The Taipei High Administrative Court has decided to pronounce the verdict on the transnational same-sex marriage case on December 29.

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[Reporter Wu Zhengfeng/Taipei Report] my country is the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex marriage, but it cannot accept applications from people in countries where same-sex marriage is not legal. The Administrative Court petitioned the Xinyi District Household Registration Office in Taipei City to approve the registration of same-sex marriages, and the collegial panel set a verdict on December 29.

In 2017, the Judicial Yuan announced the Interpretation No. 748 of the Supreme Judge, which recognized same-sex marriage. The Ministry of Justice of the civil law authority then formulated the "Implementation Law of the Judicial Yuan Interpretation No. 748 Interpretation" in accordance with the intention of the interpretation. ", so that Chinese people can also register and marry people in countries where same-sex marriage is legalized.

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A Taiwanese woman married a Hong Kong woman in the United States in July 2019. She returned to Taiwan in the same year and went to the Xinyi Household Registration Office to register her marriage. She was originally approved until the Hong Kong woman came to Taiwan for dependent residence. He has a British National Overseas passport (BNO), but he is actually a resident of Hong Kong, and Hong Kong has not yet allowed same-sex marriage. Therefore, in addition to rejecting his application, he also sent a letter to notify Xinyi Household Registration Office of the matter.

The Xinyi Household Registry Office also believed that although the Hong Kong woman holds a BNO, she is still a Hong Kong citizen. At that time, there was an error in accepting the registration of same-sex marriage, and immediately revoked the marriage registration ex officio.

Dissatisfied, the two women filed an administrative lawsuit against the Immigration Department and the Xinyi Household Registration Office, asking the court to order the relevant agencies to accept the registration and stay with relatives.

The collegial panel has concluded the revocation of the registration of the marriage lawsuit, and the verdict is scheduled for December 29; the case of denying dependent residence will continue to be heard.

At present, there are 29 countries in the world that recognize same-sex marriage. If the foreigner’s national law does not recognize same-sex marriage, the marriage concluded with a Chinese national will not be recognized because the foreigner does not meet the requirements for the establishment of his national law.

The Judicial Yuan passed the Amendment to Article 46 of the "Law Applicable to Foreign-Related Civil Laws" in January last year, allowing Chinese nationals to enter into marriages with nationals of countries that have not legalized same-sex marriage. It is now being submitted to the Legislative Yuan for deliberation.