Hello,
Does anyone know the requirement or the legality in obtaining a Taiwanese passport based on being ethnically Chinese?
My grandparents were originally from china. And immigrated to Vietnam because of the Japanese , Chinese war.
My father was born in Vietnam and so was I.
We then immigrated to the United Stated because of the American Vietnam war.
Now reside in the United States
Did your paternal grandfather have a Republic of China passport to facilitate travel from China to Vietnam?
Have a read of this Wikipedia article: Taiwan passport - Wikipedia
Pay particular attention to the Eligibility for Taiwan passports section.
Therefore, for a person to obtain a ROC passport, one of the following must normally apply:
The person first obtained proof of ROC nationality before 1949, when the ROC controlled the Mainland Area; or
The person first obtained a ROC passport or a Certificate of Overseas Chinese status before 1 July 1997 as a resident of Hong Kong, or before 20 December 1999 as resident of Macau; or
The person first obtained a ROC passport before 2002, as an Overseas-born Chinese, on the basis of Chinese ethnicity, before the Passport Act Enforcement Rules were revised to prevent this; or
The person obtained an ROC passport after emigrating overseas from the Mainland Area [Passport Act Enforcement Rules, Article 18];[16] or
The person obtained an ROC passport after emigrating overseas from Hong Kong or Macau, whilst not holding a foreign passport other than a BN(O) passport [Passport Act Enforcement Rules, Article 19], or after being born overseas to a parent who so emigrated;[16] or
The person has an ancestor in one of the previous categories (i.e. the ancestor actually obtained the ROC document, as opposed to merely having the right to do so), and the chain of descent is through the male line until the 1980s.
The first point and the last point is what applies to you.
To get a Taiwanese passport, you need your grandfather’s passport or any other proof of ROC nationality together with proof of descent from your grandfather. Your birth certificate together with your father’s birth certificate should suffice.
If your grandparents had passports they would look something like this (from ROC passport « THE HUNTER ):
Rather than stating going to China, Hong Kong and Straits Settlements it will state going to Vietnam.
So you need to ask your father to get his birth certificate from Vietnam and to get his father’s travel documents from when your grandparents immigrated from China to Vietnam. The easiest part will be getting your birth certificate which you can do yourself.
Only with all of these documents will you be able to get a ROC Passport (ie Taiwanese passport).
If successful you will obtain official status as a national without household registration (NWHOR) and your ROC (Taiwan) passport will be issued as such, reflected by the absence of a national ID number in the passport and no automatic right of residence in the Taiwan area, which has implications for travel abroad and visa issuances.
Refer to this Wikipedia article for more details about NWHOR status: National without household registration - Wikipedia
Despite this limitation, if you can get a Taiwanese passport you should absolutely do it if nothing more for the journey of going through all of the formalities and the sense of achievement you will have at the end of it. You will also make it much easier for your future (or current?) children to get a Taiwanese passport.