Taiwanese nationality law

Taiwanese nationality law details the conditions in which a person is a national of the Republic of China (Taiwan). The Nationality Act is based on the principle of jus sanguinis, children born to at least one Taiwanese parent are automatically nationals at birth. Foreign nationals with permanent residency in Taiwan may naturalize after continuously living in the country for at least five (5) years. Certain foreign immediate family members of Taiwanese nationals may naturalize after continuously living in the country for at least three (3) years. Note that the current law of Taiwan has a clear distinction between nationality and citizenship. Constitutional civil and political rights as well as citizens’ responsibilities are only granted to those nationals who establish their household registration in Taiwan. From the history of the Republic of China, the country had once controlled the territories of today's People's Republic of China (PRC) and Mongolia. The nationality law used to included the people reside on those territories to be nationals until a clarification issued by the government of the Republic of China in May 2023. Chinese nationality law and Japanese nationality law Following the First Sino-Japanese War in 1895, the islands of Taiwan and Penghu were ceded by the Qing Empire, the last imperial dynasty of China, to the Empire of Japan according to the Treaty of Shimonoseki. The Treaty also ruled that residents who chose to remain in ceded territory were granted Japanese nationality in 1897. In 1899, the Imperial Diet of Japan passed the Nationality Law. This is the first nationality law that has applied to Taiwanese people. After the Second World War in 1945, the Allies ordered the control of these islands be transferred to the Republic of China (ROC, which succeeded the Qing Empire in 1912) by General Order No. 1. The ROC government then declared the "restoration" of Chinese nationality on local residents in 1946 and implemented its Nationality Act, which promulgated in 1929.