In today’s No. 153 Council Meeting, the Mainland Affairs Council(MAC) approved the Ministry of Interior’s draft to revise Articles 17, 27, and 36 of the “Permit Guidelines Governing the Entry to Taiwan by the People of the Mainland Area”(hereafter referred to as “the Guidelines”).
To address an earlier suggestion by the European Chamber of Commerce in Taipei(ECCT) to relax the related rules and regulations which require spouses of foreign professionals from Mainland China area to have a guarantor living in Taiwan area for their entrance into Taiwan area and to have their visas or relevant documents place under the custody of the Service Center of Immigration Office at the airports or seaports, the related government agencies had an overall review of all the related policies and the rules and regulations. The result which embodied as the conclusion in a “Coordinating Meeting Concerning Related Issues of Foreign Professionals’ Spouses Coming from Mainland China Area” was convened by the Council for Economic Planning and Development on June 8, 2004. In accordance with the conclusion of the meeting, the related agencies started working on the modification of relevant measures and any necessary revision of related rules and regulations.
The revision draft of the relevant articles of “the Guidelines” approved by MAC today was proposed by the Ministry of Interior in accordance with the conclusion of the aforementioned meeting. For spouses of foreign professionals coming from Mainland China area, the guarantor required for their entrance into Taiwan area may include the responsible persons or supervisors of the company where the professional works. To facilitate the immigration process, the visas or related documents of the spouses of foreign professionals coming from Mainland area will no longer be put under the custody by the Immigration Office. This is to attract more professionals in various industries including high-tech industry and upgrade our industrial economy.
The Ministry of Interior will report the revision draft approved during the Commissioners Meeting by the MAC to the Executive Yuan for a final announcement according to the legislative procedure.