Success! So I was indeed able to get a copy of my deceased father’s HHR transcript. Here’s the story:
I attended an online seminar by Talent Taiwan (Talent Taiwan) and asked them if I could get a copy of my deceased father’s HHR transcript by asking at an HHR office in Taipei. They said yes, “but you will have to have some document to prove your relationship to your father.” The Talent Taiwan staff didn’t say I needed a translated and authenticated copy of my documents. I know that if I apply for my own passport or HHR I need translated and authenticated documents, but I figured that in this case I am just asking for information, so I hoped the translation and authentication would not be necessary.
As a next step I went to my local TECRO office with my father’s passport and asked if they could look up his HHR information. They did some searching on the computers in the back room, then told me that the ID number (presumably the shenfenzheng number) that was hand-written in my father’s passport was one digit too short. So I used the online tool to calculate the last number (a checksum, which apparently was not in use when my father got his ID number): 8-digit (not 9-digit) ID number in old ROC passport - #2 by slawa . But even with the additional final checksum digit, the local TECRO office still said they couldn’t find any HHR record of my father based on the his ID number. They said I would have to ask in Taiwan.
And here I am.
I tried to predict what would be asked of me, and prepared the following documents:
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Predicted question: What do I want? Prepared documents: deceased father’s Taiwanese passport, plus memorizing the Chinese phrase, “I want to see my father’s HHR transcript. He died overseas.”
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Predicted question: How to prove who I am and my relationship to my father? Prepared documents: my foreign passport, my foreign birth certificate, my father’s foreign death certificate. I also brought the following which were not needed: my parents’ foreign marriage certificate, plus machine-translated photos of the above foreign documents (using a smartphone app). I also printed out the machine translations here in Taiwan from my smartphone by sending the PDF files to ibon@ibon.com.tw and printing at 7 Eleven.
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Predicted question: Why do I want the HHR transcript? Prepared documents: an empty NWOHR passport application form (taken from my local TECRO office) plus memorizing the Chinese phrase, “In the future I want to live in Taiwan.”
Then, here in Taipei, I went to the Household Registration Office, Zhongzheng District, Taipei City as described here: https://englishhr.gov.taipei/News_Content.aspx?n=F6267F83EF79EDB9&sms=7836C10815C94716&s=18691722EF4D991A . The HHR office is on the 5th floor (and the sign was written in English).
I arrived at 8:00 AM on a weekday, and the office opens at 8:30 AM. There was one person ahead of me in line. From 8:10 they start to give out numbered tickets from an automatic machine. A staff person saw me at the entrance and asked me something in Chinese that I didn’t understand. I flashed my father’s passport and said I’m Chinese, “I want to see my father’s HHR transcript.” She nodded and touched the button that said something like “general inquiries” and I got a ticket.
As I sat on the lobby waiting, I noticed with interest that the announcements over the intercom (“the counters will be open for service soon”, etc.) were partially in English, implying some level of English-language support.
At 8:30 sharp all the staff stood up and announced in unison something like, “good morning, we are here to serve you today”, and they all bowed in unison. I was impressed. Small things like this show that there is the core idea of the government officials being there to serve the people.
There were about 20 counters and my number was immediately called. A middle-aged, stern-looking gentleman asked me what I needed. I said in Chinese that I want to see the HHR transcript of my father who died overseas. I showed his Taiwanese passport and my foreign passport.
He asked many things in Chinese, that I answered with a blank stare. I think he said “you” many times so I guessed he was asking about my relationship to my father.
I took out my English-language, untranslated birth certificate and pointed to my father’s name and my name, also pointing to the same names in his Taiwanese passport and my foreign passport.
He carefully checked the alphabetic names, and the birthplace of my father, then seemed somewhat satisfied (at least he did not demand a translated copy), but he still seemed to want something else and kept asking something in Chinese.
I blindly charged ahead by offering my next document, my father’s foreign death certificate, with no idea if it was what he was asking for or not. He looked kind of exasperated, but he seemed to say, “whatever, show me what you have.” I pointed to the word death and said in Chinese “this is his death certificate.”
He again seemed to understand and accept the death certificate document, but continued to ask something insistently in Chinese. The only thing I could understand was “wénjiàn”.
I had only one last talking point prepared – the “why” of why I was asking for the HHR transcript. So I showed the empty NWOHR application form (which clearly states in Chinese at the top that it is a passport application) and said in Chinese, “I want to live in Taiwan in the future. Not this year, not next year, but in the future. So I want to see the status of my father’s HHR.”
With this he finally seemed satisfied and went to the back to copy my documents. He came back, returned my documents, then started typing on his computer and had a frown on his face. He consulted with the guy next to him, then started to print out some documents.
He then asked me if I have a Chinese name (though it took me 3 tries to understand his question), which I answered in the affirmative. He then continued to print out documents and finally handed me 6 application forms, one at a time, that I had to sign. At this point, for the first time, he spoke in English, and said, “write your Chinese name”.
After signing all the forms, I received 6 sheets of officially-stamped printouts (copies of the old handwritten HHR records), paid 90 NTD, and was on my way!
All in all it took about 45 minutes after my number was called.
Next I have to decipher the handwritten scribbles on the HHR transcript to see what, if anything, is recorded in the HHR about my father’s overseas marriage and my birth, but at least now I have the official documents in hand.
Mission accomplished!
(Edit: linking old post here for completeness: Eligibility for NWOHR passport+TARC if no active household registration at time of birth - #19 by multipass)