I posess an ROC passport without a household registration because my mother is Taiwanese. During the application, I’ve already had a glimpse into Taiwan’s legal system concerning citizenship, but I’m still not sure what process I have to undertake to acquire “true” citizenship. To put it simply, I would like to achieve this:
Being able to enter and exit Taiwan using my Taiwanese passport, without the need of an “Entry Permit” or something similar; staying in Taiwan indefinitely.
I’m fully aware that this might require me to serve military or civil service, and I am willing to do so. My current working situation also allows me to stay in Taiwan for some months and work from there remotely, although probably not for 360 days. Perhaps I’d be able to spend the 270 days for 2 years, but I would take those “spend X days per year in Taiwan” options only as a last resort. Are there any other methods in a case such as mine? To be specific, here’s my current situation:
Male, born in Europe 1990.
Mother is Taiwanese, but she has doesn’t have Taiwanese citizenship anymore.
Still, using my birth certificate and some other papers, I was able to apply for a Taiwanese passport (NWOHR). The birth certificate clearly states that my mother was (at that time) a national of the ROC (she didn’t get naturalized yet at that time). I have an official translation of the birth certificate in Chinese. We also have some other documents that prove that she has been an ROC citizen before.
The rest of my family is all living in Taiwan (it’s because of some uninteresting events that my mother and I ended up in Europe) and they are supportive, but know nothing about Taiwan’s citizenship situation themselves. So if there is a way to acquire citizenship through them, it would be helpful if I can show them all legal references.
Given these parameters, is there a way to acquiring household registration without needing to “stay X days”? Is it possible that my relatives can somehow “let me in” in their household registration? Or could my mother perhaps re-acquire her nationality and her citizenship and then have me simply registered as her child?
If not, what is the official process for me to initiate acquiring a household registration? I know that I need to enter with my ROC passport and an entry permit, but do I need to apply for an TARC first?
Feel free to correct me if I got any assumptions wrong or if there’s anything that needs to be clarified. Citizenship is a long-standing wish of mine, and I’d be very grateful for any kind of help in this situation!
Thanks for the quick reply and the helpful links. I’ll look into applying for a TARC first then.
Just some quick question about the TARC if you don’t mind: If I travel with my NWOHR passport and a TARC, do I still need an entry permit to enter Taiwan again? Does the TARC carry an expiration date?
If I travel with my NWOHR passport and a TARC, do I still need an entry permit to enter Taiwan again?
No, just your TARC and Taiwanese passport. I’d recommend that you register your TARC with e-Gate at the immigration desk in the airport so that you can re-enter Taiwan through the fast lane with just your TARC. When you exit Taiwan, you need to show both your TARC and your Taiwanese passport to the check-in counter for the airline.
Does the TARC carry an expiration date?
Yes, it expires after three years, but you can renew it.
More details about e-Gate. I’d recommend setting it up after you get your TARC since it’s free. (You can technically register for it beforehand if you have Global Entry from the US, but it’ll cost you NT$3,000.)
Thanks for the hints, taiwanesetexan. Recently, my plans have changed a little bit, and I probably won’t use my NWOHR passport and the TARC for travelling. Instead, I plan to apply for the TARC, then stay a year in Taiwan to get my full citizenship and a “proper” passport.
For this reason, I along with several other Forumosa members, have been researching for the last couple of weeks how we can apply for the TARC in our specific case (in my case: Taiwanese mother doesn’t have household registration anymore). This is the thread where we are exchanging what we found out: Do I have a chance of getting a Taiwanese passport and TARC?
By any chance, you do not happen to know a definite answer on what to do if one applies for a TARC with AF384 身分, but without having a current household registration? What we already found out is that you do not need an active HHR, but you need to supply a 戶口名簿 which seems hard to do if your parent never kept an old one.
Hey, I’m a little late to this but this whole getting a household registration thing is quite confusing since most of the websites make no sense. I’ve heard that if you have a child under 19 and the parents have household registration, than the child can also get an HR without spending X amount of days (HR through descent or whatever). The logistics of this are kinda confusing and I was wondering if you could help me out on the process. Thanks
Thanks. These websites provide some clarity but the wording is pretty bad. Does the child have to stay in Taiwan for X days or can they just write the parents or grandparents address on the form? It would be really helpful since I prefer my child not stay in Taiwan since he’s always lived overseas.
no, but they should be in Taiwan at least for a few days. They just write the parents or grandparents address of household registration on the form, and they can apply for residence certificate from overseas, but should receive the residence certificate in Taiwa, then should apply for their household registration at HHR office. The processing time is 3 days or so.