Naturalised ROC citizens travelling to the PRC

Just wondering whether any Forumosans who have acquired ROC citizenship have travelled to China as a ‘Taiwan Compatriot’. Did you get issued a ‘Tai Bao Zheng’ without any problems? Any issues/resistance encountered? Any stories to share?

TFT

[quote=“Taifeitang”]Just wondering whether any Forumosans who have acquired ROC citizenship have travelled to China as a ‘Taiwan Compatriot’. Did you get issued a ‘Tai Bao Zheng’ without any problems? Any issues/resistance encountered? Any stories to share?

TFT[/quote]

No problems at all getting the Tai Bao Zheng. I used Peter at Trump Travel as I also booked with him. Should be 5-7 business days (I got it in 5). I flew into Beijing and entered China with it. You’d stand in the Citizens of China line, not the foreigner line. Chop, chop, chop and you’re in. Funny thing on the exit though, the immigration guard was confused that a Taiwan compatriot would write the exit card in English. He wanted me to write it in Chinese, so I complied :laughing:

No worries, there were lots of Tai Bao Zheng holders entering.

What does having a Taibao Zheng get you that having a visa in a foreign passport doesn’t?

I suppose the obvious one is that you don’t have the hassle of getting a China visa. It’s a freaking pain in the ass especially if you’re a regular visitor. With a Tai Bao Zheng, it’s like having a PRC passport. Cut to the front of the line and no hassles with visas or paying for visas (which can get expensive).

On the other hand, in some areas, locals knowing you’re a Taishan guy, might put a different mark on you than with a foreign passport… :wink:

Can you work?

Hm, I didn’t think about that one…Not sure where to find that one out.

Enviable. Is it as convenient for you to travel elsewhere, YC? Europe, for example, or the US?

[quote=“smithsgj”]Enviable. Is it as convenient for you to travel elsewhere, YC? Europe, for example, or the US?[/quote] Yes, like many overseas Chinese… I, er, got certain built-in advantages :neutral:

You mean you have dual nationality? I didn’t think that was possible (didn’t Poagao have to become stateless first or something?)

There’s been a few posts on this topic in legal. Basically to sum up, one can never lose ROC citizenship if it came before the others. In the case of Poagao and others here, they were non ROC citizens and had to give up their old ones to gain the ROC one. I hear noise that this will be changing in the future in practice if not in law.

I think the OP was especially interested in peeps who were originally American or whatever, acquired ROC citizenship (thereby losing their original citizenship), and travelled to China on a taibaozheng.

If that wasn’t what he meant, I’m interested anyway. Is anyone in that category?

Well, Yellow Cartman (correct me if I’m wrong) is a Huaqiao who gained ROC citizenship. So that answers one side, concerned with citizenship and Taibaozheng issues. But as smithsgj surmises, my intention in asking the question was also to see the reaction of the mainland authorities to a non-ethnic-Chinese person (like Poagao or Sattelite TV) with a Taibaozheng. I mean are they like ‘whitey can’t possibly be Chinese, bugger off you!’ or what? I’m assuming that it’s nigh-on impossible for ‘foreigners’ to get PRC citizenship, so this TBZ-white/black/whatever non-Chinese guy thing must constitute a bit of an oddity to the immigration folks in China.

Thanks by the way, to YC for his comments, which were very helpful too.

TFT

Yeah that’s what I’m thinking. White bloke turns up at China immigration with a Taiwan TBZ is going to get in as a Chinese citizen (which of course under the PRC Constitution, he is!).

But to be Chinese you have to belong to a Chinese nationality don’t you? (Usually Han) I think the only possibility would be Eluosi zu, Russian nationality, or maybe Kazahk or Uighur.

But my point is that technically a white guy with an ROC passport and ID card IS Chinese, at least from this end. The mainland authorities consider ROC citizens to be ‘Taiwan Compatriots’ whether they are Han or Aborigine, so would they look on a white guy the same way? If the PLA came and ‘liberated’ this imprisoned island tomorrow, would Poagao, Satellite TV and the other white Taiwanese be welcomed as Chinese? This is essentially the same question in legal terms as ‘white guy with TBZ goes through customs’. Yellow Cartman isn’t going to get hassle because he looks Chinese, but if I white guy went through the ‘Chinese’ immigration channel, would they kick up a fuss? Could they use the ‘illegitimacy’ of the ROC government to deny you entry? The rationale being that you ain’t Chinese and a government the PRC doesn’t recognise can’t make you Chinese.

