If the holder of PR has kids, can the children apply for PR (through their foreign parent)? Are there any age limits? Or is there an alternative solution to the children’s residency problem, for instance annual ARCs?
How does it work if both parents are foreigners? Is the situation different if one of the spouses is an ROC citizen?
If both parents are foreigners, then the children could apply for permanent residency in Taiwan at the age of twenty, if they meet the basic requirement of continuous residency of seven years with 270 days per year in the country, plus other requirements. They can also use their parents income or assets to qualify for the “financial stability” requirement at that early adulthood age.
If one of the parents is an ROC citizen, then the child are considered to be an ROC citizen, and cannot apply for permanent residency according to the legal structure here in 2001. Three options are available: (1) At or before the age of 20 the child would have to formally complete the procedures to obtain an ROC ID card, or (2) at the age of 20 switch to a tourist visa, or (3) sue the Ministry of the Interior now to invalidate the child’s currently interpreted ROC nationality status.
If the children have an ROC parent, but were born oveseas and have never been registered in Taiwan by the ROC parent and are here because their foreign parent works and has an ARC or PR, can they apply before they are 20 ?
In my case, I have lived here for 13 years, my 3 boys were born in the UK, they are registered on my ARC through my job, I am not married in Taiwan - what status are they ?
I am a little confused about your marital situation. I believe that you are implying that the boys’ father is a Taiwan citizen, correct? Is his Household Registration in Taiwan still current, or has it expired? Where is he now? Is the marriage still valid, or has there been a divorce?
For the time being, I will assume that the Taiwan father is working in the UK, and you are still married. If the marriage is not registered in Taiwan, and there is no mention of the “Taiwanese father” on any existant paperwork (filed in conjunction with the children’s residency applications), then it is certain that they will be regarded as pure foreigners, since they hold UK passports and have ARCs stating that they are citizens of the UK. Hence, they could only apply for PR at the age of 20.
On the other hand, if the existence of the Taiwan father is known, and the marriage is registered in Taiwan, then the picture changes considerably. Under the current MOI interpretation, the children could not apply for PR at all. This becomes a serious problem at the age of twenty, when the children can no longer renew their ARCs based on a “dependency to a parent” status.
The boys father is a Taiwanese citizen, he only has a Taiwanese passport and he has Taiwanese Household registration.
His Taiwanese ID card shows his marital status as being single.
We were married on two occasions in Taiwan, but did not register the marriage as we were already legally married in the UK and therefore I was unable to get a certificate of singleness.
We are not divorced and so are still legally
married in both countries, but just not registered as married in Taiwan.
The boys were all born in the UK, have their fathers English name on their birth ceertificates, but for their ARC’s in Taiwan, I have never mentioned their father and always used my employment to get mine and thier ARC’s.
So, I presume that the MOI cannot say they are Chinese and so what can they do in the period between now and 20 ?
I want to get PR using my residential status for over 7 years and not involve my husband and so what will happen to the boys ? do they stil need to get ARC’s every year ?
Thanks for your comments
I am from Panama and my wife is Taiwanese, so I got my ARC pretty easy and quickly, we also married legally in Panama before we came to Taiwan
What we did was to translate our marriage certificate to Chinese and authenticate it on the PRC Embassy in Panama, so basically there’s no need to marry (legally) again in Taiwan
Do you have PRC Embassy in UK or some consulate offices or related?
My future childrens by right can have both nationalities (Panamanian and Taiwanese)
So it depends on where you plan to stay in the future for long term
Having a nationality gives you the chance to work without work permit and other benefits, only that you need to go to do military services (only if you are a man), but I think at the time when your boys got adult, the government should already approved the new law, which let you to choose between military and diplomatic services (or if Taiwan already unified with the Mainland) then who knows what’s the legistation at that time