I’m an NWOHR living in Taiwan on a foreign passport/work ARC interested in attending grad school here. I just found out that even though I don’t have household registration (or even an NWOHR passport, yet) because I just barely qualify as an NWOHR (grandparents both had HHR, mom was born shortly after they moved abroad and also never had HHR, I was born abroad after 1980) and have lived in Taiwan for the past few years, I am ineligible to apply as an international or overseas Chinese student and must apply as a local student.
The general consensus seems to be that applying as a local student is much much harder than as an international student (RIP), I’m guessing due to the difference in applicant pool size (?) but I still think it’s worth a try since I’m fluent in Mandarin and really love it here in Taiwan. Plus the tuition in my home country is unaffordable.
I’ve done some research about the application requirements for a couple programs but I was wondering if anyone here had any insights into the experience of applying to graduate school as a local student and how it differs from the international student application? FWIW, I’m thinking of applying for a program in the social sciences.
Stupid question, but if you’re living here on an ARC, and have’t even claimed Taiwanese NWOHR citizenship yet (you said no NWOHR passport yet, right?), then how would the Taiwan government even know that you qualify?
If the Taiwan government doesn’t even know you qualify as a NWOHR, then surely your school won’t know?
I’m sure you can just go ahead and return to your home country and then apply to come back as an international student.
that is the first thing i thought, but I’m not very sure if 屬中華民國國籍 and 具中華民國國籍 are different.
if getting in as a local school is not that hard, no need to take a risk. depending on which school, but applying for grad school programs in the social sciences might not be so hard if language is not a barrier.
International student applications for grad programs in Taiwan often come from international residents in Taiwan. There’s no need to travel back home to apply.
@June123 the application requirements for individual programs vary widely. This means you need to figure out where you want to study and figure out their requirements. It sounds like you’ve already handled this important step.
If based on the vagaries of the system you are thrown into the “local” Taiwanese pool, there will typically be two ways to get in: admission by application, and admission by examination. The former should be much closer to what international applicants are typically asked to do. Unfortunately, unis in Taiwan are right in the midst of this application season now, so your timing may be tight. Do inquire, do try to apply if you can, and best of luck to you.