The Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ (MOFA) proposal to require all passport applicants to apply and have their picture taken in person met with a mixed reaction yesterday.
While academics and government officials argued that the new policy would boost the credibility of the nation’s travel document, the photographic industry claimed the policy would cost at least 50,000 jobs and demanded that the government come up with an alternative plan.
Speaking at a MOFA-sponsored public hearing on the issue, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs David Lin (林永樂) said that tightening the passport issuance process and strengthening anti-forgery measures would enhance Taiwan’s chances of inclusion in other countries’ visa-waiver programs.
Mandatory personal appearance is common practice in many countries as a counterterrorism measure, especially after the Sept. 11, 2001, in the US, he said, acknowledging that some people would oppose the new policy because of the added inconvenience.
Passport applicants are allowed to commission tour companies, relatives or schools to apply on their behalf. The only requirement is a valid national ID card and suitable photos.
The government has long argued that the current practice represents a loophole through which human traffickers can obtain Republic of China (ROC) passports for criminal purposes.
Lo Yu-chung (羅由中), director-general of MOFA’s Bureau of Consular Affairs (BOCA), said between 60 percent and 70 percent of the 1.2 million passport applications his office receives each year are from travel agents.
In recent months, the National Immigration Agency (NIA) has busted several crime rings that specialized in purchasing the personal information of Taiwanese nationals and using it with other people’s photos to get passports for human trafficking.
Last year alone, US authorities discovered close to 100 human trafficking cases where Chinese snakeheads used such methods to smuggle illegal aliens into the US, he said.
Taiwan’s lax passport issuance process prompted the US in July to impose a new regulation whereby all persons under 14 must appear in person for a face-to-face interview when applying for a visa to the US, Lo said.
In addition to the personal appearance requirement, the ministry is also considering requiring all passport photos be taken at a BOCA office — a suggestion vehemently opposed by the photographic industry.
The requirement is to prevent pictures from being doctored, Lo said.
Photo store owners, represented by Hsueh Ming-hua (薛銘華) of the National Federation of Photography Associations, said that computer bar code technology already available could solve such concerns.
“While the government can ensure the pictures are genuine, we get to keep the business,” Hsueh said, stressing that the industry was confident it could help the government in the fight against counterfeit passports.
Samuel Wu (吳秀光), a professor at National Taipei University, agreed with Hsueh, saying the government must consider the photographic industry when strengthening the passport issuance process.
National Chengkung University professor Yang Yong-nian (楊永年) said to make the policy more attractive to the public, BOCA should consider working with local household registration offices so that people could apply for passports closer to home, instead of having to travel to the nearest BOCA office.
Furthermore, the government must be certain that the proposed new policy is effective and that it has enough people to carry out the policy once it is implemented, or else it would be a wasted effort, said Wang Yu-wei (汪毓瑋), chairman of the Terrorism Research Center at Central Police University.
MOFA did not specify when the new policy would likely begin, but said once approved by the legislature it would be implemented in three phases to help the public get used to it.
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