Changes to naturalization for foreign spouses outlined

By Chen Hung-ta and Jake Chung  /  Staff reporter, with staff writer

The Legislative Yuan has relaxed naturalization regulations for foreign spouses, including changing the rules to allowing foreigners who have been divorced or whose Taiwanese spouse has died to apply for naturalization if they meet certain conditions.

The changes were made in amendments to the Nationality Act (國籍法) that were passed on Friday last week.

The act stipulates that foreigners must return to their nation of origin and renounce their citizenship before applying for Republic of China (ROC) citizenship, but there have been cases where the applications for ROC citizenship have been rejected, leaving the applicant stateless, the Ministry of the Interior said.

Under the amendments, foreigners will have a year from naturalization to provide documentation that they have renounced their former nationality, the ministry said.

If such proof is not provided within the one-year period, the applicant’s ROC citizenship will be revoked, although there are provisions to extend the deadline if legal systems in their nation of origin require more than one year’s time, the ministry said.

On the issue of needing to provide statements of financial independence, the ministry said if foreigners applying for naturalization are spouses of ROC citizens, they do not need to provide such documentation, and foreigners who have lost their spousal status through divorce due to domestic violence or because of the death of their spouse will also not be asked to provide such documents.

As for complaints about a controversial clause stipulating that applicants must “be of upright moral character, with no criminal record,” the ministry has agreed to change the wording to: “no inappropriate habit or behavior, or record of criminal past as recorded by the police.”

The ministry said it would be meeting with academic experts to provide clearer wording and definitions.

In addition, applicants whose applications have been turned down or who lost their naturalized status will be allowed to defend their case in front of a committee panel, the ministry said.

Foreigners who have not remarried after divorcing their Taiwanese partner due to abuse or whose spouse has died, as well as those who can prove to be in regular contact with the family of their Taiwanese spouse, will be given conditional naturalization, the ministry said.

Those who were married to a Taiwanese for more than two years before their spouse died would not be restricted by the condition of “maintaining contact with family,” the ministry said, adding that the individuals in these latter cases will only have to wait three years to receive an ROC ID card instead of the usual five.

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lin Li-chan (林麗蟬) said that even though the changes were not completely satisfactory, she was glad to see the amendments passed and felt that they merited a score of 70 out of 100.

Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Yu Mei-nu (尤美女) said she hopes the amendments would reduce discrimination on the basis of gender, nationality, ethnicity and class, as such discrimination has prevented dual-nationality individuals from being employed in Taiwan.

Ministry statistics showed 116,167 foreigners have been naturalized between 1987 and October this year, and there are 53,903 applications pending review.

Last year, 90.67 percent of naturalization applications were submitted by foreign spouses of Taiwanese, 76.31 percent (2,703) of whom were Vietnamese, the ministry said.