TW · Citizenship by descent

Taiwanese citizenship by descent

Reaches a parent. Every answer on this page is what Postern’s rulebook returns, word for word, with the law it cites. The free check runs the same rules.

Last verified 25 September 20262 sourcesNot legal advice

TW · PARENTLIKELYThrough a parentCitizenship at birth (Art. 2)TW · GRANDPARENTUNLIKELYThrough a grandparentTwo or more generationsTW · GREAT-GRANDPARENTUNLIKELYThrough a great-grandparentTwo or more generations
Routes
Citizenship at birth through a parent (Art. 2)
Dual citizenship
Kept on every open route

The stamps assume no one in the line became a citizen of another country before the next person in the line was born. What changes each answer is below.

On this page
  1. 01Who qualifies
  2. 02Dates that matter
  3. 03Mothers’ lines
  4. 04Keeping your citizenship
  5. 05The routes and the law
  6. 06The documents
  7. 07What it takes
  8. 08Where the records live
  9. 09Law changes
  10. 10Other doors
  11. 11Sources

01Who qualifies

Who qualifies, generation by generation

LIKELY

Can you claim Taiwanese citizenship through a parent?

Citizenship at birth (Art. 2)

A child of an ROC-national parent is Taiwanese by birth, regardless of where the child is born, and can keep any other citizenship since descent carries no renunciation condition.

What would settle itFor an adult male applicant, whether registering household residency in Taiwan would also trigger a conscription obligation; those who never register there are generally excluded from it.

  • A person has the nationality of the ROC if the father or mother was an ROC national at the time of birth. Nationality Act, Art. 2
  • The certificate-of-loss-of-original-nationality requirement applies to naturalisation applicants, not to a person who is already an ROC national by descent. Nationality Act, Art. 9

What changes the answer

  • UNLIKELY
    If the parent is your mother and you were born before 1980Citizenship at birth (pre-1980 maternal line)

    Before 2000, ROC nationality passed only through the father. The 2000 amendment that let a mother's nationality count only reached back to those still under 20 when it took effect, so it does not cover a birth before about 10 February 1980.

UNLIKELY

Can you claim Taiwanese citizenship through a grandparent?

Two or more generations

Taiwanese nationality does not reach a grandchild or great-grandchild directly; the claim runs through whether your parent held ROC nationality at your birth. We found no separate heritage residence route for this generation.

What would settle itWhether your parent held ROC nationality at your own birth, which would put you on the parent route instead.

  • A person has ROC nationality at birth only if the father or mother was an ROC national at the time of birth (or at death, if the father died first); the Act does not extend this to grandparents. Nationality Act, Art. 2
UNLIKELY

Can you claim Taiwanese citizenship through a great-grandparent?

Two or more generations

Taiwanese nationality does not reach a grandchild or great-grandchild directly; the claim runs through whether your parent held ROC nationality at your birth. We found no separate heritage residence route for this generation.

What would settle itWhether your parent held ROC nationality at your own birth, which would put you on the parent route instead.

  • A person has ROC nationality at birth only if the father or mother was an ROC national at the time of birth (or at death, if the father died first); the Act does not extend this to grandparents. Nationality Act, Art. 2

02Dates that matter

The dates that matter

  1. 2000
    9 February 2000

    The Nationality Act was amended, effective 9 February 2000, to let either parent pass on nationality, but this applies only to those who were still under 20 on that date. Nationality Act, Art. 2 transitional clause

03Mothers’ lines

How mothers’ lines were treated

In Taiwan’s rule, the answer changes when the line runs through a woman:

  • UNLIKELY
    If the parent is your mother and you were born before 1980Citizenship at birth (pre-1980 maternal line)

    Before 2000, ROC nationality passed only through the father. The 2000 amendment that let a mother's nationality count only reached back to those still under 20 when it took effect, so it does not cover a birth before about 10 February 1980.

In the law’s words

  • The Nationality Act was amended, effective 9 February 2000, to let either parent pass on nationality, but this applies only to those who were still under 20 on that date. Nationality Act, Art. 2 transitional clause
  • A person has the nationality of the ROC if the father or mother was an ROC national at the time of birth. Nationality Act, Art. 2
  • A person has ROC nationality at birth only if the father or mother was an ROC national at the time of birth (or at death, if the father died first); the Act does not extend this to grandparents. Nationality Act, Art. 2

04Keeping your citizenship

Dual citizenship with your home country

You keep your citizenship.

On every open route, the rule lets a citizen of the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, Argentina or South Africa keep that citizenship.

05The routes

Every route, and the law behind it

Citizenship at birth (Art. 2)

Open through a parent

  • LIKELY
    Through a parent

The law

  • A person has the nationality of the ROC if the father or mother was an ROC national at the time of birth. Nationality Act, Art. 2
  • The certificate-of-loss-of-original-nationality requirement applies to naturalisation applicants, not to a person who is already an ROC national by descent. Nationality Act, Art. 9

What would settle an unsure case

  • For an adult male applicant, whether registering household residency in Taiwan would also trigger a conscription obligation; those who never register there are generally excluded from it.

