But you do get your name on the birth certificate, don’t you?
It’s not the first time I’ve come across this claim (outside of Forumosa), but I haven’t seen anything official about it one way or another. From the article:
Application of Taiwanese citizenship via marriage to a Taiwanese national is a nine step process, with step 5 being the renunciation of original nationality, however if you’re the rare person with multiple nationalities (who are you Jason Bourne?), you just have to give up one.
This is what the Art. 9 of the Nationality Act actually says:
外國人依第三條至第七條申請歸化者，應提出 喪失其原有國籍 之證明。但能提出因非可歸責當事人事由，致無法取得該證明並經外交機關查證屬實者，不在此限。
“Loss of one’s original nationality” does not specify singular or plural. The official translation says “previous nationality”. I suppose 原有 could be interpreted to mean only what you were born with (which would still mean plural for some people), but more likely it would be interpreted to mean “before naturalization in the ROC”.
The same phrase, 原有國籍, appears in Art. 8 to 10 of the Enforcement Rules of the Nationality Act. There may be a 函 from the Ministry of the Interior clarifying this, and there may be an administrative court decision or other judicial interpretation.
You can date someone for that amount of time and still have good reasons not to get married. 
yes if you have dated that long and not married something is wrong
I have friends who have been together since they were about 20, in their 40s now, have a kid, still not married though. Said they don’t believe in it.
I think one trick to having a long lasting relationship is to not get married. I dunno - unmarried couples who have been together for many years generally (and I’m saying generally) seem happier together than married couples who have been married for the same amount of time. Generally, that is.
Why is that so though? Maybe because unmarried couples who are still together are together because they really want to be together, while some married couples are only together because they feel pressured to stay together due to the fact that they married, took vows, and don’t want the shame or the hassle and complications of a divorce.
Marriage isn’t really necessary anymore. In most countries, modern marriage is now just a contract between the government and two parties that gives the government the right to divide children and assets in the event that the union is dissolved. It’s just a legal state.
If you are staying in a relationship, you really don’t need marriage unless there is some legal reason you have for doing so. Though you could give your assets to your partner by a will. Maybe there are some tax reasons that it is better to get married depending on country, but I’m not familiar with those tax laws.
I personally think this has little to nothing to do with it. The same with other countries in Asia. People aren’t knocking down doors to immigrate.
Qualified people just need work permit provided by their company. And Taiwan companies will need to change their perspective and hire foreigners.
Re the marriage thing, my point is that you can “date” a country i.e. live and work there for many years and still not be a good fit for “marrying” i.e. naturalizing in the country. It doesn’t necessarily mean anything is wrong, but maybe living/working is as far as you should take it.
And you can say citizenship is just a contract, but as with marriage, many people will say it goes deeper than that.
It also confers certain privileges that short-term or permanent residency does not.
In the case of Taiwan, there are many things those without a national id card cannot do, or can only do with much added difficulty, like having a telephone number in your own name, buying property, etc. etc. But I think the biggest benefit to naturalizing in Taiwan for those who want to have a life not only in Taiwan but also in Mainland China, is the ability to obtain a 台胞证，which functions the same as a 身份证。Having a genuine one of those in your own name is a privilege that almost no foreigners can get. It’s easier to obtain ROC citizenship than it is to obtain Hong Kong SAR citizenship, because the de facto ID card that is issued by the PRC government to ROC nationals is far more powerful than the one that is issued by the PRC government to Hong Kong SAR citizens.
Mind you I’m not convinced that naturalized citizens of Taiwan are able to obtain a 台胞证, especially those who are of non-Chinese descent.
I’ve had and used a 台胞證 for almost 20 years. Never had a problem, though I haven’t used it for doing business or anything, simply entry and exit to China and HK.
PM incoming…
Not the only one either, why wouldnt an roc citizen be able to get it?
