The American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) has launched a public information drive to inform Taiwanese about the US Visa-Waiver Program (VWP), in the wake of Taiwan’s recent admittance to the program.
The AIT, which represents US interests in Taiwan in the absence of diplomatic ties, set up an information booth at Sogo Department Store on Zhongxiao East Road in Taipei yesterday to help people learn how to access the program. A similar booth was set up at a night market in Taipei on Saturday.
“We’re here to help people understand the rules and methods of traveling under the program,” said William Yu, a consular officer at the AIT’s Taipei office, at the booth on Zhongxiao East Road.
Photo: CNA
AIT personnel at the booth also handed out flyers about registering online to travel without a visa, a requirement of the VWP.
With Taiwan’s effective admission to the VWP on Nov. 1, Republic of China (ROC) citizens will be freed from the cumbersome process of obtaining a US visa at a cost of NT$4,800 per application.
However, Taiwanese travelers, like citizens of other countries in the VWP program, will still need to pay a fee of US$14 to apply online for an electronic travel authorization. The authorization will be valid for a two-year period.
Visitors to the AIT information booth yesterday were given the option of applying on the spot for the travel authorization.
“It’s really easy,” a middle-aged Taiwanese woman said after completing the procedure with the help of AIT staff.
Yu said public response to Taiwan’s admission to the VWP has been “very positive.”
Thousands of ROC passport holders have applied for the electronic travel authorization since the US announced Taiwan’s inclusion in the VWP earlier this month, Yu said, adding that the rejection rate is less than 1 percent.
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Taiwan's Gold Apollo Co (金阿波羅通信) said today that the pagers used in detonations in Lebanon the day before were not made by it, but by a company called BAC which has a license to use its brand. At least nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded when pagers used by Hezbollah members detonated simultaneously across Lebanon yesterday. Images of destroyed pagers analyzed by Reuters showed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with pagers made by Gold Apollo. A senior Lebanese security source told Reuters that Hezbollah had ordered 5,000 pagers from Taiwan-based Gold Apollo. "The product was not
COLD FACTS: ‘Snow skin’ mooncakes, made with a glutinous rice skin and kept at a low temperature, have relatively few calories compared with other mooncakes Traditional mooncakes are a typical treat for many Taiwanese in the lead-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, but a Taipei-based dietitian has urged people not to eat more than one per day and not to have them every day due to their high fat and calorie content. As mooncakes contain a lot of oil and sugar, they can have negative health effects on older people and those with diabetes, said Lai Yu-han (賴俞含), a dietitian at Taipei Hospital of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. “The maximum you can have is one mooncake a day, and do not eat them every day,” Lai