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US to accept ¡¥Taiwan¡¦
on entry forms
¡¥VICTORY FOR TAIWANESE¡¦: Taiwanese can now list
their country as Taiwan, rather than ¡¥China (Taiwan),¡¦ thanks to the efforts of
US Representative Howard Berman
By William Lowther / Staff reporter in WASHINGTON
The US Department of Homeland Security has changed its policy and will now allow
Taiwanese citizens entering the US to list Taiwan as their country of
citizenship rather than China (Taiwan).
¡§This is about fairness and today is a victory for the entire Taiwanese
community,¡¨ said the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, US
Representative Howard Berman.
¡§It is an indignity to force Taiwanese citizens to list anything other than
Taiwan on their US entry documents, and together we righted this unfortunate
wrong,¡¨ he said.
Berman protested to US Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano last
month after he discovered that Taiwanese were required to write ¡§China (Taiwan)¡¨
on their Form I-94 entry document and in the Global Entry Program. He said in a
letter that it was long-standing US policy to refer to Taiwan as ¡§Taiwan¡¨ and
not to make any reference to China.
¡§Many Taiwanese citizens travel across our borders every day ¡X these individuals
should not be required to sign their name under an inaccurate statement in an
official government document,¡¨ Berman told Napolitano.
This week, US Assistant Commissioner for Customs and Border Protection Michael
Yeager wrote to Berman saying that he had ¡§looked into and corrected¡¨ the
situation.
¡§Henceforth, persons presenting Taiwanese passports will have their country of
citizenship listed and recorded as Taiwan on their respective Form I-94 and the
Global Entry Program application process will refer to Taiwan,¡¨ Yeager said.
The matter was first brought to Berman¡¦s attention by the Formosan Association
for Public Affairs (FAPA) after their members complained.
¡§We are very grateful to Congressman Berman¡¦s steadfast efforts over the past 20
years to ensure that the official US policy regarding Taiwan¡¦s name is
faithfully applied by all US government agencies,¡¨ FAPA president Mark Kao (°ªÀsºa)
said.
A longtime champion of this issue, Berman was behind legislation that passed in
1994 that allowed Taiwanese-Americans to have ¡§Taiwan¡¨ rather than ¡§China¡¨
recorded as their birthplace on their US passports. And earlier this year,
Berman persuaded California to change its online voter registration system to
allow Taiwanese-Americans to list Taiwan as their country of birth rather than
¡§Taiwan, Province of China.¡¨
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