Do former Chinese citizens face extra hurdles when applying for an ARC?

Legal Visa & Residency
1

I was a Chinese citizen at birth but moved to the US as a child and naturalized as a US citizen in elementary school. Would my background present any extra challenges when trying to apply for an ARC? I’m thinking of moving to Taiwan to remote work after the pandemic, and if I like it there, apply for a gold card. I was born in China and my passport still uses my Chinese name in pinyin, so it would be obvious that I was a former PRC national. Visiting visa free is absolutely no problem, as I’ve done this many times in the past, but I’m curious if trying to stay longer term would invite any challenges?

2

There’s some extra checks if you were born in China, to make sure you are not a spy :rofl:, otherwise everything is the same, you can get an ARC.

Some of the extra hurdles when applying for an ARC if you’re born in china:

  • Current non-chinese passport must have at least 5 years validity, otherwise you need to prove the passport before that isn’t from China (photocopies of it)
  • Take photos of every entry/exit stamp with china in your recent passport, or last few years if not enough history. Need to document the dates of entry/exit into/out of china.
  • Personally I’ve had only about 10 entry/exits with China the last few years. If you’ve had 100, maybe that will raise some red flags. (though if I were a spy, I wouldn’t get stamps :sunglasses:)
  • I don’t have experience with permanent ARC or citizenship
2 Likes
3

Thanks for your reply! Are you a former PRC national as well? My US passport was issued in 2012 so that should be fine. I visit China once every year for about a month, that should not be a problem right?

4

Yeah I’m a former PRC national who had to dig up my previous passport because my current one doesn’t have 5 years history and take photos of every chinese entry/exit stamp

5

Continuing the discussion from Do former Chinese citizens face extra hurdles when applying for an ARC?:

I found a thread earlier in which someone’s wife who was formerly Chinese faced discrimination while receiving an ARC. Moving to Taiwan with Chinese wife - what are the laws? - #18 by Caspian

Did you experience anything similar as this man’s wife did? Perhaps if you communicate in English instead of Mainland accented mandarin, you’d get treated better?

6

Maybe the NSB is ok with spies, thinking they’ll look at Taiwan’s beauty and convert them into double agents :slight_smile: