Becoming Taiwanese

Dimitri Bruyas

January 6, 2015, 3:16 pm TWN

A draft amendment to the Nationality Act

 (國籍法) passed an initial screening by a 

legislative committee on Dec. 17, opening up the possibility of dual nationality for some

foreign immigrants for the first time. This is great news for the hundreds of thousands 

of foreigners who have already settled 

here and want to apply for Republic of China (R.O.C.) citizenship, even if some are worried 

that the new amendment would create another problem: foreign nationals from the same

 country of origin with different rights.

Foreign Professionals

Thanks to the proposed amendment, some foreign professionals, such as highly skilled 

individuals in fields such as technology, business, education, culture, arts and sports, could

 soon be able to obtain citizenship without having to give up their original nationality.

Currently, a person must renounce his or her nationality prior to applying for Taiwanese

 citizenship and present a certificate of renunciation of his or her original nationality. In 

the near future, some skilled professionals will be able to forego this difficult process, 

pending a “recommendation” by a select committee.

Other Foreign Nationals

If officially passed in the Legislature next year, the new version of the act would still 

require the spouses of Taiwanese nationals and other immigrants to prove the loss of their 

original citizenship as a precondition to apply for R.O.C. citizenship.

Under the new amendment, however, they won't have to renounce to their original 

nationality before making an application in order to prevent them becoming stateless if

 their application is rejected. Instead, they will have to present a certificate of renunciation

 of their original nationality within one year after naturalization is completed.

Strangely enough, Taiwan allows local citizens to take up foreign nationalities, but 

requires any foreign immigrant to give up his or her original nationality as a precondition. 

The law even gives provisions for canceling the applicant's citizenship within five years 

of naturalization, denying their right to take up a foreign nationality after naturalization is 

completed.

New Problem

Authorities still believe that the new system could potentially give foreigners living in 

Taiwan more incentive to stay here with their families. Yet, many are concerned by the idea

 of having a designated commission in charge of recognizing the past, present or future

 “contribution” a foreign national has made or will make to Taiwan before his or her request is granted.

After all, the answer could be straightforward for a brilliant academic, scientist, 

businessperson, artist or athlete, but what about office and factory workers, housewives

 and underage children? How is the commission going to evaluate each individual's 

contribution to Taiwan's arts or culture? More worrisome, how would such committee 

distinguish between a potential entrepreneur and an artist coming from the same country

 of origin? Nobody knows.

Instead of evaluating a person's love for Taiwan, the aforementioned commission could 

consider evaluating a person's path toward integration into the local community through 

a set of objective principles. Why not evaluate each and everyone's effort to learn the local 

language, get a stable job, create a family and give back to the community, instead of

 longing for “big names” to settle in Taiwan?