Accusations of racism are easy aren’t they. And Ireland has produced far more than it’s share of the literature greats…thanks for reminding us of this. 
But facts are facts. Ireland has no racist clauses in it’s immigration policy and is minting new citizens at a prodigious rate as of late. Taiwan and many other places DO have racist policies. Countries in the EU now have an EEA vs non-EEA system, which in some ways is just as bad as a racial based policy.
I was just busting balls. 
It’s human nature to deny strangers and change…Caveman hits with club anyone near cave…
As for America, it is the constitution, not congress or the voters, that keep America’s immigration policy in place.
Ulysses is unreadable though 
Doesn’t the U.S. Congress have a Congressional delegation (maybe that is not the right term?) that deals specifically with Taiwanese issues? I would think that would be a good place to start if you’re a U.S. citizen.
Have you tried writing to Bi Khim Hsiao, the DPP legislator?
Recently I read an article talking about expanding work visas in Taiwan, but seemed pretty limited like to clergy and university researchers. Sounded like government thought this was a big step…which sounded like a very, very small step to me.
I think that now that the government is trying to manage the variety of problems* with immigrants from Asia (mostly brides from China, Vietnam) they will not be interested to spend effort thinking about giving out more citizenship papers. Besides the Taiwanese overall probably would not view this favorably anyway.
[quote=“Flakman”]Recently I read an article talking about expanding work visas in Taiwan, but seemed pretty limited like to clergy and university researchers. Sounded like government thought this was a big step…which sounded like a very, very small step to me.
I think that now that the government is trying to manage the variety of problems* with immigrants from Asia (mostly brides from China, Vietnam) they will not be interested to spend effort thinking about giving out more citizenship papers. Besides the Taiwanese overall probably would not view this favorably anyway.
[/quote]Of course they don’t want all those Flip Flop McShorts English teachers to gain citizenship. Taiwanese want foreign passports - but make no mistake: Taiwan is for Taiwanese to enjoy,
[quote=“Hartzell”]There have been several articles in the Chinese-language Taiwan press recently about Brendan O’Connell, a Catholic Father who has served in Taiwan for over 50 years. Father O’Connell has founded several local foundations that take care of children with delayed development issues.
Importantly, he has been pushing the MOI to revise the ROC Nationality Law and allow foreigners to obtain local nationality without having to renounce their original nationality.
Apparently, the officials at MOI are taking his pleas seriously, and have drafted some amendments to the ROC Nationality Law which will be scheduled to be reviewed by the Legislative Yuan.
I think that all of us should applaud Father O’Connell for his efforts.
I was instrumental in establishing the category of “permanent residency for foreigners,” and pushed legislators to have several public hearings on that issue in the late 1990s. Of course we invited high officials of the MOI, MOEA, NHI, MOFA-BOCA, and Executive Yuan to attend, with the hope of building some consensus on that issue. At the time, everyone said that my proposals were “far to radical” and “did not correspond to traditional Chinese thinking” during that era. However, when the Immigration Law was passed by the Legislature and then came into effect in 2000, it did contain the specifications for foreigners to apply for permanent residency in Taiwan. Granted, those requirements were somewhat strict at the time, but over the years we have seen quite a bit of relaxation of some of the more troublesome aspects.
Now, I think we are ready for the next step. Let’s support Father O’Connell in heading up this new push for dual nationality status.
[/quote]
Seconded. I hope these amendments pass ASAP.
If anyone deserves the right to have both nationalities, it’s people like Father O’Connell and Hartzell.
The Polish guy selling fruitcake at Zhongli Night Market has become a naturalized Taiwanese citizen…
without
giving up Polish citizenship!
chinatimes.com/newspapers/20 … 505-260107
Madly in love with Taiwan, Lung Yang-yen (that’s his Chinese name) had wanted to naturalize for years, but his efforts had been frustrated because Poland would not allow him to give up his citizenship. It was with the help of the Zhongli Household Registration Office and the Taoyuan office of the National Immigration Agency that Lung was finally able to work out
a special exception that allowed him to keep his Polish citizenship while also naturalizing as a citizen of the Republic of China.
No idea if this applies to the rest of us because China Times didn’t go into any detail.
[quote=“Hokwongwei”]The Polish guy selling fruitcake at Zhongli Night Market has become a naturalized Taiwanese citizen…
without
giving up Polish citizenship!
chinatimes.com/newspapers/20 … 505-260107
Madly in love with Taiwan, Lung Yang-yen (that’s his Chinese name) had wanted to naturalize for years, but his efforts had been frustrated because Poland would not allow him to give up his citizenship. It was with the help of the Zhongli Household Registration Office and the Taoyuan office of the National Immigration Agency that Lung was finally able to work out
a special exception that allowed him to keep his Polish citizenship while also naturalizing as a citizen of the Republic of China.
