How can a child (US passport holder) of an elderly Taiwanese Mother, married to a US citizen obtain an ARC to take care of her mum?
Appreciate any advise.
Thank you
Depending on your year of birth, it may be possible to apply for dual nationality, or at least the TARC.
Individual born in Taiwan between 10 February 1980 and 9 February 2000 whose mother is a Taiwan national with a household registration in Taiwan and father is a foreigner, can get taiwanese citizenship.
If your mother was a Taiwanese citizen when you were born, and she is now reside in Taiwan with household registration, you can get TARC, as @paperclip said.
There is no ARC category for that purpose. You need to get an ARC with other reason, or TARC to join your mother. To get a TARC, you first should get a Taiwanese passport as a national without household registration.
You can contact to Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in your region for further information. You will also find useful threads in the dual nationality section in this forum.
Just to clarify, since it is kind of confusing, if you were born in Taiwan between those dates, you can actually bypass the whole TARC business. You can pass go and get your shenfenzhen directly.
If you were born in the states and you were born after Feb 10, 1980, if either parent was ROC at the time of your birth, you have a birthright claim to Taiwan nationality and by extension a shenfenzheng, but it is an extremely tedious process.
You need to first get your ROC passport with no household registration (which you have a right to, you just need to prove your lineage to an ROC shenfenzheng parent, but this requires a ton of documents and sending to TECO and it’s super annoying).
Once you get it, you then need to apply for a TARC (which you also have a right to, you just need to give them more documents including an FBI background checks which takes MONTHS). Once you have a TARC, you have basically the equiv of a green card and residency rights in Taiwan. If you live in Taiwan for a certain amount of time on your TARC, you will then qualify for a shenfenzheng, and be the same as any other Taiwan person.
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A few questions:
Can @maximp use a visitor visa in the meantime? And is it possible for @maximp to get a visa as a family member? Also, if @maximp uses a visitor visa or some other kind of visa, will he/she be able to apply for citizenship from Taiwan?
A quick answer.
OP can get a visitor visa to visit ops mother.
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Thanks, @tando.
If OP was born before 1980 then there isn’t an applicable residence purpose. Bummer for the OP, but good in the greater scheme of things.
Obviously the entire purpose is to migrate OP’s mother into the cheap NHI system to evade high healthcare expenses in the United States. Considering OP describes her mother as “elderly”, I doubt she ever made any meaningful premium contribution to the NHI since the system was implemented in the mid-1990s. Most likely OP’s mother left for the United States before that time.
If for once an ABC family is inconvenienced in this parasitic undertaking, then it’s an occasion to celebrate for local and foreign residents of Taiwan alike who pay into the system rather than leech from it.
Sorry OP.
I’ve thought OP’s mother lives here, but your scenario is very possible.
Anyway, here is the info of visitor visa.
Visitor Visa for Visiting Relatives
https://www.boca.gov.tw/cp-158-251-e78ef-2.html
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Thank you all for your feedback.
An important clarification.
Mother is Taiwanese and lives together with her American husband in Taiwan since they married 50 years ago. As kids follow the father here in Taiwan they hold US passport. The only purpose is for the daughter to reunited with her parent permanently as they are already 80 years old.
Hope this clarifies the matter and appreciate any helpful advise I can receive.
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OP is American and doesn’t need a visa. 90 days in on US passport, fly to HK, come back, repeat. As long as they don’t work they can do whatever they want. TARC would give them the ability to get an open work permit though and skip the visa runs. Basically if OP plans on spending a significant amount of time in Taiwan, they 100% should go the TARC route and pick up their shenfenzheng if they plan on staying that long. Free healthcare for life among whatever other benefits.
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Thanks for the info. Apologies for peppering you with questions, but I have one more:
What if the OP was born before 1980?
If OP was born before 1980, she doesn’t have a taiwanese nationality, so no TARC. Is this right?
In that case, OP should stay as a foreigner. The easiest way to get an ARC may be an English teaching job at a cram school, or student ARC. If you can get a position here related to your current job, it will be better, though. After 5 year stay with a work based ARC, you can get APRC or can be naturalized.
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Before Feb 1980, only the dad counts. If your dad was ROC you have this birthright, but if your mom was ROC and your dad was a foreigner, you do not have this birthright. In 2000 they realized how sexist that was and changed it, backdating it to 1980 (all the 20 year olds who just became adults at the time).
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Yah if OP was prior to Feb, 1980, then they are SOL. In that case best bet is a) perpetual visa runs, b) teaching English for the ARC and going the route that all the foreigners have to go (which honestly is pretty stressful and full of shady employers and uncaring bureaucracy, as many of the posts here can attest to), or c) learn mandarin at a recognized school and get a student visa~!
It actually doesn’t sound like OP was born after 1980 as their parents are 80 years old, so it looks like they won’t have great options… 
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In that case apologies for my false conclusion.
We have too many cases of ABCs who conveniently relocate to Taiwan after decades of absence and non-payment of premiums when they encounter high medical bills in the US.
I am not aware of any purpose of residence in the Immigration Act that would allow you to stay in Taiwan based being the child of a ROC parent. Article 23 sub-paragraph 2 of the Immigration Act only allows foreign minor children of ROC nationals to apply for residence.
If I had caught your first post before the matter was resolved, Hsinhai, I would have deleted it. Just fyi.
Just to reiterate again, I am looking to find a way to obtain a permanent resident status in Taiwan.
Thank you all for your comments and suggestion which are all well meant.
Cheers
Just to make sure, a foreigner usually gets a permanent residency status after a 5-year stay here on a work-based or marriage-based ARC. A study-based ARC does not give you a permanent resident status. In case you have enough money, investment gives you ARC and APRC too.
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What if the motive I have insinuated had actually been OP’s intention? There are far too many stories like that. It’s not the purpose of Forumosa to help parasites damage the NHI.
But OP’s situation is different and hence I apologized to her.