Household registration () is a

Taiwanese Taiwanese may refer to: * Taiwanese language, another name for Taiwanese Hokkien * Something from or related to Taiwan ( Formosa) * Taiwanese aborigines, the indigenous people of Taiwan * Han Taiwanese, the Han people of Taiwan * Taiwanese people, ...

civil Civil may refer to: *Civic virtue, or civility *Civil action, or lawsuit * Civil affairs *Civil and political rights *Civil disobedience *Civil engineering *Civil (journalism), a platform for independent journalism *Civilian, someone not a membe ...

and

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

registration system. The modern household registration system was started in early 20th century when Taiwan was under Japanese rule. Currently the system is administered by the

Ministry of the Interior An interior ministry (sometimes called a ministry of internal affairs or ministry of home affairs) is a government department that is responsible for internal affairs. Lists of current ministries of internal affairs Named "ministry" * Ministry ...

. Under Taiwanese law, household registration guarantees an individual the

right of abode The right of abode is an individual's freedom from immigration control in a particular country. A person who has the right of abode in a country does not need permission from the government to enter the country and can live and work there withou ...

in Taiwan, and the ability to fully exercise their

civil and political rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life o ...

, such as the right to vote. Thus, the term ''national with household registration'' is sometimes used to refer to a citizen in official documents.

History

Early forms of household registration was first established in

Dutch Formosa The island of Taiwan, also commonly known as ''Formosa'', was partly under colonial rule by the Dutch Republic from 1624 to 1662 and from 1664 to 1668. In the context of the Age of Discovery, the Dutch East India Company established its presence ...

in 1647 by the

Dutch East India Company The United East India Company ( nl, Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie, the VOC) was a chartered company established on the 20th March 1602 by the States General of the Netherlands amalgamating existing companies into the first joint-stock ...

. Later regimes including

Kingdom of Tungning The Kingdom of Tungning (), also known as Tywan by the British at the time, was a dynastic maritime state that ruled part of southwestern Taiwan and the Penghu islands between 1661 and 1683. It is the first predominantly Han Chinese state in ...

and the Qing Taiwan administration maintain similar registers on local family profiles of the

Taiwanese people Taiwanese people may be generally considered the people of Taiwan who share a common culture, ancestry and speak Taiwanese Mandarin, Hokkien, Hakka or indigenous Taiwanese languages as a mother tongue. Taiwanese people may also refer to the i ...

. In these eras, registers on families were also used to organize

to conduct

civil defense Civil defense ( en, region=gb, civil defence) or civil protection is an effort to protect the citizens of a state (generally non-combatants) from man-made and natural disasters. It uses the principles of emergency operations: prevention, miti ...

, known as the

Hoko system The describes an institution of administrative control, adopted by the Japanese colonial government between 1898 and 1945 in Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East a ...

. The system existed until the era of Japanese rule. In the early 20th century during Japanese rule, the

Government-General of Taiwan The Government-General of Taiwan (Japanese: , Kyūjitai: , Hepburn: ''Taiwan Sōtoku-fu''; ; Tâi-lô: Tâi-uân Tsóng-tok-hú; Pha̍k-fa-sṳ=Thòi-vân Chúng-tuk-fú) was the government that governed Taiwan under Japanese rule between 189 ...

started to build very thorough household registration records for both families and persons, like the ''

Koseki A or family register is a Japanese family registry. Japanese law requires all Japanese households (basically defined as married couples and their unmarried children) to make notifications of their vital records (such as births, adoptions, death ...

'' system implemented in

Mainland Japan is a term to distinguish the area of Japan from its outlying territories. It was an official term in the pre-war period, distinguishing Japan and its colonies in the Far East. After the end of World War II, the term became uncommon, but stil ...

. The census in Taiwan was conducted in 1905, with the complete household registration records compiled in the next year according to the new law. The records established in 1906 forms the basis of modern household registration after the

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

until today. In the Japanese era, the household registration was maintained by the

Japanese police The is a law enforcement agency under the National Public Safety Commission of the Cabinet Office. It is the central agency of the Japanese police system, and the central coordinating agency of law enforcement in situations of national emer ...

, applications for registration can also be filed through Hoko offices. After the

, the competent authority household registration moved to civil administration. However, with the large number of

refugee A refugee, conventionally speaking, is a displaced person who has crossed national borders and who cannot or is unwilling to return home due to well-founded fear of persecution.

s from the

Chinese Civil War The Chinese Civil War was fought between the Kuomintang-led government of the Republic of China and forces of the Chinese Communist Party, continuing intermittently since 1 August 1927 until 7 December 1949 with a Communist victory on m ...

fleeing to

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

, the

National Identification Card An identity document (also called ID or colloquially as papers) is any document that may be used to prove a person's identity. If issued in a small, standard credit card size form, it is usually called an identity card (IC, ID card, citizen ca ...

was issued first time in Taiwan in 1949 to enhance social control. Later, with the tension of the

Second Taiwan Strait Crisis The Second Taiwan Strait Crisis, also called the 1958 Taiwan Strait Crisis, was a conflict that took place between the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the Republic of China (ROC). In this conflict, the PRC shelled the islands of Kinm ...