No idea if this applies to the rest of us because China Times didn’t go into any detail.[/quote]
This is possible under the current ROC Nationality Act for anyone whose home country does not permit giving up nationality / does not permit it in the individual case for reasons that are beyond the responsibility of the applicant. I.e. if the reason you are not being released are unpaid taxes or military service duties, then the regulation does not apply to you. If however your country does not recognize ROC nationality and has provisions against statelessness of its own citizens, you are lucky here.
Most countries that do not recognize Taiwan do however recognize the citizenship-like character of the rights you acquire in Taiwan upon naturalization or see it as a subset of PRC citizenship, i.e. Germany, Norway or Austria.
My ARC runs out in December, and I was thinking about getting an APRC, but my friend mentioned that he had heard there was a possibility that Taiwan was going to start allowing foreigners to gain citizenship without ditching their former nationality. I was excited. As someone that has lived here nearly 13 years and has no plans on leaving, gaining Taiwan citizenship would be excellent. But after reading the article in the OP, it certainly doesn’t seem like my prospects are bright.
Why make such vague and subjective conditions like “significant contributions to Taiwan”? Ridiculous. Who do I have to make a “significant contribution” to in order to convince them that I’ve made “significant contributions”…if you know what I mean…
I would be curious, though, to see how China would handle this. I assume they wouldn’t allow naturalized Taiwan passport holders to enter China on a Taibaozheng, right?
China -PRC- does allow naturalized citizens of the ROC of non Asian origin -ie whities- to enter -and exit, most importantly- the motherland on a Taibaozheng, for business or pleasure.
And yes, up to now, no further developments on dual nationality allowances. Ditch and regain, or not ditch are the current choices available.
Please attach a photocopy of your Nobel or Pulizter to the application. World-class applicants only, please. 
[quote=“Taiwanguy”]My ARC runs out in December, and I was thinking about getting an APRC, but my friend mentioned that he had heard there was a possibility that Taiwan was going to start allowing foreigners to gain citizenship without ditching their former nationality. I was excited. As someone that has lived here nearly 13 years and has no plans on leaving, gaining Taiwan citizenship would be excellent. But after reading the article in the OP, it certainly doesn’t seem like my prospects are bright.
Why make such vague and subjective conditions like “significant contributions to Taiwan”? Ridiculous. Who do I have to make a “significant contribution” to in order to convince them that I’ve made “significant contributions”…if you know what I mean…
I would be curious, though, to see how China would handle this. I assume they wouldn’t allow naturalized Taiwan passport holders to enter China on a Taibaozheng, right?[/quote]
Taiwanese politician are notorious for doing things (improving) that are actually the same as doing nothing … only complicating everything or giving false hope.
[quote=“Taiwanguy”]
I would be curious, though, to see how China would handle this. I assume they wouldn’t allow naturalized Taiwan passport holders to enter China on a Taibaozheng, right?[/quote]
Yes they do. They issue a Taibaozheng without complaining that your race does not fit the expectation 
[quote=“hsinhai78”][quote=“Taiwanguy”]
I would be curious, though, to see how China would handle this. I assume they wouldn’t allow naturalized Taiwan passport holders to enter China on a Taibaozheng, right?[/quote]
Yes they do. They issue a Taibaozheng without complaining that your race does not fit the expectation [/quote]
That’s interesting and a bit surprising to me. So basically they are saying whatever standards or conditions Taiwan puts on immigration are good enough to be a Chinese citizen in their eyes.
…moments later after thinking about this phenomenon…
Hmmmm…so I wonder if the Taiwan gov’t’s reluctance to allow dual citizenship has anything to do with pressure from China. I’m sure China wouldn’t be too thrilled with a sudden in-flow of foreigners getting what, in essence, amounts to dual citizenship in their country because Taiwan decides to change their stance on it.
It is not surprising, a friend has travelled back and forth for 10 years. Big white guy. They look at him funnily, but he always get in.
[quote=“Taiwanguy”][quote=“hsinhai78”][quote=“Taiwanguy”]
I would be curious, though, to see how China would handle this. I assume they wouldn’t allow naturalized Taiwan passport holders to enter China on a Taibaozheng, right?[/quote]
Yes they do. They issue a Taibaozheng without complaining that your race does not fit the expectation [/quote]
That’s interesting and a bit surprising to me. So basically they are saying whatever standards or conditions Taiwan puts on immigration are good enough to be a Chinese citizen in their eyes.
