Originally posted Sep 6, 2011. Updated: Jan 3, 2020.
Once Taiwanese you will be required to serve 12 months as a conscript in the Taiwanese military. Anyways, this blog post is essentially just the process you’ll go through to get all my documents verified by two different authorities from two different countries.
Since I am British and my mother is Taiwanese, I can apply for Taiwanese nationality. Your age factors highly into you claiming for Taiwanese nationality through descent. According to an immigration officer who I was speaking to, he stated that I should apply for Taiwanese citizenship while I was still 19. This is because Taiwan recognises people under 19 as dependants. I did ask if I applied after I am 20 what difficulty I would face and the answer was that “it would be more difficult.” (Not the best answer in the world) Although I still believe it is possible to claim Taiwanese nationality through descent even if you are over the age of 19. However, this blog post is really to help those under 20, as these are my experiences and recommendations.
What documents do you need to apply?
Obviously to apply to become Taiwanese I required certain documents from the UK, they were:
Birth certificate (British)
Your parents marriage certificate (British)
Since I am from the UK, these documents are required to be certified by the Foreign Commonwealth Office. They have a special office in the UK setup for this called the “The Legalisation Office”. Per document it cost me £30’s each to get these certified. (Source) Essentially, I needed these documents to prove that I am indeed a child of these two people who are married, and more importantly that my mum is married to my dad. This is proof that my birth certificate is indeed correct and that I am the son of someone who’s Taiwanese. (i.e. my mother)
You also need to fill out their form which can be downloaded from here: (Applicable to those who are British Subjects)
Download(You need to fill in this document and send it off with the rest of your documents. – Your Birth certificate and your parents Marriage certificate)
These documents also need to be verified and stamped by the Taipei Representative Office (TRO) in London. (Sort of an unofficial embassy in the UK or just like a consulate)
Translation of the documents
At the original time of writing, it cost £10s each to get my birth certificate and marriage certificate verified and stamped by the TRO. However I was also required to have these documents translated. (Source)
TIP: It is a good idea to get them translated, just in-case if you need the documents. It costs a bit extra, but the extra effort and money is worth it for any certain amount of scenarios which may occur.
TIP:So, if you are unsure whether you have to get them translated or not, make sure you either concretely find out whether you need translated copies (Of your birth certificate and of your parents marriage certificate) or purely just get a translated copy and that will solve any issues which may arise.
Although, I have heard that English is accepted in some parts of Taiwan, thus a translation is not required, however in Taichung where I live, it was most definitely required. Though as stated, it is always a good idea to get a translated copy. It doesn’t too much to get one and it’s not that difficult to find a lawyer or someone who can do it for you. You can see how I got my documents translated below.
The translations need to be verified by the Taipei Representative Office in London
There is an additional cost of £10’s for each document to purely get them verified; the translated copies. (The TRO does not supply a translation service for your documents, they need to be translated first and sent with the original copy to their offices in London)
However, I managed to simply get these documents translated by an IT company who were competent enough to translate the documents into Chinese from English. I could have done this myself if I knew Chinese well enough to translate the documents. (Via creating a spreadsheet or using Microsoft Word to create a table and to fill it in Chinese, like the same design or aspect as the original English version) – As long as the information is correct, I believe the TRO in London will verify and stamp it. Once that it is done, the document can be used anywhere in Taiwan as an official document.
How can I pay the Foreign Commonwealth Office? (UK Foreign office)
You can pay them via their website; all online.
All you have to include is a print out with proof that you paid them for the documents.
You also need to pay for post and packaging. They also have an option online, whereby you can pay via Fedex to have it returned to you insured. However I will include another option or the option which I took which was much easier, since you still need the documents to be verified by the Taipei Representative Office in London; whom are also located in London. So there is no point them sending the document back to Taiwan, for you to just send it back to the UK to the TRO’s legislation office to get it verified. See what I did below under “How did I send it off via mail?”.
Checklist before you send your documents off to the UK – Legalisation Office:
Your parents marriage certificate.
Your birth certificate.
A translated copy of your parents marriage certificate.
A translated copy of your birth certificate.
Legalisation application form for the Legalisation Office (Foreign Commonwealth Office) – Filled in. Download here.
You need a bankers cheque addressed to the “Foreign Commonwealth Office” worth around £2 or £3. Personally I sent £3. This was so they could send the verified and stamped documents to the Taipei Representative’s Legalisation Office in London. You must also include an envelope addressed to the Taipei Representative Office in London or their legalisation office including a note directing them what you want them to do. (I.e. Please send this to the Taipei Representative Office in London. (Including their address))
Legalisation application form for the Legalisation Office (Taipei Representative Office) – Filled in. Download here.