, the competent authority of the household registration was transferred to the

National Police Agency National Police may refer to the national police forces of several countries: *Afghanistan: Afghan National Police *Haiti: Haitian National Police *Colombia: National Police of Colombia *Cuba: Cuban National Police *East Timor: National Police of E ...

in 1969. The democratization process in

started in the early 1990s. Household registration was made independent of the police in July 1992. The nationwide computer system on managing household registration was established in October 1997.

Current implementation

Administration

The household registration record is administered by the Department of Household Registration (),

in the

central government A central government is the government that is a controlling power over a unitary state. Another distinct but sovereign political entity is a federal government, which may have distinct powers at various levels of government, authorized or dele ...

. In every Taiwanese

townships A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Ca ...

, county-administered cities and

districts A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...

, there is at least one field Household Registration Office () which accepts applications and registrations from the public. Registration records were digitized in the early 1990s. The nationwide online Household and Conscription Information System () was completed in September 1997. The system is maintained by both the Department of Household Registration and

National Conscription Agency The National Conscription Agency (NCA; ) is the agency of the Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of China (Taiwan) in charge of national conscription administration. History The agency was established in 2002. Organizational structure * ...

to serve both the civil registration and

conscription in Taiwan Taiwan has maintained a policy of conscription for all qualified males of military age since 1951. The Taiwanese government planned originally to end this policy in 2014, but abolishing conscription is controversial among Taiwanese society, an ...

Registration

The current ''Household Registration Act'' requires reporting of the following status changes: * Household status change: Initial, separation and combination of household(s) * Personal status change: (1) Birth, (2) Parentage, (3) Adoption and Adoption Termination, (4) Marriage and Divorce, (5) Legal Guardianship, (6) Assistance, (7) Exercising responsibility of the rights and obligations for minor children, (8) Death and Presumption of Death, (9) Indigenous status and tribe group, and Birth Place Registration * Personal status of domicile change: (1) Moving-out, (2) Moving-in, (3) Address Alteration

Derived documents

The household registration authorities also in charge of issuing

identity document An identity document (also called ID or colloquially as papers) is any documentation, document that may be used to prove a person's identity. If issued in a small, standard credit card size form, it is usually called an identity card (IC, ID c ...

s for persons and households, important documents includes: *

National identification card An identity document (also called ID or colloquially as papers) is any document that may be used to prove a person's identity. If issued in a small, standard credit card size form, it is usually called an identity card (IC, ID card, citizen ca ...

: The

card issues to every person who with household registration in

when the person turns 14. The ID card is often used as proof of citizenship in circumstances like voting in national and local elections, and an ID number is needed for tax reporting or open bank accounts. The ID card also have limited ability to verify the person's close relatives, including parents, spouse, and siblings. * Household certificate: The

issued to every household. The certificate is usually used to verify the identity of children under 14, or as proof of relationship or domicile address in some applications. * Household registration transcript: The official copy of household registration records. It has the same format as the Household Certificate. Usually served as the one-time proof of relationship or domicile address in some applications. Other official copy of specific household registration records, including

marriage certificate A marriage certificate (sometimes: marriage lines) is an official statement that two people are married. In most jurisdictions, a marriage certificate is issued by a government official only after the civil registration of the marriage. In so ...

, divorce certificate, records of marriage, records of address changes, records of name changes are also available to apply in a Household Registration Office.

Household registration and citizenship

Under Taiwanese law, household registration guarantees an individual the

in Taiwan, and the ability to fully exercise their

, such as the right to vote. Thus, the term ''national with household registration'' is sometimes used to refer to a citizen in official documents. Note that under the current

Taiwanese nationality law Taiwanese nationality law details the conditions in which a person is a national of the Republic of China (ROC), commonly known as Taiwan. Foreign nationals may naturalize if they are permanent residents in any part of the ROC or they have im ...

, a person with Taiwanese nationality does not necessarily have household registration. Although a '' national without household registration'' is eligible to apply for a

Taiwan passport The Republic of China (Taiwan) passport () is the passport issued to nationals of the Republic of China (ROC), commonly known as Taiwan. The ROC passport is also generally referred to as a Taiwanese passport. As of September 2020, approximately ...

, these passports differ from those issued to Taiwanese citizens with the former having far more restrictions than the latter.Shelley Rigger, "Nationalism versus Citizenship on Taiwan," in ''Changing Meanings of Citizenship in Modern China'', Merle Goldman, Elizabeth Jean Perry ed. (Harvard University Press, 2002), 360-61.

Notes

Words in native languages

References

External links

Department of Household Registration, Ministry of the Interior (Taiwan)
{{Taiwan and Taiwan-related Identity and Travel Documents Civil registries Family registers Law of Taiwan