Hello All,
I am currently a U.S citizen that is about to turn 24. I used to have a Taiwanese passport when I was a kid. However, I never renewed it due to the fact of the possibility of getting drafted. However, I wish to go to Taiwan to work in the hotel industry. If I were to apply for ARC in order to reside in Taiwan, would my past not allow me to? I was hoping to get sponsored a work visa and work under that. Would that be possible?
Thank you!
When you applied for a Taiwanese Passport, you applied for Household Registration and an ROC ID. As a National with Household Registration (NWHR), you must serve in the military. It doesn’t matter whether your passport or household registration expires. You are IN the system for LIFE.
For some reason (and I think this should change), as an NWHR without an Overseas Chinese ID, you can enter/leave Taiwan with a US passport (on the 90 day free visa program) and be totally ok. They won’t bar you from entering/leaving and force you to complete military service. If you come to Taiwan and found work and apply for an ARC (after getting your work permit), they will see that you have had Household Registration and thus an old ROC ID. They will not give you an ARC. They will give you a TARC instead, but only if you first apply for an Overseas Chinese Identification.
But with an Overseas Chinese ID, you are somehow subjected to more stringent conscription laws. As an Overseas Chinese, you cannot leave/enter the Taiwan with a US Passport without your Overseas Chinese papers/ID. Furthermore, you cannot stay in Taiwan for more than 183 days per year or else you must begin military service. But you will have to overstay this time, as you are working. Thus, your only option now is to renounce your ROC Nationality. I am renouncing mine at the moment.
I just wished the Ministry of Labor, while processing my work permit, would have told me I would have to renounce my ROC nationality if I wanted to work in Taiwan for more than 183 days and avoid military service. Instead, I only knew this 3 weeks later in the middle of my ARC application and 2 weeks before my company expects me to arrive to work.
Wouldn’t it be possible to work for 6 months <183 days in Taiwan each year on a TARC and then leave? Sure, it wouldn’t be anything glamorous, but you can do any job, and/or even work for yourself…
I don’t know any company that would sponsor your TARC if they only knew you were working for 6 months.
I’m not sure about laws of “working for yourself”…it may be that you have to create your own company first…
I didn’t think the TARC was something that had to be sponsored by a company - you show that you are without doubt a national of the ROC and your TECO without question will issue you with a ROC passport and a TARC unless you’re in the rare situation of being a ROC NWHOR holding a ROC passport but have PRC household registration in which case I’ve heard it takes 6 years to establish household registration in Taiwan. But maybe even that is a TARC, not sure.
What is this Overseas Chinese ID? How does it work for a national with household registration?
Also, is it possible to renounce Taiwanese nationality? What does that process entail? I was under the impression that it’s very, very difficult to do.