You will need a bankers cheque for the amount £40 to get all 4 documents legalised/verified. (£10 for each document) They will also send the document back for a fee of £8 to Taiwan. So in total you need a bankers cheque worth £48.00 addressed to “The Taipei Representative Office”. You also need another envelope, addressed to your home address in Taiwan. They will stick all the documents inside that, once they place their verification stamp or seal of approval on the documents then send it off to the address on the envelope.
You are also required to have a form of identity sent to the Taipei Representative Office. I copied my passport and included it inside the envelope addressed to the TRO’s legalisation office.
I have included in more detail below under “How did I send it off via mail?” how I sent it to the UK via mail to have it also sent to TRO office then back to Taiwan.
Please also note that you need to send the application form first to the Foreign Commonwealth’s Legalisation Office. It needs their stamp of approval first before the Taipei Representative Office in London can verify and authenticate the stamp as well as the document.
How did I send it off via mail?
Once I had gathered all the required documents, I made sure everything was in functional order. I then packed all the documents that the TRO required into an envelope addressed to them. This included:
A photo copy of my passport as proof of identity.
The application form the TRO requires you to fill in for their verification service.
The two translated copies of your birth certificate and your parents marriage certificate.
After the Foreign Commonwealth’s Legalisation Office verify your documents, they will then pack those verified documents into the addressed envelope to the Taipei Representatives’ Legalisation Office in London. (You need to give them instructions on what to do. Try explain clearly. I included a typed draft letter for instructions on what they should do…) With the £3 or so you send them via bankers cheque [With the rest of your documents], they will use this money to send the document first-class to the TRO’s legalisation office.
Sending the documents from Taiwan:
Once I had everything packed and ensured that I had absolutely everything, I sent it all off. I packed everything into an envelope, went to the local post office in Taichung where I live and sent it off to that address in the UK. (To the FCO’s legalisation office in Milton Keynes)
It is as simple as that when posting it. You just have to make sure you have everything, as you can’t go and check again, once you have already sent it off. Just wait for the documents to come back and once they do you have the documents you need to become Taiwanese. I will also write an article on how I applied to the Taiwanese immigration office to be Taiwanese, with the relevant documents I needed for that. Since there are extra documents you need to get to verify your parents marriage in Taiwan. Though this is very easy if you have your mum in Taiwan to help you. It purely involves going down to your local registration office.
If this is unclear and if you need help, feel free to contact me.
Today I met up with an old friend of mine from secondary school. I can’t honestly say that the experience was enjoyable as we went to this bar where they were playing loud music and it was really difficult communicating. I was trying to get a catch up as to what she’d been doing the past 2 years, but as I said, it was too difficult to communicate with the music and all. Then we went to this disco… where she and her friend were kind of dancing and staring at each other, smiling, as they were kind of dancing. I wasn’t sure if they were sober or if this was their normal behavior. Either way, it was an extremely weird experience… But it was good seeing her again and knowing that she’s doing well for herself! 🙂
Here’s a pic with me and her: (I’m not sure if I have any old photos to make a comparison from secondary school)
So, I just came across this video, well, sort of. I actually saw this video the day it came out as it was a front page hit on Reddit (Usually where I get the latest craze) and it really affected me.
I can’t say that I was bullied, as I was a big guy and I would try and act strong to protect myself. But I had the fair bit of verbal abuse. I was called dumb, stupid, fat, and a numerous amount of things, even by friends that I had known for quite sometime. I was the nervous type in school, but while in school I tried many things to get myself out of the social bubble I had created for myself. I tried to open up and I feel I opened up too late. It wasn’t the social issue that was my problem; it was the fact that I always worried about my image that had been created from the verbal abuse in the past. And because of this I never focused on homework or school, or saw the importance of subjects that I objected to doing.
It was only when I went to college when I started to come out of that bubble, I had more confidence and felt that I was worth more than the dust that I overlooked that I saw as myself. I did really well in the business class I took and that made me push onto my dream of doing something related to computers. I then took a course in computing/IT and I got a Merit grade in that. – Now, after having worked in a Taiwanese company as a computer engineer I feel a lot more confident than ever before in going back to college and getting myself a degree. (While also learning and bettering myself)
It still affects me today; however, obviously I’m now a lot better and I feel that my life is now on the right track. Family issues have also affected in ways that I cannot imagine and have made things worse. That’s now over and right now, in the present, I feel a lot more confident in myself and I really do feel I have enough courage to do things that I couldn’t possibly do before. Although the past has affected me this video has really engaged me to leave the past to the past and focus on the present.
