I’ve been taking the Chinese classes through the local community colleges in Zhongshan and Datong districts in Taipei and have already collected two certificates for taking them. Zhongshan District Community College also has a class for local culture which also counts towards the citizenship requirement. They are all free to spouses of citizens, and pretty cheap for others (something like $1000 each term). I’m taking the classes to improve my Chinese but if you are only interested in the certificate, you pretty much just have to show up. Classes are starting back up on early September so check your local community college (usually located at a local elementary/junior/high school) for details. If you aren’t sure where it is, ask your local household registration office where the “new immigrant” classes are held.
If you want to take the test, get the booklet with all the questions, both for the oral and written test. I got mine at what is known now as the Immigration Office, used to be the Entry and Exit Bureau.
I’d like to take the new immigrants classes -just for the cooking class I saw on TV-, but near my school they are during the daytime…
Jlick and Icon, thank you for the advice! I did get the booklet, but as it is written only in Chinese, there is absolutely no way for me to study it on my own. My only option is to go for the classes. The HHO has given me a whole list of places in Taoyuan City where I can go for the classes. There is one at an elementary school quite close to my school that starts in September. I’m not sure which evenings yet, because they are on vacation at the moment.
I can’t read Chinese and I got 90% or something in that test. I know some characters, and I can speak. Learn a few characters and get someone to help you with the test booklet and you’ll pass. There’s only 200 questions. Memorise the answers. Look for shortcuts. (EG out of the 26 questions where one of the options is ‘All of the Above’, that is the correct answer for 25 of them).
Then again, if taking spouse language courses is a practical option for you, go for it. I’d love to do some if they were at a decent time.
As Coolingtower said. The HR woman was wrong about militray service. I went nextdoor to the conscription office and got the answer, which is 36 (roughly speaking - it’s based on whether you turn 36 that year or something).
Thanks Brian! I think I’ll sleep a lot easier tonight.
I’m actually looking forward to the “spouse” language classes. I’ve been in Taiwan for nearly 6 years now and I’ve actually never had the time to study Chinese. I think I’m in the same boat as a lot of other people in that I can help myself, language wise, in everyday situations, but not in others. These 200 hours can only do me good, I think. They do start at 7pm and I work until 7:30pm every day, but if I need to give up some hours in order to do this, I will.
Coolingtower the documentations seems to be more or less the same as with yours:
Application form
Entry/exit certificate (from local NIA)
Home country criminal record
Taiwan criminal record
Tax certificate for the last year
The test results or course certificates (200 hours)
As I wrote in my original post, I needed these 7 things:
An entry/exit document.
A document from your employer(s) (Tzai Tze Tzen Ming).
Proof of residence (Ju Liu Tzen Ming).
Local police report with “no convictions”. (Jin Tsa Ju Tzeng Ming).
A copy of your most recent tax report, if you are a legal worker.
Copies of your current ARC and passport.
A copy of your police report from your original country.
I didn’t include “application form”, because I guess I was assuming that that was “too obvious”. haha. Our lists differ on these points:
-You need the test results, and I didn’t. This is common knowledge now.
-I needed a “proof of residence” document from the police station, and you didn’t list one.
-I needed proof of employment from my workplace(s), and you didn’t list one.
-You need a document that proves you are stateless? HUH?
The last one kills me. I thought that turning in the big 7 or 8 documents gave you a document that you would “obtain nationality based on loss of original nationality within one year.” It seems very odd to me that they (either Taiwan or your original country) would let you become stateless without any guarantee of becoming a national here afterward.
I had to take that document (準歸化中華民國國籍證明–“Preparing for nationalization to ROC.”) and have it translated to English and notarized in order for the US State Department to allow me to renounce. The document the AIT sent to the State Department even said that I would receive “quasi-nationality” upon renunciation. I don’t want to know why they added the quasi, but.
I would look into this, A-ha. It seems unlikely you will need “proof of being stateless” for this step.
[quote]The ministry said on Wednesday that all conscripts, including foreign spouses, were treated equally in the military and could only be exempted from military service based on a doctor’s recommendation.
Lin Han-wen (林漢文), a Civil Affairs Department official at the Taichung City Government, suggested that foreign men in their early or mid-30s delay their naturalization until they reach 36.
The Military Service Act (兵役法) exempts men from the draft from Dec. 31 of the year during which they turn 36.[/quote]
It is obvious Ms Tsai at my HHO didn’t have a clue when she spoke about military duty because she also told my friend (34 and married to a citizen) that we wouldn’t have to do military service. She was probably trying to be helpful.
Stuff like this getting thrown around by government ‘officials’ is very dangerous and once your case is sorted I would very much hope someone will have a few words with the woman.
I can’t read Chinese and I got 90% or something in that test. I know some characters, and I can speak. Learn a few characters and get someone to help you with the test booklet and you’ll pass. There’s only 200 questions. Memorise the answers. Look for shortcuts. (EG out of the 26 questions where one of the options is ‘All of the Above’, that is the correct answer for 25 of them).
