Military Conscription for Overseas Chinese?

But can i personally apply for “overseas chinese certificate” with my status as overseas chinese student ? I do personally plan to ask in Taiwan

No, you can’t. They are not the same thing. One has nothing to do with the other,
That’s not to say you definitely cannot apply for an overseas Chinese certificate. If you have documents that prove your Chinese ancestry you should be able to do it. But that’s something that the TECOs (Taipei cultural affairs offices, de facto ROC embassies/consulates overseas) deal with, not offices within Taiwan. You can ask at your local TECO and make further enquiries when you are in Taiwan. That would be the best way to find out.
But the eligibility factors for the official overseas Chinese certificate are much more stringent than this overseas Chinese student status that you have.

Well i have asked them once regarding this overseas chinese status. However they seems kinda confused as well and directed me to inquire this question in Taiwan instead.:confused::confused:

In that case you need to download the official Chinese language information from the ministry’s website, print it out, bring it to the TECO and ask them. Most likely they will refer it to someone more senior than the lady/gentleman at the service desk. I imagine that if you to inquire about this in Taiwan, they would refer you back to your local TECO. So if they still tell you to direct your enquiry to offices in Taiwan, do so, and then when you go back tell them you guys told me to ask this question in Taiwan and they in Taiwan told me to ask the question to you guys. Then they’ll be forced to look into it further.

You need to ask your parents and grandparents what documentation they have.

Either way none of this is going to lead to you being able to join the Taiwanese military unless you happen to have a grandparent who was one of the very few people issued with official ROC nationality papers such as a passport. If you do, then you should be able to officially register yourself as a ROC national.
Even in the very slight chance that you were able to do this, the Taiwanese military doesn’t have what you are looking for anyway. But if you really want to do it most likely the only way to do it will be to naturalize as a ROC national the same way I could naturalize as a ROC national if I really want to. Meaning live in Taiwan for 5 years consecutively for at least 183 days out of each year on a non-student ARC and then go through the formalities of applying for ROC naturalization. Only then would you be able to join the Taiwanese military.

DThank you for the Information

I will do that personally once i have reached taiwan

For my grandparents and parents documentation about whether they are ROC nationals or not i think it is impossible to be provided since both of my grandparents already gone and my parents do not have any relevant “official” documents that could state our family was ROC nationals back then (however that does not mean that we might not ROC nationals , we just do not have)

I think for overseas Chinese status the Teco in your country might accept a document issued by your home country that gives your ethnicity as Chinese.maybe. read that so.ewhere once.

Thanks for the info

I think I should give them a call as well

Cama across this FAQ; there might be some relevant information.

http://www.nca.gov.tw/engver/faq.asp

I don’t mean to hijack this thread, but I’m curious, and it’s somewhat relevant to “foreigners serving in ROC army”

I am an Overseas Chinese, born to two ROC citizen parents. I currently have a Taiwan passport but I am 無戶籍國民, National Without Household Registration. I assume this makes me a national, but correct me if I’m wrong (e.g. national vs. citizenship in the case of Taiwan… ?)

I’m currently applying for a TARC in hopes of staying in Taiwan for a year (straight through, no leaving) and then getting citizenship. My understanding is, afterwards, I would be called for military service as soon as I get my 身分證.

However, what if I spend that year establishing residency volunteering for the army, does that kind of kill two birds with one stone? As in, does it satisfy my army service post-shenfenzhen and also residency requirement? Anyone have thoughts on this?

Or, if not, a number I could call? Min. Def?

2 posts were split to a new topic: From conscription

I don’t have an answer for you volunteering while you’re establishing your residency, but there’s been a rather new 12 day policy you could possibly look into.

Check this thread

Thanks ranlee, although I don’t have any parents who are of dying age. I do have a grandmother who’s in an old people’s home in Tamsui, but I don’t know if that qualifies. I’ll contact OP to find out more…

Honestly, I don’t mind serving. I think it’s just concurrently the low pay and the additional time (OK, if it was high paying and short I’m sure a lot more people would do it so it’s not such an uncommon grievance). I actually wouldn’t mind teaching English for a year in a local school and contribute back. Culturally, for a year, it’d be interesting to me. The salary I can’t do much about, so, it really leaves it to the timing that I can maybe change. Do you know if Ministry of Defense would be the people to call to confirm this?

