Married couples in Taiwan will soon be able to register their marriage at any household registration office in the country. That’s after the legislature passed the first review of a draft amendment to the Household Registration Law on Thursday.
Currently, couples are required to go to either one of their places of residence to complete marriage registration. Once the law is amended, however, Taiwanese citizens will be able to go to any household registration office to apply for marriage, file for divorce, or apply for marriage or divorce certificates. Interior Minister Chen Wei-zen said that the amendment, which was brought up in November last year, is for the convenience of the people.
Meanwhile, legislators also passed the first review of the amendment to the Naming Category Law. In the future, all foreigners and stateless persons should apply for Chinese names with surnames first and first names last.
Opposition Democratic Progressive Party legislator Hsu Tain-tsair (許添財) proposed that Taiwanese people should not be limited in the number of times they can change their Chinese names. Hsu said that such a limitation would be a violation of citizens’ freedoms and rights. However the proposal met with controversy from both ruling and opposition parties. Further discussions will take place before the proposal will be put through the first review.