Currently, the Judicial Yuan and other government departments are amending the law to allow transnational same-sex couples to get married in Taiwan and apply for residency for the foreign partner. However, there is another obstacle standing in the way of many same-sex couples even after this legislative change - the marriage visa interview. The marriage visa interview severely limits the right of same-sex partners from 23 countries and regions to marry and reunite with their Taiwanese partners! The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Mainland Affairs Council and the National must abolish this discriminatory administrative rule while amending the legislation, so as to truly protect the right of same-sex couples to reunite in Taiwan. Otherwise, the so-called "love without borders" is just lip service.

National borders separate LGBTQ couples, and the amendment only goes half way!

On 22 January, the Judicial Yuan passed an amendment to Article 46 of the Act Governing the Choice of Law in Civil Matters Involving Foreign Elements (涉外民事法律適用法), allowing transnational same-sex couples to register their marriages in Taiwan; eliminating the need for marriage certificates from the foreign partners' country. This amendment means that foreign partners in same-sex relationships from countries which have not yet allowed same-sex marriage will be eligible for marriage in Taiwan, and thus eligible to apply for residency. While before that, only foreign partners from the 28 other countries where same-sex marriage is legal have been eligible to apply for residency, because they have been the only same-sex couples able to get marriage certificates outside Taiwan. In its press release, the Judicial Yuan even stated that "love knows no borders, and our nationals should be equally protected by the state, whether they choose to marry nationals or foreigners".

However, even if the amendment bill is passed, there are still many transnational same-sex couples lacking the the right to reunification in Taiwan. According to the relevant regulations of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of the Interior, foreign partners from 23 countries and regions - including Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Mainland China - will still be prohibited from marrying in Taiwan without passing a special marriage interview first., One of the requirements for the interview is to have a marriage certificate in the foreign partners' country of origin. That is to say, even with this amendment transnational same-sex partners will still be unable to get married and obtain residency in Taiwan due to this administrative regulation. This is because they cannot get marriage certificates in their countries of origin and therefore are ineligible for the interview, let alone getting married and obtaining legal residency in Taiwan.

The discriminatory and ridiculous interview should be abolished!

In fact, marriage interviews have long been criticised by Aboriginal, human rights and feminist/LGBT groups as a discriminatory, time-consuming and absurd measure that has created a barrier to reunification. Not only did the rule make reunification for heterosexual couples difficult in the past, it also hinders the possibility of reunification for gay and lesbian couples.

The problems with the interview:

Firstly, the interview process is time-consuming and exhausting for transnational couples.

From waiting in line and preparing documents, to completing multiple interviews at the airport or outside Taiwan, the interview process can take a long time. The foreign partners, other than the Mainland China partners, need to be interviewed in their home countries, but they may have been away from home for many years, or the country may be so far away from Taiwan that the Taiwanese partners often have to take a long leave to make the trip happen, which seriously affects the work and life of both partners. The interview does not take these realities into account, and forces the foreign and the Taiwanese partners to both return to the foreign partners' home countries to obtain the relevant documents. For same-sex couples, it is impossible to complete the marriage process because they cannot get married in their home countries. And for heterosexual couples, moving across borders is difficult in the midst of a global epidemic. For heterosexual marriages, it also takes months of waiting after application, not to mention the subsequent twists and turns when the interview is not successful. The long journey and the cost of time, money and effort has been a thorn in the side of both same-sex and heterosexual couples.

Secondly, the interview has arbitrary criteria and very likely infringes human rights.

According to past reports of the immigrant community, the marriage interviews have always been problematic. Difficult questions such as what food was served on the wedding day to how many people were invited, to intimate and almost humiliating questions such as the colour of the newlyweds' underwear are often brought up during interviews. How do interviewers actually determine whether a marriage is genuine or not? It is almost entirely subjective. One could go further and ask what constitutes a sham marriage. Why do the authorities pre-determine that people from these countries are suspected of sham marriages if they marry Taiwanese? The problem with the interview is that it presupposes that cross-border marriages between people from these 23 countries and regions are "sham marriages" and then tries to use various tests to require the parties to prove the "authenticity" of the marriage. This presumption of guilt is neither justified nor necessary. The result is not that the system examines the authenticity of marriages, but that the system creates the authenticity of marriages!

Thirdly, the interview is a discriminatory treatment.

The question is, why were these 23 countries and territories selected for marriage interviews? The criteria are unclear. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has never explained the reasons for their inclusion in the list. Is it because of the large number of marriages? However, cross-border couples from Thailand, the Philippines and Cambodia are required to pass interviews, while the higher number of cross-border couples from Hong Kong and Macau do not. Is it because of the need to prevent human trafficking? But trafficking syndicates are often more knowledgeable about the interview process than the couples who are actually married, and so sometimes families who need to be reunited are not.

The right to the reunification of cross-border couples regardless of gender and nationality should be protected!

We are very pleased to see Taiwan embracing the right to unification for gay and lesbian couples. However, for the above reasons, it would be hypocritical to claim that "love knows no boundaries" if the amendments to Article 46 only cover some gay and lesbian couples, leaving gay and lesbian couples of 23 countries and regions unprotected.

Therefore, we call on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Mainland Affairs Council and the Immigration Agency to abolish the marriage interview rules, both outside the country and at the airport. Cross-border marriages between Taiwanese nationals and their partners from the 23 countries and territories should be subjected to the same entry mechanism as all other transnational couples. We believe that this is the only way to fully protect the right to reunification of couples regardless of gender.

Initiating Organization: Cross-border Queer Connection