The Renegade Province

Jaru (my wife) got her permanent resident card just a couple weeks back. That's a long, annoying process, but finally done!

She's from Taiwan, aka the Renegade Province, official name: Republic of China

-- not People's Republic of China.

These distinctions can lead to many headaches down at the post office.

Anyway, her green card comes and everything looks great, then we see her country of birth: China, People's Republic of

Some sighing ensues -- mostly at the prospect of yet again dealing with the Department of Motor Vehicles-esque efficiency and charm of the Department of Homeland Security. But first Jaru will call and figure out how to handle this --

-- and then discovers that there's nothing to handle. The helpful voice on the other end of the line says that her card is correct. She was born in the People's Republic.

If you get my drift...

EDIT: Update -- Apparently the answer to all this is a little more mundane, but perhaps equally depressing.