Taiwan passport

The Republic of China (Taiwan) passport (Chinese: 中華民國護照; pinyin: Zhōnghuá Mínguó hùzhào; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Tiong-hûa Bîn-kok hō͘-chiàu) 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. In September 2020, approximately 60.87 percent of Taiwanese citizens possessed a valid passport.

Republic of China passports were the official passports of China prior to 1949. The earliest edition of the ROC passport which can be verified is the one issued by the Beiyang government in 1919. The current version of passport can be traced back to the prototype published in 1929 by the Kuomintang-led Nationalist government (1927–1948) based in Nanjing. After the defeat of Kuomintang in the Chinese Civil War, the jurisdiction of the ROC government was effectively limited to the Taiwan Area, thus making it a valid travel document issued only in Taiwan. All passports published in Taiwan since 2008 have been biometric.

The validity and international recognition of Taiwan passport are complicated due to the current political status of Taiwan as well as the history of the Republic of China since the country had once controlled the territories of today's People's Republic of China (PRC) and Mongolia. In the past, all ethnic Chinese, Mongols, and Taiwanese were considered to be eligible for the passport. However, legal reforms in the 1990s and 2000s greatly reduced the ease by which further grants of nationality were made to overseas Chinese and Mongolian, and restricted citizenship rights only to those with household registration in Taiwan. Currently, certain overseas Chinese, Mongolian, and Taiwanese may be eligible for a ROC passport under certain conditions, but do not have household registration in Taiwan (i.e. they are "nationals without household registration", or "NWOHR"), and thus do not enjoy the right of abode in Taiwan. Countries granting visa-free privileges to Taiwan passport holders often require a Taiwanese National ID number imprinted on the passport's biodata page, which signifies the holder's right of abode in Taiwan.

The Republic of China (Taiwan) passport is one of five passports with the most improved rating globally since 2006 in terms of the number of countries that its holders may visit without a visa. As of September 2020, holders of ordinary Republic of China passports (for ROC nationals with Taiwan area household registration who therefore possess right of abode in Taiwan and also the right to obtain a National Identity Card) had visa-free or visa on arrival access to 150 countries and territories, with 20 additional countries granting electronic visas, ranking the Republic of China (Taiwan) passport 32nd in the world in terms of freedom of travel (tied with the Mauritius and St. Vincent and the Grenadines passports), according to the Henley Passport Index 2020.