The number of foreign men getting married in Taiwan to Taiwanese women last year totaled 4,521, the highest number since 2003. That’s according to the latest statistics from the Ministry of the Interior.
Meanwhile, the number of foreign women marrying Taiwanese men in Taiwan last year was more than three times that number – a total of 15,181.
The report said that 55.8% of all the foreign spouses in marriages last year were from mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau. Another 27.7% were from Southeast Asia. About 13% of all marriages registered in Taiwan last year included a foreign spouse.
In 2003, Taiwan saw a spike in the number of the transnational marriages to nearly 32% of the total. Over 60% of those marriages involved a Chinese spouse, leading authorities to suspect that marriage was being used as means for people to enter and obtain residency in Taiwan.
After an interview process was introduced for all marriages involving a foreign spouse, the percentage of transnational marriages dropped back down to about 13% of the total in 2013 and 2014.