Taiwan intends to increase immigration channels for Hong Kong people. "Professionals and white-collar workers" can apply for settlement after living for 5 years

After the number of Hong Kong residents and permanent residents in Taiwan reached record highs last year, it has recently decreased due to Taiwan’s quiet tightening, which has caused complaints from Hong Kong people in Taiwan. The Mainland Affairs Council stated to the Central News Agency recently that it has revised the relevant permit measures, and intends to allow Hong Kong residents who have worked in Taiwan and have lived in Taiwan for five years to apply for settlement. But "in the foreseeable future," Taiwan will not allow protesters to settle in Taiwan through political asylum.

Currently, there are five ways to immigrate to Taiwan, namely investment, entrepreneurship, education, technology and marriage. However, there is no entry threshold for the last two. Hong Kong people generally apply through the first four. However, since last year, the Taiwan authorities have tightened administrative measures. Approval, prevent infiltration. The MAC spokesman, Qiu Chuizheng, said frankly that Hong Kong is completely under the control of the CCP. The Taiwan side is worried that Hong Kong will become a channel for the CCP to infiltrate Taiwan. Therefore, it is necessary to implement various defense mechanisms.

As a result, the number of Hong Kong people who came to Taiwan to live and settle has plummeted in the first two months of this year. According to the latest data released by the Taiwan Immigration Agency at the beginning of the month, the number of Hong Kong people who obtained residence and settlement permits in January and February 2022 totaled 1,485, a decrease of 25% from the 1,980 in the same period last year. According to public data, the number of Hong Kong people immigrating to Taiwan has risen sharply year after year since 2019. Last year, the number of residents reached 11,173, and the number of residents also reached 1,685. The number of people in the first two months of this year.

The issue of naturalization difficulties for Hong Kong people in Taiwan has attracted the attention of relevant organizations. In an interview recently, Sang Pu, chairman of the Taiwan Hong Kong Association, urged the Taiwan government to grant Hong Kong people the status. In response to the difficulties reported by the Hong Kong community in Taiwan and the difficulty of applying for settlement, Qiu Chuizheng said in an interview with the Central News Agency that the Mainland Affairs Council has proposed amendments to the "Measures for Hong Kong and Macau Residents to Enter the Taiwan Area and Residence and Settlement Permits", which has received support from administrative agencies and is moving towards Hong Kong people are allowed to go to Taiwan, "especially Hong Kong people of the professional and white-collar class", they can apply to settle in Taiwan after working and residing in Taiwan for five consecutive years, and their monthly income in the last year is twice the basic salary. This means opening up a new employment and settlement path for Hong Kong people in addition to the existing investment, professional and education immigration routes.

However, since most of the anti-amendment protesters in exile in Taiwan are young and less experienced, they may not be able to benefit from professional and white-collar jobs. Qiu Chuizheng said that the authorities are currently assisting exiles in Hong Kong in the form of the "Hong Kong Humanitarian Aid and Care Action Project". people, and guide them to stay in Taiwan by studying or working, but "will consider the circumstances of each case and handle it properly", that is, more favorable application conditions will be given to relevant cases. He added that the types of professional work regulated in the Employment Services Act are also quite diverse.

The revision of relevant regulations is in the final stage and will be officially announced by the Immigration Department in the future. Qiu Chuizheng emphasized that the revision of the regulations is to hope that Hong Kong people "don't need to worry about their identity anymore, and can live and work in Taiwan in peace and contentment." But he made it clear that the proposal to treat Hong Kong protesters as political asylum will not be adopted in the foreseeable future. Those who successfully obtain political asylum can obtain permanent residence status after staying in Taiwan for two years, which is at least 60% shorter than the new regulations that have not yet been announced.