Hey all,
So here’s my situation, which is slightly different from the typical “ABC girl with Taiwanese parents wanting to stay in Taiwan” thing. I am an ABC girl, over 20, and my parents are Taiwanese, with ROC passport and hukou. However, I’ve already been living in Taiwan and studying at National Taiwan University since 2012 - on an ARC. I never claimed my citizenship because I applied to NTU as a foreign student and their rules require that I cannot apply for my TW passport or ID until graduation. I’ve finally graduated, my ARC is now invalid because my final semester is ending. I am currently in Taiwan.
I’ve read up on the rules and know that I have to come back into the country on my TW passport, stay for 1 full year without leaving before I can get my ID. However, the question is concerning the fact that I am already in Taiwan, whereas it seems that most people are applying from the States and dealing with the US TECO.
I really don’t want to have to make a trip back to the US just to get my TW passport; as my family, friends, etc are all here now, and I’m currently tied up with some projects here in Taiwan (I work as a freelance editor). Is there a way that I am able to:
A) apply for all the necessary components - i.e. FBI record through mail
B) send in all these components through mailing them to the US TECO (or applying in Taiwan) and getting the passport by mail
When I got my ARC for university in 2012, I remember doing the entire process by mail, as I was also already physically in Taiwan at that point. Relatives helped me gather some documents from my home in the US, sent them into the US TECO. I also mailed TECO a bunch of documents from Taiwan, and then the US TECO mailed some kind of approval back to me. I left for Hong Kong for a few days, and then came back on a student visa/ARC.
Could that same process work for obtaining my TW passport? That way I could just make a quick visa run to Hong Kong or Bangkok (where I actually have reason to be there, for work) and not have to go all the way back to the US.