Hi
I’ve just registered on this forum, but have been on here reading for several months.
I am an ABC. Born and raised in Australia. My father is Taiwanese. He was born in Taiwan. He became an Australian citizen before i was born (by marrying my Australian mother). I would imagine he is now considered a dual citizen.
I have visited Taiwan only once for about a month when i was about 10 years old. My father arranged a Taiwanese passport for me for that visit. The passport has now expired.
I am now 26, and have grand plans to move to Taiwan to work for an extended period of time. The plan is to teach English, so I will like the ability to stay in Taiwan for at least a year.
From reading these forums, I have figured out that I am at risk of being conscripted to military service if i stay beyond 183 days in any given year because (a) I am considered a dual-national due to my father’s dual citizenship (article 1 of the Nationality Act) and (b) i was born after 1984 (article 4 of the Conscription Regulations for Naturalized Aliens & Returning
Overseas Chinese).
I was thinking one option would be to renounce my Taiwan nationality, and then enter Taiwan on a visa (like any other ‘Westerner’). I’ve read some people’s posts on here that say you can not renounce your nationality until you reach the age of 36. However, article 11 of the Nationality Act says:
[quote][i]With the permission of the MOI, a national of the ROC may lose his/her nationality of the ROC under any of the following conditions:
- His/her natural father is a foreign national, and he/she is acknowledged the parentage by his/her natural father.
- His/her father can’t be ascertained or he/she is not acknowledged the parentage by his/her natural father, and his/her mother is an alien.
- He/she is the spouse of a foreign national.
- He/she is the adopted child of a foreign national.
- He/she is 20 years old and has the capacity to act according to the laws of the ROC and acquires the nationality of another country voluntarily.
Minor children of a person who lost the nationality of the ROC according to the preceding Paragraph shall concurrently lose the nationality of the ROC with the permission of the MOI.
[/i][/quote]
Article 12 goes on to say:
[quote][i]For a person who applies to lose his/her nationality according to the preceding Paragraph, under any of the following conditions, the MOI shall not permit the loss of nationality:
- A male from January 1 of the next year after he was 15 years old, who is not exempted from military service and has not fulfilled his military service. But nationals, who reside overseas and were born overseas, and have no household registration in the ROC or moved overseas before December 31 of the year they were 15 years old, shall be excluded.
- He/she is in active military service.
- He/she now holds a government official of the ROC.[/i][/quote]
So, the way i read it, I satisfy paragraph 1 of Article 11 as my dad is a ‘foreign national’ as he is an Australian citizen. I am also carved out from the exception in paragraph 1 of Article 12 as I was born in Australia.
Am I missing something here? Because it’s starting to look like i can renounce my Taiwanese nationality as a way to avoid conscription requirement, and work in Taiwan for an extended period on a working visa. Ironic that the thing that is potentially preventing me from working in Taiwan for an extended period is my deemed Taiwanese dual national status.
Interested to hear thoughts or suggestions.