Fresh on the Boat

July 2023

Pausing Health Insurance
If you’re going to leave the country for an extended period of time, you can pause your health insurance. For me, I will be leaving for more than 6 months, so I paused my insurance. I think there may be some scenarios where your insurance may automatically activate if you return within a short period of time, but do your research.

Go to your Household Registration Office and bring the following:
– Your health insurance card
– Your Taiwan ID

In the Da’An office there’s a separate floor for insurance administration (8th floor). You will get a number and then go to that person and fill out a form to pause your insurance. They will print out any health insurance bills that you still owe. You can then take that bill and pay it off at a convenience store.

March 2023

Wayfinding
Some extra thoughts I have on wayfinding within Taiwan that I want to share.

– When getting on a bus, you should flag down (wave at) the bus to stop for you. You can enter through the back or front door. Tap in when you enter and also tap out your card when you exit the bus. The seats in the front are reserved for the elderly and disabled. Same with the trains (near the doors).
– When going through MRT gates, the card system is very fickle. You cannot immediately tap your card after the person in front of you. You need to pay attention. If somehow your card gets screwed up, you need to go to the station attendant booth at the gate (they speak English) and likely tell them which station your first entered so they can adjust your fare and fix your card.
– There’s no real rhyme or reason when walking around as a pedestrian. Taiwan is not very pedestrian friendly, so just be careful at all times.
– I suggest getting a Taiwanese cell phone number. You will need it to sign up for things in general and book reservations. If you want to rent a YouBike, you will need a cell phone number to attach to your EasyCard. Also, get an EasyCard. You can use it for public transportation in all cities in Taiwan (from my experience).
– When shopping/dining at a mall, the cashier will ask you a bunch of questions when paying the bill such as, do you want a bag, do you have parking, do you have a membership card, do you need a business receipt, etc. Be prepared to answer a bunch of questions or just say no to everything or bring a bag and sign up for all the major reward programs.
– I suggest carrying a reusable bag, otherwise you may have to pay for a bag when purchasing items. Either way, reusable is better for the environment.
– When you are seated at a restaurant or cafe, there will typically be a minimum purchase (one drink or a specific NT amount) and maximum stay (typically 90 minutes). So don’t be surprised to immediately be saddled with a bunch of rules.
– If you need a waiter, then you have to wave them down, they will not come to your table to check in on you. You typically will then have them give you your bill at the end of the meal and then go up front to the register to pay. A lot of places take credit cards, so don’t worry. You can also pay with your EasyCard at some places like convenience stores.
– You do not need to tip, and please do not tip.
– Do not try to haggle or barter either.
– Don’t be loud or annoying. Nobody will really confront you on that, but just don’t do it. I love being in a quiet place and enjoying my time there, especially with no loud music blaring in my ear.
– If you want to, you can actually just buy an alcoholic drink at a grocery store or convenience store and drink inside. If you’re looking for a dive bar, sometimes it’s just easier to drink at a convenience store.
– There’s quite a few Taiwanese/Chinese holidays, so read up on them and/or also tick the Google Calendar Taiwan holiday option on your phone to put these holidays on your calendar. You don’t want to be randomly surprised by government offices shutting down ‘out of nowhere.’
– You may think Taipei is a major city, but the pace is still relatively slow. Don’t be surprised if you are trying to board an MRT train and other people don’t try to rush to get on the train and wait for the next train instead.
– When you purchase an item, the store will typically give you a receipt with a QR code. This is a ‘lottery ticket’ to encourage stores to generate receipts and properly bookkeep. You can download an app or manually check the number on the receipt to see if you win the lottery when the periodic winning numbers are revealed. Don’t be surprised to be saddled with a ton of receipts at the end of your day. Registering your receipts to see if you won is a pain in the neck; really it takes about 30 minutes to process a bag of tickets.
– When traveling throughout Taiwan, there are two major rail companies, HSR and TRA. These companies are independent of each other. HSR is high speed rain, and you can typically just get a ticket at the kiosk the day of, or book in advance. You can get an unreserved seat also. If you are traveling to a major city, then try to get on an express train. HSR only offers service down the west coast of Taiwan. If you are traveling down the east coast of Taiwan, then you need to book a TRA ticket. This is not high speed and they did not run as often. I suggest booking a TRA ticket ahead of time unless you want to risk taking a local train (worst case scenario). You can book a TRA ticket online, and then present your barcode or ID used to book the ticket at the TRA ticket booth when you arrive at the station (or an electronic kiosk) and then they will give you the actual ticket.
– You can use Uber and Uber Eats in Taiwan. You can also use Food Panda to order food. Delivery fees are very cheap.
– Smoking is not allowed indoors except for certain place like dive bars and clubs, but it is only allowed after 10 PM.
– A lot of Taipei closes early. Malls close around 9:30 PM as with most restaurants. Carrefour (grocery store) is open 24 hours but other grocery stores close around 10 PM. Convenience stores are open 24 hours. Night markets close around midnight. If you want to stay up late, then basically you have to go to a bar; a lot of them do serve decent food though. The nicer bars close around 2 AM, and the dive bars and clubs close around 4 AM.
– There’s not a lot of automation in Taiwan. You may be used to doing things online or via an electronic kiosk, but that’s not the case in Taiwan.
– Knowing a functional level of Mandarin goes a long way. You can get a private tutor at a decent price if you do not want to spend tons of hours taking tests and doing homework at a Mandarin language class.
– If you have friends visiting Taipei, then I would only tell them to stay for around 4 days. You can see most of what they need to see in Taipei within 4 days or so.
– When eating at a food court, you can typically just leave your tray of food at the table when you are done, someone will clean it up for you.
– When you go to a bathroom in a mall, restaurant, bar, train station, or store, don’t be surprised if a cleaning lady comes in to clean.
– Although Taipei is a major city, there are still a lot of creature comforts not readily available for you. Some of my favorites that you cannot get (for example) are: good selection of red wine, Diet Dr. Pepper or other beverages like Gatorade, and really good Vietnamese, Thai, Korean, and Mediterranean cuisine (I did find one good taco place but that’s it for Mexican food).

