I’m an NWOHR looking to immigrate to TW. Really confused with the steps as I think mine is a special case when it comes to not having household registration.
I have an NWOHR TW passport
I don’t hold any other nationality
My parents are also NWOHR but both with no residence in TW
The TECO in the country I’m residing said that I should go to TW National Immigration Agency and apply for an ARC. But when I check the guidelines for applying for ARC, it says it’s for foreigners.
A lot of the articles that I’m seeing online are from NWOHR who at least has 1 Taiwanese parent with household registration. I haven’t found any information similar to my situation.
My goal is to legally stay in TW and attain full citizenship. My work is based online but also looking at the possibility of finding employment in TW. I don’t speak Mandarin, so I’m also planning to study in TW.
Can someone please help point me in the right direction?
When they say ARC, they actually mean TARC.
If you’re educated, you can try to find a skilled job and try to immigrate after residing for 335 days in a year while on a skilled work related TARC (AF370). Which may be easier than the 5 year option if that’s open.
The only advantage you have having no other nationality is that you don’t need a work permit to work for an employer on Taiwan. The hard part is still getting the TARC though.
If one of you gets HHR, it’ll probably make it easier for the rest of you to join you on a family based TARC (eg. AF353) later on.
And another option you mentioned, studying may open up options if you find work after graduation (not while you are a student) but I don’t know the details, you’ll need to find out yourself if it’s helpful to you.
The solution depends on how you became a NWOHR. You would need a TARC for a year then you can get household registration.
For you it sounds like getting the TARC is hard.
As you have no other nationalities you do not need a work permit in Taiwan.
There a basically 3 options
TARC through skilled employment as mentioned above.
TARC through family in Taiwan - this would be specific to your situation though
Spend 5 years in Taiwan with no TARC, then you are eligible for a TARC.
Option 3 would be the last resort, it would be a troublesome 5 years. While you are eligible to work without a permit finding an employer to hire you without a TARC will be difficult. As well as daily life tasks like bank accounts and phone numbers.
As NWOHR are subject to immigration controls you would need to do a visa run every 6 months (maybe check the exact timing) for the 5 years as well
If option 3 is your only option you can get an ID number from NIA which is a piece of paper and in conjunction with your TW passport is ID equivalent to a TARC (but in reality prepare to be knocked back)
Also TECO are lying to you. It is TECOs responsibility to accept TARC applications for NWOHR in other countries - I applied for mine at TECO and I had to complain before they accepted the application. They will give you a printed version of the TARC which you exchange for the card in Taiwan
Thank you everyone! I really appreciate the help. I’ll review my options (looks like it’s 5 year route for me though) and see if I have any other questions.
Thanks for the detailed explanation here. Yeah, a shorter route is always welcome. 5 years is doable but who knows what happens in 5 years
I’m the only one looking for the HHR in my family. I will review what kind of TARC I can get since my NWOHR will only allow me 90 days entry. I want to do everything correctly and avoid visa runs if I have to.
The ID number mentioned below I’ll read up more also since that may be a way for me to stay longer while working towards TARC and eventually HHR.
It’s weird to me that I don’t need a work permit but how can I stay in the country if that doesn’t include a residency permit.
It is enough to open a bank account and get a drivers licence
When you have your drivers licence then licence + UI ID number paper + passport is enough to get a phone number
BUT this is the case on paper. In reality you will need to argue and fight for all of the above. Good news is once it’s done you don’t need to speak to them again
This is not correct. It is a number only and provides no right to be in/enter Taiwan
If the 5 year option is your only option then you have no choice but to do visa runs. You can extend the 90 days once, so you will need to do a visa run at least every 180 days.
There is no way to avoid this.
After 5 years you can get a TARC, no more visa runs once you have a TARC. After 1 year on TARC you can apply for HHR
Although now I think of it if you go with the 5 years with visa runs every 6months then you don’t have to deal with TECO which is a massive benefit on its own
All good! All these options are helpful and I’m staying positive that I will eventually settle soon.
I will look into getting employed locally as another path. A separate post in Forumosa for sure as my Mandarin is pretty much zero and can only speak English. Might limit my job options but that’s a separate problem to deal with.
Unfortunately, none from my family (just me) is interested in moving to TW and all of us are NWOHR.
And yes! Nothing against TECO but I would like to visit them less and less
My mandarin is pretty crappy too, I am NWOHR as well but due to naturalisation so it’s not much of a hassle.
I first entered Taiwan as a working holiday visa holder on my other passport which is weirdly very similar to the situation you will be in as a NWOHR with no ARC/TARC but with the right to work
If you speak English as your mother tongue then finding a job at a buxiban should be easy! AND they probably won’t care about your NWOHR status.
They won’t be able to sponsor your work permit though if you’re entering as NWOHR because a requirement is to enter using a official English speaking country’s passport.
It’s probably a great job option if you go down the 5 year to TARC path
Good luck with your task, both you and DomoN.
Maybe your parents may be interested once you’re successful cos it’ll be a family based TARC for them (AF353) requiring 335 out of 365 days residence once you get HHR.
All of us in this thread are current or former NWOHRs, so we kind of understand some of the stuff you’re going through over your side. The whole process can be daunting sometimes.
