By Yang Chen-yu and Jason Pan / Staff reporters
Government agencies should assess whether they imposed too many restrictions on Hong Kongers seeking to relocate to Taiwan, as some faced a prolonged vetting process or were turned down over national security concerns, Control Yuan members said on Saturday.
The announcement came after an investigation by Control Yuan members Chi Hui-jung (???), Yeh Ta-hua (???) and Shih Chin-fang (???), who deferred the release of a report last week, but after receiving approval from an internal committee released portions of their findings in a news release.
The members singled out the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC), the National Immigration Agency (NIA) and the Investment Commission as imposing high thresholds, not communicating among agencies and adding restrictions that prevented Hong Kongers from obtaining permanent residence status to live and work in Taiwan, or prolonged the application process.
The MAC should be the main agency to provide assistance for Hong Kongers seeking permanent residency in Taiwan, and should also provide emergency relief in individual cases, such as for those seeking temporary settlement while looking after people with special needs, the report said.
The report said that amendments and measures introduced in the past few years to protect against Chinese infiltration had affected the residency application process for Hong Kongers.
The measures require more scrutiny and stricter checks to prevent hostile forces from investing in businesses or taking ownership of Taiwanese media companies, or from providing financial support for political parties or military-affiliated organizations, it said.
“These amendments were originally intended to close loopholes to protect national security, with more background checks on Chinese who were residents in Hong Kong… However, some critics believed that the government should make a clean-cut separation, turning down all applications from people born in China and those of Hong Kongers who have links with Chinese authorities and government-related institutions,” the report said.
The situation in Hong Kong has changed rapidly in the past few years since democracy protests in 2019 and the Beijing-imposed National Security Law, which has led to many Hong Kongers fleeing the territory, it said.
However, the deliberation process for amendments and measures in Taiwan only took a few months, which was insufficient to receive input and suggestions from the public, while Hong Kongers in Taiwan said there was no effective communication during the process, it added.
The report urged the MAC and NIA to conduct internal reviews on the reasons for denying residency applications from some Hong Kongers and to provide clear explanations to the applicants.
The report also criticized the Investment Commission’s “immigrant investor” process, which must also be approved by the NIA.
Some Hong Kongers told the Control Yuan members that they faced prolonged delays, it said, adding that the commission should hire additional staff to handle an increase in applications and set up a Web site for applicants to check on the progress of their review.
Some Hong Kongers reported poor experiences with paid “immigration service companies” that did not help them get their applications approved, the report said.
The members recommended that the NIA improve its checks on companies offering immigration services and migrant labor brokerage and release a list of approved companies and those with poor records.
The report said that the government should lower the wage requirement for Hong Kongers who graduated from Taiwanese universities to apply for permanent residency.
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