Look, next time, do not mention that your job is underpaying taxes. Ain’t gonna help you playing victim. Nothing NIA can do about it, makes Taiwanese lose face and as you have experienced, gets you started on the wrong foot. If they give the APRC to SouthEast mail brides, it is based on communal assets. Do the same. Joint assets. Use your marriage privilege to your advantage. This is one of those times where you can’t win if you go against the system. Follow the procedure and it is a huffy. You are married, file like one. You were doing this as a single, yep, you’d need to refile and fight and stuff. At this point, you could ask the in-laws to have the house temporarily under your wife’s name. It will be a problem later if you want to buy a house as it gets you out of the government’s incentives for first home buyers, but it is a way. And homes are way too expensive anyways.
In summary: let the tax issue go, file again as married couple using all your combined assets. That is what NIA expects. The procedure is quick and straightforward, but you are complicating it. And you are dealing with bureaucrats. They think in one direction. Anything out of that line of vision, of what is their usual procedure, does not compute. And as a married person, you follow the marriage procedure. That is why I believe your wife was getting scolded. She was the one supposed to be leading the charge and provided info. NIA does not get that the average Taiwanese does not know about immigration procedure simply because it does not affect them.
Good luck in any path you take. Hope you can get the APRC for peace of mind.
Your “Man Up” rant is good and all, and to a degree I can go along with it, but do not compare SE Asian brides to western spouses. They can get an APRC quicker. Hell, they can get citizenship quicker, AND they do not have to give up their passport (i believe). While not apples/oranges comparison, it is more a nectarines to oranges.
The issue was only brought up because I was in a spot and nothing I could do about it. I was looking for a work around. I get that there is a “victim at fault” or “blame the other” mentality here, at least to some degree. I still have a hard time wrapping my head around it. Why should I take blame for something that is my fault?
The same law is applied to westerners. If you are eligible (and I think you are), you can apply for the naturalization, and do not need to renounce your original nationality before your naturalization would be approved.
Nationality Act
Article 9
Foreign nationals applying for naturalization shall provide a certificate of loss of original nationality within one year from the day of approval of naturalization or from the day of reaching the age at which they may renounce nationality under the law of their original country.
Most of Westerners just don’t apply for naturalization because they think their original nationality is more beneficial than taiwanese nationality.
I’m not blaming you, but just saying there are laws you can use if you are willing.
Eh if anything, life and bureaucracy us much more cumbersome for SE brides. Look, APRC has two categories: single and married. Follow the path. It is simple. Do not reinvent the wheel.
And it is not a matter of “her people”. Your wife is facing bureacrats and those are the same here and in Timbuktu. It is worse where I come from in terms of respect towards the “custoners”, that at least here they do have. Just keep it simple…
And yes, to be honest, I am blaming you. Many foreigners come with the idea to enlighten the masses and teach them a better way, their way of doing things. If something is done x way in the West, it is the way it shoyld be done here. Ad nauseam. That brings a lot of pain and eventual failure and then the foreigner bitterly complains about stupid Taiwanese not knowing how to do things. So what if you are even remotely right? You would still be without APRC. It is like that tale of the guy`s tomb epitaph: here he lies, even though he died fighting fir what was right. He was right, but he is as dead as if he was wrong. You chose the wrong place for the right battle. Tax problems are not to be brought up to NIA, but the tax office.
@JB_IN_TW
The above phrases are the reason I replied to you.
It’s not the last year, nor has all gone. As @Icon and others say, you can apply again with new documents, or even might be able with the same documents.
Why does he keep talking about last year of eligibility? Hasn’t that been scrapped?
It was 7 years in my time then they changed it to 5 years of residence to be able to apply.
OP, you do know that the English version of NUA`s website is obsolete, not updated? At least last time I had the misfortune to try to find something there.
Hey, easy now. I never said West is best. I simply said I am sticking up for myself.
You went on and on about “joint assets”, did you read where I said I did that? My entire rant is focused on, let me be as clear as possible, in DOING WHAT I WAS TOLD TO DO, and still being told I was in the wrong. If you boss told you to take Friday off, and you did and got fired for not coming in on Friday. I guess you’re ok with that?
It’s not limited to bureaucrats. At least with her. A mistranslation, or if she doesn’t know how to explain something from one language to the other, she will get the scorn from her own people.
Even if they don’t want to give you a 公文, at least ask them to write it down on a napkin or something, so you can check later. (If Mrs. J isn’t well versed in legalese and bureaucratese, how is she supposed to know how to translate?)
I expect to jump through many hoops at government offices. If I get through the hoops in the first visit, I’m pleasantly surprised. Part of the issue is that my Chinese is so bad that I misunderstand the instructions. The person that you meet at the office may also be struggling with English.
Keep in mind that Taiwanese government offices don’t make new rules, they look for checkboxes to tick. And when they are looking at your paperwork, they are looking for a reason to reject. They don’t want to be responsible for making a mistake.
It’s about the hoops and not showing anger, but there are times where I have lost it over work permit paperwork and again it was really my fault. When I needed a work permit, I employed myself. I turned in my work permit paperwork and didn’t check or uncheck the box that said I’d pick it up as it was in very small print in Chinese. Lots of hoops happened for this work permit process. When I showed up to pick it up, they told me it had to be mailed. I asked if the work permit had been mailed and found out that it was still in the office. I had to leave the country in a day or so for biz and also get the work permit turned in for the ARC. So yes, I lost my cool. That is usually a really bad thing to do, but the supervisor got involved and I got my work permit that day. I did have to stamp a paper that said I made a mistake on the form (me accepting blame) before they’d give it to me.
I think it’s really hard for a local person to understand how stressful it is to do everything the right and legal way. Hang in there. Stay calm for your own health and persistent. If the person won’t help you, keep trying from different angles. They love to get a call from another department telling them how to do their job. hahahaha.
Problem we have is that when we ask a question, we get different answers from different officials. That is why I am so insistent in having a clear, updated info…hopefully a chart, that both parties can agree on. Unfortunately, that is not the reality in most cases, from APRC to nationality. We used to have a nice chart in several places of the main APRC thread. However, I doubt it is updated.
Bureaucrats are the most fearful of creatures, and react to any question of their authority like a cornered tiger. Moreover, without written info, they will deny everything. They do not work as a team, but in order to advance they do so by stepping on the carcasses of their coworkers. Trust me, I work for the government. The environment is one of strife. The upper levels foment conflict among their employees so they won’t be a threat to their authority. Hence, the OP may have been innocent collateral damage of an internal conflict. One popular helpful smart employee won’t survive in that environment. She is a threat to the boss, who will undermine her every step.
I presented my income AND my wife’s income. That is a combined. Her company, her family’s company, reports FULL earnings which is 3 Times the minimum salary. I make 3 times the minimum, but as I’ve said, only the min is reported…
With me so far? This is what I was TOLD BY NIA TO DO. And THIS IS ALSO WHAT T girl at NIA said I was wrong about. She said IT WASN’T ALLOWED.
The deepest craving of human nature is the need to be appreciated. — William James