Hi everyone,
I’m looking for some guidance regarding the process of applying for Household Registration (HHR) in Taiwan as a holder of an NWOHR (National Without Household Registration) passport.
More specifically, I would like to understand which health checks or medical examinations are required as part of the process. From what I’ve seen, this may include tests like chest X-rays (for tuberculosis), blood tests, and proof of vaccinations, but I’d really appreciate confirmation from people who have gone through it recently.
My situation is a bit time-constrained: I will only be in Taiwan for about 11 days in total. Because of this, I’m hoping to prepare as many documents as possible in advance while I’m still in France, including completing the medical examination there.
Do you know if it is possible to do the full health check in France and have it accepted in Taiwan for the HHR / settlement process? Are there specific requirements (e.g. certified hospitals, TECO authentication, validity period, etc.) that I should be aware of to make sure it won’t be rejected?
Alternatively, if doing the medical exam in Taiwan is necessary, are there hospitals or clinics that offer an expedited service? How fast can the results be issued in practice (e.g. same day, a few days, a week)?
My final goal is to complete the Household Registration and apply for a Taiwanese national ID card and full passport, so I want to make sure I plan everything correctly within this short timeframe.
If anyone has recent experience or tips, I’d really appreciate your help.
Thanks a lot in advance!
I did my full medical exam outside of Taiwan (in Canada) where they did not have a specific list of doctors. It’s more involved, but a huge time saver in the number of days needed to spend in Taiwan.
Use the form, check the appendices for the examinations you need to do (eg. Appendix 3 says stool examination not required for France)
https://www.cdc.gov.tw/En/Category/ListContent/C4w0xUaCBCKzdd6BxDGWcA?uaid=y9n9sbUrcg_Pj6lGlPVDCA
At the doctor’s, let them know to read the appendices to know what to do. When complete, get the health report authenticated by your local TECO.
If you have relatives/friends in Taiwan to set up a Taiwan address, I recommend what a lot of people call the “three day exchange”. You do your medicals in France and submit an application for a TAPRC copy/Permanent Resident Certificate copy (定居證副本) to your local TECO. This takes around 6 weeks but you have 6 months (extendable by another 6) to enter Taiwan to establish your HHR.
With the certificate, your trip to Taiwan is mostly just point to point getting the TAPRC copy stamped at airport entry, getting it exchanged for the TAPRC at NIA in Taiwan (officially three days, but a lot of people found ways to get it faster), and going to your local HHRO to establish your HHR.
There is also a subreddit r/TaiwaneseBornAbroad where you get find other similar experiences going thru the process.
The shortest path to doing it is the Settlement Certificate Duplicate process where you perform all the checks in advance while abroad and the NIA issues you a Settlement Entry-Exit permit (sometimes translated as the Settlement Certificate Duplicate). This requires doing your health check and national police background check and submitting it to the local consulate/representative office. You then enter Taiwan on that permit and exchange it for the actual settlement certificate which you can bring to the HHR office to register. That could be anywhere from same-day to 3 days. For some they’ve been able to get it exchanged on the spot. For myself, I did it on a Monday morning, and was able to pick it up by Wednesday morning.
The other route of doing all this in Taiwan takes longer. The health check itself will generally take a week for results to come back and receive the form. Then you need to submit for the settlement certificate. 11 days will in all likelihood be not enough or a very tight squeeze at least.
You might be able to do the health check in France and have it authenticated by the local TRO but finish the settlement in Taiwan, but I don’t know of people who have done this so have no idea whether that would run into difficulty or time frame changes. If your date for going to Taiwan hasn’t already been fixed to a timeframe too soon to get the Settlement Certificate Duplicate, I would highly recommend going that route. With that, NIA has already vetted all your paperwork and its already approved by the time you head to Taiwan. That does require lead time though because you need to perform your health check and get the national police background check performed and authenticated by your TRO, submit the application, wait for it to get approved in Taiwan and have the certificate mailed back to you (this step takes 4-8 weeks). If you don’t already have your NWOHR passport, you need to apply and receive that too, but that is required for both paths so it doesn’t change based on the timeline. After settling, you are also required to get a new Taiwan passport issued with your national ID number to leave with. This adds another 3ish days, unless you pay for expedited service which means 1 day.
Hello all,
Thank you very much for all your help:) I’ll do my medical examination in France and certify it by The TECO in Paris. I’ll apply with it directly in Taipei.
Just a question, in the form I need to fill a passport number . Should I use my French passport number or my Taiwanese NWOHR passport number. Should I also add my Chinese name (written in Chinese) as it is in the Taiwanese passport, my western is the same in both passport.
Thanks in advance for your reply.
Kind regards
@Jan30000 Applying for TAPRC (定居證) in Taiwan requires 7-10 business days to process, after which you’ll go to the household registration office (戶政) to register (can be same day once you have your TAPRC). You’ll then need at least another day to get your new passport issued (expedited).
So, if you only have 11 days in Taiwan then you’ll likely need to apply for the TAPRC duplicate/copy (定居證副本) at TECO in your home country. Factoring in weekend days, it’s highly unlikely you’ll be able to apply for TAPRC and complete household registration and get your new passport issued within 11 days. You can’t leave the country once you start the process either.
As for document validity period, the health check has a 3-month validity.
You can also consider doing the health check during this trip, and applying for the TAPRC duplicate upon returning to your home country. The TAPRC copy is valid for 6 months, though you can get a one-time 6-month extension if you don’t plan to return to Taiwan within that time.