Step by Step Guide to Obtaining Taiwanese Citizenship (ROC Citizenship)

Hello and welcome to your journey to Taiwan/ROC (Republic of China) citizenship! This guide is a first-hand experience and will be updated as I make my way through all the steps myself.

Do note that while I attempt to create an exhaustive guide (focusing on the USA), the nature of the process is not well structured and your experience will almost certainly be different from mine. This is why it is difficult to find information and guides on the process and why you should always confirm with the respective authorities (for which I will include contact information).

This guide is for ROC nationals (which you probably are if you are of Taiwanese descent) without household registration as dual citizenship is allowed. Naturalizing from a foreign nationality requires renouncing your previous nationality unless you are a "high-level professional" as stipulated in Article 9 of the Nationality Act amended in 2016 and confirmed by the ROC MOI (Ministry of the Interior).

Who exactly is an ROC national? Glad you asked, see below.

ROC National:

You are an ROC national if your father or mother was a national of the ROC when you were born. Or you were born after the death of your father or mother, and your father or mother was a national of the ROC at the time of death. Or all other cases as defined by the Nationality Act amended in 2016. 

The Nationality Law was amended on Feb. 9th, 2000 and promulgated to effectively state a child born on or after February 10, 1980, whose father or mother is a ROC national at the time of their birth, may acquire ROC nationality. But if the applicant was born on or before February 9, 1980, the father must be a ROC national at the time of birth.

It is not entirely clear if the amendment in 2016 overrode the 2000 amendment with regards to being born before 1980 to a ROC mother so if you fall into that group, you will need to do some more research (and please share in comments below!).

The amended (2016) Nationality Act can be found at the link below and I recommend reading and confirming you are a national before continuing with this guide as this guide is based around my experience obtaining citizenship as a ROC national without household registration (NWOHR) in the USA.  

https://law.moj.gov.tw/ENG/LawClass/LawAll.aspx?pcode=D0030001

Citizenship: 

Before we go on I also want to note that citizenship in Taiwan (and in mainland China) implies both nationality and household registration. Acquiring citizenship therefore requires you to be a ROC national with household registration (NWHR).

Therefore, if you are a NWOHR, then the broad outline of steps are:
First, prove you are a ROC national by obtaining a NWOHR Passport.
Second, reside in Taiwan and fulfill all requirements for obtaining household registration.
Third, fulfill responsibilities of a ROC citizen (NWHR).


Contents: 

Step 1: Obtain NWOHR Passport
Step 2: Prepare to reside in Taiwan and obtaining documents
Step 3: Reside in Taiwan and applying for household registration
Step 4: Fulfill requirements of ROC NWHR