I travel to the mainland with work so I’d like to know. I am a British citizen at the moment but I may well consider citizenship here in a couple of years, even if the rumours about Taiwan altering its ‘no dual-nationality’ stance in the future are false.

TFT

TFT’s interesting case question. Unless we all chip in for the Poagao/coolingtower/Sat TV TBZ Discovery episode we might have to guess :slight_smile:

I would like to relate a couple of other stories that might indicate possible reactions. I know of *BCs using Canadian/US passports while entering through the Shenzhen area were “rejected” by the border immigration folks there. One had his passport thrown back at him and said he couldn’t be Canadian.

I think that white folks with TBZs are going to have a helluva time with the border folks.

Hm, I didn’t think about that one…Not sure where to find that one out.[/quote]

I found out Miranda. Yes you can. And you would pay taxes, naturally along the PRC regulations for PRC’ers.

My limited understanding is that with a TBZ, it’s supposed to make the TBZ holder transition into PRC “seamless” as compared to the true foreigner with foreign passport.

I suppose that does convey actual advantages for the TBZ holder working and doing business in PRC.

Hm, I didn’t think about that one…Not sure where to find that one out.[/quote]

I found out Miranda. Yes you can. And you would pay taxes, naturally along the PRC regulations for PRC’ers.

My limited understanding is that with a TBZ, it’s supposed to make the TBZ holder transition into PRC “seamless” as compared to the true foreigner with foreign passport.

I suppose that does convey actual advantages for the TBZ holder working and doing business in PRC.[/quote]

It does indeed. However it robs you of your consular protection, such as it is, if someone takes a dislike to you.

I wonder if it enables local bank accounts, access to locally-sourced funds, and local-use property…

It would be very interesting to see if the PSB at the border will look behind the TBZ to investigate the ethnicity of the holder. It’s worth remembering that the border chaps hate everyone equally, and as well as telling xBCs that they’re PRC citizens, they delight in taking away the PRC citizenship of those PRC people who have become naturalised citizens of other countries. They’re just there to cause as much grief as possible.

I’ll have to disagree with most folks posting here. My bet is that aside from a double take by the passport inspector, a few questions and perhaps being pulled aside for an interview by a curious immigration officer, a non-ethnic Chinese ROC citizen with TBZ would be able to go straight through immigration.

A lot of you seem to be forgeting that there are enough non-Han naturalized PRC citizens for the government to have already briefed their immigration officers about this sort of thing. There are also a few dozen non-Chinese HK residents, most of whom are South Asians, who have taken Chinese nationality. I’ve heard no reports of them having trouble at the border.

I think a lot of you are also a bit off about the PRC’s attitude about naturalized citizens. It is extremely hard for a non-Chinese foreigner to naturalize, but it has probably been possible for a lot longer than non-Chinese have been naturalizing as ROC citizens. There is a very noticeable trend of political correctness on the mainland about this sort of thing. I’m not saying that there isn’t a great deal of prejudice in some quarters, but most educated mainlanders I’ve talked to about this are all for allowing foreigners to naturalize. However, most of them thought any foreigner who did so would have to be insane.

Like all of you, though, I am quite curious to see how it would go if Paogao, Cooling Tower or Satellite TV tried to cross at Luohu. Any one of you three want to come over to HK and go up to Shenzhen for a drink? Plenty of space on our floor for you to crash on.

Well. There we have it. I wonder why we were all implicitly saying that a white person had as much chance of becoming a PRC citizen as taking on I guess Burmese or Libyan nationality?

But who are these non-Han (I suppose you mean like non-Han and non-anyotherChineseethnicity) Chinese people? Can you say more, cos I’m curious!

I’ve never quite understood what motivated the white Forumosan ROC citizens to go for naturalization, I have to say. Being stateless for a few months? Going to Taiwanese boot camp? Losing their Western nationality and having to get a visitor visa to go home? For me, the possibility of drinks in Shenzhen with the ever eloquent and well-informed Jive Turkey just might clinch it, however. :rainbow: