Dual Citizenship

Legal Dual Nationality
1

HI!

Has anyone out there given up American citizenship to get a Taiwanese passport? And then, once they got it, gone back and regained U.S. citizenship?

I’ve read a lot of info here in the Forums about this, but I’m not sure if what I want is possible or not. My intent is to remain an American, but as I understand it, the Taiwanese law requires that I relinquish citizenship in person and get proof from the U.S. govt. that I’ve done so in order to get the ROC passport. If I do that, can I get my U.S. citizenship back?

Any advice, horror stories, or warnings welcome!
Thanks!

2

The Taiwanese law and the US law are quite different in this respect. The Taiwanese can jump in and out of Taiwanese nationality at will. However, for a US citizen who has renounced US nationality, (especially when such renunciation was done voluntarily), my understanding is that it would very difficult or impossible to get it back again.

3

So you have to give up your overseas citizenship to get Taiwanese citizenship. Then you are free to renew your overseas citizenship, if that country was willing. (Maybe this should be in the discrimination forum?)

If you had more than one overseas citizenship, I wonder how many you would need to give up to get Taiwanese?

4

It all depends on the situation. I was born here to Taiwan parents, but then I was adopted to American ones. I have American citizenship, but when I came back to Taiwan I reclaimed my Taiwan one, without needing to renounce my USA one. The USA does not require me to renounce theirs since I had the “natural right” to having Taiwan citizenship, being born here to Taiwan parents.

If your situation is similiar then maybe you don’t need to renounce anything.

5

American for now,

Have you considered that if you get a Taiwanese passport it may make traveling elsewhere more difficult than traveling on a US passport (expensive visas & the inability to travel to some destinations comes to mind)?

Conversely it may be kind of safe, I don’t think terrorists would be targeting Taiwanese over Americans.

You should thorougly research this because as Mr. Hartzell said, it may be difficult to reclaim your US citizenship after you have renounced it (although Lee Harvey Oswald was able to do it).

Let us know what you come up with!

6

Thanks for the replies, everybody!

Unfortunately, there’s no Taiwanese connection that would get me a passport, as ‘crbkstiles’ suggested. It seems that a lot of the dual citizenship things posted here are along that bent. But I’m born and raised American, and about as WASPish as you could get. But I would qualify for a passport since I’m married to a Taiwanese.

I think one of the reasons we don’t see many posts like mine is because a lot of international relationships involve a foreign man and a Taiwanese woman. And it’s my understanding that if a guy gets a Taiwanese passport, then he’s got to serve in the Taiwanese military, which of course, would be one good reason to not get a Taiwanese passport.

But I’m an American woman married to a Taiwanese man, so that military problem doesn’t apply to me.

I’ve also considered what Gary had to say - travelling would become a stupendous hassle with only a Taiwanese passport and that’s why I have no intention of permanently giving up U.S. citizenship.

I also considered what ‘I Wonder’ had to say - maybe this should be a discrimination issue! It’s frustrating and seems unfair that the Taiwanese law is soooo narrow, considering how many Taiwanese take advantage of the more relaxed U.S. policies regarding dual citizenship.

Furthermore, I also ‘wonder’ - could I be a citizen of a 3rd country, give up that citizenship, become Taiwanese and still remain a U.S. citizen. It sounds goofy and far-fetched, but I wonder if it would work?

Anyway - a lot of things to think about.
Along with Hartzell, it’s my impression it would be difficult or imposssible to get citizenship back, but I know it’s been done. As always, facts are more useful than hearsay. I’ve been talking to the folks at AIT to see if they have any advice. I’ve got them in a pickle, too. They said they’d have to ‘do some research’ and get back to me. I’ll post again if I hear anything more.

I’d like to note as special thanks here to Mr. Hartzell for all of your fabulous work on our behalf. Where would we be without you?

Finally - if anyone knows anyone who has done this in Taiwan, I’d love to hear about it.

Thanks everybody!!

7

I wish the Taiwan govt. would give a few citizenships out like the US govt. gives to so many Taiwanese without requiring forfeiture of original citizenship.

The Taiwan permanent resident card is still a long way from the advantages of citizenship. I’ve listed some of the differences on
www.geocities.com/jidanni