A female Vietnamese migrant worker who had been previously banned from entering Taiwan for eight years, had successfully entered Taiwan two years ago by undergoing laser procedure to remover her fingerprints as well as using a fake identity. She was recently caught during a workplace inspection.


The National Immigration Agency's Tainan Brigade charges into the factory for an inspection. It is able to identify illegal workers by checking identities and fingerprints.
Come here and place your index finger on the fingerprint reader.

During this operation, another at a hospital, and several more, the NIA was able to capture two employers who used illegal workers and 15 illegal workers. One of the illegal workers turned out to be a woman who worked as a caretaker in a hospital. The fingerprint reader identified her as a Vietnamese woman who had absconded from her job in 2008. Her whereabouts were unknown for the next eight years. In 2016, she surrendered to authorities and was repatriated to Vietnam. She was also banned from returning to Taiwan for eight years. However, she was able to outfox Taiwan's immigration system and enter the country.

What happened to your hand (fingerprints)? Where do you do that? I just used whatever was on hand.

This was the first time the NIA had encountered a case where a person had entered Taiwan with removed fingerprints and a fake identity. The woman said she spent US$7,500 to undergo a procedure to remove her fingerprints, and used another person's identity to enter Taiwan.

She spent about two years on the run. Although she removed her fingerprints, they grew back.

The NIA says the degree of difficulty to remove fingerprints to become another person is very high, and the woman probably only removed part of her fingerprints to prevent systems from connecting her with her original identity. It suspects she was helped by a crime syndicate, and it will be alert for similar cases in the future. The woman will be charged with entering the country illegally and document forgery, and will be repatriated.



移民署台南專勤隊衝進工廠稽查，經過核對身分和指紋，很快就逮到非法移工。

「來，指型機，有，有，食指。」

一天的查緝行動，總共查獲2名非法雇主和15名非法移工，但其中這名在醫院擔任看護工的女子，被指紋機一測，竟然在2016年就曾因逃逸失聯長達8年，投案後被遣送回越南，並管制8年不得入境，卻還能通過海關，再度進到台灣。

「你的手(指紋)是怎麼了，去哪裡做的，是去隨便拿個東西弄弄就可以了。」

移民署首次遇到這種手法，調查後女子辯稱，是花7500美金進行指紋變造手術，冒充他人身分闖關。

移民署台南專勤隊副隊長 黃濬清表示：「逃逸了有大概兩年時間，她的指紋雖然是經過變造之後，可是她的紋路又長出來。」

移民署研判，變造指紋成為另一個人，難度很高，女子應該只是讓指紋部分改變，造成指紋系統無法辨識她原本的身分，也懷疑背後有集團協助，將加強留意類似案件。全案訊後依未經許可入境及偽造文書等罪嫌移送法辦，並遣送回國。