Yeah but I’d love to hear the tales of a white guy/gal or otherwise of non-Chinese-appearance going around and using his/her 台胞证 as a 身份证 in Mainland China and the looks on Mainland Chinese people’s faces who know that foreigners almost without exception do not and cannot have a 身份证！
To answer your (slightly rhetorical) question as to why wouldn’t a ROC citizen be able to get it: Well, it’s not a ROC issued identity document. It’s a PRC issued identity document. So, it’s up to the PRC’s discretion whether or not to issue it. I’ve just got this idea that maybe they would be a bit reluctant to issue it to a person naturalized as a Chinese citizen by the Taiwan government, (especially if they are obviously not of Chinese ethnicity) because the 台胞证 confers proof of Chinese nationality, and it is a document issued by the PRC so by implication it confers proof of PRC nationality and it acts identically to a 身份证 in almost all circumstance because it is by definition a 身份证。The trouble I have with this is that why would the PRC government be willing to issue a 身份证 to a person naturalized by a government that they don’t even officially recognise?
While I’m about 70% sure that naturalized ROC citizens have no problem getting a 台胞证, I’m really really interested in hearing of such people who have actually been issued with it. I’m especially interested to hear of people who have used it in Mainland China to open a bank account, get a phone number in their name, and the two holy grails, employment and purchasing property.
In answer to your PM questions: I became a citizen in 1994. I am mostly white, no southeast Asian heritage. I work at a government position and teach photography at a community college. My Chinese name is on my passport, ID and 台胞證. I only have the one citizenship.
I don’t get to China often, usually on my way to other places. The last time I was there for vacation was a few years ago, a trip to Xiamen and around there. Never had any trouble with hotels, car rentals or anything. I don’t have any plans for another trip in the near future, but I doubt I would have issues. Many people in Xiamen took me for a Uighur after talking with me (the other Taiwanese people I was travelling with liked getting local prices by not correcting people who assumed they were from Fujian).
So in the naturalization process, you lost your previous legal name and gained a new legal name. I believe that still happens when people naturalize as Japanese citizens.
If you don’t mind answering, which country were you a citizen of before you became a citizen of Taiwan?
And how many other naturalized citizens of Taiwan do you know?
That’s interesting. Do you speak Chinese with more of a Taiwanese accent or more of a foreign accent? Are you slightly Turkic in appearance?
I apologise if my questions are too probing and understand if you don’t want to divulge certain details. Chinese minorities is a strong interest of mine.
11173: Which country were you a citizen of before you became a citizen of Taiwan?
U.S.
How many other naturalized citizens of Taiwan do you know?
Maybe two or three in passing.
Do you speak Chinese with more of a Taiwanese accent or more of a foreign accent?
More of a Taiwanese accent.
Are you slightly Turkic in appearance?
I have been told so.
Sure you have your facts right there? I think the Hongkongers get similar or better rights compared to Taiwanese.
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Not 100% sure, but according to Wikipedia the Mainland Travel Permit for Hong Kong and Macao Residents while very similar to the 台胞证 is just that, a travel permit. Ie it is a travel document and does not prove any rights other than right of passage between the Mainland and the SAR the holder is a resident of.
If you’re right, there must be another document that they can have to open bank accounts and register as an employee at a Mainland China company, because the travel permit can’t be used for that purpose.
Also, the 台胞证 confers rights in Shanghai very similar to a hukou in Shanghai. Hong Kong and Macau residents don’t get those rights in Shanghai without going through the complicated SAR to mainland immigration process which presumably very few would want to do. I’m not even sure if that route officially exists. But from what I’ve heard, to change your hukou from one municipality in China to another municipality in China (eg from Chongqing to Guangzhou) is as difficult as obtaining citizenship in another country. But it’s likely I’m misinformed on that one.
I also asked my teacher if Hong Kongers can work in the Mainland and he said no but maybe he’s wrong too.
There are nearly a million hong kongers in Shenzhen alone, I’ve worked for/with some. The taibaozheng was actually only upgraded a few years ago to more or less match the hong kong permit that already had work and property ownership rights.
If you look again on wikipedia it says that the hk permit is good for travel to china for ‘any purpose’ that includes work, running a business, buying property, whatever. They have some paperwork to do to actually jump through the hoops to do these things but actually its often less than the hoops that mainlanders come up against.
As for transferring hukou between provinces, yes it is difficult or next to impossible, especially for poor migrants. Sorry this is all a little off topic.