How can I become a Taiwanese Citizen

I’ve only just started researching this stuff so please excuse my ignorance.

My gf and I want to move to Taiwan when we graduate. Her parents and sister live there and she is a citizen.

I would like to move there with her and teach English using my BA which i am studying for.

From what I’ve read it seems that the best way to get secured over there is to become a citizens so that I can get a Residency Work Permit.

If I marry my GF will I have to wait 5 years to become a citizen or is it automatic? Also if its not automatic what kind of permit and visa do I need? Also will I need to be leaving the country periodicly to renew the visa?

I know its a lot of questions but it would really be helpful if you could help.

Thanks a lot!

-IAN-

After you’re married you (can) get a resident visa based on Joining family. When you have that you can continuosly stay (you just need to renew it every 1/3 years). After 5 years you can get an APRC/Passport, but that’s five+ years away. No need to think about that too much now. :wink:

If you do get married, take the time to figure out all the proper paper work you’d need to bring when coming over (there are some really good threads about that around here somewhere).

Paperwork won’t be as hard as buying a diamond ring, hahaha! So I guess being married would make things a lot easier for me. It seems really scary to have to deal with renewing visiting visas and illegal working conditions. I’m not brave enough for all that, not yet at least.

If I can get the residency visa I would feel a lot more comfortable moving there.

Thanks a lot for helping!

-IAN-

If you become a citizen, scary dealing with renewing visas and illegal working conditions will be replaced by scary renunciation of your original citizenship and possibly scary military draft. (Unless you look Taiwanese, then you can have both citizenships).

Just sayin’.

How/why does that work?

If your ancestry is Taiwanese, you’re automatically considered an ROC citizen, and since it’s the order that counts, i.e., if you are an ROC citizen first, then you can have another citizenship. That’s why there are so many dual citizens here. If you have another citizenship first, you have to renounce that citizenship before you can obtain ROC citizenship.

But there are many threads on this already, with advice from people like Coolingtower and Satellite TV who have more current experience with the process than I have (even Hartzell tried to do it at one point, as I understand), so I suggest the OP do a search to find out more.

[quote=“Poagao”]If your ancestry is Taiwanese, you’re automatically considered an ROC citizen, and since it’s the order that counts, i.e., if you are an ROC citizen first, then you can have another citizenship. That’s why there are so many dual citizens here. If you have another citizenship first, you have to renounce that citizenship before you can obtain ROC citizenship.

But there are many threads on this already, with advice from people like Coolingtower and Satellite TV who have more current experience with the process than I have (even Hartzell tried to do it at one point, as I understand), so I suggest the OP do a search to find out more.[/quote]

I didn’t realise Taiwan wouldn’t allow dual citizenship. US does though right?

[quote=“Ian_Alexander”][quote=“Poagao”]If your ancestry is Taiwanese, you’re automatically considered an ROC citizen, and since it’s the order that counts, i.e., if you are an ROC citizen first, then you can have another citizenship. That’s why there are so many dual citizens here. If you have another citizenship first, you have to renounce that citizenship before you can obtain ROC citizenship.

But there are many threads on this already, with advice from people like Coolingtower and Satellite TV who have more current experience with the process than I have (even Hartzell tried to do it at one point, as I understand), so I suggest the OP do a search to find out more.[/quote]

I didn’t realise Taiwan wouldn’t allow dual citizenship. US does though right?[/quote]

Taiwan allows it for people who first have ROC citizenship, but requires others to renounce their original citizenship. AFAIK, on paper, the US also has rules against dual citizenship, but they are not strictly enforced and many cases are allowed. Every country has different rules on this. Japan, for example, is quite strict.

Taiwan does allow dual citizenship, so long as your official “first” citizenship is Taiwanese. Which is to say, if you’re American and want Taiwanese citizenship and American, you need to give up your American citizenship, get Taiwanese citizenship, then reclaim American citizenship, so that officially you’d be a Taiwanese with American citizenship, rather than an American with Taiwanese citizenship, if you see the difference.

I’m not sure about that, are you? :slight_smile:

Well I googled this guys page that had a lot of cool info for us Americans (and just cool info in general).

richw.org/dualcit/

Well, I’m as sure as someone who doesn’t know if America actually allows dual citizen can be :laughing: Basically what I said is what I’ve seen said around here a lot, I figured I’d just reiterate :laughing:

Coolio. I was wondering what people were saying around here a lot. The US does allow dual-citizenship now and it looks like you only lose it when you call up the US (or go to an office) and say “You guys suck, I’m Taiwanese now.” (or something like that).

Uh folks, let’s backtrack here. You guys went from 0 to Gforces in 3.6 seconds.

Ian wants to join his girlfriend, teach english and be legal all at the same time. While the citizenship stuff is nice and all, it is overkill to talk about it as he doesn’t need it to accomplish all three goals.

