Changing your A.K.A in Taiwanese passport to an English alias

Legal Dual Nationality
1

Currently I use the pinyin of my Chinese name as a.k.a in the passport. The English name there is the same legal one I had before I became Taiwanese.

Is there anyway to add another English name as a.k.a in the passport or replace the current one with an English nickname like most Taiwanese have ?

I have this English alias that I’ve been using for over a decade and everyone knows me by that name now, but it’s not my legal name. My business cards, email addresses everything uses that Alias.

It would be great if somehow I could make that a legal alias. At least have it on my passport. When I was applying for Taiwanese passport and floated this idea to MOFA, they completely rejected it. They said I needed to provide proof that I used that name legally before. I tried telling them it’s just an alias, like all Taiwanese do, when they pick random English names. They wouldn’t agree.

Anyways, I want to make another attempt at this, but want to check if anyone has tried it or been successful with it.

Normally, I wouldn’t care if my nickname wasn’t on a legal document, but in Taiwan this is an actual issue and it sometimes affects my work. E.g. One Korean customer tried to return some faulty products (RMA) via DHL and used my alias accidentally. DHL Taiwan asked me to prove that it was me. In a series of emails over many days, I sent them my ID, Passport. HHR, business card - everything I could, but they refused.

They sent the shipment back to Korea where the customer had to change the AWB and send it again.

Same thing happens even with products exiting Taiwan. A US customer arranged their own DHL pickup from our office and accidentally used the name they know me by, and shipment has been stuck in Taiwan customs for days now. Again, because they want my ID to match the name in DHL AWB, and I’ve given them every proof that the person is me. There’s no other person with last name Khan in our company. Even our HR called them to tell them this, but still no.

I don’t know if this is DHL policy everywhere or it’s just the Taiwanese one that’s so strict.

Anyways, issues like this is why I want to find anyway to get my English alias on the passport. If I could, I would’ve even changed my original legal English name to this one, but since I renounced, that’s no longer possible now. Unless it can be done from here, but I don’t know how.

Any tips/suggestions are appreciated.
Thanks

2

Maybe @fifieldt can chime in.

How is it supposed to work after naturalization? The issue is probably that it is done differently depending on the person entering it into the system.

I think it should be like other Taiwanese.

Name: Chinese name
English version: pinyin of Chinese name
Known as: English name (used before naturalization)

3

Yes. It works fine.

4

Don’t do this (unless you understand what you are doing). It causes complications when you travel on multiple passports.

5

Really getting off-topic here, but could you elaborate? This was my plan so I could have separate identities, for, uh…, reasons. Assuming I ever get to naturalize in the first place.

6

This is how mine is

I’ve never had a problem

But I think only legal names can be placed in AKA

7

My daughter has it like you. But when my wife went to register HHR for my son, she did not pay attention to this and they did it the other way. HHR refuses to fix it.
They actually say “English version: pinyin of Chinese name” is how it is supposed to be.
This is another fuck up of Taiwanese government, where there is no consistency and no clear rules for dual-nationals. And the mindless drones in offices will refuse to do anything to fix it or take up any responsibility.
I hope you can raise this issue with higher ups, because Taiwanese are unaware of any of this issues and blatantly don’t care.
Like they don’t care to fix their HHR system to accommodate permanent residents.

8

Example: you get marked as entering a country but not leaving. You later come back and get refused entry / deported due to overstay.

Example: airline check-in staff delays/confuses/refuses your checkin due to mismatched names.

Everything is workable, you just have to really know what you’re doing with this approach :slight_smile:

9

My daughter has two different names, we just use one for check in (in relation to where you are going to, and show check in both documents) and the other one for departing immigration…

Can be a nightmare first time you do it… but then you get ready for it the next time around. You could even book the flights in the names required dependent on destination entry requirements so the airlines don’t freakout.

10

@Fuzzy @fifieldt

I’d like to know how to get this done. Personally, I’d like to keep my current English name as the “English-speaking world” identity. I feel this is important not just for travel (on multiple documents as you mentioned above, but also for:

  1. any legal proof required in the future to match with your English name - financial accounts overseas, older academic records, etc
  2. Second passport/nationality ID if we move from Taiwan after acquiring Taiwanese citizenship.

I want my current English name to appear as the primary name that will be there in the chip/barcode strip of the passport - such that it’ll be the primary romanized name. The chinese transliteration can go into the AKA field.

Did you guys have to do anything speciaal for this, at the HHRO or NIA office? (English transcript/record or anything else). Currently, I’m in the phase of acquiring my TARC, so still quite a way off. But I’d not like to miss any crucial step.

11

No, your TARC should be proof enough (it will still show your English name).

Just make sure you fill out the application form for the passport correctly. From my understanding, the first time you fill out the form might be your only chance to make this decision - getting it changed afterwards is much more complicated.

Pay special attention at making clear which one is the last name and which one the first name (I made sure to write LASTNAME, FIRSTNAME - while my TARC just shows LASTNAME FIRSTNAME).

You’ll be applying for that one at BOCA - the HHRO won’t accept applications for NWOHR-passports (unless things changed).