First-time passport application also available at Changhua household registration offices

(Taiwan Business News) Changhua County Magistrate Cho Po-yuan stated that, effective immediately, all household registration offices are simultaneously launching two convenient public services: the "Cross-Domain Integrated Household Registration Service - NHI Card Convenience Station" and the "First-Time Passport Application One-Stop Intake and Full Service." When residents go to a household registration office to process a name change, date of birth change, or other household registration data changes, or to register a newborn's birth, they can subsequently apply for an NHI card. In addition, for a first-time passport application for overseas travel, after completing identity verification at the household registration office, residents can directly apply for a passport on the spot, without needing to submit the documents in person or entrust a travel agency to deliver them to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, realizing the concept of one-stop intake and full service. Magistrate Cho stated that on July 1, the National Household Registration Day thanking household registration personnel for their hard work, expanding convenient public services in Changhua County is even more meaningful.

Changhua County Magistrate Cho Po-yuan first thanked household registration colleagues for their hard work and stated that the Changhua County Government is collaborating with the National Health Insurance Administration of the Ministry of Health and Welfare to provide cross-domain integrated NHI services! Starting July 1, Changhua County's 26 household registration offices will be the first nationwide to proactively ask residents applying for household registration services such as "personal name change," "date of birth change," "reversion to traditional indigenous names," and "replacement of a lost ID card" whether they wish to replace or reissue their NHI card and update their NHI information. Residents only need to sign an application form on site to complete the application, saving them from making multiple trips. Changhua County residents are welcome to take advantage of this service.

Changhua County Magistrate Cho Po-yuan pointed out that under the Passport Act, since July 2011 (ROC year 100), citizens traveling abroad for the first time must first go to a household registration office for identity verification, and then apply for a passport at the counter of the Bureau of Consular Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or its branch offices. If handled through a travel agency, the agency fee is about NT$300 per application, which is time-consuming and costly for the public. The Changhua County Government proactively approached the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and agreed that starting July 1, for first-time passport applications, all household registration offices and the county government will provide full service and will not charge an agency fee. With about 24,000 first-time passport identity verification cases in Changhua County per year, this will save county residents the agency fees and the time of submitting documents in person throughout the year, with estimated annual savings of more than NT$15 million.