Hungary may soon become the fifth country in Europe to sign a working holiday visa agreement with Taiwan, as the two countries have entered the final stage of negotiations for the pact, a Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) official said yesterday.
The deal could be signed by the end of this year, said Zhang Ming-zhong (張銘忠), director-general of the ministry’s Department of European Affairs.
Under the agreement, Taiwan and Hungary would allow 100 young people between 18 and 35 years old to travel and work in each other’s territory for a set period of time each year, Zhang told a regular news briefing yesterday.
Zhang also said Taiwan is still waiting for the French government to clear some legal hurdles before Paris can finalize a working holiday agreement with Taipei. Officials in Taiwan and France have pushed for the program for years.
In addition to the United Kingdom, Ireland, Belgium and Germany, Taiwan has also signed working holiday agreements with New Zealand, Australia, Japan, Canada and South Korea.
Separately, starting on Nov. 1, Macedonian nationals will be able to travel Taiwan on a landing visa starting for a stay of up to 30 days.
The move is a reciprocal measure made in response to Macedonia’s extension of visa-free privileges for Republic of China passport holders for another five years starting on April 1, Zhang said.
The expiration of the landing visa privilege granted to Macedonians will expire on the same date as the visa-free status for Taiwanese nationals in Macedonia does: March 31, 2018, he added.
The Taipei Department of Health yesterday said it has launched a probe into a restaurant at Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store after a customer died of suspected food poisoning. A preliminary investigation on Sunday found missing employee health status reports and unsanitary kitchen utensils at Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in the department store’s basement food court, the department said. No direct relationship between the food poisoning death and the restaurant was established, as no food from the day of the incident was available for testing and no other customers had reported health complaints, it said, adding that the investigation is ongoing. Later
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