Eligibility for NWOHR passport+TARC if no active household registration at time of birth

[Hayashi]

@Lain

Your father should, next to his passport, has had a Shenfenzheng as well somewhere. In any case, he should still be in Taiwan’s “system” as a citizen.

@Lain

The important thing is that your father never gave up his citizenship.

I just realized his citizenship status at death may be unclear. As far as my mother knows, my father never gave up his citizenship. However, I vaguely sense there may be an unfortunate possibility that at some point he may have given up his citizenship (unlikely, but possible).

First, two questions on this point:

1. How can I verify, for sure, if my father is still “in the system” and never gave up his citizenship? I plan to travel to Taiwan again to visit some relatives, maybe this year, maybe next year. At that time I could make a stop by some city office and make some inquiries. Any idea where I should go, and what I should ask, to check if my father did indeed maintain (never renounced) his citizenship?
2. In case my father did give up his citizenship, then am I out of luck in applying for a TARC under AF384? Or, is there still the option to argue that my father’s HHR was active at the time of my birth? (I would of course need to prove this somehow).

Next, let me explain why I am worrying about this now. One of my uncles casually mentioned to me that there was some property in Taiwan to which my father had some kind of “claim”, probably planning to inherit it when my grandfather died. But then because my father left Taiwan, at some point he reached an agreement with his other siblings that he renounced his claim to that property. I have no idea when or how this claim to the property was renounced. What I worry about is if, in order to renounce his claim to the property, he in fact renounced his citizenship and canceled (lost all rights to) his HHR and citizenship. The reason I am suddenly worrying about this is because of another post that I happened to read just now on the forumosa forum here: Getting Parents Over to Taiwan - #25 by jo

@jo

my father drop his Chinese citizenship for long time for property reason back home.

Again, I don’t know if that is the case for my father, or not. But I heard from my uncle that my father somehow “gave up” his claim to some property.

So, how can I find out for sure if my father never canceled his citizenship/HHR (question 1 above)? And if he did, do I still have options to apply for a TARC (question 2 above)?

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(added some minutes later) I see that I was writing my post while you were responding, and that you made an important comment below:

@Lain

A household registration is completely cancelled if and only if the citizen gives up his ROC nationality (as far as I’m aware). But this doesn’t invalidate any claims of yours that are based on having an HHR in the past, which your father also fulfills, and which satisfies the requirement that tando pointed out.

Based on the English translation (which is probably imprecise) that tando pointed out from Article 3 section 4 of the Immigration Act, it defines the term “Nationals with registered permanent residence in the Taiwan Area” as: “Nationals who … have not lost personal identification as people of the Taiwan”, where I interpret “lost” as meaning “canceled” or “renounced”. Does this imply that if the National did, in fact lose (or cancel, or renounce) personal identification as the people of the Taiwan, then that person (i.e. my father) does not fall under definition in Article 3, section 4 of the Immigration act anymore, and therefore the descendant of such a person (who was no longer a NWHR) is not eligible for a TARC application under AF384?

If my above interpretation is valid (or if the officials processing my case use this interpretation), then it would logically seem that the status at the time of birth might, indeed, become important – at the time of birth, is the father still one of the “Nationals with registered permanent residence in the Taiwan Area” as defined in Article 3, section 4 of the Immigration act? If the NWHR canceled (not through mere expiry, but through explicit renunciation or explicit cancellation) his/her HHR before the time of birth, it would seem such a person is no longer, at that moment of cancellation, a “National with registered permanent residence in the Taiwan Area”, and hence the descendant of such a person might not be allowed to apply for a TARC under AF384. On the other hand, if the father’s HHR was not canceled at the time of birth, then at the time of birth, the father was still defined as a “National with registered permanent residence in the Taiwan Area”, and hence his descendant would qualify under AF384 to apply for a TARC.

Not trying to be negative – just trying to understand all of the arguments. So I would summarize my current understanding as:

1. If father never renounced citizenship explicitly, he was always a “National with registered permanent residence in the Taiwan Area” as per Article 3, section 4 of the Immigration Act. Then, descendant of a “National with registered permanent residence in the Taiwan Area” does qualify for a TARC under AF384.
2. If father did renounce citizenship and cancel the HHR explicitly, then timing becomes important. If the descendant’s birth was before the cancellation, then the descendant is still the descendant of a “National with registered permanent residence in the Taiwan Area” and qualifies for a TARC under AF384. However, if the descendant’s birth was after the cancellation, things start to look gloomy. It could be then argued that the father was then no longer a “National with registered permanent residence in the Taiwan Area”, and the descendant as such might not qualify to apply for a TARC under AF384.