The main problem holding up Taiwan’s inclusion in the US’ visa-waiver program has to do with the status of overseas Taiwanese, but the issue would be resolved within three months, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday.
Bruce Linghu (令狐榮達), director-general of the Department of North American Affairs, said it was a “technical problem” that could be sorted out in “two to three months.”
Taiwan and the US have been negotiating on whether to extend the visa-free privilege to Republic of China (ROC) nationals who do not have household registration in Taiwan.
Some overseas-born Taiwanese are entitled to ROC passports and diplomatic protection, but do not have household registration in Taiwan. They are not permitted to vote in Taiwan and are exempt from compulsory military service.
“This is not a new problem,” Linghu said, adding that it had come up in the past in talks with the 127 countries or territories that have visa-waiver agreements with Taiwan.
The ministry is working with other government agencies, such as the National Immigration Agency, to sort out the problem, he said.
Taiwan has already met several requirements for the US program, such as a visa refusal rate of less than 3 percent, he said.
Taiwan’s chances of gaining admission to the program are “very positive” and it should happen “sometime in the fourth quarter,” Linghu said.
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A white king snake that frightened passengers and caused a stir on a Taipei MRT train on Friday evening has been claimed by its owner, who would be fined, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. A person on Threads posted that he thought he was lucky to find an empty row of seats on Friday after boarding a train on the Bannan (Blue) Line, only to spot a white snake with black stripes after sitting down. Startled, he jumped up, he wrote, describing the encounter as “terrifying.” “Taipei’s rat control plan: Release snakes on the metro,” one person wrote in reply, referring
The coast guard today said that it had disrupted "illegal" operations by a Chinese research ship in waters close to the nation and driven it away, part of what Taipei sees a provocative pattern of China's stepped up maritime activities. The coast guard said that it on Thursday last week detected the Chinese ship Tongji (同濟號), which was commissioned only last year, 29 nautical miles (54km) southeast of the southern tip of Taiwan, although just outside restricted waters. The ship was observed lowering ropes into the water, suspected to be the deployment of scientific instruments for "illegal" survey operations, and the coast
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