Hope you guys can give some pointers. I am a dual (EU-Taiwan) citizen trying to renew his Taiwan ID. Basically my history is as follows. I was born in Taiwan with ID and Hukou (household registration) in Taipei County. When I was young, I left and my Hukou was relocated as overseas. When I came back years later, I have a Euro passport, Taiwan passport with Overseas stamp, and old ID that was still valid. I have no problems using the old ID for any processes, mainly for working as a local, banking purposes, and national health insurance. Hence, I never re-registered my Hukou in Taiwan since there was basically no need.
Now, the problem arises when the new IDs were implemented, like what, about a year ago. Since then my national health insurance got cancelled, and I cannot apply for new banking services.
So my questions are:
What is the process to re-register my Hukou in Taiwan, and get a new ID, and how long does that take?
How does this affect my military service status? I assume re-registering Hukou in Taiwan will trigger some system to draft me or activate my military requirements. Will I be albe to leave Taiwan, as I have previously done every 4 months? I know there’s a way to get around it the military service, but what is the process and is it a hassle?
Once the Hukou is in Taiwan, i know you’d have to be away for two years for it to relocated outside again. Now, I plan to move temporarily to the US in a few months for 2 years, with the intent of coming back to Taiwan after that. Will visiting Taiwan during that 2 years be sufficient to keep my Hukou in Taiwan, or will it still be relocated outside? I would not want to go thru the process to re-register the Hukou now, then just to have it relocated outside again.
[quote=“aceman”] How does this affect my military service status? I assume re-registering Hukou in Taiwan will trigger some system to draft me or activate my military requirements. Will I be albe to leave Taiwan, as I have previously done every 4 months? I know there’s a way to get around it the military service, but what is the process and is it a hassle?
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A good friend of mine is currently doing military service precisely because he had re-registered his hukou several years ago in order to cast a vote in the presidential election. Last year his grandmother passed away and he came back to Taiwan for her funeral on a US passport, thinking there wouldn’t be a problem. Well, he was stopped at the airport trying to return to the US to finish grad school. Needless to say, grad school has been put on hold and he’s got a real nice tan now. My suggestion is, don’t risk it unless you’re over the draftee age of 40 or have a real passion to vote for a certain presidential candidate.
From my own experience, to re-register your Hukou, you have to enter Taiwan with your ROC passport. Once you do that you have to go to the Immigration Office and get a record of your entries and exits into Taiwan. Then you take that to your local household registration office and apply to have your Hukou re-registered. It’s pretty simple.
Be aware that the 4 months issue with military conscription counts even if you entered Taiwan on a foreign passport. It means that if even if you don’t have HuKou, if you have stayed 4 months or longer for 3 times, you will be subject to military conscription. (I wasn’t aware of this until I was told that I had stayed past 4 months twice using my foreign passport and that those would count against me. If I had stayed past 4 months once again, I would of have been subject to military conscription).
The actual rules for military conscription differ depending on if you were born before or after 1984. If before, they use the 4 months, if after, they use the 183 day total for a one year period.
I believe that keeping your Hukou shouldn’t be a problem. I know may people who don’t reside here but keep their Hukous.
What is the 183 day period? I was born in 1984 and plan on staying in Taiwan for a bit. I stayed here last year for around half a year but left every 3-4 months and I was able to leave ok.
Regarding the Hukou, I just had mine relocated to Taoyuan from Taishan and it was pretty simple. Just had to sign a few forms and waive my right to vote for the upcoming election because I was moving my hukou and hadn’t stayed at the new location for more then 3 months. I got my ID at the same time as updating my hukou and everything.
I don’t think you will lose your hukou if you stay outside of taiwan for 2 years. My hukou didn’t change from Taishan to overseas even though I lived in the states for 20 years but maybe that was because my family didn’t update it for me but I was declared overseas when I turned 18 and was eligible for conscription. But I may be wrong about this.
[quote=“Incubus”][quote=“aceman”] How does this affect my military service status? I assume re-registering Hukou in Taiwan will trigger some system to draft me or activate my military requirements. Will I be albe to leave Taiwan, as I have previously done every 4 months? I know there’s a way to get around it the military service, but what is the process and is it a hassle?
[/quote]
A good friend of mine is currently doing military service precisely because he had re-registered his hukou several years ago in order to cast a vote in the presidential election. Last year his grandmother passed away and he came back to Taiwan for her funeral on a US passport, thinking there wouldn’t be a problem. Well, he was stopped at the airport trying to return to the US to finish grad school. Needless to say, grad school has been put on hold and he’s got a real nice tan now. My suggestion is, don’t risk it unless you’re over the draftee age of 40 or have a real passion to vote for a certain presidential candidate.[/quote]
Did he stay past 4 months?
