Taiwan strengthens security review, Hong Kong people's willingness to immigrate to Taiwan has greatly weakened

Taipei - 

After the implementation of the National Security Law in Hong Kong, the wave of exodus of Hong Kong people continued to ferment. Taiwan was once a popular place to immigrate, but since this year, the number of people from Hong Kong and Macau who have decided to move to Taiwan has dropped significantly compared to the previous two years. An immigration consultant company in Taiwan said that the reason should be that the Taiwan government has tightened the threshold for professional and investment immigration, and many Hong Kong people who are planning to immigrate to Taiwan are also dissatisfied with Taiwan's new screening conditions, and finally choose to immigrate to other countries.

Hong Kong has seen a wave of immigration since 2020. Chief Executive Lee Ka-chao admitted in his "Policy Address" in mid-October that Hong Kong had lost about 140,000 laborers in the past two years. It is necessary to recruit at least 35,000 high-end people or academic masters with degrees in the world's top 100 to stop the bleeding of talents in Hong Kong.

According to Hong Kong scholar Zhong Jianhua’s data compiled by the Hong Kong Census and Statistics Department, a total of 300,000 Hong Kong people left in the past three years, and nearly half of them, about 135,000, were young people aged 15-29. According to the latest statistics released by the Taiwan Immigration Administration in mid-September, 5,790 Hong Kong residents have obtained residence permits this year, of which 1,033 have been granted permanent residency qualifications. Compared with the number of 6,754 residents and 1,217 residents in the same period last year, it is about 17% lower. . According to the five major application categories of study abroad, dependent, professional, investment, and entrepreneurial, foreigners can further apply for permanent residence and naturalization after living in Taiwan for a certain period of time, and obtain a legal Taiwan citizen ID card.

Taiwan strengthens censorship to prevent "fake investment and real immigration"

The Investment Review Committee of the Ministry of Economic Affairs of Taiwan, in order to eliminate the scam of "fake investment and real immigration" by Hong Kong people, revised the application threshold for Hong Kong and Macau investment immigration as early as the beginning of 2020, increasing the investment and operation period in Taiwan from one year to three years, and adding "Two or more Taiwanese employees must be hired in Taiwan" and "physical office premises" and other conditions.

Qiu Chuizheng, deputy chairman of Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council, pointed out in April that Hong Kong and Macao residents' residence/settled application cases are chaotic, immigration companies "fake", and many Hong Kong people take advantage of loopholes to "really immigrate, fake investment" and withdraw their capital after obtaining settlement qualifications , and even return to Hong Kong to live. In the past, the ratio of capital reduction and capital reduction was as high as about 90%. Therefore, the Taiwan Immigration Agency has strengthened inspections in accordance with regulations. The facts such as the number of employees hired and employees going to work during the three-year investment period are not one-sided "raising the threshold".

However, many Hong Kong people reported that there is a gap between Taiwan's investment immigration laws and regulations, which makes them feel frustrated.

Taiwan's new cross-ministerial joint review under national security concerns

Taiwan originally planned to revise the "Regulations on Hong Kong and Macau Residents Entering Taiwan and Residence and Settlement Permits" in May this year to relax the threshold for Hong Kong and Macau professionals to apply for settlement in Taiwan. Those who earn twice the basic salary can apply for settlement.

However, due to concerns about national security, the brakes were suddenly applied at the end of April, and the revision of the law was postponed.

Regarding the dispute over the delay of Hong Kong residents' application for settlement, Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council once pointed out that in addition to checking the fact that Hong Kong people have lived in Taiwan for five years, the government has four checkpoints, including "residence review" and "five-year observation period". , "Project Identification" and "National Security Review", even if the law is revised to relax the standards, the established review period and procedures will not be changed hastily.

In response to concerns about national security, the MAC also issued a statement to clarify that Taiwan has amended the law in August this year and added regulations on joint review, clearly stipulating that "Hong Kong and Macao residents who were originally Chinese mainland people and (now) served in the Chinese mainland's party, government, and military The purpose of this is to prevent China from infiltrating Taiwan. There is absolutely no case of "abuse of national security reasons to reject (Hong Kong residents) applications", and the reasons for rejection will also be clearly stated.