What happens when your local spouse passes away

Maybe like many other married foreignors here in Taiwan i have been concerned for some time what would happen if my wife were ever to pass away, lets face it the roads here are a daily carnage run.

The result of investigations so far - info mainly from the Foreign Affairs Police - indicates that in this event the Taiwan authorities do not consider the marriage to be at an end, marriage can only be ended by divorce. At such time as my JFRV based ARC was about to expire then i would need to take certain documents, including household registration, death certificate etc along to the FAP and they would then give me a new ARC still based on the JFRV.

Just wondering if this goes along with anyones elses knowledge or experience.

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I suppose the logic is that you are still part of your wife’s family, even if your wife has died.
Sorry, I can’t throw any light on the subject, but it is interesting to compare the situation with that in the U.S.
I read an article about a British woman who, less than two weeks after her American husband died in the WTC, received a letter telling her that she had to leave the country. She had lived there with her husband for nearly 20 years. That was pretty harsh.

[To pre-empt ‘I’m-a-stuck-record’ Vannyel - I know we are not in the U.S.and that the laws are different here. ]

I’ve heard the complete opposite. Your spouse dies, then you’re out on your arse. Your reason for resdiency was to be with your wife, she’s dead, you have no reason to be here, pack your bags.

Brian

[quote=“Bu Lai En”]I’ve heard the complete opposite. Your spouse dies, then you’re out on your arse. Your reason for resdiency was to be with your wife, she’s dead, you have no reason to be here, pack your bags.[/quote]That’s what I’ve heard too (so could be wrong), you can’t even stay long enough to attend your own spouse’s funeral. That’s one reason for bringing in APRCs.

My Aunt married a man from Jersey which allowed her to live there, and she’s still lives there after he died. I have no idea what her nationality or legal status is now.

My money’s on the Boot Out on Arse option.

Say you had a child with Taiwan ID, presumably that would make a difference (?)

It is a “Joining Family Resident Visa.” If the wife is no longer alive, the JFRV validity comes to an end.

Write a letter (in Chinese) to the National Police Administration about this and see what reply you get. Everything I know about “official Taiwanese administrative logic” tells me that they are not going to renew a visa based on a non-existent marital relation.

The Taiwanese Immigration Law enacted May 21, 1999, has never been interpreted to say that an adult can base any type of “residency status” on a child who has local Taiwan citizenship.

Some investigation HAS already been done, and the response from the FAP was that they would not automatically kick me out, and that the JFRV would not automatically expire.

I am still awaiting a written response or at least links to relevant sections on a website. Part seems to coincide with what happens to locals as well, their IdD cards are amended to show that their spouse has died, but they are not removed from that persons ID card.

As and when i have the links or response then i will post them for all.

According to “HANDBOOK OF LIVING INFORMATION FOR FOREIGN SPOUSES IN TAIWAN”

Q10: Can foreign spouses continue to reside in case of death of Taiwan citizen spouse or divorce?

  1. Authorized Authority: Foreign Affair Division, NPA

  2. Basis of Laws/regulations: Article 29 of Entry/Exit and Immigration Law
    and Article 11 of Regulations for Governing Stay, Residence and Permanent Residence of Foreigners

  3. Procedures of Application: Application should be made to the Foreign Affair Division (Section) of the Police Bureau in the place of residence (stay).

  4. Notes:
    (1) In case of death of the Taiwan citizen spouse, his/her foreign spouse may apply for continuing to reside in Taiwan by law no matter whether they have children. However, the residence certificate can be withdrawn if any danger to public interest is found.

(2) The foreign spouse who is divorced losses the reason for residence, therefore, he/she may not reside any more in principle, but for the sake of taking care of child (children), he/she may be allowed to continue to reside based on the reason of “other need for residence”.

(3) In principle, legal problems would not be the reason for continuing to reside after divorce, however, the residence may be extended depending on the need of individual case.

