I’ve just stumbled upon this site and think it’s excellent.
I’m a kiwi bloke married to a Taiwanese girl and we’ve recently found out that she’s pregnant.
I’m looking for anyone from NZ that has been through the processes that come with having a baby in Taiwan (and yes, I know how they are conceived). From the information that I’ve already gathered it seems simple enough but as most foreigners in Taiwan are aware the Taiwan side of things can be a bit of a task. Since we arrived we’ve been through alot of paperwok and I’m sure having a baby here is no exception.
The NZ cultural office has informed us that we should choose a hospital that the NZ govt. has approved, this sounds rediculous to me and is of concern. I’ve called the NZ Govt. and they didn’t think this was the case.
Any thoughts?
If there are any relevant threads here that someone has read that would also be helpful.
You child can be born in any location… not just NZ approved hospitals.
Fill out the Birth Certificate with Fathers Passport name and Mothers Passport name and ID Number. Then register your child and the NZ office for NZ Citizenship.
If you child is a boy you may not want ROC Nationality because of military service so don’t register him on the Household Registraion and he will not be an ROC National.
If you have an ARC you do not have to take your child out of TAiwan to get an ARC. Just take your ond childs passport and birth certificate to FAP and have them add childs name to your ARC.
Congratulations Snapper. That’s great news. My girl is 4 months old and it’s a great experience. After a crappy day in the office or the irritation of arguing with people on this forum about George dumbfuck Bush, there’s nothing better than going home to play with your baby and seeing the intense joy that you bring to her/him.
Unless there has been another change in the law since my son was born just over a year ago, a child born in Taiwan to an ROC parent must take ROC citizenship and will not be permitted to leave Taiwan except on an ROC passport. (I found this out at the airport, when they refused to accept a US travel document.) If you do not want your son to face mandatory military service, you should consider going to NZ for the birth.
If you do have the baby in Taiwan (in Taipei), try Cathay General. We have been pleased with their facilities and service.
Thanks for the help!
I’ve read through alot of the posts in this forum now and realize that there are alot of things to consider when having a baby in Taiwan. It’s good to know there’s a decent community here and I’m sure I’ll utilise it in the future… Thanks again.
Interesting. When my daughter was born 10 months ago, we got an English and Chinese birth certificate from the hospital. We then went and registered her at the Australian Defacto Embassy and got her her Aussie passport. She received her passport before we even applied for her Taiwanese one. I really don’t recall registering her on our Taiwanese Household Registry until after we had received her Aussie Citizenship by descent and her Aussie passport. That would mean it would be possible for us to (in the case of being a boy) not even register her in Taiwan and sneaking out of the country without ROC citizenship, wouldn’t it. We had a girl, so it doesn’t matter anyway - she’s a dual national, but is it really impossible to do that. Disclaimer, maybe one of the required docs for the Aussie citizenship was her Household registry form but I can’t remeber it being so.
Interesting. When my daughter was born 10 months ago, we got an English and Chinese birth certificate from the hospital. We then went and registered her at the Australian Defacto Embassy and got her her Aussie passport. She received her passport before we even applied for her Taiwanese one. I really don’t recall registering her on our Taiwanese Household Registry until after we had received her Aussie Citizenship by descent and her Aussie passport. That would mean it would be possible for us to (in the case of being a boy) not even register her in Taiwan and sneaking out of the country without ROC citizenship, wouldn’t it. We had a girl, so it doesn’t matter anyway - she’s a dual national, but is it really impossible to do that. Disclaimer, maybe one of the required docs for the Aussie citizenship was her Household registry form but I can’t remeber it being so.[/quote]
Even if you had a son with dual nationality and didn’t want him to serve in the military, you don’t have to worry about that for at least another 14-16 years… that’s when the govt would be more likely to keep him from exiting.
Keep in mind also that even if your child exited with an ROC passport (if that really is mandatory) s/he could re-enter with an NZ passport, right?
My baby will exit Taiwan temporarily in a month and, based on what we read, we assumed she will need to leave on her Taiwan passport, but she should re-enter on her US passport. But I’ve forgotten what I read about this previously. Won’t she then need to obtain a visa? How does a 6 month-old obtain a visa? Hopefully she doesn’t need a work permit.
Where did you read that MT. We’ll be going back home for a holiday come Summer and it makes sense to exit from here on her Taiwanese one, enter Aus on her Aus one, exit on the same and enter Taiwan on her Taiwanese one - otherwise she’d only get a 14 day landing visa at CKS airport.
[quote=“archinasia”]Unless there has been another change in the law since my son was born just over a year ago, a child born in Taiwan to an ROC parent must take ROC citizenship and will not be permitted to leave Taiwan except on an ROC passport. (I found this out at the airport, when they refused to accept a US travel document.)
