The Taiwan-born children of two foreign nationals may apply to remain in Taiwan after they turn 18, the National Immigration Agency (NIA) said yesterday in response to a YouTube video on the topic.
The NIA issued the response following a recent video by YouTuber Jay Chen, which featured a discussion with a couple from the US and South Africa who had both lived in Taiwan for longer than a decade.
In the video, the couple said that because Taiwan does not recognize birthright citizenship, their Taiwan-born daughter is still a foreigner, and would have to apply for permission to remain in the country once she turns 18.
Photo: Taipei Times
In the news release issued yesterday, the NIA stated what options are available to the Taiwan-born children of two foreign national parents who hold an alien (permanent) resident certificate (ARC or APRC) once the child turns 18.
If the child has lived in Taiwan for a cumulative 10 years (and has been physically present in Taiwan for at least 183 days in each of those years), they are permitted to legally extend their residence by up to six years when they turn 18, the NIA said.
During those six years, if the person finds a job with a salary of at least double the minimum wage, or obtains certain professional qualifications, they may apply for an alien permanent residency card, the agency said.
EXTRA PROVISIONS
In the press release, the NIA also touted the more generous provisions that are offered to the children of high-level foreign professionals, as part of the government’s efforts to attract and retain such individuals.
For example, people who qualify as “foreign high-level professionals” may directly begin the naturalization process, and could apply for alien permanent residency cards together with their children under the age of 18, the agency said.
Meanwhile, “foreign special professionals” who have received an alien permanent residency card may apply for alien permanent residency card for their minor children once the children have lived in Taiwan for three to five years, depending on the circumstances, the NIA said.
Foreign tourists who purchase a seven-day Taiwan Pass are to get a second one free of charge as part of a government bid to boost tourism, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. A pair of Taiwan Passes is priced at NT$5,000 (US$156.44), an agency staff member said, adding that the passes can be used separately. The pass can be used in many of Taiwan’s major cities and to travel to several tourist resorts. It expires seven days after it is first used. The pass is a three-in-one package covering the high-speed rail system, mass rapid transport (MRT) services and the Taiwan Tourist Shuttle services,
Drinking a lot of water or milk would not help a person who has ingested terbufos, a toxic chemical that has been identified as the likely cause of three deaths, a health expert said yesterday. An 83-year-old woman surnamed Tseng (曾) and two others died this week after eating millet dumplings with snails that Tseng had made. Tseng died on Tuesday and others ate the leftovers when they went to her home to mourn her death that evening. Twelve people became ill after eating the dumplings following Tseng’s death. Their symptoms included vomiting and convulsions. Six were hospitalized, with two of them
DIVA-READY: The city’s deadline for the repairs is one day before pop star Jody Chiang is to perform at the Taipei Dome for the city’s Double Ten National Day celebrations The Taipei City Government has asked Farglory Group (遠雄集團) to repair serious water leaks in the Taipei Dome before Friday next week, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said yesterday, following complaints that many areas at the stadium were leaking during two baseball games over the weekend. The dome on Saturday and Sunday hosted two games in tribute to CTBC Brothers’ star Chou Szu-chi (周思齊) ahead of his retirement from the CPBL. The games each attracted about 40,000 people, filling the stadium to capacity. However, amid heavy rain, many people reported water leaking on some seats, at the entrance and exit areas, and the
BIG collection: The herbarium holds more than 560,000 specimens, from the Japanese colonial period to the present, including the Wulai azalea, which is now extinct in the wild The largest collection of plant specimens in Taiwan, the Taipei Botanical Garden’s herbarium, is celebrating its 100th anniversary with an exhibition that opened on Friday. The herbarium provides critical historical documents for botanists and is the first of its kind in Taiwan, Taiwan Forestry Research Institute director Tseng Yen-hsueh (曾彥學) said. It is housed in a two-story red brick building, which opened during 1924. At the time, it stored 30,000 plant specimens from almost 6,000 species, including Taiwanese plant samples collected by Tomitaro Makino, the “father of Japanese botany,” Tseng said. The herbarium collection has grown in the century since its