Then again, if taking spouse language courses is a practical option for you, go for it. I’d love to do some if they were at a decent time.
As Coolingtower said. The HR woman was wrong about militray service. I went nextdoor to the conscription office and got the answer, which is 36 (roughly speaking - it’s based on whether you turn 36 that year or something).
Brian[/quote]
I can’t speak or read chinese, but just for fun I took the language exam yesterday in Tamshui. Of course I did some “reviewing” and like brian said, if there is a choice that says all of the above, it is the correct answer. and all questions that requires a yes or no answer is always answerable by yes, unless the questions starts with the word 是不是 where the correct answer is no. Unfortunately, there where only two questions with the all of the above options and 1 yes or no question in my test paper. Tough Luck! Tonight I got the result of my language exam and to my surprise, I got 75%. Of course I still don’t know if I passed or not since I can’t find any info in this forum regarding this. Anywayz, not bad for an “ignoramus” in the chinese language eh!
70% is the pass rate if you are single, spouses and children of Taiwan citizens must have 60% and applicants at the age of 65% require a test score of above 50% in order to pass.
[quote=“A-ha”]70% is the pass rate if you are single, spouses and children of Taiwan citizens must have 60% and applicants at the age of 65% require a test score of above 50% in order to pass.
Congratulations on your 75%! [/quote]
thanks for the info. i’m married, but not to a local. so i guess i can start to prepare my papers now to apply for taiwan nationality. if i had known i would pass the exam, i wouldn’t have wasted paying NT$10,000 for my APRC! but i guess i was just lucky
am new to this forum and need help in getting Taiwanese citizenship…have been here since the past 16 yrs have got my own business and also have a PRC since the past 3 years…am still single though and will turn 39 next March
i have read all the posts but am still confused…i really don’t know from where i should start…hope you guys can help me out…
thanks a lot Jim…i just want to make double sure that you don’t need to be married to an ROC citizen to be eligible for citizenship…generally how long does the whole procedure take?? i know in each case it will be different but just wanted to get a rough idea and get myself mentally prepared…
have faced a lot of problems when i had just come here…in those days it was really difficult even getting Work permit…
Well, for starters, read the law and others experiences. I haven’t done it (planning to in 2 years), but I’ve done a lot of reading and from what I can guess, its a process that will take a some odd months due to getting paperwork verified and the like. You also don’t need to be married.
There’s also the financial requirements and passing the Chinese test.
After these some odd months, you’ll be a national, not a citizen. I think it was like a year or something later that you get your citizenship, id card, passport, drafting…^^
thanks…i have read all the posts and am ready to go ahead with the process…my main concern was " being married to a ROC citizen"…paperwork is not a problem for me because i have gone thru a lot of hell in the past and frankly speaking now the procedure ( hope so !! ) is much simpler…
will share my experiences on the forum once i get everything done…
[quote=“speed_maniac”]thanks a lot Jim…i just want to make double sure that you don’t need to be married to an ROC citizen to be eligible for citizenship…generally how long does the whole procedure take?? I know in each case it will be different but just wanted to get a rough idea and get myself mentally prepared…
have faced a lot of problems when I had just come here…in those days it was really difficult even getting Work permit…[/quote]
Marriage has never been a requirement. Gov Attache and I both got ROC Nationality being single.
How long… welcome to the land of the long unavailable reply. Ages, eons, probably 18 months to get your ID card.
thanks Jim,…was at the household registration office this afternoon and got the details…had to register for the oral / written exam ( i choose the oral one of course ) which will be held on Nov 16th…
regarding the docs since I have a PRC I do not need to prepare the following
Taiwan police clearance certificate
Entry / Exit document showing that I have been in Taiwan for 183 days a year
Job / work certificates showing my yearly income etc
In fact besides getting the Police clearance certificate from my country the rest of the paperwork can we done in a day or two…of course the Language test certificate will only be obtained after I pass the test…they did mention that since I had a PRC for over 3 yrs most of the document work is going to be pretty straight forward in my case…still keeping my fingers crossed though !!
It seems they have changed some rules again in Feb 2008…
Regarding the time period I was checking the information they gave me and nowhere did it say that after I get the ROC passport I need to wait for 1 year before I can get the ID card…I know most of you guys did have to wait…I will check with them again tomorrow because they are just hop skip and jump from where I work…
btw how good or bad have things been for you since you got your ROC citizenship and specially your ID card???
and like brian said, if there is a choice that says all of the above, it is the correct answer. and all questions that requires a yes or no answer is always answerable by yes, unless the questions starts with the word 是不是 where the correct answer is no. Unfortunately, there where only two questions with the all of the above options and 1 yes or no question in my test paper. Tough Luck! Tonight I got the result of my language exam and to my surprise, I got 75%. Of course I still don’t know if I passed or not since I can’t find any info in this forum regarding this. Anywayz, not bad for an “ignoramus” in the chinese language eh!
Sorry, that should obviously be “at the age of 65…”