I’m not sure what you mean by this. Chidlren of ROC nationals don’t naturalize… so I assume you mean people married to ROC citizens?
I was single when I naturaized. No requirement to be married to do so.
The process for would-be naturalizing high-level professionals is pretty clear–at least as of a few years ago.
- Initiate the process by filing an application and suporting materials to the correct Ministry.
- The Ministry reviews and issues a recomemendation to the Ministry of The Interior.
- The Ministry of the Interior has a committee of outside people who makes the final decision. If the Committee agrees that you are a high level professional who Taiwan needs and that your naturalization is in Taiwan interests etc, they approve. You get a document to this effect that you include when you aply for naturalization at your local Household Registration Office
- Wrinkle for education: If you are an academic, you must get your university to endorse/recommend you and include that in your documents for the Ministry of Education.
About 50 people naturalized this was last year. The number is increaing a bit every year. Maybe there are more applicants but I think everyone is also slowly getting more comfortable about the process.
Not quite. The ministry issues the recommendation letter directly to you which you then take to the HHRO to include with your application for naturalization. After that your packet is reviewed by the naturalization committee who make the final decision. In practice, denials are rare once you receive the ministry recommendation letter.
I remember now. You are right that Ministry Letter of Recommendation is issued to the applicant. Thanks
It’s my understanding too that committee denials are rare.
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Yes I agree. More people should “apply”. Taiwan needs all the high-level professionals they can get.
More qualified people should apply. Is a teacher in a cram school or local high school or international school in Taiwan going to qualify?
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As I think you know, probably not unless the teacher has been doing other things outside the classroom.
This guy who taught for 37 years was recognized by the Mackay Project, which means he gets certain benefits normally available only to citizen seniors. I believe that this was in fact just an upgrade to his existing permanent residence card.
More than 1/3 of the recognized high level professionals are academics. CEOs, famous stock analysts, inventors, programming gods, cybersecurity experts, and very succesful business people with a long documented track record in Taiwan are other typical recipients.
https://www.sfaa.gov.tw/SFAA/Pages/VDetail.aspx?nodeid=226&pid=2426
well, academics r no cram school teachers. They do research and write papers, not teaching to kids (which should be a very honorable profession itself, but the way it’s done here it’s not)
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It’s great for those who can do so. Also shoots down the MOI’s claim that a single nationality should only be allowed and renunciation kept in place.
One chap on an FB group chat was asking if he qualified by fathering a child from an ROC citizen. He was not happy to find out that this was nothing special.
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But there are interesting cases such as Curtis Smith who received it for his years of activism on cultural preservation issues. He started off as an English teacher back in 1982 and his main gig was being an editor at TAITRA.
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This is good news for all those who want to follow in his path. A few decades of service to Taiwan and become a special person.
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Well, one is not enough. You gotta make a difference to the birth rate!
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Maybe someone like Jonathan Meijer would get citizenship in Taiwan after over 1,000 kids to Taiwanese moms.
Maybe do it in a “natural way?”
So 330 people have been recognized as high level professionals and allowed to naturalize without renouncing their original citizenship. The legal basis is Nationality Act §5 (naturalization) and §9(4) (exemption from renunciation).
The other track is people who have made special contributions (殊勳 shuxun) to Taiwan. Here ‘special’ (殊) is best understood as outstanding and contribution (勳 xun) literally means a medal or award. More broadly, a state-conferred distinction.
The legal basis is Nationality Act §6 (naturalization) and §9(4) (exemption from renunciation).
About 100 people have been able to naturalize this way since 2016. They do not have to renounce original nationality either.
My understanding of the process is that the applicant goes to her local household registration office and applies. Most succesful applicants have been awarded a medal or similar honor by a central government agency. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs’s Friend of Foreign Service Contribution (外交之友貢獻獎). The President’s Order of the Brilliant Star (景星勳章) and the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s Taiwan Medical Contribution Award ( 醫療奉獻獎) are other relevant awards/medals.
The applicant usually submits a dossier detailing his or her contributions to Taiwan. What is a bit different is that up through 2021 or so, the household registration office in some jurisdictions such as New Taipei City would assign caseworkers to help the applicant assemble documentation. This is because the applicants are often very old. My understanding is that these case workers were also supposed to actively look for potential applicants.
The candidate is then reviewed by the Ministry of the Interior and the Executive Yuan.
Most of these special contributions folks were missionaries of some type. But not all.
Also, about 70 people were recognized for their special contributions and naturalized between 2016 and 2018. There was a lot of media publicity. But after that, the numbers have gone down. I believe that only 4-5 were approved in 2023 and 2024.
In contrast, 28 high level professionals were approved in 2023 and another 49 in 2024. All the growth is in the high-level professional category. Most people should be looking at this unless you have done a lot of humanitarian work in Taiwan.
This article might help people understand special contributions category and its application process better.
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I wonder if I can convince Canada to award me the First Annual Montgomery Burns Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Excellence.
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No speshal award for being a moderator on forumosa? No Instant twn passport?
No, that just gives immunity from prosecution.
Surely there is an Order of the Maple Leaf or some such honours.
Would a Kentucky Colonelcy do the trick? I think you can just get a friend to nominate you for one.
There is alway the Sealand’s “honours” system.
https://sealandgov.org/en-au/collections/titles/products/becoming-a-knight?variant=44797545578793