…moments later after thinking about this phenomenon…
Hmmmm…so I wonder if the Taiwan gov’t’s reluctance to allow dual citizenship has anything to do with pressure from China. I’m sure China wouldn’t be too thrilled with a sudden in-flow of foreigners getting what, in essence, amounts to dual citizenship in their country because Taiwan decides to change their stance on it.[/quote]
There has been discussion on these boards before since there were a number of whities on teh same boat, with Hong Kong passports and IDs when the handover happened. It is unclear to me how that was handled as they would have effectively become, as you say, nationals of the PRC, technically speaking.
BTW, I went today to the Household office to get an update on teh requisites. My first WOW is how cheap it is, 200 nts for nationality versus 10K for our permanent residences. And no tax hassle. Weird.
But I have to go back to that corner of the world where they set up the New Taipei City NIA -awful place- and the police report from my ol country -which is a nightmare to certify.
All said and done, it is a piece of cake, way too easy.
And just t be clear, my reward for getting the nationality of ROC will be losing my job. But in view of my long term goals, that is not an issue anymore.
What? Why would you lose your job? (And why don’t you care…?)
[quote=“Hokwongwei”]What? Why would you lose your job? (And why don’t you care…?)[/quote
PM
[quote=“Taiwanguy”]
That’s interesting and a bit surprising to me. So basically they are saying whatever standards or conditions Taiwan puts on immigration are good enough to be a Chinese citizen in their eyes.[/quote]
It makes sense when you think about it. Since, in their eyes, there is only one China, anyone who is considered a national of China by any part of China (including Taiwan) and also has residency rights to any part of China (again, including Taiwan) must be considered as a full Chinese citizen.
Again, race doesn’t come into play here. Remember that the PRC has naturalized people like Sidney Shapiro before. Also, one of the official ethnic minorities of the PRC is “Russian”.
[quote=“Taiwanguy”]
Hmmmm…so I wonder if the Taiwan gov’t’s reluctance to allow dual citizenship has anything to do with pressure from China. I’m sure China wouldn’t be too thrilled with a sudden in-flow of foreigners getting what, in essence, amounts to dual citizenship in their country because Taiwan decides to change their stance on it.[/quote]
I’d be surprised if this is the case. For one thing, although the PRC considers them as nationals of the PRC, Taibaozheng holders are treated a lot like foreigners in many aspects. (Actually, even Hong Kongers/Macanese are treated this way. Now, things might be different if a Taibaozheng holder manages to apply for and get a PRC passport, PRC ID card, and PRC hukou, though, but that seems to be pretty rare.) The PRC does practice immigration control against Taiwan (as Taiwan does to the PRC), so a change in dual nationality stance by Taiwan would hardly open the floodgates to the PRC.
For another, dual nationality is already tolerated for Taibaozheng holders (though not recognized - that is, the foreign nationality is ignored/pretends that it doesn’t exist). Foreigners from countries that let them resume their nationality (e.g. the UK) can naturalize as ROC citizens, then resume their former nationality and be dual nationality holders. There’s no evidence that these people have a significantly harder time getting into China than any other Taibaozheng holder.
[quote=“Icon”]
There has been discussion on these boards before since there were a number of whities on teh same boat, with Hong Kong passports and IDs when the handover happened. It is unclear to me how that was handled as they would have effectively become, as you say, nationals of the PRC, technically speaking.[/quote]
The situation in pre-handover Hong Kong and Taiwan are not really the same. Before the handover, the authorities in Hong Kong were British and handed out British nationality (or some version of it) and British passports (or some version of it). True Chinese citizens from the PRC didn’t get passports, they only got Certificates of Identity (that is, a passport-like travel document for aliens). If they wanted a real passport, they had to naturalize as Hong Kong British (although doing so didn’t give them any rights in the UK itself). This is different from Taiwan, which gives out Republic of China passports to those who have become naturalized Republic of China citizens.
Anyone who was ethnic Chinese (even partly) and born in Hong Kong or other parts of China at the handover was a PRC national, but non-Chinese weren’t. They had full residency rights (which came with the right to vote), but weren’t PRC nationals and weren’t eligible for HKSAR passports. Of course, some of the latter group applied for and were granted naturalization under the Nationality law of the PRC and thus became PRC nationals - but this was only possible post-handover.