February 2023

Taiwan ID, Part Two (HRO); Taiwan Passport
Once you get your Residence Permit document, you can immediately go to your Household Registration Office and receive your Taiwan ID and new household registration! This part was weird, because I thought I was in the total clear. I had no idea that an official household registration document exists. This is the master document with a fancy pattern on the back (see photo). This document should have the head of the household listed and all people who are registered to the address. When you add yourself to the household, they will invalidate this document and give you a new one with your name on it. I guess this makes sense because your original status was Taiwanese NWOHR (National Without Household Registration), so now you need to add yourself to an actual household registration. I had my father with me, so maybe bring a copy of your parent’s Taiwan ID too?

You should bring at least the following:
– Your Residence Permit
– Your health insurance card (if you received one) because they will register you for your new one
– 1 Taiwan sized passport photo
– The official household registration document, with your household leader’s name on it
– Some cash

You will get your new Taiwan ID on the same day within 15 minutes! Congratulations! You are now a dual-citizen! They will also register your new insurance card for you when you check out, so that saves you a step!

New Taiwanese Passport
You can now go to BOCA and apply for a new passport since you are now a citizen. This passport will be slightly different than your old Taiwan passport (there will now be a national ID number listed). Bring all your documents:
– New Taiwan ID
– Old Taiwan passport
– A couple photos
– Cash
– Everything else just in case?

It will take about a week for your new passport to arrive, you will need to pick it up at BOCA again (be prepared to wait in line just to pick it up).