Ian, once you have your BA, you can get an English teaching job with a school. Once you’ve found a job, the school will sponsor a work permit and allow you to obtain a work-based ARC (alien resident certificate). This allows you to stay here and work as a teacher. You move here, be with your girlfriend and teach at the same time (and live happily hopefully).

If between now and graduating, you and your gf decide to get married, congratulations! Then you would obtain a resident visa based on marriage, what is called a JFRV (joining family resident visa). Then the ARC you get will be a marriage-based ARC. Once you have that, then you can obtain a job here without a work permit sponsored by your school/employer.

Then after many many years of marital bliss, you can consider becoming a Taiwan citizen. As Poagao says, the process does at the moment require a renunciation of previous citizenship process. Which would then make you eligible for the fun opportunity of serving for the ROC military. If you’re unlucky, you might draw lots and end up in Matsu or Jingmen… but we’re a bit ahead of ourselves.

Anyways, if you need further assistance, contact ML McLean and someone will help you.

Good luck.

Ian got all his questions aswered, so now me, P and T took over :smiley:

How long till you graduate Ian?

Thanks a lot Yellow Cartman, that was very helpful and easy to understand.

Considering this is my first thread it sure is active.

I have about a year, I may have to take summer courses again next year. I’m a graphic design student so its hard to get a lot of classes at once since you have to spend more hours outside of class and also studio classes are long and not even offered every semester.

I was orriginally going to be an Art teacher here so I guess being an English teacher in Taiwan isn’t entirely off-track for me.

You’re welcome. Glad to help.

[quote=“Ian_Alexander”]
I was orriginally going to be an Art teacher here so I guess being an English teacher in Taiwan isn’t entirely off-track for me.[/quote]

In this case, if you wish to be sponsored for a specialized area of work, you’ll have to show history, education/certification in this area. Otherwise, you might hit some bureaucratic obstacles. Teaching English is the easiest although marriage is really the easiest as there’s practically no restrictions on where you work.

[quote=“Yellow Cartman”]

Teaching English is the easiest although marriage is really the easiest as there’s practically no restrictions on where you work.[/quote]

If I’m gonna go to Taiwan to be with her then it seems I’m dedicated enough for marriage. I just hope things are still like this a year from now when I really have to make the decision.

[quote=“Poagao”]

AFAIK, on paper, the US also has rules against dual citizenship, but they are not strictly enforced and many cases are allowed.[/quote]
To my knowledge, this is false and has been so at least since the passage of the 14th amendment. The US does not prohibit dual citizenship even for people whose second citizenship is that of a country considered to be an enemy of the US. There are no US laws against dual citizenship. As with every country, there are laws that may cause inconvience to dual citizens (i.e. tax laws and laws reguarding military service), but there are no laws that prohibit dual citizenship. On State Department documents related to dual citizenship, the Department “discourages” dual citizenship as it may create situations of ambiguity that could cause problems for the dual citizen, but nowhere in currently effective State Department documents is it said that dual citizenship is not allowed.

In the past, naturalized citizens who retained their original citizenship from another country ran the risk of losing their US citizenship if they resided outside the US for an extended period, but to my knowledge this is no longer the case. Dual citizens or US citizens married to dual citizens are not allowed to take up certain kinds of work in the Federal Government, i.e. work at the NSA, CIA or DoD. In certain circumstances, i.e. serving in a foreign military, dual citizens may lose their US citizenship. Nevertheless, there are no laws that prohibit dual citizenship. It seems to be a commonly accepted fallacy that the US does not allow dual citizenship.

[quote=“Jive Turkey”][quote=“Poagao”]

AFAIK, on paper, the US also has rules against dual citizenship, but they are not strictly enforced and many cases are allowed.[/quote]
To my knowledge, this is false and has been so at least since the passage of the 14th amendment. The US does not prohibit dual citizenship even for people whose second citizenship is that of a country considered to be an enemy of the US. There are no US laws against dual citizenship. As with every country, there are laws that may cause inconvience to dual citizens (i.e. tax laws and laws reguarding military service), but there are no laws that prohibit dual citizenship. On State Department documents related to dual citizenship, the Department “discourages” dual citizenship as it may create situations of ambiguity that could cause problems for the dual citizen, but nowhere in currently effective State Department documents is it said that dual citizenship is not allowed.

In the past, naturalized citizens who retained their original citizenship from another country ran the risk of losing their US citizenship if they resided outside the US for an extended period, but to my knowledge this is no longer the case. Dual citizens or US citizens married to dual citizens are not allowed to take up certain kinds of work in the Federal Government, i.e. work at the NSA, CIA or DoD. In certain circumstances, i.e. serving in a foreign military, dual citizens may lose their US citizenship. Nevertheless, there are no laws that prohibit dual citizenship. It seems to be a commonly accepted fallacy that the US does not allow dual citizenship.[/quote]

I stand corrected. Thanks.

travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_t … _1753.html