Okay one important thing for ALL of you to realize is. There is NO mystique in your US passport. You are pretty much the same as a person who enters into Taiwan who enters into TW using an “Overseas Chinese Status” passport. The key difference is, ROC passport holders have to apply for EXIT permits at immigration.
1.) DON’T LISTEN TO RELATIVES OR THE COMMON PERSON. Please ask a LAWYER, immigration, Military service office, OR anyone with knowledge of this issue. Your relatives and many people will tell you that you’re a US or Western Citizen so they can’t find you. First of all, while the TW government is pretty incompetant to Typhoon responses. However, they are extremely able in drafting you and hunting you down for taxes. (Hence like most governments they seem at their best when they want to milk something out off you).
I was pretty much force fed crap like “Oh you have an ARC you don’t need to leave every four months” or “Yeah you’re not a citizen you just have a number they don’t know you are back”. LUCKILY for me I found out I can only reside here for under a year and live for over 4 months THREE times. I also found out if I wasn’t skeptical I probably would have needed to do the Army service. Cause Taiwan is no different than most countries, where the majority of citizens are very ignorant and unaware of the laws. I’ve always been a bit on the cautious side and this time I am happy I was cautious!
Honestly my dad and many people were shocked when I was refused an ARC renewal. I hoplessly and vainly tried to explain it to them that my US passport and ROC ID were intertwined. They stubbornly refused to believe it until they called up immigration and the military service office, and the respective individuals from those two divisions verified my assumptions. It’s scary, because it just shows how unaware people are of the laws.
2.) Well I am okay if i don’t stay past my ARCs expiry date.
That is ALSO wrong. The ARC gives you the right of residency, opening of bank accounts, and application of Cellphone plans or net services. It also gives you the right of health insurance as well. IT DOESN’T give you the right to duck the army. If you were ever once a TW citizen, that’s for life unless you renounce it and the AIT acknowledges that too. You are still bound by the conscription laws and if you have an ARC(those of you who got it before Feb of 2009 and are dual nationals) remember if you were born before 1984 and you are on your last strike PLEASE leave every 4 months(even if you aren’t just do it). If you were born after 1984 you better tell your employer that you can only work half the year.
3.) THE FOREMOST ISSUE OF ALL. YOUR US PASSPORT DOES NOT HAVE MYSTIQUE. THE ROC GOVERNMENT KNOWS YOU ARE A TW CITIZEN REGARDLESS OF WHAT PASSPORT YOU ENTER WITH. DON’T ASK QUESTIONS OF “WELL HOW DO THEY KNOW” THEY FLAT OUT JUST KNOW FOR MANY REASONS. ONE YOU NEED TO USE YOUR TW ID TO APPLY FOR GREEN CARDS OR US CITIZENSHIP. THE US GOVT WILL PROBABLY INFORM THE TW GOVERNMENT THAT YOU ARE NOW A CARD OR US CITIZEN. DON’T VIEW THE ROC GOVERNMENT IN AN ETHNOCENTRIC WAY BECAUSE YOU ARE SOME WESTERN EDUCATED MAN. THEY ARE NOT INCOMPETANT FOR THIS TASK AND THEY CAN HUNT YOU DOWN RAPIDLY AND QUICKLY.
This is an add on. How scary is the TW government in finding you. Put this way, I just found out yesterday when i handled matters at the military service office and got my ID card, that for the past 20 years the TW government gave me a fake ID number. That’s right. When everything was still done by paper, some guy wrote my ID number as RXXXXXX1XX instead of RXXXXX7XX. So for the last 20 years in Taiwan i was not considered, as “left the country” I was considered a person that just vanished off the face of the earth.
Guess what despite all this confusion, entering and exiting Taiwan on pretty much a non existant ID number from 1989 to 1997. The TW government STILL managed to link up my US passport to my ORIGINAL ID number, which WAS not used to apply for my green card or US residency status. From an idiot’s standpoint and someone with no deep knowledge of how intricate the government is(like myself). I should have been completely untraceable. They should not even be able to link up my correct ID number with my green card or US passport. BUT, they somehow did and they probably had no problems in doing it either.
So once again don’t take the TW government lightly and think you are above the law by virtue of your US passport. If they can hunt me down when I was inadvertently using a wrong ID number think about what they could do to you.