February 2023

Taiwan ID, Part One (NIA)
OK, you completed your one year stay (one year after your TARC issue date) and can now start on receiving your Taiwan ID! You will need to apply for a Residence Permit (定居證) at the National Immigration Office. This is just a document that you need for your Taiwan ID application at your HRO and then also go to BOCA for your new Taiwan passport. Make a copy of everything first! I think since everyone’s situation is different, make sure you bring everything. For some reason I was filed under my grandmother, so they asked about her and I showed them my grandmother’s household registration document. So, I can’t really clarify what exactly you need in terms of household registration document and your parent’s Taiwan ID. I had my father there to translate and I just kept presenting all the documents that were requested. You will be going to the floor for Taiwanese people at the N.I.A., so be prepared to speak Mandarin.

You should bring at least the following:
– Your Taiwanese passport
– Your U.S. passport
– Your TARC card
– Your birth certificate (I brought my previously completed TECO approved, translated, and notarized U.S. birth certificate)
– 1 Taiwan sized passport photo
– Your recently completed health check (if you left the country)
– Your Taiwan registered marriage certificate document (if this was completed previously)
– A household registration document (I also brought my father who brought his Taiwanese passport and his Taiwan ID with his marriage identified on the ID card)
– Some cash

You will leave behind your TARC card, and never get it back, this is the point of no return! You will pick up your Residence Permit within 5-8 business days.

February 2023

Health Check Before Taiwan ID Application
I went ahead and did a health check, but apparently I did not need it since I did not leave the country since the day I entered and received my TARC. So anyways, if you left the country and need a reminder of what you need to do, here’s what I did. I went back to Renai Hospital in Taipei. I did not schedule an appointment, but just showed up early, at 9 AM on a weekday (took about 2 hours to complete everything). My results were not available until 11 days after I went in for the health check, so it is important to get this done ahead of time if you want to file right after you completed your time requirement in Taiwan. You waited this long, so you might as well do your due diligence.

You will need to bring the following:
– Your Taiwanese passport
– Your U.S. passport
– 2 Taiwan sized passport photos
– Your health insurance card (健保)
– Your U.S. MMR (measles) vaccination record (if measles vaccine completed after 1 year of birth)
– Your TARC card
– Some cash ($940 NT), bring a lot more just in case

Go to the section for health check IDs (first floor, walk to the left when you enter). Ask for the form for applying for Taiwan ID (身分證). After completing your form, you will do a consultation with the doctor and submit your vaccine record. You will then pay and take your folder and get a blood draw and a chest x-ray upstairs (change shirt for x-ray). You will then go back downstairs to the ID section and be done. You can then pick up your results on the day outlined on your receipt in the same ID section of the hospital.

October 2022

Health Insurance Card
After living in Taiwan for longer than 6 months (date after your TARC was issued) you qualify for health insurance if you did not already get insurance by working in Taiwan:

Apply for the Card: I went to the Household Registration Office where I am registered. I think you can go to other health administration offices, but I did not. When I arrived at the Da’An office, I was told to go to upstairs a few levels. You need to fill out a form that is just one page long. You also need to bring:
– Your Taiwanese passport
– Your TARC card

Pick up the Card: After completing your form you will be given a carbon copy and a info slip on where to go next. I was told to go to the National Health Service office the next day (not the same day). You will need to bring:
– The carbon copy document
– 1 Taiwan sized passport photo
– Your TARC (for ID purposes)

After providing these items, you will have to wait a few minutes for them to produce your card, and you can then pick up your card. They will mail the bill to the address you provide, I believe it comes every 2 months, and you can pay it at a convenience store.

May 2022

Housekeeping
Here’s some additional thoughts regarding living in Taiwan from an American perspective:

Garbage: You need to sort your garbage like 6 different ways. I haven’t found any compost bags, I think you basically use a plastic bag and place your compost in a freezer at your apartment’s garbage site. You also need to purchase official blue (with hologram sticker) garbage bags at a convenience store. You will have to ask the clerk for these bags, they come in different sizes, the small is actually quite large. Your garbage items are basically anything you can’t recycle or compost. Your apartment should pay someone to take out all these items to the curb whenever the recycle and garbage truck arrives (trucks that play classical music at night to signal they are at your curb). Your apartment may actually sort your recycle for you also.

