Some immigrants from Hong Kong who are trying to obtain permanent residency have complained about the lack of clarity surrounding the relevant regulations, making it more difficult for them to attain that status.
Under Taiwan law, people from Hong Kong and Macau can apply for permanent residency if they have been living in Taiwan for at least one year with the status of “professional immigrant.”
According to some of those “professional immigrants,” however, the regulations pertaining to the permanent residency application are not clear and seem to be constantly changing.
A 56-year-old nurse from Hong Kong, who asked to be identified only as Ticky, told CNA recently that her efforts to obtain permanent residency have stalled because the National Immigration Agency (NIA) is now asking for additional documents that she had not been told about before.
Ticky said she moved to Taiwan in March 2021 as a professional immigrant, with the hope of acquiring permanent residency in a year’s time.
After she filed her application in March this year, however, she received a letter from the NIA four months later, asking her to provide either a nursing certificate issued in Taiwan or a letter of employment from a Taiwanese medical institute, she said.
Before she immigrated to Taiwan, Ticky said, she had not been told that she would need those documents to obtain permanent residency.
Furthermore, she said, two of her nurse friends who had also moved to Taiwan were granted permanent residency in February, about four months after they filed their application, and they were not working as nurses in Taiwan, neither were they asked to submit a nursing certificate issued in Taiwan.
Hong Kong nurses may be allowed to enter Taiwan as professional immigrants if they hold a nursing certificate acquired in Hong Kong and can show work experience at a hospital there for at least two years, the Ministry of the Interior told CNA.
Both the National Immigration Agency (NIA) and the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) would not comment on specific cases, but the NIA said that neither a Taiwanese certificate nor proof of employment is a prerequisite for granting permanent residency to professional immigrants from Hong Kong.
Permanent residency applications by Hong Kong professional immigrants are usually reviewed “on a case-by-case basis” by a committee comprising officials from the NIA, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC), and other relevant government agencies, the agency said.
Applicants will be asked to provide proof of employment or professional licensing in Taiwan only if the “circumstances require” that, the NIA told CNA, without elaborating.
The MAC gave similar information, saying that the government wants to ensure that Hong Kong professional immigrants “could apply their professional skills to make a good and secure living in Taiwan after they obtain permanent residency.”
For other foreign nationals, who are neither Chinese nor residents of Hong Kong or Macau, stricter residency rules apply in Taiwan. They are eligible for permanent residency only after they have legally stayed in Taiwan for at least five years and spent more than 183 days each year in the country, according to the NIA.
Ticky, whose application is still under review by the relevant government agencies, thinks there is not much hope for her, as there is no telling when the Taiwan government will change its immigration policy for Hongkongers.
“The government has a right to change its immigration rules, but shouldn’t those who are already here be exempt from those revisions?” she said.
Ticky said she is not eligible to take the nursing certification exam in Taiwan because her diploma was acquired in Hong Kong, and she cannot obtain a nursing job in Taiwan without that certificate.
In light of those factors, Ticky said, she has decided to relocate in October to Canada, where her daughter now lives.
“[I am] very sad about the situation, but I have to face reality,” she said.
Another professional immigrant from Hong Kong, an architect who asked to be identified only as Polly, said that when she applied in July for permanent residency, she was told by an NIA officer that her application could not be processed until she submitted either an architecture license certified in Taiwan or proof of employment in the country for at least six months.
Polly, 39, said she had started her first job in Taiwan at an architecture firm just about a month ago and would not be able to provide the required employment document until February 2023.
“Taiwan often changes its policy,” she told CNA, expressing worry that by next February, she might not be able to clear the hurdles.
“I’m hoping to make Taiwan my second home and lead a peaceful life here, but under the current circumstances, I can hardly make any long-term plans,” Polly said. “I cannot think of buying a car or an apartment.”
According to MAC data, the number of Hong Kong immigrants in Taiwan has increased significantly since 2019, when the special administrative region of China was rocked by massive pro-democracy protests.
Last year, 11,173 Hongkongers obtained residency permits in Taiwan, compared to 5,858 in 2019, but the increase in the number of permanent residency permits was very small, from 1,474 in 2019 to 1,685 in 2021, the data showed.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel