TRAVEL
US visa costs to rise
From April 13, the fee for Taiwanese passport holders applying for a non-immigrant visa to the US will rise from NT$4,340 to NT$4,960, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said yesterday. The policy comes as the US Department of State said it would increase non-immigrant visa processing fees in most categories starting from April 13 to support the expansion of its overseas facilities, as well as the additional staffing required to meet increased visa demand. Under the new schedule of fees, applicants for all visas that are not petition-based, including tourist and business visitor (B1/B2) visas, and all student and exchange visitor (F, M and J) visas, will pay a fee of US$160, up from US$140. Applicants for petition-based visas will now pay a fee of US$190 instead of US$150. However, the application fee for K visas (for fiance(e)s of US citizens) will be reduced from US$350 to US$240.
TRAVEL
Special EasyCard launched
EasyCard Corp will release a limited-edition EasyCard, with the proceeds going to charity, to celebrate the number of cards in circulation exceeding 30 million, the company said. Proceeds from the sales of the special-edition cards will be donated to the social welfare group the United Way of Taiwan. The gold-colored NT$390 card features a blue, red, orange and green dragon — the colors of the company’s logo — to mark the Year of the Dragon. The dragon is in the shape of the number 3,000 to commemorate the milestone. In Chinese, 3,000 wan means 30 million. The 3,000 cards went on sale yesterday. The company said it would also work with 21 convenience store chains, coffee shops, movie theaters and food courts to provide discounts for EasyCard holders from next month through June to further celebrate the landmark.
ENTERTAINMENT
Magician wins US award
Well-known Taiwanese conjurer Louis Liu (劉謙) has won the “Magician of the Year” title given by the US Academy of Magical Arts and will receive the award in Los Angeles tomorrow. Liu, the first Taiwanese to win the prize, arrived in Los Angeles on Wednesday for the ceremony. The 44th annual Academy of Magical Arts Awards are scheduled to take place at the Saban Theatre in Beverly Hills, California. In 2003, Liu was invited to perform at the organization’s clubhouse, the Magic Castle, the first time that a Taiwanese magician appeared on stage at the venue. The academy, known as “Mecca for Magicians,” gives annual awards to individuals who have made significant achievements in the field of magic. Master magicians David Copperfield and Ricky Jay are among the 42 people who have won the prestigious Magician of the Year award.
Former Czech Republic-based Taiwanese researcher Cheng Yu-chin (鄭宇欽) has been sentenced to seven years in prison on espionage-related charges, China’s Ministry of State Security announced yesterday. China said Cheng was a spy for Taiwan who “masqueraded as a professor” and that he was previously an assistant to former Cabinet secretary-general Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰). President-elect William Lai (賴清德) on Wednesday last week announced Cho would be his premier when Lai is inaugurated next month. Today is China’s “National Security Education Day.” The Chinese ministry yesterday released a video online showing arrests over the past 10 years of people alleged to be
THE HAWAII FACTOR: While a 1965 opinion said an attack on Hawaii would not trigger Article 5, the text of the treaty suggests the state is covered, the report says NATO could be drawn into a conflict in the Taiwan Strait if Chinese forces attacked the US mainland or Hawaii, a NATO Defense College report published on Monday says. The report, written by James Lee, an assistant research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of European and American Studies, states that under certain conditions a Taiwan contingency could trigger Article 5 of NATO, under which an attack against any member of the alliance is considered an attack against all members, necessitating a response. Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty specifies that an armed attack in the territory of any member in Europe,
LIKE FAMILY: People now treat dogs and cats as family members. They receive the same medical treatments and tests as humans do, a veterinary association official said The number of pet dogs and cats in Taiwan has officially outnumbered the number of human newborns last year, data from the Ministry of Agriculture’s pet registration information system showed. As of last year, Taiwan had 94,544 registered pet dogs and 137,652 pet cats, the data showed. By contrast, 135,571 babies were born last year. Demand for medical care for pet animals has also risen. As of Feb. 29, there were 5,773 veterinarians in Taiwan, 3,993 of whom were for pet animals, statistics from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency showed. In 2022, the nation had 3,077 pediatricians. As of last
XINJIANG: Officials are conducting a report into amending an existing law or to enact a special law to prohibit goods using forced labor Taiwan is mulling an amendment prohibiting the importation of goods using forced labor, similar to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) passed by the US Congress in 2021 that imposed limits on goods produced using forced labor in China’s Xinjiang region. A government official who wished to remain anonymous said yesterday that as the US customs law explicitly prohibits the importation of goods made using forced labor, in 2021 it passed the specialized UFLPA to limit the importation of cotton and other goods from China’s Xinjiang Uyghur region. Taiwan does not have the legal basis to prohibit the importation of goods