When I originally came to Taiwan, the first thing I said to myself was “It’s time to fucking lose some weight” and then I said: “It’s time to learn Mandarin“, “It’s time to be a man” and “I need to find a girl to love me.”. Now I’m at the point where I’m saying: “I need to go back to college to study.“. My thought process has come a long way. I have matured in ways that I could not have imagined.
Coming back to the video… my favourite part in the video is this bit:
but I want to tell them
that all of this shit
is just debris
leftover when we finally decide to smash all the things we thought
we used to be
and if you can’t see anything beautiful about yourself
get a better mirror
look a little closer
stare a little longer
because there’s something inside you
that made you keep trying
despite everyone who told you to quit
you built a cast around your broken heart
and signed it yourself
you signed it
“they were wrong”
because maybe you didn’t belong to a group or a click
maybe they decided to pick you last for basketball or everything
maybe you used to bring bruises and broken teeth
to show and tell but never told
because how can you hold your ground
if everyone around you wants to bury you beneath it
you have to believe that they were wrong
Here’s also another poem that I found through someone who was up-voted to the top comments of this very video, who posted this poem:
When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,
When the road you’re trudging seems all uphill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high,
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit,
Rest, if you must, but don’t you quit.
Life is queer with its twists and turns,
As every one of us sometimes learns,
And many a failure turns about,
When he might have won had he stuck it out;
Don’t give up though the pace seems slow–
You may succeed with another blow.
Often the goal is nearer than,
It seems to a faint and faltering man,
Often the struggler has given up,
When he might have captured the victor’s cup,
And he learned too late when the night slipped down,
How close he was to the golden crown.
Success is failure turned inside out–
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,
And you never can tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems so far,
So stick to the fight when you’re hardest hit–
It’s when things seem worst that you must not quit.
I am sure I’ve made similar posts to this post about my future. The uncertainties, the worries and the “What will happen… questions”. But, I’ve decided that I would like to make a return to the UK to study again or to simply go back to work! I can leave Taiwan in March/June/July as that is the period that I can stay in the Taiwan; unless I want to do Taiwanese military service, as I am Taiwanese, as well as being British. I would have done the military service last year (I actually wanted to do it then), but I feel that I’ve wasted a year, so I’m no longer interested in doing it and I really need to get studying/working before I become too old and become useless.
This morning I decided to go for a walk, as opposed to the running that I usually do. Instead of running inside the park (台中公園), I walked and I went sightseeing around the area where I live nearby. I took a few low quality pictures with my phone’s camera.
Here are the pictures:
Outside Taichung park (台中公園)
Next.
Goat Statue in Taichung Park (台中公園)
Next.
Just a random photo (台中公園)
Next.
The famous house in the middle of the lake! (台中公園)
Next.
These are horrible looking apartments just outside of Taichung Park. They really look awful with their windows covered with metal & with walls which haven’t been washed in decades. (台中公園)
Next.
This is Taichung library, or at least it used to be. They moved to another location, so this building is currently not being used. (台中公園)
Next.
A man exercising. I saw him hitting himself on the head repeatedly, quite a strange way to exercise. (台中公園)
Next.
I found an extremely cheap gym in Taichung, well, if it’s true. According to the sign it says pay $4,000NT for one year. Which is around £83 or $136USD. If it’s true, I might just sign up!
Next.
This is YiZhongJie (一中街), of course in the mornings the place is deserted, however as soon as the afternoon comes the place soon lights up and is literally crowded with people.
Next.
This is ZhongYouBaiHuo (中友百貨), a large shopping mall/centre nearby to where I live! I sometimes go there to purchase coffee, frappachinos etc from Starbucks.
Next.
This is World Gym Taichung. This is a little more pricier than the previous gym I showed. However, it’s much more pricier for a reason. If memory serves me correct, it costs like $2,200NT per month on a 12 month contract. Month by month it’s like double that price. If I could afford it, I would, but frankly speaking I’d rather pay $4,000NT for an entire year for a less established place and yeah, the other place is not as attractive, but it’s a gym, not a house. Not sure what point I’m trying to make, but I try to avoid expensive places, lol.
Next.
Oh, and here’s what I had for breakfast!
That’s all for now. I’ll try and take more interesting pictures next time, and I’ll be travelling to South Korea this month on the 29th, so hopefully I’ll get some interesting pictures up. I’ll also be uploading higher quality pictures of my trip in Seoul, Korea to my photography website, so be sure to check that out. 🙂