My son was born here to an ROC parent yet he travels onhis foreign passport as he has no ROC nationality… both parents do…
There is no law that says you must take out ROC nationality… it’s an option not an obligation.
People in the government offices make claims that are simply not true. I was told I coudnt become and ROC national because I didnt have a ROC spouse… I was single… yet I became an ROC national…
Damn Satellite, you’ve done heaps of cool shit. Let’s have a beer amd talk about Gilly flogging the paki’s and Hawthorn’s poor form this year. next time you’re in town. pm me mate, Amos.
[quote]There is no law that says you must take out ROC nationality… it’s an option not an obligation.
[/quote] I am only reporting what has happened to me. I was told in no uncertain terms by the authorities enforcing the laws that this is no longer a choice. My son was not allowed to leave until we got him an ROC passport. We were told that we could renounce his citizenship, but we didn’t want to make that (permanent) decision on his behalf. When the ROC refused to let our son leave the country, we talked to a lot of government people and people who work in the legal system. All agreed that the only realistic option was to get him an ROC passport as quickly as possible. (I read elsewhere on forumosa that one of the posters went so far as to smuggle his newborn son out of the country to avoid getting him an ROC passport. However, we didn’t have the time or resources to pull that off.)
Anyone who deals with the government here is aware of that. But, experienced expats also get confused sometimes, usually because we assume that the laws (and the way they are enforced) are fairly static. Policies governing children born to ROC/foreign parents have been particularly volatile over the last few years.
We had four children between 1996 and 2003 and there were four different policies in place when they were born. The policies were as follows (if I remember correctly):
1: No rights to citizenship for children of foreign fathers.
2. ROC citizenship possible with application.
3. ROC citizenship possible. Child must use Father’s Chinese surname.
4. ROC citizenship automatic.
The last change was implemented specifically to “get even” with foreigners for meddling and insisting on the right to ROC citizenship for their children. The foreign affairs police officer laughed when she told me “You asked for it, You got it.”
Does Chang Geng (spelling?) hosptial on Dun Hwa N Road provide both an english version of birth cert and Chinese version of the birth cert?
I have asked the doctor, and the adminsitration there and got answer saying " we probabily do"
My wife is due in November and I would like two birth certs for the following reason
We want to enter her (the baby’s) English name on the english birth cert and then, after my father in law goes to the temple to get the name, enter her Chinese name on the Chinese birth cert.
the reasoning is as follows
We can then register her ( the baby) in Taiwan as a Taiwanese citizen and register in Ireland through the foreign births register as Irish using the english version of the birth cert. She will then have two names one identifying here as an Irish citizen and the other as a Taiwanese citizen.
(I think you cannot use an English name when registering a child as Taiwanese??)
On the other hand we want to give her an english name and not a phonetic translation of her Chinese name on the English translation of the Chinese birth cert if the hospital only issues a Chinese version of the birth cert
One more thing is the way I want to go about this correct or am I over complicating the way to do it?
We did like you want to: Chinese name for local registration, completely separate English name for overseas registration. It shouldn’t be a problem.
I would ask the hospital again and ask to see a sample English certificate. When my son was born, they (different hospital to yours) were quite helpful about the English one - checking with me first that it looked OK, and had the English name we wanted, before printing it out. You’ll also want to check with the Irish trade office (or whatever they’re called) what they require- for the UK they also needed a signed statement from Mum & Dad that we really were the parents; they also advised that we apply for a passport at the same time as registering the birth (photo, more forms, …).
For the Chinese birth certificate, I’m pretty sure it won’t have any name on it at all - it’s only when you register the birth at your (wife’s) household registration that they ask you to use a (Chinese) name. When we got a Taiwanese passport for our son, it had his Chinese name (in Chinese), his Chinese name (romanised via Wade-Giles), and an ‘also known as’ field where we put his English name
If you’re talking about ChangGung (spelling?) hospital on TunHwa N. Rd, the answer is probably yes. I know we received an English birth certificate there in February and I don’t recall whether we also received a Chinese one, but seeing as that’s what 99.9% of the parents would be after, that should be no problem.
Okay, maybe this is off topic, but… My wife and I both have US passports. We are having our first child this December. Now, our child will automatically get US citizenship at birth. Technically, isn’t our child an illegal alien? She did not “enter” Taiwan on a visa. How is her status determined? How does the Taiwan government deal with this situation?
(I assume that you and your wife are “single nationals” … )
According to the Immigration Law, you should apply for the child’s ARC within fifteen days of birth.
Practically speaking however, in most cases, the Police will not accept your application unless you have a valid passport for the child.
Realistically speaking however, I doubt that you can get a passport for the child from AIT within fifteen days.
Hence, you should go to the Foreign Affairs Police Station, where you live, (with passport size photos of the child in hand) … shortly after the child’s birth, and try to get this matter straightened out.
