My mom wants to apply for Taiwanese citizenship through naturalization. She’s now living in Taiwan on Marriage ARC. Only need 2 more years to fulfill the requirements. However, my father(Taiwanese) is currently working in another country and does not plan to return to Taiwan. Will it be a problem if he is not physically present in Taiwan during the application process?
Does he need to be in Taiwan or personally attend any part of the process? Or would just the requirements being fulfilled be enough? (Crime record, language, certificate, 183 days a year, marriage certificate, etc). I heard that if the Taiwanese spouse is not in Taiwan for more than 2 years, it’ll be a problem but I am not sure.
Thank you in advance!
Edit: They’ve been married for more than 20 years and have 2 Taiwanese kids!
Yes. They will interview them to make sure they’re really married. (They expect them to be living like a married couple) An alternative would be for her to get her APRC first and then apply.
In theory, it shouldn’t be an issue - the Taiwanese spouse does not need to give permission for naturalization. Your mother should be able to naturalize solely based on the residency requirement.
However, she might also need to fulfill the financial requirements by herself if her husband is not living and working in Taiwan (“Accumulated value of property includes property and income of the spouse, the spouse’s parents, or applicant’s parents who have household registration in the ROC); (the applicant who is the spouse of a ROC citizen with the marriage lasting more than three years or having already acquired the alien permanent resident certificate is exempted from attaching the certificate” - not sure how they treat this in your situation).
However, there might be a risk that either NIA or the HHR might suspect a fake marriage if your parents are married but live in two different countries. No idea about this, though.
Also, after naturalization, she might not be able to join your father’s HHR if he’s not living in Taiwan.
Oh sorry, forgot to add. They’ve been married for more than 20 years, and he was the one who helped applied for ARC this time! However he is not planning to return since his work needs him 24/7.
Thank you! I will do that. May I ask another question? I was told HHR would be moved if a citizen hasn’t been in Taiwan for more than 2 years. Could this affect my mother’s naturalization?
In my experience a long marriage with kids is usually not checked or questioned during naturalization or APRC application. Mileage may vary if one gets some weird official that lacks common sense.
