An online passport renewal application service that has been on trial is to be implemented next year, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday.
The ministry initiated a trial run on Sept. 3 to allow applicants to apply online and collect their new passport 14 days later at a designated Bureau of Consular Affairs office by showing their national identification card and online application receipt.
Before the trial began, people had to personally visit Bureau of Consular Affairs offices to apply to renew their passport.
Photo: Taipei Times
Eligibility during the trial was limited to Taiwanese nationals currently living in Taiwan with a household registration and no record of a stolen or missing passport over the past decade and whose personal records on their expired passport did not need to be changed.
The ministry last month relaxed some of the restrictions, allowing Taiwanese who were living overseas, but still had a household registration in Taiwan to apply as well.
The ministry also scrapped the requirement for applicants to have no record of a stolen or missing passport for the past decade, and it shortened the waiting time to 10 days from 14.
During the trial, the ministry accepted a maximum of 500 applications per day.
The ministry in a statement yesterday said that starting on Wednesday next week it would remove the daily cap for applications.
Taiwanese nationals who need to renew their expired passport can log in to https://epass.boca.gov.tw/Default.html.
The ministry estimates that the service would benefit 200,000 to 300,000 passport renewal applicants each year.
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