Taiwan just (slightly) relaxed Dual Citizenship Rules

TW Passport anyone?

I think I might try to take advantage of this one.

2 Likes

Indeed. If I get an Oscar, a Golden Horse Award or a Golden Bell or a Pulitzer, Iā€™ll qualify. This is one hell of a loophole:

The professional categories included in the regulation are technology, economics, arts and culture, education, sports and ā€œspecial,ā€ the ministry said.

The technology category includes experts in high-value technical fields such as nanotechnology, optoelectronics, information technology, biotechnology, military science and technology, artificial intelligence, robotics and other cutting-edge technologies.

The economics category includes those with technical skills or knowledge of subjects that could contribute to the upgrading of industry, such as those involving semiconductors, biomedical technology, ā€œgreenā€ energy, cultural industries and tourism.

The arts and culture category includes those who received recognition from distinguished institutions or major media outlets; have served on the panels of major arts and cultural prizes; accomplished preservers or restorers; or outstanding performers.

The educational category includes foreigners who are employed at a Taiwanese academic institution with a rank of assistant professor or above and those who have published in internationally renowned academic journals.

The sports category includes athletes who have finished in the top three places in international competition, national team coaches, international referees and distinguished players.

The special category includes distinguished democratic, human rights and religious advocates; those who have authored major works of literature; those who have received international honors or distinctions; and those with a recognized contribution to finance, medicine, transportation, telecommunications, aviation and navigation, meteorology, earthquake studies and popular culture.

As we say in Spanish, o hay paā€™todos o hay patadasā€¦ Does this sound fair?

4 Likes

Ya, I donā€™t think itā€™s that prestigious a recognition. For instance, Iā€™ve played hockey (with ROC Flag on my uniform) in ShenZen and Mongolia and won. That may qualify me.

Likewise, a play I did at The Lab got local press. That too should qualify me. Or my Jessie Richardson Award nomination from 1996 in Vancouver?

Or not. I will try and post back here with my results.

1 Like

I think Mother of Cat-Dragons is a fairly special role. You just need to convince the bureaucrats. :tiger:

2 Likes

I am mostly thinking of a colleague of mine, who has taught at college level for over 20 years, plus at the military academies and several economic research institutes. Plus he has a couple of official certifcate recognition awards from the Government. He has been in Taiwan over 30 years.

While a step in the right direction, itā€™s an extremely small step. It applies to extremely few people, and makes it seem like dual citizenship in Taiwan is some kind of lofty privilege, which it isnā€™t and shouldnā€™t be.

This is something that should be available to everybody who naturalizes in Taiwan, especially all those SEA women who come here to be baby machines and caretakers. They have few enough rights as it is, and the citizenship law as it stands now gives them even fewer. Making dual citizenship a right for everybody who naturalizes here has many advantages for Taiwan and no disadvantages that I can think of.

8 Likes

I have a feeling that the categories are pretty broad so they can pick and choose who to accept or not.

For example I think I fall under the economic section
ā€œThe economics category includes those with technical skills or knowledge of subjects that could contribute to the upgrading of industry, such as those involving semiconductors, biomedical technology, ā€œgreenā€ energy, cultural industries and tourism.ā€

If you have industry experience in some field, it should be easy to get in that way, or so it appears. It says ā€œsuch asā€ to give a lot of leeway

Iā€™m guessing that the ā€œleewayā€ will be used more to deny than to approve. Like how in the past (and maybe still) they used an extreme interpretation of ā€œcontinuous legal residenceā€ to deny APRCs. I hope Iā€™m wrong.

Depending on how long it takes or how difficult you might just be better off renouncing and reapplying your original citizenship (for those that can do that fairly easily).
Whole thing is a bit of a joke to be honest.

So I called The NIA. They said I had to call The Household Registration Ministry, but that I should expect them ā€œto be confusedā€.

The wife and I are still laughing that one off.

So I called HR and have an appointment at 2PM to discuss this.

I will ask for more details and give them examples of people I know that might qualify.

How will this affect pensions?

Will qualified applicants under a certain age be required to do Military Service?

Will this be better or worse for our income tax responsibility?

Any other questions folks want me to ask?

When will they be expanding this policy from the elite to the general population?

1 Like

Whenever to never is your answer.
If they allow people to have dual nationality then why not just allow dual nationality after whatever set period of residency.

Truck size gaps in their logic but like most things in Taiwan they advance tiddly bits at a time trying to gain ā€˜consensusā€™ whatever that means.

I may be able to benefit from this ,but given the lack of transparency itā€™s not going to be straightforward for most people even if we apply.

Could you ask if someone with high level qualifications in the insurance industry might be able to apply? The economic part is somewhat ambiguous

Thanks

I know of a furriner husband who had like over a decade experience in green energy and it took the poor guy like 9 months to find a suitable job in his fieldā€¦ at a quarter of the salary he was making in Europe.

Now tell me how are we going to sweet the pie -except with pretty Taiwanese women- to make such talents stay, aside from offering them double nationality. Problem was he was already marriedā€¦to a furriner.

I have another acquaintance who led several foreign big companies in Europe, even repersnetative officesā€¦here in Taiwan he is a kindie teacher. Can we entise him with double nationality to set up his own business here?

We are slowly regressing to the good ol days where people received ID cards under the tableā€¦ because, you know, it was illegal to have foreign workers.

Regardless of whether some people here on Forumosa feel that the new rules are not enough - it is a major step into the right direction!

A few years back, one needed 10 years for an APRC, the requirement has subsequently been lowered to 7 and then 5 years.

A few years ago the children of foreign fathers were not entitled to ROC citizenship. That got changed.

There is progress. Letā€™s not be impatient. There are still quite a few Taiwanese (both inside parliament and outside) who are against foreigners becoming citizens or having any rights on this island.

4 Likes

There is this from the article: ā€œThe technology category includes experts in high-value technical fields such as nanotechnology, optoelectronics, information technology, biotechnology, military science and technology, artificial intelligence, robotics and other cutting-edge technologies.ā€

I work with various different technologies, including some of these (but definitely not biotech). Would working some in various different technologies qualify me as being an expert (I work in the area of patents, and so it is work with various different technologies and not a single area of expertise)? ā€œOther cutting-edge technologiesā€ is not clear at all.

Also, in their opinion, would it be better to move forward on this now, or wait until people in the government are more familiar with the process and regulations?

Thank you, Toe Save!

Okay, so that was less than expected.

As I said earlier, NIA directed me to Household Registration. I set a meeting and, upon arriving at the office, I was greeted like a visiting dignitary. The entire office was literally agog.

I was ushered to a room where I met with The Director, The Deputy Director and a translator.

They had obviously been hustling to translate what little info had been handed them from the Executive Yuan.

So, what I found out is that the HR is simply data collectors. The process will begin at The EY. They will decide if you are ā€œspecialā€ enough to warrant citizenship. If approved, HR will then collect your IDs and forward your application to The Ministry of Interior who will in turn issue your passport.

Now, if you are under 36 years of age, you will also have to complete Military service. Unless you weigh over 110 KG, which shouldnā€™t be too hard for a lot of you fat asses. :wink:

Soā€¦they will contact the EY on my behalf and give me a person to ā€œinterviewā€ on Monday.

Stay tunedā€¦

11 Likes

Thanks for asking for all of us

:bowing: