related to what is being done in Taiwan and less “cause we do it like this in the US”.
Reforming Taiwan’s Immigration Policy
Though measures are already in the works, much more remains to be done.
Over the last 25 years, the demographic landscape of Taiwan has changed dramatically. In March 2015, the Taiwanese government revealed that Taiwan’s working population would reach its peak of 17 million in 2015; the number of workers would start shrinking by 180,000 annually in 2016. If nothing is changed, the working population will fall to 9 million in 2060, or just 50 percent of the total population. This trend poses a serious threat to national development. Relevant government agencies have been directed to reassess policymaking in the areas of education, industrial development, social services, and immigration.
Immigration policy is one of the best ways Taiwan can revolutionize its workforce and simultaneously address both demographic and economic challenges. Until now, it has been underutilized by the Taiwanese government.
And it points out which parts are left out in the discussion:
Issues Not Addressed
The measures outlined above would thoroughly modernize Taiwanese immigration policy. However, there are a number of issues of concern that have not been addressed in the Plans.
First, changes to the work permissions for foreign spouses should include the foreign spouses of permanent residents, not just citizens. The Ministry of Labor has recently permitted foreign spouses of citizens to work full or part time with certain conditions, but not the spouses of permanent residents.
Second, the requirement of renunciation of original nationality should be completely eliminated. Currently, it is not possible to be a dual citizen of Taiwan and another country. Law stipulates that one must renounce their original citizenship before being permitted to become a Taiwanese citizen. A bill (904-1846) is before the Legislature to change this, but it is not yet clear if it will pass.
Third, there are no proposals to allow for permanent residents or even citizens to sponsor elderly parents to live in Taiwan. This is a common element of immigration policy in many countries and is arguably important for Taiwan to consider.
Finally, reconsideration of the “high-level professional” visa category is needed. Foreign professionals with extraordinary ability have been permitted to apply for Permanent Residency (Plum Blossom Cards) since 2006, but less than 50 cards have been issued as of 2016. Any definition of high-level professional must include a rational understanding of the realities of the employment market in Taiwan. This visa class could be better utilized and broadened to allow a greater number of high-level professionals to live and work in Taiwan.
Thanks, I didn’t know that foreign women get the inheritance stolen. In the old country, being married in itself confers the inheritance to the wife , guess not here.
Everything boils down to money, one of my local friends said that after their friends father died, the three brothers became mortal enemies as they all felt they deserved the lions share. And the way that a lot of the foreign brides are treated by the family is downright deplorable
And even with citizenship, there was wording in there that even if they became citizens, it could be revoked if they were of bad character, which of course the ex husband would try to claim
Correct Dan, the current version of naturalized citizenship is open to abuse.
Still having citizenship should give one a much stronger position re kids and assets.
Fighting over wills is common worldwide it’s just in Taiwan the law does not offer a level playing field to foreigners or foreign residents.
Have another read of the rules. I think you’re (ostensibly) not able to gain another nation’s citizenship without giving up ROC nationality, but resuming citizenship is not explicitly forbidden. I’ve heard that gaming the system is frowned upon, but that might not mean very much in practice.
That’s a very good point you raise, that a lot of countries don’t allow it. But I believe Canada does allow their former citizens to resume citizenship. The processing time is long, and you have to have become a permanent resident after losing Canadian citizenship and have been present in Canada for 365 days in the two years prior to your application, but it can be done. The biggest sticking point though is that you also have to have become a permanent resident of Canada after renouncing your Canadian citizenship and still have that status to be eligible to resume citizenship and I don’t think there’s any special route to permanent residency for former citizens - they have to apply for permanent residency the same as everybody else.
…which means in practice that almost no North Americans will be able to apply for Taiwan citizenship unless they are willing to give up their original for good.
Therefore few can apply for Taiwan citizenship in practice.
There are other pathways to permanent residency other than applying through the Express Entry points system. Are either of your parents Canadian citizens? I’m almost certain that if you have a parent who is a Canadian citizen, they can sponsor your family reunion category permanent residency application similar to Canadian spouses. So if your parents or at least one parent is a Canadian citizen, or if you are married to a Canadian citizen, if you were to renounce your Canadian citizenship in order to naturalize as an ROC national, it would still be feasible for you to then become a dual national of Canada and Taiwan.
