Hello there, my husband recently obtained his Employment Gold Visa. When I tried to apply for Spouse Visa or Special Entry Permit, I was told to provide “Loss of Chinese Nationality Certificate” because I was a Chinese citizen before I became an Australian citizen 15 years ago. The thing is: according to the Chinese Nationality Law, I automatically lost my Chinese citizenship when I obtained my Australian passport. For 15 years, I have never heard about or been asked such a certificate. I have also long lost all my Chinese identity paperwork. I explained this to the TECO office in Lisbon Portugal where I tried to apply for the visa and also provided them a recent Chinese visa in my Australian passport to show that I truly don’t have a “hidden Chinese passport” as they called it. But they didn’t accept any of it and insisted that I must provide the certificate in order to apply for the visa. I called many Chinese embassies and consulates in Australia, UK, Portugal and even Albania and was told that either they don’t provide such a thing (not even heard of it) or wouldn’t accept my application with them as they only deal with Chinese citizens! I also called the Chinese Security Administration in Shanghai and Beijing and was told that I can go visit their service counter to get some information as they don’t know anything. So in summary, it’s impossible to obtain this certificate as the Chinese don’t want to deal with me (an Australian) and it’s also impossible to convince the Taiwanese that I am not a “double agent”. I can understand why I’m discriminated (birth place), but am frustrated with the hard line that Taiwan takes without using any common sense and case-by-case analysis. Has anyone had similar experience? Any advice would be appreciated.
Retrospectively, you must have applied for 退出中华人民共和国国籍申请书.
If PRC’s household registration system is similar to Taiwan’s, there is a record of your household registry (which was already cancelled or deactivated, maybe), and you can get your records as a former national.
You don’t have any of documents, like your birth certificate etc?
It sounds you may need a help of a lawyer or immigration agent etc.
退出中华人民共和国国籍申请书 is part of the application documents required for "丧失国籍证明” which was needed by the Taiwan TECO office. You are right, if I could get into PRC, I might be able to dig out some cancelled record from household registry. But PRC’s border is closed, ironically I can’t get in as a foreigner… I moved around a lot, so got rid of all the old invalid documents.
is there any possibility that Australian government has kept your documents submitteyd when you got your nationality? Iirc, Taiwanese government keeps them for ten years.
If you even don’t have a birth certificate or any relative in China, I think you need a help of an immigration lawyer or agency.
It’s funny that when I obtained Australian nationality, I wasn’t asked to prove that I was no longer a Chinese citizen. Australia is very relaxed with this I guess. A lot of countries do ask you to provide “loss of Chinese nationality certificate” before you can obtain their passport. I only learned the difference during this process recently. Since I’m not in Australia, there is nothing I can do at this stage. And since I can’t get into China, there is nothing I can do either.
It’s also not worth the time, effort and money to go through a lawyer or agent. I’ve asked a lawyer for a quote on this matter and got a AUD$3500 quote! There are always other countries who are more welcoming and less discriminative.
Opps thought this was a pm 
Australia allows dual citizenship. They aren’t going to enforce another country’s laws in their sovereign territory. Especially not China’s. Even more so with China’s behaviour.
what I thought they might keep is not the proof that you lost your Chinese nationality, but a document to prove your Chinese nationality, such as a birth certificate or a copy of your Chinese passport. With the documents, it may be easier to get the record of your household registry from China.
I don’t know if those documents exist, and if so can be requested through Australian and Chinese embassies, though.
Though,
if this can be an option, it may be the easiest.
Thanks for your input! I’ll make some enquiries.
The way forward looks more like going somewhere else 
Have you looked up the local government website of the Chinese city you lived in? I’m just thinking if you contact the right department there, they might be able to find a record of your household registration.
I did indeed and spoke to them as well. Without being there, it’s hard to get through the bureaucracy to get any real help.
Sometimes just going in on a different day and hope you get someone else gets a positive response. Does Portugal have another TECRO office in the country?