I thought the exact same thing when I was at that crossroads, “It’s only a year”. You can learn some life lessons, but it really puts your life on hold for x amount of months you spend in conscription.

I’ve had a few cousins and friends go through for a year and they come back into society as if they had hibernated for a year. They don’t really learn anything that they can apply into the real world. One of my friends was part of the army division in which he learned how to jump out of a plane with a parachute. Tell me when you need that in RL? haha

I believe it’s the Ministry of Interior Affairs. @yyy can you confirm?

It has nothing to do with age. They have to be a parent with a illness the country deems severe enough. For example stage 1-2 cancer would not have qualify, stage 3 and above does. And you must be the only son.

I think if you’re an only grandson, that applies too.

This is what the law says:

  • Act of Military Service System (兵役法): Ministry of National Defense, 兵役目 (Military Service Section?)

  • The Enforcement Act of Act of Military Service System (兵役法施行法): the same

  • Conscription Regulations for Naturalized Aliens & Returning Overseas Chinese (歸化我國國籍者及歸國僑民服役辦法): apparently the same, but the Ministry of the Interior is responsible for documents that fall under this one

  • Regulations Governing Application for Overseas Chinese Identity Endorsement by Males Who Have Not Completed Compulsory Military Service of Conscription Age or Near Conscription Age (尚未履行兵役義務之接近役齡或役齡男子申請護照加簽僑居身分辦法): Overseas Community Affairs Council, 綜合規劃目 (Integrated Planning Section?), with some MOI involvement

The MND’s Chinese website has a contact form (for the 民意信箱) that’s partly translated, so maybe this means they handle inquiries in English.
http://www.mnd.gov.tw/Publish.aspx?Prod=POMailBox.aspx&Title=為民服務&style=民意信箱&s=1

There’s apparently no contact form in the English version of the site.

The MOI’s Chinese site has a partly translated form.
https://service.moi.gov.tw/ecss/bin/ite009q1.asp
The MOI’s English site has a fully translated form.
https://service.moi.gov.tw/ecss/bin/eng001q1.asp

My understanding is that ROC Nationals with Household Registration (NWHR) (and thus a ROC ID number) must serve in the military. NWHR living overseas can temporarily avoid conscription if they apply for an Overseas Chinese Identification. ROC Nationals without Household Registration (NWOHR) do not have to serve, as they are not in the system and there is really no way to track them down. Correct me if I’m wrong.

If you are a NWOHR, do not apply for Household Registration if you want to avoid conscription…

Can someone clarify this? I thought if you have a Taiwanese passport, it means you undergone the Household Registration process and have an ROC ID. Your household registration, ROC ID Card, and Taiwanese passport may all expire, but you will ALWAYS have an ROC ID number and always have 戶籍. Thus, this poster should be a National With Household Registration, not a National Without Household Registration as he/she claims to be?

Taiwan passport is split into two different kinds: ones with National ID numbers (身分證) and ones without. The ones without ID numbers are usually issued to Overseas Taiwanese folks who have Taiwanese parents (usually ABCs, CBCs, but can be anyone whose Taiwanese parents moved abroad and had them).

If the process of claiming nationality is done when the person claiming is <20 yo, then they can go straight to citizenship, and have their name registered on the parents household registration. If the process is done when the person claiming is >20, which is the case for a lot of folks on the forum, then we are:

  1. First issued a Taiwan Passport WITHOUT National ID number (Without Household Reigstration)
  2. Have to go in, get a permanent residency card (called a TARC - Taiwan Area Resident Certificate)
  3. Establish residency (1 year without leaving, 2 years staying 270 or so days each year, or 5 years staying 183 days each year)
  4. THEN, register onto a household, of which would make me a national withhousehold registration, and eligible for the draft should I be 36. Or is it 37. Anyway the specifics at the margin I’m not sure of but that’s the general idea.

TL;DR: Having TW passport doesn’t mean we have household registration, at least not for Overseas Chinese folks.

That sounds pretty clear, thanks