Taipei Times
Date: Dec 08, 2020
By: Chen Yu-fu and Kayleigh Madjar / Staff reporter, with staff writer

The number of Hong Kongers applying for residency in Taiwan skyrocketed 71.7 percent in the first 10 months of the year compared with a year earlier, National Immigration Agency data showed yesterday, as an expert predicted more waves of immigration after the COVID-19 pandemic eases.

In October alone, 1,974 Hong Kongers applied for residency and 128 applied for permanent residency, not only setting a record, but more than doubling the figure from previous months, the agency said.

The number of Hong Kongers applying for residency or permanent residency this year could surpass 10,000, as 8,746 had applied in the first 10 months, already higher than the 7,332 who applied in the whole of last year, it added.

Following Hong Kong’s passage of the National Security Law on June 30, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) in July opened the Taiwan-Hong Kong Services and Exchanges Office to help Hong Kongers who plan to study, work, invest, start a business or settle in Taiwan.
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