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Sunday, April 02, 2006

What are our rights as Foreigners in Taiwan?

Linda Arrigo pointed me to this article in the Taipei Times that succintly explains what rights foreigners have in the face of a deportation hearing:

Legislators and government officials yesterday locked horns over whether Immigration Law (入出國及移民法) amendments should require officials to provide a document listing reasons before a foreigner is deported or refused residence.

The Home and Nations Committee yesterday began reviewing amendments to the Immigration Law, but were divided over several articles, prompting the meeting to be cut short and postponed until further negotiations can be held between officials and legislators.

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) said current regulations do not require officials to provide reasons for deporting foreigners and overseas Taiwanese.

Although overseas Taiwanese have Republic of China passports, they do not have a household registration; therefore many of their rights are not protected, Hsiao said.


I'm not going to get into the many controversial deportation cases we've seen over the last few years. But suffice to say that we need a lot more than a document; we need a complete appeals process.

3 comments:

  1. And why are foreign residents not out in force about this?

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  2. Linda wants to start an organization to do something about it, Feiren. Wanna help? Unfortunately the first case they chose was the Paul Maas case. We need a good case, before we can go forward on the deportation issue.

    Michael

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  3. the reason that the foreigners are not out "in force" over this issue is because it only effects people who do something to deserve getting deported. Paul Maas is an excellent example. the principle is simple: don't get yourself into trouble.

    ReplyDelete

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