I’m on an ARC. My wife was born in China, but she lost her Chinese citizenship when she became a US citizen a few decades ago.
Same story. We tried forever to get her onto a spousal ARC. But finally, we got it. To this day, I’m still not completely sure why we finally succeeded.
They really do handle every situation case-by-case. So, the best thing I can recommend is to keep trying. Go to a different counter and talk to a different agent. Go on different days of the week, and different times of day. It’s all about catching the right person when they are in the right mood.
There were some days when we walked away feeling terrible, and there were some days when we walked away saying to each other, “That wasn’t as firm of a ‘no’ as last time.”
Here’s what we did on those good days:
- Bring a Taiwanese friend. We went many times by ourselves. But for some reason, having a Taiwanese friend with us always made the atmosphere less hostile.
- I speak Chinese with a thick American accent. I don’t understand every time they say “no.” During this process, my wife was present, but had an excuse as to why she couldn’t come up to the counter (she was chasing our kids around the waiting room). For some reason, agents have a harder time saying no to me than to my wife. (I think it’s a mainland prejudice thing).
- Every time you’re rejected, ask for a written statement explaining the reason for rejection. If they can’t provide it, ask for the rules for getting a spousal visa. After reviewing it carefully in front of them, ask them to highlight the rule you broke. This serves two purposes: (1) After a “good” day, it gives you a way to pick up after you left off the next time you try again. (2) Agents will be much more careful to make sure that their reasons for rejecting you are 100% valid if they’re being put into writing.
As I mentioned earlier, we went many, many times. I can’t even remember how many times we went. So, it could be possible that our “good” days were actually because we talked to a nice person in a nice mood, rather than because of anything we did.
Eventually, we had gone so many times that we knew all of the clerks, who the nice people were, and what times of day they tended to be in good moods. And of course, they knew us, as well. So, we needed to try a completely different tactic every day. We’d bring different documents each time and try to argue that we had a different case.
Finally, what sealed the deal and got my wife on my ARC?
She showed them a photograph of an old Chinese passport. The photograph was dated long after the passport had expired.
After my wife brought the photo up on her phone, the agent didn’t say “no”… but didn’t say “yes” either.
The next time we went, we printed the photo out… and my wife finally got onto my ARC.
Why did this help? I really don’t know. How does letting a passport expire prove that you’re no longer a Chinese citizen? How did they know that we didn’t fake the date? (It was in a Google Photos album, and Google thought that the photo was taken on a particular date… but still, there are ways to trick Google) Or, was it because my wife uses Google, and a real Chinese person wouldn’t use Google photos?
But we didn’t ask any of these questions. We just left as fast as we could before they changed their minds.
EDIT: I firmly believe that if my wife was to lose her ARC, and if we had to reapply all over again, it would be just as difficult of an ordeal for us the second time.
If we had started out by showing the photograph of my wife’s expired passport, they would have rejected it. In other words, showing them an expired passport is not a trump card. Rather, it was one of several desperate attempts we made to show them something — anything — that might finally satisfy them.
Keep trying. Don’t give up. You will have a long road ahead of you. But it is possible to succeed in the end.
This is another example of discrimination in Taiwan. Spouses of Taiwanese citizens can get an ARC and later a PARC whilst openly keeping their Chinese citizenship. Spouses of non-nationals cannot and based on the stories here it seems difficult even if they have lost their Chinese citizenship.
Thanks for sharing your story! It’s extraordinary that you and your wife made such persistent effort! Good for you!
I can relate to what you said about they found it harder to say no to you than to your wife. It’s so common that I get treated differently to my Australian (white) husband. Discrimination is everywhere against the “less desired race”. Very sad!
Only one TECO office in Portugal and only one person that deals with this matter. But we are leaving Portugal soon, so will try a different office in a different country when it’s possible.
spouse of Taiwanese citizens who have lost their Chinese citizenship would encounter the same situation, to be fair.