Hello,
First post but wanted to give my experience as I just finished obtaining ID card and HHR and awaiting to pick up my new passport.
I am born overseas in USA to Taiwanese mother and my father who obtained citizenship by marriage (this caused a slight hiccup in Taiwan NIA which I’ll explain a bit later)
I started off by applying for NWOHR passport from my local TECO and also applied for the entry/exit at the time of application.
Got my USA birth certificate authenticated by local TECO.
Applied for FBI background check and got it authenticated by Washington D.C. TECRO
Talking about timing, by the time I was ready to move to Taiwan (had some timing issues securing pet quarantine space for both my dog and cat) 1/1/24 eventually passed so I was able to apply directly for citizenship. Also since I am still in military conscription age (age 36 as of February this year) this also made things a tad easier since I would be applying for Overseas Status and wouldn’t be overstaying the grace period of 365 days and would only be staying 1 of the 2 years of 183 days per calendar year.
I entered Taiwan with my NWOHR passport and same day went to do my 身分證 health check, I ended up going to MacKay Memorial Hospital in 淡水 there was no line and was in and out in about 20 minutes or so. Simple blood draw and chest x-ray, I was able to show them my MMR vaccine that was self printed and they were able to accept it since I was able to log in through my states immunization records website as a way to authenticate it. The wait was 7 days to receive the report.
During these 7 days I took the time to get my birth certificate and FBI background check translated and notarized. I ended up choosing Famous Translation near 信義安和 station it cost 5000 NTD and about 4 working days. They were very thorough in the translation and also sent a copy first to be proof read before sending out to be notarized. They also give you multiple notarized copies which was nice as well.
Now with everything in hand it was off to NIA I go. I went to NIA with my father on a Friday morning hoping to beat the afternoon rush and to my surprise there was only a few people ahead of me which was great. So here is where I hit a small hiccup my father brought his 戶口民簿 which has my father and mother but it didn’t have anything about their marriage and also his copy of 戶籍謄本 didn’t have their registered marriage either which caused some confusion at the NIA. My father and I ended up going to the nearest HHR office and they couldn’t find anything about marriage under my father but eventually found the marriage registration under my mothers name. From what my father remembers they registered their marriage under my mother and my father had to fly back to Japan for work immediately so he was never a full citizen until he came back to Taiwan to settle down (always awesome to hear these stories that your parents never really told you growing up) I am also amazed at how fast HHR can find all this information from 50 years ago.
Great, now back to NIA and finally was able to get everything turned in.
For men of military conscription age, this post was very thorough and helped a lot
Getting Household Registration: A Guide for Overseas-Born Military-Age Men
I should have applied for the entry/exit certificates the same day doing my ID card but the whole marriage thing threw my father and I off track. I came back the following Monday and applied for the entry/exit permit for both my USA and Taiwan passport. Yet again, another small hiccup, for some reason from what the NIA agent explained to me is when I entered Taiwan on my NWOHR passport they stamped my passport with an entry stamp but never recorded it in the computer system so the NIA agent had to make a few calls and a few hours later they were able to amend the mistake.
I got my notification to pick up my 定居證 in 7 calendar days and with this in hand and headed to the HHR office where my parent’s ID’s address is registered and was registered under my parent’s 戶口名簿 and about 30 minutes later walked down with my shiny new ID.
Now it’s off to OCAC to apply for my Oversea Status, huge shoutout to the gal at OCAC, she explained everything in great detail about everything you need to know about potential conscription and how to apply for Overseas Status.
While waiting for my OCAC letter I took the time to apply for my drivers license which was super straight forward since my state has reciprocity. Only unfortunate thing was I ended up doing my scooter health check along side with my driver license health check only to find out as I was exchanging my license that my state doesn’t allow scooter license exchange. I suppose I should have called ahead to confirm but no biggie, health check is valid for a year and most likely I will just take the test sooner or later.
This took 1 business day to receive the letter to bring to BOCA so you can add the endorsement when applying for new passport. Thankfully BOCA is right next door, but be ready to wait a loooong time if you are walk in. I took a number at around 3PM in the afternoon and didn’t leave until about 5:30PM.
Now I am just now awaiting my new passport and once I receive the passport with Overseas Compatriot Identity Endorsement stamped in I just have to report to the 區公所 that I have the status and they won’t try to find me for conscription.
All in all, the process was very straight forward and I never hit any huge roadblocks. I want to thank this forum as I’ve stalked it for maaaany years for information and made this way less painful than I expected it to be. Glad to officially be a dual-citizen and now living permanently in Taiwan!
Cheers!