There was a case of an Irish guy whose Taiwanese wife died and he got the boot or was to get the boot out of Taiwan. He was pretty close to her family and his life was in Taiwan. Never know how this turned out at the end

Out of curiosity, what if you share custody of a child with your divorced wife. Are you allowed to keep your JFARC?

From Revisions sought to foreign spouse rules, in today’s China Post:

[quote]A ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmaker urged the government yesterday to revise the current immigration law to allow for foreign spouses with young children to remain in Taiwan in the event of their being divorced or widowed.

Legislator Lin Shu-shan made the call at a news conference attended by a divorced Vietnamese woman and a widowed Cambodian woman, both of whom are facing deportation.

Under current immigration rules, Lin said foreign spouses who arrive in Taiwan to reside with their Taiwanese mates are forced to leave Taiwan once they divorce or upon the death of their partners, as their resident permits are automatically invalidated.

If they fail to leave within 15 days, Lin said, they may be deported, forcing their children to travel to their mothers’ home countries and become "stateless, " or to live in Taiwan without the care of their mothers
[/quote]

A change would be welcome. But I hope people let the Legislature know that those of us who are married to a local but don’t have children should be able to stay, too.

[quote=“cranky laowai”]From Revisions sought to foreign spouse rules, in today’s China Post:

[quote]A ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmaker urged the government yesterday to revise the current immigration law to allow for foreign spouses with young children to remain in Taiwan in the event of their being divorced or widowed.

Legislator Lin Shu-shan made the call at a news conference attended by a divorced Vietnamese woman and a widowed Cambodian woman, both of whom are facing deportation.

Under current immigration rules, Lin said foreign spouses who arrive in Taiwan to reside with their Taiwanese mates are forced to leave Taiwan once they divorce or upon the death of their partners, as their resident permits are automatically invalidated.

If they fail to leave within 15 days, Lin said, they may be deported, forcing their children to travel to their mothers’ home countries and become "stateless, " or to live in Taiwan without the care of their mothers
[/quote]

A change would be welcome. But I hope people let the Legislature know that those of us who are married to a local but don’t have children should be able to stay, too.[/quote]

This is my understanding as well. If you spouse dies you are SOL. I remember that in that past they kicked out a Japanese woman who lived in Taiwan for 30+ years and had children in high school.

There was a case mentioned here sometime back of a Vietnamese (?) woman that had been married, had kids, but was somehow registered as the wife of the husband’s brother, a fisherman who’d later died. Her husband couldn’t renew her visa and so she was kicked out and the kids remained.

HG

[[color=darkblue]Moderator’s note: This poster made a serious oversite by forgetting to mention that under normal circumstances this Vietnamese woman would be allowed to come into Taiwan on a tourist visa to visit her children here. Of course, under such an arrangement if she were found to be doing any sort of “work” in order to earn money to support the children, she would be in violation of the Employment Services Act, and subject to imprisonment.[/color] I hope this clears up any confusion that browsers of this thread may have had 
 ]

Here is a relevant article in the Taipei Times today.
taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/ 
 2003303629

Here’s the legislator’s contact information:

Lin Su-san (林æščć±±, Lin Shu-san)
e-mail: ly11023a@ly.gov.tw
tel.: 2358-6551

Remember, this is someone who is proposing something that could be beneficial to foreigners. So be nice.

PM pointed out the stupidity of my previous post in this thread. Apologies to all who were offended.

[quote=“Huang Guang Chen”]There was a case mentioned here sometime back of a Vietnamese (?) woman that had been married, had kids, but was somehow registered as the wife of the husband’s brother, a fisherman who’d later died. Her husband couldn’t renew her visa and so she was kicked out and the kids remained.

