Number of Hong Kongers seeking residency spikes

Taipei Times
Date: May 25, 2020
By: Chung Li-hua and William Hetherington / Staff reporter, with staff writer

The number of people from Hong Kong applying for residency in Taiwan last year rose 41 percent from a year earlier to 5,858, National Immigration Agency statistics showed.

The statistics also showed that 600 applications were filed by Hong Kong residents in the first quarter of this year — three times the number filed in the same period last year — with applicants apparently not deterred by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Just one day after it was reported that the Chinese government plans to enact new national security laws in Hong Kong, inquiries regarding immigration to Taiwan grew 10-fold, a Hong Kong-based immigration consultant was quoted as saying in a Hong Kong media report on Saturday.

Separately, a Taiwan-based immigration consultant, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that a series of information sessions they held in Hong Kong in June last year were all filled to capacity.    [FULL  STORY]