The number of people from Hong Kong applying for residency in Taiwan last year rose 41 percent from a year earlier to 5,858, National Immigration Agency statistics showed.
The statistics also showed that 600 applications were filed by Hong Kong residents in the first quarter of this year — three times the number filed in the same period last year — with applicants apparently not deterred by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Just one day after it was reported that the Chinese government plans to enact new national security laws in Hong Kong, inquiries regarding immigration to Taiwan grew 10-fold, a Hong Kong-based immigration consultant was quoted as saying in a Hong Kong media report on Saturday.
Photo: AFP
Separately, a Taiwan-based immigration consultant, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that a series of information sessions they held in Hong Kong in June last year were all filled to capacity.
There was a wave of immigration to Taiwan in 1997 when Hong Kong was handed over to China, followed by a second wave during the 2014 “Umbrella movement,” the Taiwanese consultant said, adding that a third wave occurred last year, around the time of the protests against a proposed extradition bill.
In 2018, there were 4,148 residency applicants and 1,090 permanent residency applicants, agency statistics showed.
Last year, the figures rose to 5,858 and 1,474, respectively.
Of those applying for residency last year, 1,243 people applied in October alone.
Of the reasons given in the residency applications, the top three were “study,” “marriage” and “investment,” in that order.
Sixteen possible ways of applying for residency are stipulated in the Regulations Governing Residency or Permanent Residency for People of the Hong Kong Area and the Macau Area (香港澳門居民進入臺灣地區及居留定居許可辦法). These include applying as a blood relative or spouse of a Taiwanese, as a skilled person holding a Hong Kong Government-issued certificate in a specialized field, as a person of extraordinary accomplishment in a specific field, or as a businessperson investing NT$6 million (US$199,940) or more in Taiwan.
People from other countries immigrating to Taiwan through investment must invest a minimum of NT$30 million, but those from Hong Kong can immigrate with a significantly lower investment, making Taiwan an appealing option, the Taiwanese consultant said.
Those applying as entrepreneurs can come on an even lower investment of only NT$2 million, but they must reside in Taiwan for at least 183 days per year for five years in a row before they are eligible for citizenship, the consultant said.
Taiwan has arranged for about 8 million barrels of crude oil, or about one-third of its monthly needs, to be shipped from the Red Sea this month to bypass the Strait of Hormuz and ease domestic supply pressures, CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) said yesterday. The state-run oil company has worked with Middle Eastern suppliers to secure routes other than the Strait of Hormuz, through which about 20 percent of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas typically passes, CPC chairman Fang Jeng-zen (方振仁) said at a meeting of the legislature’s Economics Committee in Taipei. Suppliers in Saudi Arabia have indicated they
A global survey showed that 60 percent of Taiwanese had attained higher education, second only to Canada, the Ministry of the Interior said. Taiwan easily surpassed the global average of 43 percent and ranked ahead of major economies, including Japan, South Korea and the US, data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) for 2024 showed. Taiwan has a high literacy rate, data released by the ministry showed. As of the end of last year, Taiwan had 20.617 million people aged 15 or older, accounting for 88.5 percent of the total population, with a literacy rate of 99.4 percent, the data
CCP ‘PAWN’? Beijing could use the KMT chairwoman’s visit to signal to the world that many people in Taiwan support the ‘one China’ principle, an academic said Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) yesterday arrived in China for a “peace” mission and potential meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), while a Taiwanese minister detailed the number of Chinese warships currently deployed around the nation. Cheng is visiting at a time of increased Chinese military pressure on Taiwan, as the opposition-dominated Legislative Yuan stalls a government plan for US$40 billion in extra defense spending. Speaking to reporters before going to the airport, Cheng said she was going on a “historic journey for peace,” but added that some people felt uneasy about her trip. “If you truly love Taiwan,
NEW LOW: The council in 2024 based predictions on a pessimistic estimate for the nation’s total fertility rate of 0.84, but last year that rate was 0.69, 17 percent lower An expected National Development Council (NDC) report expects the nation’s population to drop below 12 million by 2065, with the old-age dependency ratio to top 100 percent sooner than 2070, sources said yesterday. The council is slated to release its latest population projections in August, using an ultra-low fertility model, the sources said. The previous report projected that Taiwan’s population would fall to 14.37 million by 2070, but based on a new estimate of the total fertility rate (TFR) — the average number of children born to a woman over her lifetime — the population is expected to reach 12 million by
RSS