Taiwan obstructs naturalization for new female immigrants

Lulu is an Indonesian national who has been married to a Taiwanese national for over 15 years; the couple’s children are on the brink of attending high school. However, in order to obtain a certificate of naturalization from the Taiwanese government, she is first required to renounce her current nationality - Indonesia - a prospect that has roused great struggle and reluctance in her. The Nationality Act (國籍法) is a legal decree regulating nationality, as well as related rights and benefits; the act directly affects over fifty thousand foreign spouses that have yet to gain full Taiwanese naturalization. Foreign spouses who wish to become Taiwanese citizens must not only undergo a tedious and lengthy naturalization process, but a number of stipulations in the act have created serious obstructions to many applicants. In light of these obstructions, the Alliance of Immigration Rights Protection (移民移住人權修法聯盟) and a number of cross-party legislators have proposed amendments to the current Nationality Act.

Yuan-Hao Liao (廖元豪), associate professor at the College of Law, National Chengchi University (NCCU) and consultant to the Alliance of Immigration Rights Protection, proposed three main amendments: ‘firstly, to repeal Article 4, bringing the naturalization process for divorced immigrants in line with that of other immigrants; secondly, to repeal Article 9, which stipulates immigrants must first renounce nationality of one’s country of birth, thus avoiding the possibility of immigrants becoming stateless individuals; and thirdly, to repeal Article 10, ensuring those that have already obtained Taiwanese citizenship need not wait ten years before being permitted to take up a job in the civil service. 

PeoPo 公民新聞 by 公民行動影音紀錄資料庫

Taiwan obstructs naturalization for new female immigrants
URL:http://www.peopo.org/news/109792

(以下是中文對照)

照片

新移民姐妹歸化台灣阻礙多 國籍法修法提升人權

印尼籍的露露，已經嫁來台灣１５年了，孩子都要升高中了。但她卻面臨為了取得歸化國籍證明書前，必須先放棄母國國籍，讓她非常的掙扎與不捨。《國籍法》是用來規範人民國籍相關權益的法令，直接影響尚未取得台灣國籍的五萬多名外籍配偶。外籍配偶要取得台灣身分證要經過很漫長的流程，其中一些法條在實務上也讓很多移民姐妹受到阻礙。移民移住人權修法聯盟與幾名跨黨派的立委，公開民間版國籍法修正案。

移盟版的《國籍法》修法草案主要有三大重點，移盟顧問、政大法律系副教授廖元豪說明到：「第一是針對第4條，我們希望廢除對失婚移民歸化中華民國國籍是比較一般外籍配偶的標準，第二希望修改第9條中放棄國籍的規定，避免新移民為了放棄國籍而淪為無國籍人球，第三是廢除第10條，讓已經取得中華民國國籍的移民不需要等十年才得以任公職。」

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