The government on Wednesday rejected an online petition that asked to abolish a rule requiring long-term foreign residents to renounce their original nationality as a prerequisite when applying for Taiwanese citizenship.

The Ministry of the Interior (MOI) rejected the petition submitted by civil society organization Crossroads on Aug. 19, citing the “principle of a single-nationality system” and “taking into account the problems of our country’s small territory, dense population, limited resources and national loyalty.”

“If foreign nationals who have lived permanently for five years [in Taiwan] can naturalize without having to prove the loss of their original nationality, it might have a significant negative impact on our country’s finances, social welfare and national security,” the ministry said in a statement.

Photo courtesy of the Tourism Bureau

It also cited exceptions to the rule for “high-level professionals” and “those who have made outstanding contributions.”

The petition, which obtained 5,746 online signatures, had asked the government to “grant immigrants who have legally resided in Taiwan for more than five years as permanent residents a standardized pathway to naturalization without requiring them to renounce their original nationality.”

“Taiwan already permits millions of natural-born citizens to hold multiple nationalities and reside abroad without question,” the group said on Facebook on Wednesday. “Denying the same opportunity to naturalized citizens who live and contribute to Taiwan daily seems inconsistent.”

Taiwan’s exceptions to the rule are “too narrow” and resulted in “an average of fewer than 50 individuals per year” naturalizing as dual citizens since 2016, the group said.

“Currently, there are nearly 40,000 permanent residents, only 0.1 percent of the entire population,” Crossroads said in response to the rejection notice.

“With the population expected to shrink dramatically from its peak of 23.6 million in 2019 to approximately 15 million by 2070,” the group said, citing official statistics, Taiwan faces a “severe demographic decline” that “underscores the urgency of attracting and retaining contributors to Taiwan’s economy and society.”