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 option for this generation.
What would settle itWhether your parent held ROC nationality at your own birth, which would put you on the parent option 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 option for this generation.
What would settle itWhether your parent held ROC nationality at your own birth, which would put you on the parent option 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 ↗
The dates that matter
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 ↗
Claiming through your mother or grandmother
In Taiwan’s rule, the answer changes when the ancestor you descend through is 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 ↗
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.
Nationality acquired by descent carries no renunciation condition; that applies only to naturalisation.Nationality Act, Art. 9 ↗
Every way to apply, and the law behind it
Citizenship at birth (Art. 2)
Open to you 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 one qualifies this way today
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
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 ↗
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 one qualifies this way today
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 option 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 option instead.
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 your ancestor didn’t become a citizen somewhere else before their child was born: the naturalization record with its date, or a letter saying there isn’t one.
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
Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in San Francisco, 345 4th Street, San Francisco, CA 94107 office list ↗
San Francisco TECO passport appointment. Use the official first-passport page’s Online Appointment System. The appointment service runs Monday–Thursday 10:30–13:00; take a first-floor ticket by 12:30. The applicant books personally.
Fee
About $60
Decision
8–8 weeks
Your records
No apostille, no translation. This route uses English-language Utah or Nevada birth records and the original Taiwan registered-marriage evidence. TECO authenticates the US birth for USD 15 within the USD 60 filing fee.
Every office in the United States (1)›
TECO San Francisco
Serves Utah, Nevada
How
In person; you appear in person
Address
345 4th Street, San Francisco, CA 94107
Pay
60 USD, by cash, money order or cashier’s check made out to “TECO”; no personal checks.
Sign
The adult applicant signs Section 11 and attends personally with the originals, at the appointment.
Applicant’s original full Utah or Nevada birth certificate and copy
Applicant’s valid original US passport and copy
Both parents’ valid original passports and copies
ROC parent’s passport or official nationality evidence covering the applicant’s birth
Original Taiwan marriage certificate or household transcript issued within three months with marriage registration notes, and copy
Completed passport application, signed personally in Section 11
Completed birth-authentication application, signed personally
Two matching passport photographs taken within six months
USD 60 cash, money order or cashier’s check payable to TECO
What goes wrong (2)›
One unmarried US-born adult aged 20 or older, born on or after 10 February 1980 in Utah or Nevada and resident in one of those states, with two living married parents, their marriage already registered in Taiwan, a parent who held ROC nationality at birth and current original parental passports. No Taiwan household registration, prior ROC passport, name change, adoption, Mainland China residence or nationality renunciation. All names, dates and birthplaces match across the original records.
This application issues the first ten-year e-passport as a national without Taiwan household registration. It does not establish Taiwan household registration. USD 45 passport plus USD 15 birth authentication is paid once; no second passport application or fee is due.
Fees are each office’s published fee, converted to U.S. dollars.
Where each record lives, and how to ask for it
birth
The parent’s Taiwan household registration (hukou) record, held by the household registration offices; or the parent’s ROC passport
Give the parent’s full name and, if known, their old household registration address in Taiwan. Any household registration office in Taiwan issues the transcript; from abroad, a relative or agent there requests it for you.
From abroad: sign an authorization letter (委託書), have it verified by a TECO, and send it to the relative or agent in Taiwan who will file. A child or grandchild of the registered person qualifies as a direct relative. The office issues the transcript on the spot for NT$15 a page; the wait is the post.
Any certified translator; the translation itself is legalized
About
$20–$45 a page
For the passport, TECO takes U.S. birth and marriage certificates in English and authenticates them (USD 15 each); no translation is needed. For household registration in Taiwan later, each certificate needs a Chinese translation, and TECO must verify both the English original and the translation.
A Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO) for your U.S. address, once your ROC nationality is confirmed.
Fee
About $0
Time
7–10 weeks
USD 45 for a 10-year e-passport, USD 31 for a child under 14 (5 years). The book is made in Taipei and takes about 8 weeks; an emergency 1-year passport (USD 10) takes 5–10 business days but does not qualify for visa-free travel.
Not legal advice. Every answer comes from the country’s own laws and is tested against real cases. Where the law isn’t clear, we say “possible” rather than guess.
Check your family for Taiwan.
Tell us about one parent or grandparent. We’ll answer in about a minute, and show you the law behind it.