At a public hearing of the Legislative Yuan, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) yesterday said she would propose amendments to remove the requirement for foreign nationals to renounce their original citizenship before being granted Republic of China (ROC) citizenship, as two former Pakistani nationals recounted how became stateless when they were denied Taiwanese citizenship after giving up Pakistani citizenship.
“If there’s any reason why I cannot be granted Taiwanese citizenship, you can tell me, so that I can keep my Pakistani citizenship, and live here as a foreign resident,” Syed Noor Alam, a former Pakistani, said at a public hearing at the legislature.
Having lived in Taiwan for more than 20 years, Syed decided to become a naturalized Taiwanese citizen after marrying a Taiwanese woman.
He was given a Certificate of ROC Naturalization Candidacy after submitting the required documents, including a certificate from the police showing that he had no criminal record in Taiwan.
With the candidacy certificate in hand, Syed flew to Pakistan to officially renounce his Pakistani citizenship. However, upon arrival in Taiwan, he found that bad news awaited him.
“When I came back to Taiwan, I received another police document saying that I had a criminal record, and so my naturalization application was turned down,” Syed said.
Admitting that he was ruled guilty in a theft case, Syed said it was unacceptable to him that the government made a mistake in the first place and is now not trying to help him.
“I couldn’t attend my father’s funeral when he passed away. Now my mother is severely ill and I still cannot be by her side,” Syed said. “My mother calls me all the time, asking me when would I be back — but I don’t know the answer.”
“Don’t you [government officials] have mothers as well?” he said.
Another former Pakistani citizen, Jawal Shakoor, faced a similar dilemma. Jawal was granted Taiwanese citizenship in 2004, but he was only a Taiwanese citizen for about eight months, as his citizenship was revoked by the Ministry of the Interior after he was discovered to have a criminal record.
“Prior to giving up my Pakistani citizenship, the police issued me a certificate proving that I had no criminal record. After granting me a Taiwanese ID card and a Taiwanese passport, they discovered otherwise and decided to take them away, without telling me what I can do next,” Jawal said.
Hsiao said she had also been stateless for a few days after she gave up her US citizenship before she received ROC citizenship.
“I waited for a few days, but some immigrants may have to wait more than a few days or even a few months. I was fortunate enough to receive my Taiwanese citizenship, but what if something went wrong during the pending period?” Hsiao said.
“I think it’s not reasonable to ask an immigrant to give up citizenship of his or her country of origin before getting Taiwanese citizenship,” she said.
Hsiao added that it is not justified to allow naturalized citizens to run for public office only 10 years after their naturalization.
“When someone becomes a naturalized citizen, he or she becomes one of us, and should be granted the same rights in political participation,” she said.
Hsiao proposed an amendment to the Nationality Act (國籍法) and the Election and Recall Act for Public Servants (公職人員選舉罷免法) to address the issue.
Chai Lan-ping (翟蘭萍), an official from the Interior Ministery’s Department of Household Registration, said the ministry is neutral on the proposals.
“As long as the laws are amended by the legislature, we would act in accordance with the amended laws,” he said.
Death row inmate Huang Lin-kai (黃麟凱), who was convicted for the double murder of his former girlfriend and her mother, is to be executed at the Taipei Detention Center tonight, the Ministry of Justice announced. Huang, who was a military conscript at the time, was convicted for the rape and murder of his ex-girlfriend, surnamed Wang (王), and the murder of her mother, after breaking into their home on Oct. 1, 2013. Prosecutors cited anger over the breakup and a dispute about money as the motives behind the double homicide. This is the first time that Minister of Justice Cheng Ming-chien (鄭銘謙) has
BITTERLY COLD: The inauguration ceremony for US president-elect Donald Trump has been moved indoors due to cold weather, with the new venue lacking capacity A delegation of cross-party lawmakers from Taiwan, led by Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), for the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, would not be able to attend the ceremony, as it is being moved indoors due to forecasts of intense cold weather in Washington tomorrow. The inauguration ceremony for Trump and US vice president-elect JD Vance is to be held inside the Capitol Rotunda, which has a capacity of about 2,000 people. A person familiar with the issue yesterday said although the outdoor inauguration ceremony has been relocated, Taiwan’s legislative delegation has decided to head off to Washington as scheduled. The delegation
TRANSPORT CONVENIENCE: The new ticket gates would accept a variety of mobile payment methods, and buses would be installed with QR code readers for ease of use New ticketing gates for the Taipei metro system are expected to begin service in October, allowing users to swipe with cellphones and select credit cards partnered with Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC), the company said on Tuesday. TRTC said its gates in use are experiencing difficulty due to their age, as they were first installed in 2007. Maintenance is increasingly expensive and challenging as the manufacturing of components is halted or becoming harder to find, the company said. Currently, the gates only accept EasyCard, iPass and electronic icash tickets, or one-time-use tickets purchased at kiosks, the company said. Since 2023, the company said it
Another wave of cold air would affect Taiwan starting from Friday and could evolve into a continental cold mass, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Temperatures could drop below 10°C across Taiwan on Monday and Tuesday next week, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. Seasonal northeasterly winds could bring rain, he said. Meanwhile, due to the continental cold mass and radiative cooling, it would be cold in northern and northeastern Taiwan today and tomorrow, according to the CWA. From last night to this morning, temperatures could drop below 10°C in northern Taiwan, it said. A thin coat of snow
RSS