I would like to know if I might qualify for (1) a NWOHR passport and (2) a TARC. Later, I plan to go to my local TECO/TECRO office to inquire after I have some idea about the options available to me. Here is my situation.
- Father was born in Taiwan and must have had a valid Taiwanese household registration (HHR) in his youth.
- Father left Taiwan around 1965 for USA for university, with an ROC passport.
- Father never traveled to Taiwan again. Therefore, I guess his HHR expired automatically after 2 or 3 years.
- Father and mother (non-Taiwanese) married in USA. Marriage was not registered with the Taiwan government.
- I was born in 1970s in the USA (so I am over 20 years old now). At my time of birth, I donāt know if my father still had a valid HHR ā probably not. He still had his 1965 ROC passport. My birth was not registered with the Taiwan government.
- (Probably irrelevant) After my birth, my mother became a naturalized ROC national. Probably, she never had any HHR (so was an NWOHR; an ROC national, but not an ROC citizen). ALSO: father later naturalized to USA citizen, and mother also later naturalized to USA citizen; neither father nor mother renounced any ROC nationality and/or ROC citizenship.
- (Probably irrelevant) Grandfather, living in Taiwan, came to visit USA after my birth. Therefore, at my time of birth, my grandfather must have had an active HHR.
- Grandfather and grandmother passed away in Taiwan.
- Father passed away in USA. Fatherās death was not registered with the Taiwan government.
- No direct lineal relatives live in Taiwan anymore: grandfather, grandmother, and father all passed away; mother and siblings all live outside of Taiwan and have no active HHR. Aunts, uncles, and cousins still live in Taiwan with active HHR (but I think this is irrelevant for my case).
The key points above are 3 and 5 ā I think probably my fatherās HHR expired automatically since he never traveled back to Taiwan after leaving Taiwan. Therefore, at the time of my birth, I think he had no HHR.
The only documentation I have is my fatherās old 1965 ROC passport. That makes no reference to a National ID number, nor a household registration.
My questions:
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Can I get a NWOHR passport? I think the answer is yes ā because my claim to nationality is not based on HHR, but instead is based on nationality of the father at time of birth. The only difficulty might be how to prove (based on a 1960s ROC passport) that at my time of birth (1970s) my fatherās ROC nationality was still valid.
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Assuming I travel with my own NWOHR passport to Taiwan, then can I apply for a TARC in Taiwan? This is the big question and it seems like a gray area to me. I understood from this forum that there are 2 relevant paragraphs from the law that can justify a TARC application: AF353 which requires an active HHR, and AF384 which requires no currently active HHR but appears to require an old HHR that was previously active at the time of my birth. Is this correct that AF384 requires an old HHR that was active at the time of my birth? Or is the mere existence of any old HHR (even if expired before my birth) enough to satisfy AF384?
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If I cannot apply for a TARC based on AF384 above, then is there any other way for me to live indefinitely (e.g. after retirement, for several years until my own expiration) in Taiwan? I am considering retiring to Taiwan so I can be together with my extended family members living in Taiwan.
I would love to hear from some of you who have already researched this topic. I cannot (yet) read Chinese, so the English-language information on this forum is very valuable to me.