Sorry, what fucking language is the OP in??
and
B. Fuckin better not be, bub, if they start giving these:
out with passports, every fucking body going to be wanting one…
Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free
And I’ll give you a totally hot naked blue chick who used to be married to Uncle Jesse
Why should you enjoy the benefits of an ID card if you are not prepared to fulfill your duties as a citizen. Especially when military service is just 12-14 months now.
[quote=“DDL980”]This is an add on. How scary is the TW government in finding you. Put this way, I just found out yesterday when i handled matters at the military service office and got my ID card, that for the past 20 years the TW government gave me a fake ID number. That’s right. When everything was still done by paper, some guy wrote my ID number as RXXXXXX1XX instead of RXXXXX7XX. So for the last 20 years in Taiwan I was not considered, as “left the country” I was considered a person that just vanished off the face of the earth.
Guess what despite all this confusion, entering and exiting Taiwan on pretty much a non existant ID number from 1989 to 1997. The TW government STILL managed to link up my US passport to my ORIGINAL ID number, which WAS not used to apply for my green card or US residency status. From an idiot’s standpoint and someone with no deep knowledge of how intricate the government is(like myself). I should have been completely untraceable. They should not even be able to link up my correct ID number with my green card or US passport. BUT, they somehow did and they probably had no problems in doing it either.
So once again don’t take the TW government lightly and think you are above the law by virtue of your US passport. If they can hunt me down when I was inadvertently using a wrong ID number think about what they could do to you.[/quote]
I’ve never had a US Passport even though I’m a dual national and did not have to do military service. Luckily I was considered too old at the time and now for sure I am
[quote=“Feiren”]Why should you enjoy the benefits of an ID card if you are not prepared to fulfill your duties as a citizen. Especially when military service is just 12-14 months now.
Morally we don’t deserve benefits. Legally we can get it and most of us don’t feel morally restrained enough not to do it.
(You might not like that anwser but it’s truth and I won’t make any lies about not being any sort of a leech).
I personally thought making sure we didn’t ARCs was a dumb idea. Now we can pretty much work here and not have to pay that 15 percent monthly tax rate and still avoid the army. oH YEAH as for benefits. All I have is a lower tax rate. The only other stuff I got , is a foreigner’s bank account I opened with an ARC and a prepaid SIM card.
the mystique. LOL mystique is just an Aura. Yeah i was stoned the other day and some guy was talking about Lambeau field.Home of the NFL’s Green Bay Packers having some mystique(magical properties) since they’ve only lost 3 playoff games there. Glad u guys had some fun with that. HAHAHA
Mystique if you look in dictionaries is more or less having mysterious properties even magical. Most TW people IE your parents somehow think. The US passport is like some magical anti- military service shield and you’ll often hear them say stuff like, “OH they can’t do anything to you if you use your non ROC passport”
You didn’t down a bottle of gin and shag Princess Margaret while you were there by any chance did you? She used to hang out in Mustique and spread 'em quite a bit, I heard.
Question…I have both Taiwan and USA passport…I cannot apply for “oversea chinese status”, neither can I give up my Taiwanese passport. I entered Taiwan with my USA passport, but there’s a chance I can get caught and sent to Army…But I am in love with a girl here…What should i do? Ppl suggest I do the Substitute army service starting next april…but that’s still quite a long time from now, im scared to even extend my visa because that will increase the chance of me being caught…
[quote=“Elegua”]Christ. STOP TALKING SO LOUDLY. This is a mileading title. I thought it would be a thread by a Taiwaner about mixed nationality marriages.
You visiting Keith Richards?[/quote]
No no no, thats where all that sweet red goop they put into Shirley Temples comes from (not the blood of 7 year old boys). And I’ve already put in my order for one of those Blue Mystique passport models the chief is peddling, I’m really excited to see how it plays out when I go to claim mine at US immigration on Sunday, hee hee!!!
[quote=“Buttercup”][quote=“tommy525”]You can check out anytime but you can never leave…TAIWAN.
Even if you got a US passport.
You will be back.[/quote]
Not true. I’m not American, though.[/quote]
hey hey old thread but ha@bcup. YES YES YES you did go back !! nyuk nyuk nyuk