u/T4jes

I just arrived home completing the NHOWR to NHWR process. Reddit posts here have been extremely helpful. Can’t even shout out all of them, but thank you to all who have shared!

Most recent ones have been the 3 day settlement permit exchange, but I chose to do the full process in Taiwan. I thought trying to navigate health exam and paperwork on short notice (I had a narrow window where I wanted to cross over with my parents) along with having time to do a longer trip made me decide to do it this way. So thought I’d share a more recent report of this, including some recommendations.

I will be detailed about some things that maybe I haven’t read as much about on other posts. 

I had booked a ticket for 20 days (left on a Saturday evening, and arrived back home on a Friday, 3 weeks later). I have younger kids at home, so hoped to minimize but didn’t want to not have enough time, so left 15 full business days to try to complete everything. You’ll see later in this post how long it actually took.

What I did in the US: 

• I had my birth certificate authenticated more than a decade ago when I had considered doing this process then. It had an “old style” authentication that was a sticker on the back vs the current paper stapled to the front. I had some issues with some translation companies (though not the one i went with) who said this could cause an issue with notary, but I had confirmed with TECO Atlanta (I was born in AL) that it was usable, and I didn’t have any issues along the way. 
• FBI Report with Authentication: Post office for fingerprints. Had to go two days in a row since my fingerprints wouldn’t take the first day. Second day, I moisturized before I left and then made sure they were dry by the time I got to post office (that was their suggestion). Results came back within the hour. Followed instructions with TECRO. I received the authenticated copy back, BUT I had only sent them a manila envelope with regular first-class mail since I wasn’t in a rush at the time. It came back slightly damaged in the mail. I asked TECRO if it’d be an issue and they said I’d have to ask Taipei NIA. I opted to just redo it, this time with Priority Mail envelope. 
• Marriage Certificate Authentication + Name Declaration Form: Thanks to the help here, I ended up deciding to try to register my marriage this trip also. My husband is Korean-American - so we used a transliteration from his Korean name to Chinese. We had an appt for authentication for marriage certificate at TECO LA, but when we went, we weren’t sure if we could also do the name change form. We could’ve, but failed to have it notarized, so my husband went back as a walk-in - website was a little unclear about authentications for walk-ins, but no problem walking in if you are early enough. (He showed up at 7:30 to wait, and was the first or second to get a spot).  This was the original post: https://www.reddit.com/r/TaiwaneseBornAbroad/comments/1rm59nl/nhowrnwhr_process_married_applicants_and_those/ 
• Contacted multiple translation companies to try to line up a translator/notary before I went. A friend who did this process in November, suggested that I do it in Taiwan. I’m sure the self-translation process and authentication process would’ve been fine, but I wanted to just make it easier. I contacted Wish Omakase and did not have a good experience communicating with them. I ended up finding a company Vision Tran. who responded the most professionally, and was the lowest rate of the three I contacted.

 

In Taiwan:

• I landed on a Monday morning (Day 1). I set up a SIM card with 台灣大哥大(got one for 1000 that included a local number which I’d recommend plus unlimited data for 30 days). Took 5 minutes. My plan was to get my health check done, plus get my papers dropped off for translation that day. 
• Health Check @ St. Paul’s Hospital in Taoyuan. Saw that this had the fastest results (in 3.5 days). I took a taxi from Taoyuan airport to Taoyuan train station, where I put my large bag in storage there since I’d take the train to Taipei afterwards. There is a bus that goes straight there from Taoyuan, but our plane landed late, and I was worried that if I showed up later, it’d be later to get my results, but I don’t think that’s the case. Anything done that morning would be available at 1pm 3 days later. The clinic opens at 8am, but the hospital at large doesn’t really open until 9 or 9:30. I believe you can only do appointments for the foreigners clinic in the morning. (webpage here: https://www.sph.org.tw/?page_id=4508)
  • To get to the clinic, go straight through the hospital to the back courtyard where you will see a standalone building. Once there, go to the front desk to check in. No appt needed. They will ask for your passport, photos (don’t remember how many, but they took the one i printed up on my own at home - far less strict on photos than other place), and vaccination card. 
  • I think you can get a booster or test, but I had asked my doctor to get a booster since I had only had one shot in the early 80s (through Kaiser so it was free except they made me take a pregnancy test which cost $10 - go figure.) They didn’t actually take my whole card, but rather I printed out my specific MMR record through Kaiser that had the lot number. 
  • The clinic was busy with a lot of SE Asians that were planning to work in Taiwan, and there are 8-9 stations for them. As a US citizen, you only need to get blood drawn and do a chest x-ray. For women, there are changing rooms where you’ll remove all your upper clothes and put on a gown. I think for men, they can just go as is (just no metal). 
  • It took about an hour even though the clinic was busy. After I was done, they sent me to the front lobby to pay but told me it wouldn’t be available until 9:30, so I had to wait about 10 minutes. I think it cost $1800 NT.
• Translation at Vision Translation (https://www.vision-tran.com.tw/). Highly recommend this company. Super responsive, incredibly professional. They do go by three different names, so while I contacted vision translation, Harvard translation was on the title. I think there’s another harvard translation company with a website on Roosevelt Rd that may or may not be the same one. I dropped off my three documents to be translated: 1) birth certificate, 2) FBI summary report, and 3) marriage certificate. I know there have been reports that notary might not be required for NIA, but I chose to get them done and notarized anyways. It cost $2400 each, and they returned with 3 copies of each. I could’ve picked it up on the next day (day 2) , but I didn’t go pick it up until day 3. For registering marriage, the notary and translation was required and it needed to be within past 30 days for them to accept.
• Thursday, Day 4
  • Health Exam Document Pickup: I took the train from Taipei to Taoyuan and walked to St. Paul’s (approximately 15 min). Arrived at the clinic at about 12:45 to wait for them to open. The worker arrived promptly at 1:00 and I was on my way by 1:05. I believe they only do health appts in the morning and pickups in the afternoon as it was quiet. It was raining that day, but if it weren’t, I would’ve grabbed a Youbike from the station to ride to and from.
  • Dropping off docs at NIA: This was super simple. It took maybe 30 minutes to get called at around 2:30pm. I took my dad, but I don’t really think he needed to be there, except that I didn’t want to take his actual passport and national ID, so I preferred that he was there. Nothing super notable except that I submitted all my marriage documents also. I followed some of the other posts and just made sure I had all my documents. As mentioned, I had all my documents translated and notarized and the worker seemed to say that was good I did that (I did ask), but I read that official rules are gray on that. I was handed my pickup slip, told they’d e-mail me first if there were any issues, and to expect to return in 7 business days (on Tuesday Day 16).  I did go the day before Labor Day and she made a mention of the holiday, so maybe this made it take longer.

