I’ve been interested in applying for NWOHR status for a while now in advance of hopefully one day achieving Taiwanese citizenship. Both of my parents are ROC citizens who immigrated to America in 1979. I was born after 1980 and it’s my understanding that I only need to provide documentation of my mother’s citizenship for my application. Unfortunately, my mother is no longer in possession of any of the documents proving her citizenship. Google tells me the documents I would need are their marriage certificate and household registration/National Identity Card. Does anyone know if it may be possible to recover the necessary documents locally? I am willing to look into legal options if necessary to facilitate the process. I see there are other topics with legal links–does anyone have specific recommendations beyond that? If it matters, my parents are both from Taichung. (I am still in the US, and predominantly English-speaking, and obviously unable to really travel to Taiwan at the moment if I do find an attorney)
As an additional complication, my older sibling is also interested in applying but she was born in 1979—which I believe means that if both of us are to apply, we basically have to prove both of my parents’ Taiwanese citizenship status. My father is also deceased, so he would be unable to help us with this request. My mother has little interest in returning to Taiwan and is likely to provide little help besides her assent.
Thanks in advance for any help anyone can provide and apologies if this is against the rules—I would be happy to delete or resubmit if this is the case.
Find anyone alive today who is related to your deceased father. Have them go to their local Household Registration Office. If your dad was born before a certain date, the HRO will at least be able to give them a certified photocopy of his birth certificate. Having anything with his name, and birth date on it will help you in proving your link to Taiwan so this could be useful. His birth certificate will also have his parents (your grandparents) names, and you may have proof of your grandparents Taiwan nationality, and proving your link to them could also be a path to nationality. Does your US birth certificate show your mother and fathers romanized Chinese names? This would simplify things. If your US birth certificate shows their romanized Chinese name, their birth date plus birth country, you may be able to have this authenticated by your local Taiwan rep office and take it to a HRO in Taiwan in order to apply for proof of your father’s nationality yourself. Ultimately, the best way forward will be calling the HRO wherever your parents used to live and explaining the situation. They will tell you what you need to supply in order to get copies of their documents. These documents can then be used in your application for nationality. Keep us updated on what they say and do.
I actually just found an old household registration with his marriage to my mother and wedding date listed. No luck with anything else—my mom says she threw it all away though so hoping I get lucky. Hopefully this is enough to get started.
Thank you so much for your help and thoughtful reply. Unfortunately we are not close at all to my father’s side, but I’m willing to reach out as they’re our last direct relatives still in Taiwan. I actually did just find one document — my father’s household registration with his marriage to my mom and wedding date listed. I’ll look into contacting the HRO office in Taichung to see if they can help.
Edit: sorry I’m totally new to this board, saw your other reply—thanks again!
Hi, your situation is the exact same as mine (I still can’t believe it!) and the TECO office in LA has been neglecting phone calls so I don’t have anyone to ask. Please update us on information that you receive from officials!! I would really appreciate it <3
Hi! I called the office in NYC, which then redirected me to Houston since that’s where I was born. Houston’s office told me that first I had to send in both my official and a copy of my own birth certificate—they would keep the copy and mail back the original along with the authentication paperwork. This gets mailed back to them, notarized. Not sure if it also needs translation but I was thinking of doing it anyway. It obviously has to have your parents name on it and it better be their romanized Chinese name—they told me this several times. Mine adopted western ones and kept their Chinese names as middle names—hopefully that’s fine.
Then, you need a copy of identification—currently active passport or drivers license—for both yourself and your parents. My father is deceased so they said a death certificate should suffice.
You then need the documentation from Taiwan, either like a household registration or national ID, and their marriage certificate. I fortunately was able to find one household registration from my father with his marriage to my mom and their wedding date listed. They told me this alone should suffice if this is all I have. (Yay!!)
If I didn’t have that, though, I was told outside this forum that I can apply at the household registrar of their last location in Taiwan with their names, birthplace, ID# (which I don’t have), and marriage date. Do you have relatives in Taiwan still? They may be able to help with this. Alternately, if you have a parent alive, they can resume their citizenship and apply for their documents at TECO, which would be much easier for you. Hope this helps!