Which should mean that conscription should only start 1 year after I established residency?
However, I’m still a little bit worried about:
I already stayed 1 year in Taiwan with my TARC, and then only got my “Overseas Chinese” stamp from the TECO in my country. The law says “之翌日起，屆滿一年時” but I think it’s not very clear whether “連續居住滿一年” in the past is already accounted into.
When I (should) receive my ID card, I probably need to give up my passport to get a “real” one with ID. The Overseas Chinese office told me that I must move my Overseas stamp over to the new passport, but won’t the new passport already have this “MILITARY SERVICE NOT PERFORMED” stamp which makes me unable to leave the country?
If the above law is possible, this would mean I can establish residency, but also leave during the grace period because I have the Overseas stamp, is this correct? Or does the law target someone else?
Slight addition, in the English version:
A draftee-to-be in the status of an Overseas Chinese having not established household registration in the Republic of China previously shall be subject to conscription enlistment according to law upon expiry of one-year period beginning the day next to his initial household registration following his return to the Republic of China.
The expiry of one-year period set forth in Paragraphs 1 and 2 of the preceding article shall meet any of the following requirements: 1. Having continually resided for one year in full.
Perhaps it’s my brain having a hard time understanding this, but it seems it sounds like:
Male of draft age establishes residency.
Beginning the next day, “Let’s check whether the one-year period expired”
They see “this man has continually resided for one year in full” (to get my TARC…)
I know that it probably doesn’t make sense, but I’m just worried that an equally confused conscription officer could really think like that.
Just do the conscription. Why should you have all the benefits of being a citizen without doing the hardship that almost all male citizens must do? It is not like it is hard. Worst case scenario you’ll be cleaning toilets. If you are educated they will get you to do something useful in an office setting, and you’ll be able to help your country. I have found that those who try to avoid conscription are often the ones who could learn the most from it, in terms of social responsibility.
Ha thanks ok. Do you know whether applicants with the Overseas stamp will get a passport with “MILITARY SERVICE NOT PERFORMED”? What can one do in case like that?
Hey @WaddleDee , did you ever get this figured out? It would be interesting to know what the result was. Or if you don’t have it figured out yet, maybe some of us can also check into it.
At first glance, and without reading everything in detail, I also wonder if these rules apply to all age cohorts the same way, so some age cohorts have different rules like different length of military service.
Hello, yes I figured it out. The spokespersons at the desk were all very friendly. When I signed up at the NIA they also gave me a small book about the laws regarding conscription for overseas Chinese (it’s a small, colorful guidebook). I’ll kept it somewhere and can try to show you if that’s interesting to you. But everything inside is also somewhere on the website of each department. They also simply confirmed what I was already thinking, I’ll try to sum it up here:
So like you said about “age cohorts”, for my age group (born pre-1994) it is like this: If you register your household and IF you have the Overseas Chinese stamp, you have the conscription grace period which only cancels when
You stay fully for one year in Taiwan
If for two consecutive years, you have stayed more than 6 months (each year) in Taiwan.
I hope I explained that comprehensible haha. So it’s like this, you basically cannot stay more than 6 months in Taiwan. You should reside 6 months in your “home country” every year, then you are free from getting conscripted. Oh and the time before your registration does not get counted into. I had this confirmed somewhere in a letter, will try to dig it up.
It’s been some months ago when I did all of this, happy to say that I’m now an official Taiwanese citizen! I’ll try to remember all of the other details, so let me know if you have any questions. Something I just noticed while looking at my first question:
Your passport does not get a “MILITARY SERVICE NOT PERFORMED” stamp. When applying for the new, “real” passport, definitely make sure to transfer your Overseas Chinese stamp to the new one (just confirm with the person). You need to bring a proof of your “home country” with you, so like your passport.
And don’t forget that you need to apply for Exit at the NIA (while you are still in the grace period). But it’s very easy and only takes 5min. You will get a stamp on the last page of your passport that is valid for some months, then I was able to leave Taiwan. Hope to return soon…
@WaddleDee My Brother in Law recently did his military service. He says it’s a joke. Almost no PT, a bit of pew pew and a bunch of classes. If you’re more on the chunky side, they’ll probably don’t take you for medical reasons. You should be fine, even if they draft you.