Public Bathrooms: This is a huge relief, public bathrooms are readily available at MRT stations (some even outside the ticketing gate otherwise you can just tap in and tap out of the gate), malls, and even convenience store. Convenience stores have signs that indicate what’s inside, such as a dining area, wifi, ATM, and even public bathrooms. Although, I think they cut off access to the bathrooms at night.

Drinking Water: I believe the water itself is safe, but the pipes are not. To be safe, I would buy a Brita filter and then boil the tap water for drinking. The Brita filter will filter out heavy metals, and boiling would kill off bacteria. I brush my teeth straight out of the tap with no problem.

May 2022

Registering your Marriage
Here’s some bonus content if you want to register your marriage in Taiwan. I currently just only have my TARC but since I have status, I registered my U.S. marriage in Taiwan. Before you leave for Taiwan, you should get your marriage license certified at the TECO office in the region where your U.S. marriage license’s state was issued. You can then get that document translated and notarized in Taiwan. I went to the Household Registration Office (HRO) where I am registered and brought these documents (I am not sure if your spouse has to go with you, but mine was present):
– TECO certified marriage license
– Translated and notarized copy of my marriage license (they will keep this document)
– Your TARC
– Your U.S. and Taiwan passports
– Your spouse’s U.S. passport

You can then request a Taiwan marriage certificate in Chinese and/or in English for $100 NT which the HRO will give you after you register. I requested the Chinese version for future use. Which leads to the question why register your marriage? I believe once your spouse is issued a resident visa, your spouse can apply for an Alien Resident Certificate (ARC) at the NIA, so you will need this certificate. I think your spouse can get a resident visa in the U.S. at a TECO office. This should allow your spouse to enter/re-enter Taiwan and stay in the country without restrictions. The ARC expires within a timeline of either 1-5 year chunks, but you can come back to Taiwan 30 days before it expires and renew the ARC every time. Your spouse can also enter Taiwan with just the ARC card in the ‘Taiwan Citizenship’ lane without even having a Taiwanese passport. I don’t think there are any other privileges granted. In general, it is best to acquire all forms of status that Taiwan is willing to offer, especially if your spouse ends up staying in the country for an extended period of time and qualifies for an Alien Permanent Resident Certificate (APRC) which will grant further privileges such as employment rights.

April 2022

Language Redux
As stated before, my level of Mandarin was terrible. I last studied a full year of Chinese at the University of Washington (Seattle) 20 years ago. I did not grow up speaking Chinese. So I signed up for the NTU immersion language program. Unbeknownst to myself (I should have known better), the immersion program is 5 days a week, 3 hours of class time a day, and around 1-2 hours of homework per day, with also regular testing. This program spares no mercy, but they also sponsor foreign language visas for foreigners to study Mandarin, so at some level they need to ensure their students are actually studying. Either way, this class and similar classes are a method to shock yourself into learning Chinese if you’re ready for it. For me, I will just get a private tutor after this quarter; but yes, I did learn a lot so far. You need to figure out what works for you. Also, if you’re around Taiwan, especially Taipei long enough, you will figure out a system that works for you in order to get most of what you want. You can always use Chinglish to get around with relative ease. The first step is to just be at ease.

February 2022

TARC Received!
It finally happened! I received my TARC! It took about 8 business days. I also had to drop by the NIA again the day after the lawyer submitted the application because the original officer who reviewed and saw my U.S. and Taiwan passports was not the person who reviewed my second attempt, so I had to drop by (basement floor, the first floor is for non-Taiwanese passport holders) and show them my passports and give them a copy of my passports and Taiwan visa page. Either way, I had my lawyer pick up the TARC and extraneous documents after the NIA contacted them that it was all done. I now will live in Taiwan for a year from the “Date of Issue” listed on the TARC and then proceed with filing for residency. Step 1 would be submit an application at the NIA for a “residence permit” and then take that “residence permit” to the HRO and register myself (and probably my marriage since I’m already there) and receive my Taiwan ID and new passport. In the meantime, you can get your healthcare card (6 months later) and work permit (maybe your employer can help you with this).