Citizenship at birth (pre-1980 maternal line)

Closed: no open answer on this route

  • UNLIKELY
    Through a parent, if the parent is your mother and you were born before 1980

    Before 2000, ROC nationality passed only through the father. The 2000 amendment that let a mother's nationality count only reached back to those still under 20 when it took effect, so it does not cover a birth before about 10 February 1980.

The law

What would settle an unsure case

  • Your exact birth date, to confirm it falls before the cutoff the transitional clause implies; this figure comes from practitioner sources reading the clause, not a government-stated date, so it is worth independent confirmation before relying on it.

Two or more generations

Closed: no open answer on this route

  • UNLIKELY
    Through a grandparent

    Taiwanese nationality does not reach a grandchild or great-grandchild directly; the claim runs through whether your parent held ROC nationality at your birth. We found no separate heritage residence route for this generation.

The law

  • A person has ROC nationality at birth only if the father or mother was an ROC national at the time of birth (or at death, if the father died first); the Act does not extend this to grandparents. Nationality Act, Art. 2

What would settle an unsure case

  • Whether your parent held ROC nationality at your own birth, which would put you on the parent route instead.

06The documents

The documents, as the rule lists them

Citizenship at birth (Art. 2)

Through a parent

  • Your parent's Taiwanese household registration (hukou) record or passport
  • Your birth certificate
  • Household registration (hu-ji) application at a Taiwan representative office

Most countries also want proof that no one in the line became a citizen elsewhere before the next birth: the naturalization record with its date, or a letter that none exists.

07What it takes

What it takes: time, cost, the hard part, who decides

Citizenship at birth (Art. 2)

Time
A few weeks to a few months for a Taiwan passport, once your parent’s ROC nationality or household registration is confirmed.
Cost
About $150–350: certified household registration or passport copies, translations, and the passport fee.
The hard part
Establishing your parent’s ROC nationality when the family never registered a household in Taiwan, or the parent’s own records are decades old.
Who decides
A Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO) for your U.S. address, or Taiwan’s National Immigration Agency if applying in Taiwan.
The first record
Your parent’s Taiwan household registration (hukou) record or ROC passport, from A Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO), or the Household Registration Office in Taiwan. Contact the TECO for your address with the parent’s name and, if known, their old household registration address in Taiwan; TECO can request a household registration transcript on your behalf. ris.gov.tw

How it’s filed

Where
A Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO) for your U.S. address, or the National Immigration Agency if applying in Taiwan.
How
In person; you appear in person
Fee
Not confirmed: no official fee was found
Decision
2–13 weeks
What goes in the file (4)
  1. The completed passport or household-registration application
  2. Your U.S. birth certificate, translated into Chinese
  3. Your parent's Taiwan household registration record or ROC passport
  4. Your parents' marriage certificate, translated, if applicable
What goes wrong (3)
  • A person can be an ROC national without ever establishing household registration in Taiwan (a 'national without household registration'); that status carries a passport but not a vote.
  • For a male applicant, establishing household registration in Taiwan later triggers a compulsory military-service obligation from age 18; someone who never registers there is generally exempt.
  • Fee shown as a placeholder; TECO prices passports by validity and page count, and household-registration filings are handled case by case.

Checked 25 September 2026 · source ↗

Estimates are honest ranges from official fee tables and what families report; where a fee or time could not be confirmed, it says so.

08Where the records live

Where each record lives, and how to ask for it

  • birth

    The parent's Taiwan household registration (hukou) record, or their ROC passport, requested through a Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO)

    Give the parent's full name and, if known, their old household registration address in Taiwan; TECO can request a household registration transcript on the family's behalf.

    Ask
    Through an agent, in Chinese · request page ↗
    Takes
    2–9 weeks
    Good to know (1)
    • Unverified: turnaround for a household registration transcript requested from abroad through a TECO rather than in person in Taiwan.

    Checked 25 September 2026 · source ↗

Translations

Into
Chinese
Who may translate
Any certified translator
About
$20–$45 a page

U.S. birth and marriage certificates filed with a TECO or Taiwan's household registration office need a Chinese translation; no sworn or embassy-approved translator is required.

Checked 25 September 2026 · source ↗

The passport

Where
A Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO) for your U.S. address, once your ROC nationality is confirmed.
Fee
Not confirmed
Time
2–9 weeks
  • Fee shown as a placeholder; TECO prices passports by validity and page count.

Checked 25 September 2026 · source ↗

09Law changes

Recent and pending changes

The legislative watch has no pending bill or recent ruling recorded for Taiwan.

The watch re-reads the official pages behind this guide every day. When one changes, a person re-checks the rule before anything here moves.

10Other doors

If descent doesn’t reach you

3 residence programs lead to Taiwan without an ancestor, each with its own law and road to citizenship.

11Sources

Every source on this page

1 laws and official pages behind the answers, then the offices and pages behind the records and filing. Records and filing checked 25 September 2026.

  1. LawNationality Act · Art. 2; Art. 9; Art. 2 transitional clause · checked 25 September 2026
  2. RecordsA Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO), or the Household Registration Office in Taiwan: Your parent’s Taiwan household registration (hukou) record or ROC passport · checked 25 September 2026

Not legal advice. Postern’s rulebook is written from the statutes and tested against documented cases; where the law is unsettled, the answer says “possible” or “unsure” rather than guess.

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