HG

[[color=darkblue]Moderator’s note: This poster made a serious oversite by forgetting to mention that under normal circumstances this Vietnamese woman would be allowed to come into Taiwan on a tourist visa to visit her children here. Of course, under such an arrangement if she were found to be doing any sort of “work” in order to earn money to support the children, she would be in violation of the Employment Services Act, and subject to imprisonment.[/color] I hope this clears up any confusion that browsers of this thread may have had 
 ][/quote]

This post. forumosa.com/taiwan/viewtopi 
 027#513027

This woman was imported by a married man in order to produce children for him. As the chap was married, he used another chap’s name to get her into Taiwan, but the other chap died so she had to leave. Which suited fine as she had served her purpose and she was of course deported by the Taiwanese government which cares deeply about human rights.

I don’t get the moderator’s point. Anyone can get a tourist visa. So it is an oversight not to state the obvious? Surely the point is the right to stay, not the availability or otherwise of tourist visas?

[quote=“hexuan”][quote=“Huang Guang Chen”]There was a case mentioned here sometime back of a Vietnamese (?) woman that had been married, had kids, but was somehow registered as the wife of the husband’s brother, a fisherman who’d later died. Her husband couldn’t renew her visa and so she was kicked out and the kids remained.

HG

[[color=darkblue]Moderator’s note: This poster made a serious oversite by forgetting to mention that under normal circumstances this Vietnamese woman would be allowed to come into Taiwan on a tourist visa to visit her children here. Of course, under such an arrangement if she were found to be doing any sort of “work” in order to earn money to support the children, she would be in violation of the Employment Services Act, and subject to imprisonment.[/color] I hope this clears up any confusion that browsers of this thread may have had 
 ][/quote]

This post. forumosa.com/taiwan/viewtopi 
 027#513027

This woman was imported by a married man in order to produce children for him. As the chap was married, he used another chap’s name to get her into Taiwan, but the other chap died so she had to leave. Which suited fine as she had served her purpose and she was of course deported by the Taiwanese government which cares deeply about human rights.

I don’t get the moderator’s point. Anyone can get a tourist visa. So it is an oversight not to state the obvious? Surely the point is the right to stay, not the availability or otherwise of tourist visas?[/quote]
I agree with Hex. How is that an oversight?

It should also be pointed out that this woman is free to send e-mails and photographs of herself to her children. Not to mention this is surely an oversight! :stuck_out_tongue:

[quote=“Maoman”][quote=“hexuan”][quote=“Huang Guang Chen”]There was a case mentioned here sometime back of a Vietnamese (?) woman that had been married, had kids, but was somehow registered as the wife of the husband’s brother, a fisherman who’d later died. Her husband couldn’t renew her visa and so she was kicked out and the kids remained.

HG

[[color=darkblue]Moderator’s note: This poster made a serious oversite by forgetting to mention that under normal circumstances this Vietnamese woman would be allowed to come into Taiwan on a tourist visa to visit her children here. Of course, under such an arrangement if she were found to be doing any sort of “work” in order to earn money to support the children, she would be in violation of the Employment Services Act, and subject to imprisonment.[/color] I hope this clears up any confusion that browsers of this thread may have had 
 ][/quote]

This post. forumosa.com/taiwan/viewtopi 
 027#513027

This woman was imported by a married man in order to produce children for him. As the chap was married, he used another chap’s name to get her into Taiwan, but the other chap died so she had to leave. Which suited fine as she had served her purpose and she was of course deported by the Taiwanese government which cares deeply about human rights.

I don’t get the moderator’s point. Anyone can get a tourist visa. So it is an oversight not to state the obvious? Surely the point is the right to stay, not the availability or otherwise of tourist visas?[/quote]
I agree with Hex. How is that an oversight?

It should also be pointed out that this woman is free to send e-mails and photographs of herself to her children. Not to mention this is surely an oversight! :p[/quote]
And why does the mod need to edit HGC’s post by making additions? If the mod has an opinion, he can state it in his own post. It seems a bit arrogant to me for a mod to alter by addition or any other changes a post that has broken no rules. Use your own username to comment instead of this “moderator’s note” silliness.