The US last night announced Taiwan’s membership in its Visa Waiver Program (VWP), as the nation became the 37th country to receive the privilege.
The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) listed Taiwan on its Web site as one of the countries enjoying visa-free status, according to the Central News Agency.
Taiwan will become the seventh nation in the Asia-Pacific region to obtain visa waiver treatment from the US after Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Singapore, Brunei and South Korea.
Inclusion in the program means that Republic of China (ROC) passport holders will be granted visa-free stays of up to 90 days in the US.
The initiative is expected to benefit both countries. The VWP is one of the key components of US President Barack Obama’s stated goal of increasing travel and tourism to the US. It will also free Taiwanese from the cumbersome process of applying for a US visa and save them the NT$4,800 fee.
Under the new procedure, which will take effect one month from the date of the announcement, ROC nationals who want to travel to the US will simply have to register basic information online and pay a US$14 fee. The online approval will allow multiple stays of up to 90 days over a two-year period.
Washington’s approval comes after a lengthy screening process. Taiwan obtained VWP candidacy status in December last year after years of trying to join the program. A group of officials from the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) visited Taiwan in early March to evaluate Taiwan’s bid, inspecting Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport among other procedures.
Bruce Linghu (令狐榮達), director-general of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Department of North American affairs, said Taiwan began negotiations with the US on the waiver program two years ago after the country met eligibility requirements, including a visa refusal rate of less than 3 percent.
Now that Taiwan has been granted US visa-waiver status, nearly all of the countries and regions in the world that Taiwanese often travel to have either exempted Taiwanese from visa requirements or offer Taiwanese landing visa status, the ministry said.
The US became the 129th country or region to grant Taiwan visa privilege, with the Philippines, Vietnam and Myanmar on a list of priority countries identified by the ministry that it is continuing to work with to qualify for their programs.
Meanwhile, tourism officials said the program could result in a 30 percent to 40 percent increase in tourists heading to US this quarter.
Lion Travel Service Co spokesman Andy Yu (游國珍) said Taiwanese who wanted to visit the US were often intimated by the complicated procedures they had to endure.
“They were required to fill a detailed application form and show up in person at the American Institute of Taiwan [AIT] for an interview,” Yu said. “During the travel season, visitors would need to make reservations for the interview, sometimes one-and-a-half months in advance. Those living in central and southern Taiwan would have to travel to the north, and they were not even guaranteed that their applications would be approved.”
Yu said more people would now be encouraged to travel to the US.
In related developments, the National Immigration Agency said it would step up its border security measures and anti-terrorism cooperation with other countries after Taiwan’s inclusion in the waiver program. Beginning next year, the agency will set up systems at airports and seaports that collect and match fingerprints and take photos of foreign passengers, agency Director-General Hsieh Li-kung (謝立功) said.
Taiwan is projected to lose a working-age population of about 6.67 million people in two waves of retirement in the coming years, as the nation confronts accelerating demographic decline and a shortage of younger workers to take their place, the Ministry of the Interior said. Taiwan experienced its largest baby boom between 1958 and 1966, when the population grew by 3.78 million, followed by a second surge of 2.89 million between 1976 and 1982, ministry data showed. In 2023, the first of those baby boom generations — those born in the late 1950s and early 1960s — began to enter retirement, triggering
One of two tropical depressions that formed off Taiwan yesterday morning could turn into a moderate typhoon by the weekend, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Tropical Depression No. 21 formed at 8am about 1,850km off the southeast coast, CWA forecaster Lee Meng-hsuan (李孟軒) said. The weather system is expected to move northwest as it builds momentum, possibly intensifying this weekend into a typhoon, which would be called Mitag, Lee said. The radius of the storm is expected to reach almost 200km, she said. It is forecast to approach the southeast of Taiwan on Monday next week and pass through the Bashi Channel
NO CHANGE: The TRA makes clear that the US does not consider the status of Taiwan to have been determined by WWII-era documents, a former AIT deputy director said The American Institute in Taiwan’s (AIT) comments that World War-II era documents do not determine Taiwan’s political status accurately conveyed the US’ stance, the US Department of State said. An AIT spokesperson on Saturday said that a Chinese official mischaracterized World War II-era documents as stating that Taiwan was ceded to the China. The remarks from the US’ de facto embassy in Taiwan drew criticism from the Ma Ying-jeou Foundation, whose director said the comments put Taiwan in danger. The Chinese-language United Daily News yesterday reported that a US State Department spokesperson confirmed the AIT’s position. They added that the US would continue to
The number of Chinese spouses applying for dependent residency as well as long-term residency in Taiwan has decreased, the Mainland Affairs Council said yesterday, adding that the reduction of Chinese spouses staying or living in Taiwan is only one facet reflecting the general decrease in the number of people willing to get married in Taiwan. The number of Chinese spouses applying for dependent residency last year was 7,123, down by 2,931, or 29.15 percent, from the previous year. The same census showed that the number of Chinese spouses applying for long-term residency and receiving approval last year stood at 2,973, down 1,520,
RSS