National Immigration Agency (NIA) Director-General Hsieh Li-kung (謝立功) yesterday said the agency would insist on the three-day review period for processing visa applications from Chinese tourists for national security reasons.
“The NIA is the frontline agency in charge of entry into the country, and it's our responsibility to safeguard the security of our borders,” Hsieh said in a written statement. “On average, it takes five working days for us to review entry applications submitted by Chinese tourist groups under normal circumstances, and at least three working days for expedited applications.”
He said that during the review process, the NIA looks into each applicant's background to avoid runaway tourists or breaches of national security.
Based on cross-strait agreements, the NIA can approve up to 4,311 visa applications per working day and allow 3,000 tourists from China into the country each day, Hsieh said.
Hsieh was responding to requests by several local travel agencies on Friday night to grant entry permits to more than 80 Chinese tourists in four groups who were scheduled to fly to the country.
The travel agencies sent the applications late on Thursday afternoon and could not get approval on time because they were submitted too late for Thursday to count as a working day, Hsieh told the Taipei Times by telephone.
“After we explained [this] to the travel agents, they agreed to postpone the groups' entry to Monday,” he said.
Citing an incident that occurred on Wednesday in which a 24-member tourist group from China was rejected entry and sent back despite their protest because none of the guests had proper visas, Hsieh urged tourism operators and air carriers to respect the law, “otherwise we can do nothing but fine travel agencies and carriers and deport the tourists.”
“Travel agencies have expressed their hope to expand the daily quota of Chinese tourists allowed into the country,” Hsieh said. “Well, we can't make that decision alone.”
He said the NIA would hold a meeting with the National Security Bureau, the Mainland Affairs Council and the Tourism Bureau tomorrow to discuss the matter.
After the government makes a decision, it won't be finalized until after another round of cross-strait negotiations between representatives from the tourism industries from both sides, Hsieh said.
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