Here were the documents that were returned (HRO documents were not returned, but I believe they expire anyways):
– TECO certified parents’ marriage license
– Translated and notarized copy of parents’ marriage license
– TECO certified birth certificate
– Translated and notarized copy of my birth certificate
– Translated and notarized copy of my FBI report

I am happy with the documents returned since these were unique documents that can be used again. I guess I will have to go back to the HRO at some point for the HRO documents such as the Household Registration and my parents’ registration.

February 2022

Overall Advice
If anything I learned in this process for getting your TARC, my overall advice would be this:
Get all the documents! Get them all! If you’re unsure if you need something TECO certified, get it certified! Then photocopy all those documents 5 times over! Photocopy your passports, the visa in your passport, your parents’ passports, your spouse’s passports, marriage certificates, birth certificates, everything! Get multiple copies of everything! You can go to a convenience store and print items for cheap (I recommend going to 7-11 to photocopy, you can also utilize email to send and print at 7-11 attached photos and documents such as a PDF). When applying for anything in person, bring it all with you including your passports and Taiwan-sized passport photos! Also, bring cash NT, at least a couple thousand, you never know when an application costs money! Spare no expense because if you don’t have the right document, it will cost you time and even more money. There’s no point in trying to pinpoint exactly what you need. There is no one blueprint for everyone, so the best way to be prepared is to have every document on hand you can think of. If your parents are divorced or dead, you may need more documents (no joke)! If a document needs to be translated and notarized, you can get that done in Taiwan, but everything else may need to be done in the U.S. which is very costly to acquire and send back once you’re in Taiwan.

February 2022

Quality of Life
You are free to walk about and not worry about your personal safety other than the moped or car that may run you over, or the bus ride that will jerk you all the way from the front of the bus to the back.

Also, contrary to belief, night markets are fun to walk through, but I don’t go around eating street food all day. I go to the mall or other nicer restaurants on a daily basis. There’s also tons of cafes! People are pretty chill, and if you mostly just speak English, most people are embarrassed to respond entirely in English, so you should learn some Mandarin or also just go to big brand spots like Starbucks, McDonald’s, Din Tai Fung, major hotel chains, and other higher end ‘nicer’ establishments and you will be fine. You will pay more, but you are paying for the service.

Expect to pay significantly more for stuff that is not Taiwanese branded, which is most of all clothing, home goods, and Western groceries. There’s no real dive bars either. I think everything here is very deliberate, so you can’t get fast casual stuff here at a cheap price.

February 2022

So if you needed to register your parents’ marriage in Taiwan like me, then here it is, the final round.

Finally Submitting Everything:
You need to take all the listed items to the National Immigration Agency (NIA) and finally submit everything, I had my lawyers do it for me but if you are brave or speak Mandarin well, then you can do it yourself:
– Application form
– 2 Taiwan passport photos
– Actual U.S. passport
– Actual Taiwan passport
– Photocopy of your U.S. passport, Taiwan passport, and Taiwan passport visa (taped in your Taiwan passport)
– The TECO certified FBI report (translated and notarized previously)
– The TECO certified birth certificate (translated and notarized previously)
– The health check report
– Original household registration
– Your parents’ original TECO certified marriage license
– Your parents’ translated, and notarized marriage license document copy (this is why you need 2 copies because the HRO will keep your first one)
– The HRO document certifying your parents’ marriage
– Proof of your parents’ name change (if applicable)

Well, you did it, wait 7 days to receive your TARC! Contrary to the internet, there are special circumstances that I outlined earlier that will complicate your application! Let me know if you have any questions. Culturally in Taiwan, I believe the lawyers are there to just guide you, rather than take care of everything for you like they would in the U.S. Lawyer services ended up costing me a lot of money here! I recommend doing everything you can on your own, and then have lawyers to help with very fine details which they probably will have to make some calls and find out themselves. The government agencies (HRO- Household Registration Office and NIA- National Immigration Agency) have nice people working there, but their English proficiency is very limited; this is why I leaned on lawyers and friends/family who can speak Mandarin.

