Taiwanese ID question (Taiwanese Canadian)

Hi all,

Like most of you, my situation is somewhat complicated so I will try to keep it short:

  • Born in Taiwan in 1984
  • Immigrated to Canada with parents in 1992 (age 8)
  • Now 38 years old (no more conscription service req afaik)

I would like to go back to Taiwan to get my Taiwanese ID. I already have applied and received my TW passport with ID number (that I had since birth). My parents have a 30 year old+ translated document showing our household registration and their ID numbers but it’s out of date. I have extended family that I could register my Houkou under. Now that my background is out of the way, these are my questions that I hope some of you guys are able to clarify for me:

  1. Given that I want to apply for my Taiwanese ID, do I enter with my TW passport or Canadian passport or does it no matter?
  2. Given that I already have a Taiwanese ID #, but not a Taiwanese ID card, do I have to live a certain amount of time in Taiwan before I can apply? I’ve read that overseas Taiwanese have to live up to a year before they can apply but apparently that’s for people without ID #s from birth?
  3. What documents do I need to bring with me to apply for my Taiwanese ID? The ones I know so far are the TW passport, the original Houkou (provided by my aunt), anything else? I will bring my old family registration houkou along but I am not sure if that’s applicable. Do I need my parent’s marriage license? Original only or is copy okay?

Lastly, anything else I should know given my circumstance?

Thanks in advance for any possible insight.

TW passport

you can reactivate your hukou immedistely after you enter on your TW passport, and apply for your national ID at the same time.

no need of their marriage certificate. you just need to prove you already have a household registration.

After having left Taiwan for two years and the household registration office has completed the compulsory move-out registration, how do I recover household registration?

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Thank you so much Tando! Big help. Some follow up questions:

you can reactivate your hukou immedistely after you enter on your TW passport, and apply for your national ID at the same time.
Can you tell me where to go for Hukou registration / National ID? My aunt’s place is in Taipei if that helps. I don’t even know what department handles this or their website.

no need of their marriage certificate. you just need to prove you already have a household registration.

So literally no other information other than proof of former household registration and my brand new TW passport? In Canada, we usually require two pieces of government IDs to do anything so that’s why I am double-checking this point. Is there a website (in English or Chinese) that tells us the full list of requirements? (again I am sorry for asking a dumb question as I’m unaware of which department handles this nor their website).

NM, I guess it’s the Department of Civil Affairs based on your link. Thanks again Tando.

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