Can foreign children legally attend public school here?

What’s the legal system say about this?
I heard that if you 're a foreign male married to a Taiwanese wife, your children can not attend public school.
If my kids could only go to private schools, then I would seriously consider not having any here (kids that is). The cost is too prohibitive.

Also, if you had a son and he was here on an ARC and attended a private school for his whole education, would he still have to do military service?

The MOE has a Chinese FAQ about education in TAiwan for foreigners in Taiwan. Question 21 says that foreign children can attend public schools (elementary, middle and senior high schools) if their parent/guardian is in Taiwan and the child holds an ARC. To apply, you must submit the following to your local school:

  1. Application (to be prepared by the applicant)
  2. Copy of ARC
  3. diplomas or certificate of leaving school and complete transcripts.

Students who have not completed the first semester of first grade do not need to submit diplomas.

The FAQ goes on to say that if the school to which the student is applying is full, the student can contact the local education administration (mainly county and city-level educational authorities) for assistance. These include:
[ul]
Ministry of Education, Central Taiwan Office Section 2 886-4- 339-3101
City/County Education Bureaus
Taipei City Bureau of Education (Section 1: Elementary Schools 886-2-2725-6371 , Section 2 Middle/Senior high schools 886-2-2725-6365)
Kaohsiung City Bureau of Education 886-7-3373115
[/ul]

Please let me know if you live somewhere else and I will try to find the phone number of your local educational authority. I have a feeling that if you are outside of northern Taipei, your local school will have no idea what to do with you and your child. Remain calm and polite and contact one of the agencies I have listed here. Also, if you can’t find anyone who speaks English at these agencies post back to the list and one of us can call for you.

I don’t know about military service although I believe it is required only of male Taiwan nationals.

HTH

Feiren[/url]

[quote=“chessman71”]What’s the legal system say about this?
I heard that if you 're a foreign male married to a Taiwanese wife, your children can not attend public school.
If my kids could only go to private schools, then I would seriously consider not having any here (kids that is). The cost is too prohibitive.

Also, if you had a son and he was here on an ARC and attended a private school for his whole education, would he still have to do military service?[/quote]

From: nt.tainan.com/nnfs/document10.html

In 1994, the rights of the children of foreign spouse families to be treated in a similar manner to local Chinese citizens were clarified in several areas:

  • To be able to complete the paperwork to attend local Chinese schools,
  • To receive immunizations,
  • To participate in the National Health Insurance Plan.

Good websites. I especially liked the following on certificates of statelessness:
There is no known international source, (such as the United Nations, or any of its subsidiary organizations), for such Certificate of Statelessness. The MOI has refused formal requests that it make public a list of valid issuing authorities, country by country, and provide “samples” of acceptable format and wording.

So basically, they want something that no one can get. And then when you can’t get it, they can say you don’t have the proper documents. Amazing.

I’m still wondering about miliatry service though. I was under the impression that if a male child lived here the majority of his life, he would have to eventually do military service, ARC or not.

I have two boys (1st and 2nd grade), US citizens, going to public schools. No problems.

DB

Ach-Gack! A Balrog! And here at Segue! And I am already weary…

We have one girl in first grade at the local school. No problems either. Just make sure you have all the paperwork.

Vorkosigan

Vorkosigan,

A man who knows great literature! You must be indeed a wise man.

It wasn’t anything personal…just those greedy dwarves who dwelved too deep. At least I’m not Garthmog.

DB

The best solution to this problem if you are married to a local Taiwanese girl is to have the traditional wedding with no paperwork until after the children are born. If you only want to have one or two kids this should be easy. Once the kids are born first get them Taiwan passports and then your home country passports. After that they’ll have dual citizenship.

[Moderator’s note: This analysis is based on the legal structure in Taiwan existing before February, 2000. It is irrelevant now. No offense intended here, but I think it is important to clarify the current situation.]

Well yes, but the thing is is that there is no problem. Having your kids study at a public school is easy. Don’t need to do anything fancy just, sign 'em up.


A man who knows great literature! You must be indeed a wise man.

Just replace “man” with “ass” and you’ll have it right…

It wasn’t anything personal…just those greedy dwarves who dwelved too deep. At least I’m not Garthmog.

Ah, I see. Better to be an independent demon than a mere Commander of Sauron’s reserves.

Anyway…to prevent a total thread hijack…

We have had no trouble with our daughter so far. The system is OK at the elementary school level. Some troubling aspects are that the pressure starts early, and of course, the policing by older students results in many abuses. And there are just too many a$$hole teachers who revel in petty power abuses. We’re going in tomorrow to talk to the principal about one.

One thing we’ve done is put here at a small school, where the pressure is less. At many of the larger schools the students get abused and pressure is too great. Our school has only three hundred kids.

Vorkosigan

I know enough foreign passport kids studying at local school to know it is possible. From what I understand, they used to be able to study, but were not granted diplomas upon graduation, which effectively barred them from local universities. Now, however, they can also obtain diplomas.

My question is this: We have a four-year-old son, and two elementary schools in the neighborhood, practically side-by-side. The one with the better reputation has a waiting list of approximately two years. The school told us we had to have household registration in the vicinity to get on the list, too–a fair enough rule, except that only Taiwanese passport holders have the “hu kou ming bu” household registration. Foreigners don’t have it. Zenme ban. Any experience with this?

Thanks!

Folks,

A couple of things.

Eddie (honorable son #1) came home one day with scratches on his face. He told me that some older kids pushed him around because he was different. My wife wanted to talk to the principal, change schools, etc, etc. Nope, gotta teach kids to face problems so I told Eddie that if it happens again stare at the bully’s nose, aim for the back of his head, and swing for the fences. Of course I told him to try to walk away first, but he was cornered when it happened the first time. If he gets suspended than I will take the day off of work and we will have a father/son day.

Yeah, that household registration can be a pain. If you really want to get on the list see if you have any connections in the community. <aybe friends can help. I think the important thing is to make sure that your child gets a younger teacher as I know that many of the older teachers are having trouble with the new curriculum (9 year plan). At least that is what I am seeing.

DB

As long as your son does not have Taiwanese citizenship, there is no possibility of military service.

[Moderator’s note: This information is not 100% correct. According to the current MOI interpretation, which is followed by all Police agencies, if a child “qualifies” for ROC nationality, then he/she is considered an ROC national whether any paperwork was filed or not. See Article 2 of the Nationality Law for qualifying criteria. (The banks and other organizations regulated by the MOF do not follow this interpretation however.) Hence, any male child who qualifies as an ROC national will have to do military service – including those who (up to the age of 20) are here on an ARC based on their relationship to a Taiwanese parent.]

However, once he gets citizenship, it doesn’t matter whether he has an ARC or attends private school. Once he stays in Taiwan for more than three consecutive months, time begins to accumulate. At some point (don’t remember the cutoff), a draft notice will appear in the mail.

Are these the only benefits of having a child in Taiwan - (1) a Taiwanese passport, and (2) a trip to do military service.

My wife is pregnant and we are pondering whether to have our child in Australia or Taiwan. Thanks Amos.

[Moderator’s note: If one of the parents is Taiwanese, and one of the parents is Australian, it makes no difference where the child is born. He/She will be entitled to dual nationality in any case.]

So the child would still need to do military service, regardless of where he was born, Australia or Taiwan? Thanks again.

[Moderator’s note: The laws are changing. For a child born in the 21st century, I think the chance of actually having to do military service are extremely low.]

Wow…so theoretically, if I (parents are Taiwanese) don’t have a Taiwan passport and come back to Taiwan to work on an ARC, I could be a management consultant who gets drafted at age 30 or so?

that sucks, I am getting my son outta here

Thanks for the help. :smiley:

[Moderator’s note: The laws are changing. For those children born in the 21st century, in terms of military service, I should think there is little to worry about.]

sorry, i could never put my kid through the absolute misery of enduring a Taiwan-style “education”…(which I think creates nothing but mindless morons)

Didn’t seem to do you too much harm…or did it?!