February 2022

Damn, if your parents’ marriage wasn’t registered in Taiwan, then you have a lot more work to do. This is a severe caveat that everyone else on the internet doesn’t tell you. Here are the extra steps.

If your Parents did not Register their Marriage in Taiwan:
For some reason Taiwan really cares about your parents’ marriage even if one of your parents has Taiwanese citizenship, this is what you need to do:
– Have your parents’ U.S. marriage license certified by your local TECO office (the office actually closest to where your parents were married, do this before you leave the U.S.)
– Have the TECO certified marriage license translated and notarized, you can get this done in Taiwan (get 2 copies because you will need both later)
-If a parent does not have a Chinese name, you will need to have one prepared on hand
– Your Taiwanese parent then needs to take the final version of the marriage license, and printed copies of your parents’ passport(s) and probably a copy of your birth certificate to the Household Registration Office under which your Taiwanese parent was registered under and register their marriage in Taiwan
-If your Taiwanese parent is not in Taiwan, then they need to submit a form at your TECO office to give you power of attorney so you can personally submit their registration of marriage in Taiwan (see above and bring your passports); the TECO approved form actually needs to be physically sent to you just like all the other TECO approved forms, do this before you leave the U.S.

After registration they will give you a certified HRO document, you will need this for your TARC application. Registration will be done the same day, it took 1.5 hours for me. You will get back your parents’ original TECO certified marriage license. You will need this later.

December 2021

Apartment Hunting

Oh man, it took a couple weeks but we found an apartment. If you want the path of least resistance, I suggest finding a real estate agent and then go online and find the criteria of what you’re looking for. Your agent should coordinate with the counterpart rental agent of each apartment and drive you to all the places you want to see and some other places he/she recommends. There are no ‘dangerous neighborhoods’ that I’m aware of. I probably overpaid a bit, but unless you have a lot of time to shop around and negotiate on prices (and speak Mandarin and know the culture), you probably should overpay on a nicer, newer place. A newer place will at least have air-conditioning, heating, de-humidifier (you will need this otherwise your clothes and you will feel wet all day), washer/dryer unit, window screens, no vermin, dish dryer, and fancy toilets. You probably still will not have an oven or dishwasher. Most places should actually be fully furnished, so you don’t have to worry about buying large pieces of furniture. I pay $2,600/month on a (brand new building in centrally located metro Taipei, near top floor) 3 bedroom/2 bathroom apartment I really like. I’m sure you can get a place for cheaper, but for the most part I believe what you see on the mainstream apartment websites are fair market rate. Once you secure your apartment, expect to be stuck with a one-year minimum lease. If you have a real estate agent, this person should help you get situated and answer questions throughout your entire lease, so this is why you pay for the service.

You will end up paying your real estate agent around $1,000, your first month’s rent, your first month’s management fees, 2 months’ rent (as a refundable deposit); all up front in cash. So, be ready to have a bunch of NT cash on hand! The management fee covers the building’s services like concierge and cleaning, something around $100 a month. Be expected to pay your garbage, water, gas/electricity, and cable/internet bill individually also. It’s odd because these bills come in every 2-3 months instead of every month. You can take the paper copy of the bill (which should be mailed to you) and actually pay them at a convenience store rather than paying them online. You can also wire transfer your monthly rent. Oddly, I did not run into any legal obstacles renting an apartment, at the time I just had my Taiwan passport.

For some reason, getting a (credit based) cell phone plan here required resident status, so I just got a prepaid SIM card instead at a major Taiwanese telecom (I bought a new Xiaomi phone for $240 and stuck it in).

December 2021

After picking up the health report at the hospital 9 days later, I went straight to the lawyer (or you can go to the NIA, functional Mandarin skills preferred).

