So, what happened to the various non-priest foreigners who are applying for super-foreigner status? Progress reports, please! Have any hints as to what the real rules are leaked out yet?
Ok, they ran out of Catholics and turned now to Protestants:
Taipei, Sept. 7 (CNA) Peter Kenrick (柯彼得), an Australian physician who has practiced in the eastern Taiwanese county of Taitung for 32 years, officially became a Republic of China (Taiwan) citizen Thursday.
“Taiwan is my home, where I’ve lived for more than 30 years, and I never want to be in other countries,” Kenrick said upon receiving his ROC identification card from Taitung Magistrate Justin Huang (黃健庭).
The 60-year-old first arrived in Taiwan in 1985 to provide backup medical service in the emergency room of Taitung’s St. Mary Hospital, where there was a shortage of manpower.
After being there for two months he decided to stay and work in the outlying county.
“With mountains and sea, everything is beautiful here in Taitung,” he told reporters. “This place is very suitable for me.”
Thereafter, Kenrick worked at St. Mary Hospital for 17 years until 2002, when he switched to Taitung Christian Hospital.
Over the years, Kenrick has traveled by bicycle to almost every corner of Taitung to treat patients. He also works overseas two months every year with the International Red Cross as a volunteer.
His selfless devotion won him the Medical Dedication Award in 2001.
In the wake of the devastation caused by Typhoon Morakot in 2009, Kenrick and his colleagues at Taitung Christian Hospital even took a helicopter to treat residents of a local village cut off from the outside world by the disaster.
Kenrick said although he obtained permanent residency in Taiwan in 2004, he wanted even more to become an ROC citizen, so as to be completely involved in Taiwan’s society, including having the right to vote in elections.
He eventually applied for citizenship in May this year, several months after the Nationality Act was amended to allow foreign nationals who have made special contributions to Taiwan to obtain ROC citizenship without having to renounce their original citizenship
Only 30 plus years of service. They are becoming more flexible! (read above with dripping sarcasm)
30 years. Another Christian. Ouch. Still congrats are in order for Peter I guess.
He’s not a missionary or clergy member. I’d call that progress?
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Let’s see, what did I do? Ha, I fed the hungry and am here for 20+ years, do I make a chance? 
And I’m supposed to be a Christian from birth!
There is another thing some have to worry about if you apply for Taiwanese citizenship.
And that is the laws of your home country.
German Consulate warned via email that according to German law you have to get a permission from the German government BEFORE you apply for citizenship in another country. You have to proove that you still have strong ties to Germany.
If you do not get permission then you will automatically loose German citizenship when you get the Taiwanese one.
http://www.bva.bund.de/DE/Themen/Staatsangehoerigkeit/Beibehaltung/beibehaltung-node.html
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Well, he is church affiliated, as he worked for a Christian Hospital, I guess he was sent here by his church or something.
And he volunteers for the Red Cross. Overall, fits the pattern.
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I think he’s some kind of missionary or was recommended by Christian churches.
Yep. Only difference so far is that he is married. No mention of kids, though.
I volunteer for throwing out the trash.
Presbyterian church is powerful here, surprised they didn’t have more put through. Maybe no missionaries left.
Mormons next?
Muslims paddy last.
…except when it comes to celebrating and promoting food in Taipei. Without the post-1945 arrival of Muslims from China, there’d be no beef noodle festivals here.
Of course those guys in the post-1945 moment were deemed by ROC authorities to be the correct race, so the citizenship issue is not a concern for them.
Guy
58 years in Taiwan. That must be a record.
French priest. 27 years old when he got here…if Pythagoras was not a liar he must be 85 now.
So there are still some priests left without double nationality.
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So, to be a dual citizen of the ROC, you have to be a priest and almost dead?
Aren’t kids born here of mixed parentage automatically dual citizens? I think I remember reading or hearing that mixed kids could not hold high political offices here. I think that is generally an Asian thing.
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If they have dual nationality, in theory, they cannot work for the government at all.
Some go around that by getting hired as contract workers, others have connections, so as everything else, it depends.
That issue keeps me from getting ROC nationality. I have 8 mouths to feed.
I also can’t get it because I can’t travel on their blasted overseas passport. Even if I do get a waiver or renounce I would need 2 to 5 further years of further residence.
There are a lot of roadblocks.
Why not?
Because when you first naturalize, they give you a passport without ID number. Few foreign countries accept this for visa-free travel. After a year without leaving the island, or two while staying here EDIT: 270 DAYS A YEAR THANK YOU BRIAN (POST BELOW), you get first class citizenship, with ID number, and a usable passport. Why do they have a rule like this? Lao Tian Ye knows.
A couple of people managed to be recognized as super-foreigners without being priests. I wish we could learn more about how they did it.
Anybody interested in suing the MOI over stuff like this? I can think of several possible angles:
(1) Foreigner naturalizes, then sues for right not to have to renounce other citizenship, on grounds of equal treatment.
(2) Foreigner sues MOI over its unequal administration of the naturalization law, e.g. by favoring applicants of certain races, genders, and religions, and disregarding the letter of the law regarding qualifications.
Speaking of which, certain posters here should be ashamed of their remarks about Islam.
It’s 2 years at 270 days each and 5 years at more than 180 days each.
I wasn’t insulting Islam or any religion, I am simply predicting what the MOI will do. If they give these citizenship to Catholics and Protestants then other reglious organisations will have their hands out for them. It is obvious they are working through lists of people.
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I must point out there are many remarkable Muslim Chinese who will be find deserving …oops they are considered Overseas compatriots anyways. You know, as Mongolia belongs to the ROC…