Brian Hioeby Brian Hioe
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Photo Credit: Xiaoanan1207/WikiCommons/CC BY-SA 4.0
A LEGAL PROPOSAL by 18 DPP legislators would raise the number of years required for Hongkongers to obtain permanent residency in Taiwan to six years.
The significant increase, seeing as the fastest that Hongkongers can currently acquire permanent residency in Taiwan is in one year, though this usually does not occur in practice.
That is, under current regulations, Hongkongers and individuals from Macau who graduated from Taiwanese universities and have five years in Taiwan on a work permit can obtain residency if, in their fifth year, they make twice the minimum salary. Otherwise, current regulations stipulate that Hongkongers or individuals from Macau with relatives in Taiwan who are entrepreneurs in recognized fields, have special technical skills or experience, or are recognized by the government can obtain permanent residency.
During the 2019 Hong Kong protests, the DPP played up support for Hongkongers, promising to take measures to help Hong Kong asylum seekers in Taiwan. To this end, a special office was set up to assist Hongkongers. At the time, even Han Kuo-yu of the KMT pledged to assist Hongkongers, suggesting establishing a “Hong Kong village” in Kaohsiung–even as he had shortly before the outbreak of the protests met with Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam.
Still, during this period, Hongkongers were mostly directed towards channels for study, work, or investment if they wished to travel to Taiwan. On the other hand, the young student activists most at risk from political persecution often did not have the means to move to Taiwan. There were cases in which student activists were denied the opportunity to travel to Taiwan and then later arrested.
Nevertheless, past years have seen increasing backlash from the pan-Green camp. This seems to have begun in 2022 after backlash from DPP legislators led to the blocking of a residency plan that would have made it easier for Hongkongers to reside in Taiwan.
The Hong Kong Legislative Council. Photo credit: CC BY-SA 4.0
The plan would have allowed Hongkongers and individuals from Macau who have resided in Taiwan for over five years on a work permit and make twice the minimum wage in their fifth year of residency to apply for permanent residency, which would allow them to receive an ROC ID card. This means making 50,500 NT monthly or 606,000 NT annually, though such individuals do not need to prove that they make this amount monthly, but could do so annually, since some may make this amount from multiple jobs. Such individuals would have to be present in Taiwan for at least 183 days over the course of those five years and individuals who obtain a master’s or doctorate in Taiwan could have the five-year period reduced by one year or two years, respectively.
But it is a general trend that at present, the DPP has shifted toward a stance of making it harder for Hongkongers to come to Taiwan, stressing that China has expanded its influence over Hong Kong and that low barriers for Hongkongers coming to Taiwan could make it easy for Chinese spies or infiltrators to mix in with them. The DPP cites as justification the view that most Hongkongers who needed to leave Hong Kong after the 2019 protests for reasons of political security have already done so, while suggesting that large numbers of Chinese have moved into Hong Kong since 2019 in a manner that makes it hard to distinguish between Hongkongers and Chinese.
Indeed, such claims are ironic when Taiwan has no asylum law and no standardized vetting process to determine the veracity of asylum seekers’ claims. Youthful and traumatized Hong Kong protesters seeking refuge in Taiwan have seen questions from immigration officials about whether they intend to commit acts of terrorism in Taiwan as they did in Hong Kong. Pro-democracy Hong Kong politicians seeking to visit friends and vacation in Taiwan in past years have had their visas denied, seemingly because immigration officials did not know who they were.
The specifics of any future legal changes are still unclear, with vague wording in the legal proposal. But more broadly, one observes how calls to raise barriers for Hongkongers have, in fact, grown stronger. A proposal by the Mainland Affairs Council in 2023 proposed raising the period of time required for residency to four years. And with the DPP intent on pushing for raising barriers, it is improbable that the KMT or any opposition party would take a stance against the DPP, given their need to placate Beijing.