   

• Day 5-14 - WAIT WAIT WAIT
  • I traveled and visited friends and family throughout Taiwan. They made me sign a paper acknowledging I could not leave the country while the permit was being processed but there was no issue leaving Taipei. 
  • I used the QR code to check the status of the paperwork. I saw three different statuses (stuck it into translation mode): processing, certificate printing, and certificate pick-up. By Friday (Day 12), it was still showing printing, so my dad and I figured it wouldn’t be ready early. To our surprise, on Sunday (Day 14), it changed to “pickup” so we ended up changing our train tix to a day early to return back to Taipei. 
  • I had a chop stamp made for both me and my husband while we were in this wait period, which you'll need for banking.
• Monday, Day 15
• My dad and I arrived at Taipei main station around 11:30am, stopped by our home to drop bags off and headed to NIA and then to our district office. We happen to live in Wanhua district, and so everything was close by. We walked over to the Wanhua HHR office from NIA. 
  • HHR plus Marriage Registration: It was a Monday, and the office is busier than other days. We waited a while before getting called, but I had made a mistake, and forgot all my extra marriage items (translated and notarized certificate plus name declaration). I had submitted all those to NIA but didn’t realize I should bring them here too. I ended up taking a Youbike and riding back and getting my docs and returning, delaying everything 30 minutes. 
    • HHR Registration: This was fairly straightforward. My dad was there, presented my paperwork and that seemed fine. We were trying to figure out if I’d be added to my dad’s or start a new one. We opted for putting it under my dad’s. 
    • Marriage Registration: This ended up taking a while and I wasn’t even sure if it’d be able to be done. She asked me if I just wanted my husband’s name on the card (which was fine through NIA settlement permit), or whether I wanted the marriage actually registered on the document. We asked for the latter (I’m thinking about if my kids choose to do this process down the road or we choose to live in Taiwan, this will be much easier to have been done). 
    • The worker asked for a “status of marriage” paper. I had read about this being asked for, but I explained we don’t have this in the US. She told me she wasn’t sure she could proceed but would ask “the folks upstairs”. I did get a marriage certificate that was issued within 6 months just in case and explained that was the best we could do in the US. 
    • While she was waiting for upstairs, she managed to do the rest of my HHR paperwork, showing my dad that his HHR had been updated with me added on it. 
    • They were the most strict on photos here. My photo I took at a booth wasn’t clear enough, and I didn’t bring the QR code that it came with (didn’t realize how important that was). She ended up taking a new pic for me.
    • After about 2 hrs, she showed my marriage registered on the registry (there's an actual line that will state it on your HHR transcript), and I picked up my ID about 15 min. later (even though she said 30). My husband’s name was listed on the card, though I think that would’ve happened even without registering my marriage.
    • We went upstairs to ask about pre-registering for NHI and they told us to go to the main branch. It was already 5:05 at this point, with them closing at 5:30, so we just decided to take care of it the next day.

