Does anyone know if it worthwhile to contact the AIT (or similar consular offices) on this issue or will they be pretty hands off?
This has been discussed in a few other threads. Itâs up to the hospital to decide whether they even want to accommodate you by providing you with an English birth certificate at all, let alone one with a non-transliterated English name.
The solution provided in the other threads is to call the hospital in advance (before the birth of your child) and ask if they provide this service. Some do, but some do not. It seems you were unlucky.
One thing I can tell you for sure is the HHR office cannot print any name (regardless of language) on the childâs HHR unless itâs already on some kind of official document (usually birth certificate, but school certificates also work). It is definitely 100% up to the hospital to initially provide that name (or the childâs school, when they eventually attend school).
Not necessarily true. With some pushing they have been known to print any name you want if the hospital agrees to provide the birth certificate with that name on after the HHR certificate has been printed.
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AIT has no rights in Taiwan with matters of ROC citizens.
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Perhaps you could try writing out a declaration that your childâs name is XXXX, sign it and have it verified by a court, and take that to both the hospital and the HHRO and see if either will accept it
That is another idea for the suggestion list, thanks!
I understand that, but if a hospital policy stops an American from claiming their baby under their citizenship, it sounds like there is at the least a gray area to operate, or at least advise.
Giving your child a transliterated English name wouldnât affect their ability to claim US citizenship, would it?
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Fair point, though it would mean I donât get to name my child. The longest workaround would be doing this and then doing all the filing for name changes, so obviously I would prefer the hospital just be more accommodating.
We chose the newest, largest childrenâs hospital in Hsinchu and didnât even think this particular step would be an issue with all the foreign labor in the science park, but apparentlyâŚnot the case.
Long shot, but does your wife have any aboriginal in her? If so you may be able to get a non Pinyin name that way.
You could always get the US passport with the Pinyin name first, and then just change your childâs name in the US.
Yeah, thatâs the fallback. Thanks!
She doesnât have proof of it. Guess it was awhile back.
The hospital is not stopping a child of an American from claiming US citizenship. In fact you donât even need to use the Chinese name for US citizenship do you?
Why not? Child can use your name as the parent on a US passport. On my sons Taiwan birth certificate we had his Chinese name and his " foreign name " on it. Best of both worlds.
Unfortunately, the CRBA document list on the AIT website makes a point of saying that the English names used on the HRT will be the ones used for the report and the passport. The hospital says they will give us an English birth certificate, but they will only allow a transliterated name of my daughterâs given Chinese name, not the chosen English name. They will only allow for the chosen name to be placed if the HRT shows the chosen English name. But the HRT office will not do this for us unless we provide a birth certificate with the chosen name. Thus, a Catch-22 situation.
What you describe in your other post is true: it is perfectly possible to put the chosen English name and chosen Chinese together on a passport. In fact, several of my friends showed me proof with their children.
Unfortunately, we didnât go to the hospitals they went to, so they are surprised as we are that the hospital is stonewalling us on this. Itâs also why I didnât think to ask if the hospital had name issues, because a variety of friends going to different hospitals never brought it up as an issue.
Well if no English name on the HHR then ask AIT will they let you use your family surname on your childâs passport. A child can have two different names for two different nationalities.
My son has âforeignerâ name is his foreign passport from me and Chinese name in his Taiwan passport from his mothers side.
Thatâs worth a shot, especially given these circumstances. Iâll put it on the list of things to ask the AIT next week. Thanks!
It took some time, but we had success in the end! I had to go back and forth a half dozen times between the hospital and the HR office, updating the Household Registry transcript each time with a more correct English name.
The stickiest point was when the Household Registration office was refusing to add even the transliterated name of my daughter, saying there was no line for such a thing. I called the AIT and someone there was able to explain to the HR clerks what it was I needed and why, and that it could indeed be done.
So after about four weeks, alls well that ends well. Thanks to everyone who weighed in earlier, itâs nice to know youâre not alone when this stuff happens.
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Australia told me they can only take what is listed on my daughters English birth certificate. So she has no chinese name on her passport, only English