Former nationality(ies)

A tweet led me to a blogpost about a new Chinese (PRC) visa application (V.2013). I haven't applied for a Chinese visa for several years and was surprised to see it is now 4 pages (PDF).



One the first page, question 1.7 asks you to fill in your 曾有国籍 or former nationality(ies). I guess if I had to fill out this form now, I would write Canada in the box, but not sure how to continue. Do I write Taiwan? China? Republic of China?! Question 1.8 then asks for your 出生地点(市、省/州、国) place of birth (city, province/state, country). Again, do I put "Taipei, Taiwan, China" or go for broke and put Republic of China for country?

For my dad, this becomes even more confusing. He was born in Chengdu, China in 1941. Since the People's Republic of China didn't exist until 1941, it was definitely 中華民國 or Republic of China. He has a passport issued by Taiwan but nothing from PRC. I'm pretty certain if either of us put Taiwan or Republic of China for country or nationality, our visa application will be rejected.

BTW, if you google "Republic of China" you will get the on the results page:



It clearly states the Taiwan is a country, a "state in East Asia", and the "first constitutional republic in Asia." Heh, Google in going to stay on China's shit-list for a long long time.