Official Filing
What is left is for them to notarize the original birth certificate and FBI report, complete my application form, and then submit the application. I did not have to deliver the application myself. These are the items I brought to the law office (this was not sufficient for me, but will be if your parents’ marriage is registered in Taiwan and your parents did not change their name):
– 2 Taiwan passport photos
– Actual U.S. passport
– Actual Taiwan passport
– The TECO certified FBI report (translated and notarized previously)
– The TECO certified birth certificate (translated and notarized previously)
– The health check report
– Parents’ original household registration
– *Document of parents’ marriage registered in Taiwan (I am guessing on this one)

The lawyer also asked about my parents’ marriage license, if your parents’ marriage is not registered in Taiwan, then you have a lot more to do, keep scrolling. If a parent changed their name that does not match your birth certificate, then you have work to do. You need to prove your parent is the same person that gave birth to you. For me, my certified birth certificate had my mom’s maiden and new legal name on the same document. It’s up to the NIA to decide if whatever document is sufficient. It can be a legal name change document or whatever; it’s very nonspecific and stressful.

December 2021

While waiting for the health check results (9 days), there are a couple items you can complete in the meantime.

Extraneous Items
You need an authentic Taiwanese household registration document. If your parent does not have one, they need to get one in Taiwan or go to their local TECO office (something to be done in the U.S.) and generate a power of attorney form to have you or someone else get the household registration document at the local HRO office where their household is registered. This TECO approved power of attorney form needs to be physically presented to the Taiwan HRO, so basically mailed to Taiwan.

I gave the lawyers my birth certificate and FBI report to translate and notarize, basically you need to get this done somewhere in Taiwan from a professional service (I utilized my lawyers at Winkler Partners). If your parents’ marriage is not registered in Taiwan, then you have a lot more to do, keep scrolling. Also, if a parent changed their name, then you have more to do.

November 2021

I arrived in Taiwan. To spare you the confusion, I went through a 2 week quarantine, but that is not relevant to this process.

Health Check
The first logical step is to get your health check at a Taiwanese hospital. You can schedule a health check ahead of time or drop in. I scheduled a visit with the Renai Branch of Taipei City Hospital, click on the “Network Register” button. You need to bring the following (either way, just bring everything because I forgot some of the things they asked for, it was hectic):
– 2 Taiwan passport photos
– Actual U.S. passport
– Actual Taiwan passport
– MMR (measles) vaccination record (if measles vaccine completed after 1 year of birth)
– COVID-19 vaccination record (not sure why they asked)

For the health check I underwent a blood draw and a chest x-ray exam. The whole exam only cost about $30 USD. Although it took about 1.5 hours to go from station to station and check in at various locations within the hospital, filling out forms and having them verified. I applied for the ARC health exam, even though I am ultimately applying for TARC. They will take your MMR record and attach a copy to your application. If your MMR (measles) vaccination was not completed after 1 year of your birth, you may need to get a measles shot if you have no record of it and your blood report does not show you have a high enough immunity to measles.

September 2021

OK you finally got your authenticated form back after 2-3 weeks later. You can now enter Taiwan and get the process started. You no longer have anything to take care of in the U.S. unless your parents’ marriage is not registered in Taiwan and/or your parent changed their name (keep scrolling). The authenticated FBI report, along with its Traditional Chinese translation, needs to be filed with the NIA after you enter Taiwan. The translation needs to be notarized by a Taiwan notary public. You should get the translation and notary public for these 2 documents in Taiwan. You should also bring your MMR (measles) vaccination card if you have one.

You also need to bring your parent(s) Taiwan household registration. If you do not have this, your parent(s) will need to acquire this in Taiwan (keep scrolling up).

While you’re at it, you might as well print a whole bunch of these Taiwanese passport photos in the U.S. while you have time (45mm x 35mm) because you will need at least 4 of them in Taiwan.

