Revisiting Taipei and seeking Advice

Welcome to Expat.com, Henry!
Hope you'll make nice contacts on this website.

There're quick a big community of Taiwanese American in Taipei. I assure you... you won't be alone. You won't be lost in translation. Get on to Formosa.com and you can hook up with a ton English speaking folks.

My son and I are both Taiwanese American and we often bumped into fellow Americans throughout various Taiwan cities when we're there. You'll generally see more White folks in Taipei, Taichung, and Tainan, but for English speaking dudes... best bet is from posterboard.

How's your Taiwanese and Mandarin? If you really want to know the city and the people, you'll need that. My son and I speak Taiwanese (with an accent) and we did totally fine without Mandarin.

Thank you for your replies and information!

My Mandarin is ok, but I don't speak or understand Taiwanese. Not sure how accurate this is, but friends have told me that the further south in Taiwan I go, the more of a necessity Taiwanese becomes.

Thanks again!

Dude,

You're rght. The deeper south you go the more Taiwanese you'll get. Dunno how far you plan on heading down south but in most major cities including the south, Mandarin still rules - pretty sad if you ask me.

Btw, you had mentioned you're born in Taipei. Dunno know if you've visit recently but you might want to sqaure away your military business. Your U.S citizen and passport is pretty much a hit-&-miss thing if you ditched the mil. I've known people that ditched the mil get napped at border control with U.S. passport and I've had friends that managed to cruised in and out like Ninja. My boy and I wasn't born in motherland, so I can't fed you too much about the mil thing. There are poster that is dedicated to this topic. Perhaps those guys can answer your questions if it applies to you.

Knowing some Mandarin will definitely help you sink in. You'll pick it up after a while. My son and I did. He spent every summer in Taiwan and the langauges just came naturally.

Taipei rocks! It's a lot of fun there.

I visited Taipei very briefly back in '08 after checking out the Beijing Olympics, and didn't have any problems getting in and out. When did the military issue start? Was it more recent than '08?

Henry,

Like I said, it's a hit-and-miss thing. You need to sort this out especially when you're planning to take an expat job there. I wish I could help you more but I wasn't born in Taiwan. I've heard of cases that when you return as an army defector, they track the time of your stay and that will trigger some kind of an alarm in their system. You may be a U.S. Citizen now but you're still a Taiwanese National as well until you serve the army and renounce your citizenship formally.

Here's one for you, Korean American like your situation – came to the U.S. as young kid, never been back to S. Korea for extensive period, naturalized U.S. Citizen, serves the U.S. army, stationed in S. Korea, and was haul butt by S. Korean MP at the U.S. base – because he is on Korean soil. He didn't even realize that he is still a Korean national.

If you have not formally renounced your Taiwan citizenship, you're still liable for your mil service. If you didn't serve, you're a defector and they will nap you if you stay longer than a regular tourist. That, I've read from some poster board. I advice that you understands all these little details before you make your move. Last thing you want is to have a really bad experience with the military.

Dun mean to freak you out but you may be holding dual citizenships now.

I hope this help. All these may mean nothing for you. Just dun want to see you caught in bad situation.

Hey Henry,

Did you figure out your situation with your folks? You're probably still a dual citizen now if your folks have not formally renounced your ROC Citizenship before you turned 12, and you probably need some kind of exit-permit between the age of 12 and 18. If you don't have all these paper trail, don't let anyone tell you differently unless they are willing to go to jail on your behalf.

If you decide to be brave, keep us posted. I bet a few kid will benefits from your experience.

Sorry kid, you're not the first one that I came across with this gig. Too many of these stories.

Keep us posted. Good luck!

Henry,

I pulled this out for you from a poster board. Here goes:

THERE IS NO MYSTIQUE IN YOUr US PASSPORT
by DDL980 » 18 Oct 2009, 11:31
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.

Some important tips if you didn't read it in my blog (ROCGUIDE.blogspot.com)

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.

DDL980
Ink Still Wet in Passport (shífēn xīnshǒu)

 
Posts: 21
Joined: 20 Sep 2006, 09:08

thanks a lot for the info, springbee. it took me awhile to look up the official word on this and confirm but I don't have dual citizenship and am not a Taiwan national.

still doing research on living in Taipei. it seems like most of the forums I've visited are pretty slow, with infrequent postings.

hanrules wrote:

thanks a lot for the info, springbee. it took me awhile to look up the official word on this and confirm but I don't have dual citizenship and am not a Taiwan national.

still doing research on living in Taipei. it seems like most of the forums I've visited are pretty slow, with infrequent postings.

Make sure you have the renunciation paper (Like a certificate).  You should get one if your folks did it for you. Only then you're confirmed that you are not dual Citizenship. Nothing else matter.

Good luck kid! Have fun in Taipei if you have all the paperwork. There will be pretty of people to meet.

oriented.com is a start for you with meetings once per month.  Different people show up, usually about 120 in Taipei.  I've been three times.  It's OK.  Everyone speaks English.

hanrules wrote:

thanks a lot for the info, springbee. it took me awhile to look up the official word on this and confirm but I don't have dual citizenship and am not a Taiwan national.

still doing research on living in Taipei. it seems like most of the forums I've visited are pretty slow, with infrequent postings.

Hi Henry,

I was asking some friends and we have no idea what you meant by looking up the offical word. Are you referring to asking the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office, military division? It is implied that you're a dual citizen unless you officially apply for it which a very thorough process and eventually, you'll get a paper. Most parents don't even know such a process existed until they bumped right into the military issue in Taiwan. Some official department don't even exactly know how this is done. Now you know how the mil waits for you.

Research carefully. Once you get napped, no U.S. official can help you cos' technically, you'll be a Taiwan national on Taiwan soil. The State Department often put waning about this for countries that have conscription army.

There is ONLY one way that you will not be a national of Taiwan and that is:

1. By renunciation.  If you're born in Taiwan and both your parents are Taiwan national - yes you are! You better have renunciation paper.

2. If you're born in Taiwan but your parents are not Taiwan citizen. Oh yeah, that could be a possibility. Then, you're not a Taiwan national.

4. If your parents had renounced their Taiwan citizenship before you're born.

Hi Everyone

I wanna know more about Taiwan because my sister will go there next year in her last semester to study. This is her first time go to this country so, I have a little worried.

Pls introduce me something about this country.

Thank so much.