Interior ministry rejects dual-citizenship petition for foreign residents

Taipei, Nov. 27 (CNA) Taiwan's government rejected Wednesday an online petition that asked to abolish a rule requiring long-term foreign residents to renounce their original nationality as a prerequisite when applying for Taiwanese citizenship.

The Ministry of the Interior (MOI) rejected the petition submitted by civil society organization Crossroads on Aug. 19, citing the "principle of a single-nationality system" and "taking into account the problems of our country's small territory, dense population, limited resources and national loyalty."

"If foreign nationals who have lived permanently for five years [in Taiwan] can naturalize without having to prove the loss of their original nationality, it may have a significant negative impact on our country's finances, social welfare, and national security," the MOI said in a statement rejecting the petition.

"The naturalization system is formulated according to the needs of our country," the statement added, without elaborating.

The MOI also noted exceptions to the rule for "high-level professionals" and "those who have made outstanding contributions."

The petition, which obtained 5,746 online "signatures," had asked the Taiwanese government to "grant immigrants who have legally resided in Taiwan for more than five years as permanent residents a standardized pathway to naturalization without requiring them to renounce their original nationality(s)."

Under current rules, nearly all foreign nationals seeking to naturalize as Taiwanese citizens must first give up their original nationality, a requirement that does not exist in the naturalization policies of such countries as the United States, Canada, France, Italy and the United Kingdom.

"Taiwan already permits millions of native-born citizens to hold multiple nationalities and reside abroad without question," the civil society group said in a statement on Facebook on Wednesday.

"Denying the same opportunity to naturalized citizens who live and contribute to Taiwan daily seems inconsistent."

The group said that Taiwan's exceptions to the nationality-renouncing rule are "too narrow" and resulted in "an average of fewer than 50 individuals per year" naturalizing as dual citizens since 2016.

"Currently, there are nearly 40,000 permanent residents, only 0.1 percent of the entire population," Crossroads said in response to the MOI's petition rejection notice.

"With the population expected to shrink dramatically from its peak of 23.6 million in 2019 to approximately 15 million by 2070," the group said, citing official statistics, Taiwan faces a "severe demographic decline" which "underscores the urgency of attracting and retaining contributors to Taiwan's economy and society."