September 2021

FBI Report Certification: Alright you’ve now received your FBI report. You now need to provide the Washington D.C. TECRO office this FBI report to verify your background report is legitimate to the country of Taiwan. This is what you need to provide:
– 1 copy of the application for authentication (see download document at bottom of link)
– 1 copy of your U.S. passport
– 1 copy of your Taiwanese passport
– 1 copy of the FBI report
– Pin number to your FBI application
– $15 money order or cashier’s check payable to TECRO
– A stamped self-addressed return envelope
– Mail all this to:
Consular Division
Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the U.S.
4201 Wisconsin Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20016

Birth Certificate Certification: You need your U.S.A. birth certificate certified by your local TECO. I believe the office needs to be in the region of your birth certificate state. I went to the office in Seattle and dropped off the following:
– Actual original birth certificate (you can request one from your county)
– Photocopy of both parents’ U.S.A. passport
– Photocopy of my Taiwan and U.S.A. passport
– Photocopy of parent’s Taiwan passport
– $15 (cash, check, or cashier’s check)
– Application form (I basically stated I need certification for TARC/citizenship)

After a few days, TECO certified my birth certificate by stapling an official document to it. I went to the office and picked it up after they emailed me.

September 2021

FBI background check: You need to provide an FBI background check to Taiwan to ensure you’re not a felon. You first need to fill out an online form with the FBI. You also need to provide fingerprints in order to actually get your background check. The easiest way is to go to a post office that provides the service ($50 non-refundable if your fingerprints suck) and show them your form that you indicated you opted to get fingerprints from a third-party. You can find which post office locations offer this service by going to the USPS website and do a search. You should get your background report within one day after getting fingerprinted at the post office. This FBI report should be valid for 6 months.

August 2021

Hired a lawyer. I’d rather not screw up the process and pay professionals to help me. I hired Winkler Partners in Taipei for $700 retainer (single digit thousands more for everything else). It was hard enough just to wire them the money. You need multiple details and then go to your bank and speak to a manager for an international transfer. This is what you need for an international transfer:

Account Name
Bank Name
Account Number
Bank Code for IBRS
Billing Contact
Swift Code

August 2021

Cost and Benefit of Taiwanese Citizenship:
Benefit:
– ‘Free’ healthcare! Taiwanese government health insurance is around less than $100 USD a month and has limitations. Some people purchase supplemental insurance for greater emergencies. At least the healthcare delivery is accessible.
– Taiwan is geographically central to most of Asia, therefore you can travel to many Asian countries cheap and fast.
– Quality of life, no more dodging dodgey neighborhoods in the U.S., you can now live anywhere you want in your own country.
– Tropical weather, for the folks that like that kind of thing.
– Great food and culture!

Cost:
– You need to live there for a ‘long’ time! Unregistered nationals can obtain a National Identification Card (Taiwanese citizenship) only by settling in Taiwan for one year without leaving, two consecutive years staying in Taiwan for a minimum of 270 days a year, or five consecutive years staying 183 days or more in each year. Otherwise you can just settle for a TARC and not have to qualify for the living time period requirement (but then you’re weak and Taiwan doesn’t want you 😉 ).

October 2019

I received my Taiwanese passport. I only qualified because my father is Taiwanese, which therein allows Americans with a Taiwanese parent to actually qualify and obtain dual-citizenship. Apparently it is easy to get this passport through parents, but if you are younger than 35 and want to qualify, you need to spend a year doing military service (for males) or as a child spend a significant amount of time living there. I had to fill out a form (too lazy to provide all the details here), provide a Taiwanese passport photo (45mm x 35mm) that I went to a UPS store to shoot and acquire, and provide other documents that were fairly easy to provide. I then dropped off the paperwork at the Seattle TECO office. Even if you have this, your current status is: Non-citizen passport without ever been registered in Taiwan’s household registration system and never been issued an Taiwanese ID. The rest of the steps above are instructions on how to get your TARC and Taiwanese citizenship. Also, check the pages in your Taiwanese passport to ensure you have a visa to enter Taiwan. I know, it’s ridiculous.