Hey guys, looking for some advice - I was hoping to obtain ROC nationality through my mom (who’s dual US / ROC), but I learned that for folks born prior to 1980 (like me), they can only automatically qualify for ROC nationality if their father was Taiwanese, whereas folks born 1980 and after qualify if either parent had ROC nationality. Went to TECO and they thought this was kind of unfair, but wasn’t sure if any exceptions can be made. (Side note - Apparently this was due to Taiwan being an R&R station for US troops in Vietnam and there were some out of wedlock births that the gov’t at the time didn’t really want to recognize or encourage - quite sad for those kids, actually).
Anyway, would appreciate if anyone knows anyone else who’s been in a similar situation and whether MOFA or relevant authorities have ever made exceptions to their nationality policies.
I don’t think so, but maybe someone else will chip in. I believe it was simply a legal codification of the prevailing patriarchal attitudes of the time.
TECO is notoriously unreliable about such things. I’d contact the National Immigration Agency, it may be more useful.
no. If a kid was born between Taiwanese mother and foreign father out of wedlock without legally recognized father, the kid was given ROC nationality, as any other kids born out of wedlock were.
I had an American acquaintance tell me that although he was married to his a Taiwanese wife at the time, he and his wife decided to get divorced before his daughter was born and have his wife declare that the father was unknown. In this way, the daughter was able to gain Taiwanese citizenship. Then, he remarried his wife and claimed the daughter as his, amended the birth certificate and then filed for US citizenship for his daughter.
Convoluted and a pain in the ass, but his daughter who was born before the law changed is a dual citizen.
Note: this was relayed to me directly by the American father in question. I have no reason to doubt his story.
I remember when they changed the law, didn’t know it only went back to 1980 (my oldest was born in 1993). Sounds like something the Supreme Court would have to strike down, if it’s grandfathered in.
By “non-Taiwanese Dad” you also mean “non-Chinese Dad”? If so, then you don’t have ROC nationality. You would need to trace Chinese ancestry through your dad, or your dad’s dad, and this would need to be all properly documented.