In my experience Taiwanese bureaucracy does not deal with special cases well. And if you push the matter Western style “Why can’t you try this?” or “What about this?”, the clerk you’re dealing with either gets offended or feels threatened that you are challenging them.
Their job is to tell you what can and can’t be done, and they are loathe to take the initiative to try to help out because Taiwanese are risk averse.
I can understand not wanting to live in China, but what about going to live in the USA? What is the draw of Taiwan for you?
Thanks for the message. I definitely feel like the representatives at Gold Card Office have been getting offended at my questions, so good to know that’s not in my head.
Nothing wrong with living in the US – I have been for a while now. But I grew up in China and have Chinese roots. I felt deeply disconnected from Chinese culture growing up and now that I’m an adult, I was looking for a way to connect with my heritage without having to return to China, where I don’t feel welcome anymore. Visiting Taiwan has been strangely therapeutic for me, so I’m immensely sad I’ll have to leave.
This is a really interesting suggestion! Thank you so much, I do appreciate how much time you’ve taken out of your day to help a stranger on the internet. It means a lot. I will give this a try!
Won’t work, I’ve tried. Doesn’t meet their checklist.
By the way the Straits is mostly an independent organization. It’s infuriating trying to work with them since they assume you are a mainlander immigrating to Taiwan and the same policies must apply to you, and they don’t know how to deal with exceptions.
Self-sponsoring through opening up a Taiwan company is one way… but they don’t allow those born in China to open a Taiwan company unless you prove renunciation. Maybe you can try a branch or rep office? But these don’t give you any way to stay long term in Taiwan, as PR has pretty strict requirements around those born in China.
If no one else has mentioned it, OP, your parents may (or perhaps should) have a document from the US consulate nearest your birth city, declaring your birth abroad.
and should have been kept with your birth certificate.
This should be painfully plain. You may be able to contact the issuing consulate, and request confirmation of the original record be sent to the appropriate Taiwan office.
It sounds like you need to pass this issue to the higher-ups (although ideally it should be the AIT’s job to do it, not yours). Here is what’s happening:
Government agencies are making up rules that are impossible to follow due to their own oversight and ignorance that there are people like you. Their computer system (or whatever) requires something from you that does not exist. This means somebody made a mistake.
They should own up to their mistake, and you should hold them accountable by communicating this to a higher authority.
You mentioned TECRO and AIT. Well, if even they are not willing to own up to this mistake, then you need to contact their bosses in Taiwan. They fall under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA). I would start there.
If that fails, then you move up the chain of command and go to their bosses:
During all communication, make sure they understand this is their mistake.
TECRO/MOFA (and surely AIT) may not be the authority to handle this problem. They just authenticate the documents you are requested. You should contact to the one that requests the document, NIA/MOI or NDC or their boss.
However they weren’t sure whether NIA immigration policies overwrote that article in the law. In particular the bit about anyone born in mainland needing to provide proof of renunciation was introduced after Article 7 of the law was introduced.
This is a juicy one.