Becoming Taiwanese (Part One): Applying For a Taiwanese Passport

taiwan expats

Dec 16

As we’re nearing the end of 2020, I wanted to shed some light on the Taiwanese citizenship process that I’ve become pretty familiar with over the past few years. A little bit about me: my father was born in Taipei, Taiwan and immigrated to America when he was five, which makes me eligible for dual citizenship as a Taiwanese-American. I started the process of applying for Taiwanese citizenship back in the beginning of 2018, making this a long, arduous but rewarding process. If your parents are in Taiwan and have an active household registration - this makes things a lot easier. However, things got a little tricky as I have no relatives (that I’m aware of) living in Taiwan. Thus, this became a process of not only becoming Taiwanese, but also an opportunity to more closely examine the complicated relationship between the United States and Taiwan and a chance to learn more about the country that my father grew up in.

Let’s dive in! (Thank you to Amy S. & Lian L. for your help in putting together the below required documents)

Step 1: Apply for Taiwanese passport as an overseas national

WHERE: TECO in USA & your local Household Registry Office in Taiwan

WHAT: Taiwanese passport 台灣護照

For overseas nationals, passport applications must be processed by the TECO office in your home country; it cannot be done in Taiwan.
For those under 18, parents must apply on their behalf and the process does not require a duration of stay. Below documents have been modified per instructions from TECO Los Angeles - please check with your local TECO to make sure the requirements have not changed.

Required documents:

Passport application form (PDF available online)
Copy of your passport (need to prove your US citizenship)
Document authentication application form (PDF available online)
- Birth certificate, marriage certificate, and father’s name declaration need to be authenticated
Birth certificate (original and translation in Mandarin)
Parents’ marriage certificate (original and translation in Mandarin)
Copies of parents’ passports (and the Taiwanese IDs of your parents)
Name declaration forms (yours and any non-Taiwanese spouse)
- For child - PDF available online
- For foreign spouse - PDF available online
Application for entry permit (this is a separate application form; PDF available online)
Passport photos (2)
Passport application fee
Prepaid return envelope

It all looks pretty straight forward, except my dad had no birth certificate in Taiwan due to being born at home. Also, we had to go through the process of finding an old passport of my grandfather’s (dad’s dad) who had already passed away. The passport would prove his connection to my grandfather as all of my dad’s paperwork was in English with an entirely different name. (He was also traveling as a minor without a visa or passport at the time) At this stage, it got very complicated - however, I was extremely impressed with the Taipei Da’an District Household Registration Office and their efficiency in finding a handwritten family record from 1960 - incredible. They found a paper with my father’s name on it and our family records in under an hour and were incredibly helpful with my limited Chinese - at the time, I had only been studying for one year. I also want to say that I had a guardian angel at the TECO office in Los Angeles with Mrs. Liu who went above and beyond with assisting me with each and every step of this frustrating process. We got the go-ahead in August 2018 when my dad came to Taiwan to begin the process, as we needed to first reinstate his Taiwanese citizenship in order to be eligible. I completed each step of the process and ultimately received my passport in March of 2019 - normally, it doesn’t take this long, but as my dad doesn’t permanently reside in Taiwan (and due to the whole needle-in-a-haystack search for my grandfather’s old passport), it took a little bit more time for the back-and-forth.

Once my new passport was ready in Los Angeles, I had to re-enter Taiwan with it in order to begin the next step of the process. The Taiwanese passport will have a 90 day entry permit inside which will be overridden once you establish residency.

Check out the next blog post for the second step of the process, applying for residency :) 加油!