My wife (who is Taiwanese) and I (UK) recently had the joy of a baby girl being born. As my wife is Taiwanese then upon registering her birth here then she will automatically qualify for ROC citizenship, however I also wish to ensure that she has the right if she wants to claim UK nationality.
What do I need to do to facilitate this, I do not go back to UK on any kind of frequent or regular basis, can it be done here in Taipei, or in Hong Kong?
Has anybody done this themselves and be prepared to share the knowledge gained.
Hope someone can help me on this. Richard any ideas ?
quote:Originally posted by NeillM:
My wife (who is Taiwanese) and I (UK) recently had the joy of a baby girl being born. As my wife is Taiwanese then upon registering her birth here then she will automatically qualify for ROC citizenship
Congratulations!!! I wish all three of you every happiness!
But have the laws changed? When we had ours (same situation as you), we had to get an ARC for her. Nationality is that of the father, not the mother, or it used to be. If you are a Brit, your daughter will have to renounce her UK nationality before she can get ROC nationality.
[Moderator’s note: This information is incorrect.]
If you go to the BTCO on Ren-ai Road in Taipei, they can send your passport to HK to have your child’s name added to it. This is easiest at first, but it means your wife will find it hard take the baby out of the country without you.
If you think that might be a problem, you’ll have to get her her own UK passport, which will require different paperwork.
What I have heard is that children of ROC citizens (be it father or mother) are ROC citizens themselves - which means that they can’t get an ARC after they turn 20.
If they are born in Taiwan they should be able to get an ROC passport when they apply for it here.
Richard should know more of the specifics on that one.
Children born in the ROC where either the mother or father is an ROC citizen are entitled to ROC nationality. (This is effective now and retroactively effective for any “child” who had not reached his/her twentieth birthday as of February 9, 2000.) If such a child has one parent who is a USA citizen, then application should be made with the American Institute in Taiwan for the child’s USA passport and Social Security number.
I would assume that the BTCO would provide similar services for the children of British citizens born in Taiwan.
For children born outside of Taiwan, where one parent is Taiwanese, slightly different rules apply, however in the final analysis the same results may be achieved.
Richard, does this mean that these children will have dual nationality? I mean that presumably with a British or American father, the child could have a passport from that country. Can such children now have one of each, or do the parents have to make a choice?
Doesn’t it violate the moral values system [lunli] that kids can get a privilege that their parents are denied, dual nationality. Isn’t that standing the whole society morals system on its head? Later on when the parents are senior citizens and deserve even more respect [when their peers are receiving all those free bonuses from free bus rides, priority seats, laorenjintie monthly money, etc.] Our Mr. Foreigner parent still has to keep his Mr. Foreigner papers up to date, whilst his son and even son’s son are whizzing around with dual nationality.
quote:Originally posted by Dan Jacobson:
... whilst his son and even son's son are whizzing around with dual nationality.
Not necessarily. In many countries that normally do not accept dual nationality, a child with two nationalities has to choose one of the nationalities when coming of legal age.
[Moderator’s note: There is no such legal requirement in the USA or Taiwan.]
Many thanks for the replies and info, will keep you informed once I have the response from the BTCO
It is very beneficial to know that such a genuinely helpful site is available to both non ROC and ROC citizens alike.
Richard and team please keep up the great work.
So would there be any difference between having our child here in Taiwan compared to Australia? From what I can gather in this thread, there isn’t, but would just like to make sure. Thanks, Amos.