At the end of the day though, whether or not they will take Taiwanese citizenship away from you if they find out you’ve resumed citizenship, depends on how the law/rules are worded in the Chinese text which is always the version to rely on.
They probably just made an exception for her because of her special contributions to Taiwan with her hotness. I mean, c’mon, a gratuitous photo of her breastfeeding in sexy lingerie?
LOL, yes. But c’mon stop it with all the neanderthal thinking Taiwan. Get with it. Don’t you want to be like Ahmerika??? Well here is a chance. Adopt US laws.
But seriously, how about granting nationality to anyone who has legally resided on Taiwan over ten years? They obviously have a vested interest in being there after that long.
Taiwan wants to be rich and powerful like America, but it doesn’t want to be like America. In a sense, Barukova deserves special privileges, because she’s adapted perfectly to local culture by making a career out of reinforcing local chauvinistic stereotypes about Eastern European women. It’s kinda twisted, but it makes perfect sense.
I hope I’m wrong, but I don’t think that’s gonna happen. The Taiwan authorities don’t really give a flying f about foreigners, no matter how long they’ve been here.
The only way they may be able to sell dual nationality for foreigners who make “special contributions” is an appeal to the bottom line, which they care very much about.
I agree with your points except they don’t really need to sell this to the public at all. They already allow people to naturalize so this would simply be a point taken off their requirement list, it wouldn’t be the start of anything new or unusual that they would need to sell.
Just that there is no political benefits so it’s a why bother mentality methinks
Got all that? But wait there’s more. Known for her roles in the Taiwanese drama They Kiss Again, and the Taiwanese film Don’t Go Breaking My Heart, Bakurova married a Taiwanese man in 2015 and gave birth to a daughter on Dec. 21, 2016. Unfortunately, because she has yet to obtain a Taiwanese identification card, the name of the mother on her daughter’s household registration document had to be left blank.
This is the big, Colorado Canyon sized gap there that leaves room enough for mothers to be kicked out with no rights over their children. I mean, you get f****** many times over in order to get pregnant, bear the agony of the toil over your body and health of carrying the child inside of you 9 months, survive 12 hours of labor/episiotomy/C section… and then don’t even get your name on the certificate. C’me on!
So you see why in the case of foreign women, getting a ROC nationality it is not as much as rolling in greener pastures in a “better” country as much as barely holding to what little you have invested here, your beloved ones? And you guys ain’t sitting in the catbird seat exactly.
I don’t think the public is the problem. As an issue, it’s just not on their radar screen. Whenever I tell a local that I’d have to give up my American passport to naturalize, they’re invariably surprised, and think that it’s unfair. I think they assume that because Taiwanese can go around collecting passports, the inverse is also true.
The problem is certain people in the government, mainly in the Legislature and the Ministry of the Interior, who consider themselves protectors of Taiwan’s racial and cultural purity. They’re perfectly aware that the renunciation requirement will stop most Westerners from naturalizing, and that’s exactly why they want to keep that law on the books. They don’t mind having Southeast Asians naturalize, because they give birth to 100% Taiwanese babies, and all traces of their “foreign culture” is erased in a generation.
Yeah when I read that part of the article a great big WHAT? came out of my mouth. Absolutely atrocious.
Reading the article, it appears she was not granted an exception on the basis of her celebrity status or any special contribution to Taiwan, but rather because of the section of the law that grants an exception if your country of current nationality refuses to allow you to renounce citizenship and the ministry of foreign affairs investigates and determines this to be the case. So any person from a country which flatly refuses to allow their citizens to renounce citizenship will qualify for this exception.
The article also says that if you have multiple nationalities you need only renounce one. While in practice this is likely to be true (and would be which ever nation’s passport you are in Taiwan on), and correct me if I’m wrong here, but I believe the law does state that ALL former nationalities must be renounced to naturalize as a ROC national which the article failed to point out. Which means that after naturalizing if they obtain proof that you hold another nationality, they might stripe you of ROC nationality.
