Taiwan issues police certificates, although the information is not always comprehensive. Also, legislation is pending in Taiwan that will cause criminal convictions resulting in a penalty of a fine, probation, a suspended sentence, or a sentence of less than two years be deleted from a person's criminal record. Crimes committed by juveniles are not part of the criminal record. Therefore, under the new legislation, a police clearance certificate will not show these convictions. Crimes relevant to visa issuance may be included in those that may not be shown on a person's police clearance certificate. Conversely, convictions, once part of a person's record, remains in the person's record indefinitely. The information reported by the police on police clearance certificates is reliable, but applicants have been able to exclude relevant convictions by specifying specific dates for which the check is to be performed. Information recorded in police clearance certificates comes from a national database of criminal convictions that is updated weekly. If posts suspect that a Taiwan visa applicant is concealing a criminal conviction despite presentation of a clean police clearance certificate, posts should send a completed DS-156 with a photocopy of the bio page of the applicant's passport to the Fraud Prevention Unit at AIT.
Taiwan does not use a standard system for romanizing names, resulting in a wide range of name spellings. However, every Taiwan citizen is assigned a unique national identification number that never changes. Whenever possible, queries should include a person's national identification number. Applicants with Taiwan passports should apply for a police certificate from the police headquarters having jurisdiction over the county or city in which the applicant's household is registered, as recorded in the Household Registration certificate. A third party can assist in this application. Previous residents of Taiwan not holding a Taiwan passport may apply for a police certificate by writing to:
Foreign Affairs Division
Taipei Municipal Police Department
No. 96, Yen Ping South Road
Taipei, Taiwan
Applicants should enclose a completed application form (available from Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Offices (TECRO) or Republic of China Embassies). There is a processing fee of US$11.00). No police certificate is available for previous residents of Taiwan who were dependents of U.S. military personnel and covered by the Status of Forces Agreement or persons living in Taiwan prior to August 1945.