The new immigration law that aims to amend and update two current laws that regulate immigration, authorizations of permanence, and residency in Macau was passed at the first reading at the Legislative Assembly (AL), yesterday evening.
The new legal regime establishes a total of 12 amendments to the regulations in force and has a specific focus on tackling shame marriages or fraudulent job hiring to obtain permits and residency in the region, Secretary for Security, Wong Sio Chak, highlighted in his initial presentation.
In addition to the two abovementioned examples, cases of fake adoption and fake non-marital partnerships will also be addressed under the amended legislation.
The bill passed in its first reading with all but one vote in favor. Standing against it was only lawmaker Sulu Sou who was also one of the most active lawmakers in the debate over the general scope of the bill.
The Secretary responded to questions from several lawmakers, including Ella Lei, Sulu Sou, and Au Kam San, with the comment that with the new regime, the government aims to close a certain loophole in the previous laws that came about because they were originally written in 2003 and 2004, and therefore do not sufficiently respond to the circumstances which have arisen in recent years where such cases have significantly increased, meaning that the current regulation does not sufficiently deter such behavior.
“Currently we need to resort to the crime of document forgery [in the case of fake marriage] because we don’t have a specific crime for this purpose,” Wong said, adding, “but this is not ideal as if we look at this from a legal point-of-view, the marriage certificates are usually real documents and have not been forged.”
It is the relationship between the parties involved that is not real and is not sufficiently captured under the current law, which creates a problem, according to Wong. According to the Secretary, the new law is very clear and as soon as it enters into force, can be used effectively to tackle the problem.
Lawmakers also expressed concerns over the agencies or intermediary individuals who facilitate the process of fake marriages.
Wong said that the law also establishes a framework for dealing with those who help or facilitate such crimes, and the cases where there is an organized operation dedicated to such crime can be prosecuted through the penal code framework for organized crime.
Under the new crimes such as fake marriage, perpetrators incur a sentence that ranges between two and eight years of imprisonment, which is complemented with the annulation of the permits granted through the unlawful method.
However, there was also contention over the conditions in which the government can restrict the entry in Macau to “persona non grata.” Au and Sou requested an explanation on how the system works and how people who are affected by such a method can present a defense and appeal.
Sou also called for a clear definition of what is an “unwelcomed person” and what can constitute a reason to use such a label, saying, “we need to take this opportunity to include this topic and get a very clear definition so as to avoid abuses of power.”
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