The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) is to launch updated machine-readable passports for emergency use on Tuesday next week.
The new version of the chipless passport is equipped with better anti-counterfeiting features, Bureau of Consular Affairs Deputy Director Chen Shang-yu (陳尚友) told a news conference yesterday.
The passport is to be issued by Taiwan’s embassies and missions abroad to people who have to return to Taiwan urgently and are unable to wait for an e-passport to be issued, he said.
Photo: CNA
The passport would be valid for up to 12 months, he said.
Taiwan introduced machine-readable passports compliant with International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) regulations in 1995, and an updated version with more advanced security features was released in 2000. In 2002, an ultra-thin high-security overlay was added to the passports.
In December 2008, Taiwan launched its e-passports, featuring an ICAO-compliant chip that contains the passport holder’s biometric data, which was further protected by a digital signature.
A new e-passport design was introduced in 2021, which incorporated the nation’s official English name, the “Republic of China,” with the national emblem, while the font size of “Taiwan” was enlarged to make the passport more distinguishable from a Chinese passport.
The new machine-readable passports are designed to be consistent in appearance with the current e-passports, but unlike the 52-page e-passports, they only have 16 pages, Chen said.
The only difference between the new machine-readable passport and the e-passport is that the latter has a graphic on its cover representing an embedded chip, he said.
Passport applications remain high, but the wait time has been reduced after the bureau allocated more slots for online appointments and added an additional processing site.
However, 10 to 20 percent of people who make appointments online fail to show up, Chen said.
From this month, the bureau is sending reminders via e-mail to those who have booked a slot four days prior to their appointment, he said.
Applicants can cancel their appointments and release the slot to other people in need, he said.
The Ministry of Education (MOE) is to launch a new program to encourage international students to stay in Taiwan and explore job opportunities here after graduation, Deputy Minister of Education Yeh Ping-cheng (葉丙成) said on Friday. The government would provide full scholarships for international students to further their studies for two years in Taiwan, so those who want to pursue a master’s degree can consider applying for the program, he said. The fields included are science, technology, engineering, mathematics, semiconductors and finance, Yeh added. The program, called “Intense 2+2,” would also assist international students who completed the two years of further studies in
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) departed for Europe on Friday night, with planned stops in Lithuania and Denmark. Tsai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Friday night, but did not speak to reporters before departing. Tsai wrote on social media later that the purpose of the trip was to reaffirm the commitment of Taiwanese to working with democratic allies to promote regional security and stability, upholding freedom and democracy, and defending their homeland. She also expressed hope that through joint efforts, Taiwan and Europe would continue to be partners building up economic resilience on the global stage. The former president was to first
Taiwan will now have four additional national holidays after the Legislative Yuan passed an amendment today, which also made Labor Day a national holiday for all sectors. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) used their majority in the Legislative Yuan to pass the amendment to the Act on Implementing Memorial Days and State Holidays (紀念日及節日實施辦法), which the parties jointly proposed, in its third and final reading today. The legislature passed the bill to amend the act, which is currently enforced administratively, raising it to the legal level. The new legislation recognizes Confucius’ birthday on Sept. 28, the
MORE NEEDED: Recall drives against legislators in Miaoli’s two districts and Hsinchu’s second district were still a few thousand signatures short of the second-stage threshold Campaigners aiming to recall Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators yesterday said they expect success in 30 out of 35 districts where drives have passed the second-stage threshold, which would mark a record number of recall votes held at once. Hsinchu County recall campaigners yesterday announced that they reached the second-stage threshold in the recall effort against Legislator Lin Szu-ming (林思銘). A total of 26,414 signatures have been gathered over the past two months, surpassing the 10 percent threshold of 23,287 in Hsinchu County’s second electoral district, chief campaigner Hsieh Ting-ting (謝婷婷) said. “Our target is to gather an additional 1,500 signatures to reach
RSS