Taiwan and Canada agreed to increase the quota of this year’s Taiwan-Canada working holiday program to 700 from an initial quota of 200, a Ministry of Foreign Affairs official said yesterday.
“The enthusiastic response from Taiwanese youth has prompted the two countries to agree to raise [this year’s] quota to 700,” the ministry’s Director-General of North American Affairs Harry Tseng (曾厚仁) said.
According to Tseng, more than 500 Taiwanese youths filed applications the day the program was launched.
Taiwan and Canada signed a memorandum of understanding on youth mobility in April.
Under the program, Taiwanese and Canadians aged between 18 and 35 and who meet the necessary requirements are able to legally work while traveling in each others countries on a multi-entry visa that is valid for up to one year.
Tseng said the significant increase in the youth exchange program’s quota is attributable to a deepening relationship between the two countries and President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) youth policy.
“The results of the program are very encouraging because it shows that our young people have a strong spirit of adventure. It is also very beneficial to conduct cultural exchanges. It was a pity that there are not many young Canadians applying to come to Taiwan,” Tseng said.
Canada has become the fourth country to sign a working holiday agreement with Taiwan, following Australia and New Zealand in 2004 and Japan last year.
Taiwan is the fourth country in the Asia-Pacific region, and the 26th country in the world, to have made such arrangements with Canada, following Japan, South Korea and Hong Kong.
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