   

• Tuesday, Day 16
  • BOCA for passport application: We showed up at about 8:00 or so. There was a short long, which quickly got longer. When it opened at 8:30, we walked straight in, got new pics taken, and went upstairs and was in and out in 15 minutes. They are very efficient. 
  • NHI pre-application: We headed to the NHI main office and proceeded to register for NHI card. We also asked to do auto-pay set up. I linked it to my dad’s bank account for now (but I was able to get my bank account set up the next day - we asked also for a form to change the routing number which she gave me and told me to just mail in). It took a little while (maybe 45 min), but everything got taken care of. We were able to get my NHI card mailed to my aunt in Hualien since our Taipei home isn’t usually occupied. This was probably the step where language wise, I had the most trouble understanding what was going on, but my dad was there.
    • Unlike some other reports, I did not need to present my HHR transcript. 
    • Interestingly, the main NHI branch was telling other people they could just go straight to your district’s HHR office. Maybe this was more the case to return after 6 months.
    • Also overheard somebody who had lost NWHR status, and worker explained that to regain, you had to re-register for HHR and then wait 6 months and then you’d be eligible again. This was where she said you could just go upstairs. It seemed fairly straightforward to me for those who might be in that situation.
    • I think if you would return to Taiwan after 6 months, it’d be easier to not pre-register as you could just get your card that day. I might be, but just am not sure, so decided to do it this way.

   

• Wednesday, Day 17
  • BOCA for passport pickup: I actually took a Klook tour that day and arrived back at 6:30. BOCA is open late on Wednesdays only so I ended up walking over from Main Station and picking it up around 7:15. Note, immigration is only open until 5, so I could not do egate, but I opted to skip it since it seems it can be automatically done at the airport.
• Thursday, Day 18
  • Chunghwa Post for Bank Account: My dad had suggested getting a bank account here, and I had asked my grandma’s caretaker (who is a foreigner) which bank she used, and she mentioned this one. Confirming this is a good bank to try to get an account, as you don’t need an appointment and can just get a number. 
  • I was actually not sure if I was going to do it this trip, but my bus wasn’t there yet, and it was raining, and the Post office for my area was right there. No line so I walked in. I started the process but they needed my HHR transcript which I didn’t bring, in addition to my national ID and passport and chop stamp, so I ended up walking back to my place to get it. They gave me no issue opening the account (I had heard this would be the case if you go to your home office). Just a note: it took 45 min or so, and you’re standing at the window the whole time. Being a US citizen means you have a lot of extra paperwork to fill out. I did have to do a lot of writing here, including things like address in Chinese, but the documents were mostly in English. They were really particular about making sure the English matched. I had some trouble figuring out which name to use for different documents, since in Taiwan, my main English name is my maiden name (matched with my Chinese name), but what I use in America is my married name (which has my maiden last name as my middle name plus my husband’s last name). I’m not sure what I signed or what exactly I opened (with min. 10 NT deposit, I put in 1000), but I walked out with an online account, an ATM card, and a bank book. I opted to use both my signature and chop stamp. He explained if you do both, you can use either in the future. The chop stamp is mainly if you want other’s to do business on your behalf. 
  • Digital Citizen Card: I went back to our district office to do this, since I didn’t have enough time as the office had closed by the time I got my National ID. They did tell me you can usually do it the same day if the information got inputted, but the worker the earlier day suggested I do it a day or two later. There was a QR code to scan, but I had trouble with submission, but I ended up leaving with my card somehow and they had the information I entered.
• Friday, Day 19
  • Departed and left Taiwan on NWHR passport with no issues. I had stopped by the e-gate application center there, and she told me it's automatic and no need to do anything. When I actually exited, they only had e-gate options, so there was some screen with Chinese words. I wasn't sure what I pressed. The worker wasn't much help - just told me to press either one. But I did fingerprints and they took a picture, and I was able to get through.

Final Notes: 

• From start to finish, this process could’ve been done in 15 days, so probably a trip total of 17 days (with travel time) I could’ve arrived on Monday, and left on Tuesday evening/Wednesday morning 2 weeks later. Of course, that’s dependent on how long your settlement permit takes. The whole process took me a bit longer because of some planning choices we made (we arrived in Taipei mid-day on Monday vs first thing in the morning), but I didn’t want to pay the change fees to leave early, so the extra time didn’t matter that much. I had a friend who got her settlement permit in 3 days back in Nov, but I’m sure that was an anomaly. 
• It helped to have my dad there, definitely for the HHR and NHI process. My Chinese is intermediate and I can converse fairly freely, but business language is much harder, so I didn’t catch a lot of probably important things. When I went and did my bank account and didn’t understand, I just told them, and they explained it to me in simpler concepts. But the HHR office did have English services window, so I’m thinking you can get more help if needed.
• Follow the guides on this forum. I forget where I found it, but there is a google doc by Will S called Taiwan Citizenship Checklist that was super helpful for me!
• Since I had a few extra days in Taipei, I was able to take advantage of my Taipei residency and get discounts with Maokong Gondola and Taipei Zoo.
• This could vary greatly depending on where you're HHR is going to be, but if you are going to stay in Taipei, being near Taipei Main Station and/or Ximending will put you closest to all the major important offices.