Did he have the overseas stamp (processed at foreign TECO) on his Taiwan passport?
[quote=“aceman”][quote=“Incubus”][quote=“aceman”] How does this affect my military service status? I assume re-registering Hukou in Taiwan will trigger some system to draft me or activate my military requirements. Will I be albe to leave Taiwan, as I have previously done every 4 months? I know there’s a way to get around it the military service, but what is the process and is it a hassle?
[/quote]
A good friend of mine is currently doing military service precisely because he had re-registered his hukou several years ago in order to cast a vote in the presidential election. Last year his grandmother passed away and he came back to Taiwan for her funeral on a US passport, thinking there wouldn’t be a problem. Well, he was stopped at the airport trying to return to the US to finish grad school. Needless to say, grad school has been put on hold and he’s got a real nice tan now. My suggestion is, don’t risk it unless you’re over the draftee age of 40 or have a real passion to vote for a certain presidential candidate.[/quote]
AFAIK, he just came back for his grandmother’s funeral, in and out, no more than a week, so he thought.
I have no idea as he’s been incommunicado for nearly a year now since he’s been in the army. Again, my advice is: don’t risk it.
well “don’t risk it” is not really an option at the moment, as there are many things I cannot have without an ID card. Health care, financial services, just to name a few.
I am asking what the process is to get around this problem.
[quote=“aceman”]well “don’t risk it” is not really an option at the moment, as there are many things I cannot have without an ID card. Health care, financial services, just to name a few.
I am asking what the process is to get around this problem.[/quote]
Can someone please explain this 4 month leave for males when registering Hukou? I’m a female with dual US and Taiwan passport. I am planning to go to Taiwan in Feb 2016 to live and thus re registering my hukou. My 2 (US citizen) kids will come and live with me. I was planning to apply for a Taiwan passport for them too (ages: 7 Girl and 4 Boy) I know my son won’t have a problem now since he’s only 4, but in the future if he ever wants to visit Taiwan, I had thought he can just come in with his US passport without a problem until I read the above. I’m thinking how would the Taiwanese government know that these two different passports are related? One would just have his English name on the US passport and the other his Chinese Name on the Taiwan passport. But I guess the computers are smarter than we think???
Anyway, then someone I know currently (also dual US/ Taiwan) lives in Taiwan now using a Taiwanese passport who’s 30 but he has to leave the country every 4 months. So I am unclear as to what the reason is?
Lastly, what is the draft age? I hear 36 but read the above which says 40?
In response to your questions. As you most likely already know, if you are a resident of Taiwan who is male, and not handicapped or mentally retarded, then you have to serve in the military. So if you are a male that is not over 36 years old, not served in the military and has a Hukou in Taiwan and enter the island with an ROC passport… then good luck trying to leave the country! What most of my friends do is enter with their US passports, of which only has a 90-day visa-exempt period. If you are a female, I don’t think it is as complicated.
There are also two types of ROC passports: ones that are issued to people born in Taiwan and another type issued to children of Taiwanese nationals that were born overseas. The latter type of passport is called a “僑民護照”, it is essentially the same as the former one except that it does not have an ID number. This is the type of passport your kids can obtain. You can apply for them at any of the Taiwanese embassies (or visa-issuing offices). With this passport, you can enter Taiwan, but you will need to get a “permission” before hand and there are also restrictions as to how long you can stay. This type of passport also does not have the visa-exempt features that the regular passports do. This passport will give your kids the ability to obtain residency in TW in the future should they chose to, they just have to live in TW for 1 year to obtain their ID card. There is always a catch though, once you obtain your ID card, if you are male, then you have to serve. I am in this exact situation. I’ll be starting my new job in TW but I am going to have to enter with my non-TW passport, then work for a year when which I will be over 36, and then re-enter with my “僑民” passport to apply for my ID card to become a resident. The current conscription age limit is Dec. 31st of the 36th year you were born. So on Jan. 1st, 2016, everyone who was born in 1979 no longer need to serve. This “law” is very weird since it is unfair to anyone who was born in the early months of the year, but it is what it is. Do keep in mind that this law is ever changing and it may just be abolished by the time your son reaches 20.
My suggestion is, don’t risk it unless you’re over the draftee age of 40 or have a real passion to vote for a certain presidential candidate.
My suggestion is, don’t risk it unless you’re over the draftee age of 40 or have a real passion to vote for a certain presidential candidate.[/quote]