Taiwanese passport holders must obtain a UK-issued electronic travel authorization (ETA) document to visit or transit through the UK, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday.
Taiwanese travelers who have enjoyed visa-free visits to the UK since March 2009 need to have the new digitally issued travel document to enter the UK starting from yesterday, the ministry said.
The British government Web site Gov.UK shows that the travel requirement is being introduced in phases, and by April, all visitors who do not need a visa would need an ETA.
Photo: Fang Wei-li, Taipei Times
Taiwanese, along with those from several visa-exempt countries, including the US, have been able to apply for an ETA since Nov. 27 last year for trips of up to six months for tourism, visiting family and friends, business or short-term study.
Travelers can apply for an ETA through the official “UK ETA” app for Android and iOS devices, or through Gov.UK.
The application costs ￡10 (US$12.35), and usually takes three working days to be processed, but could take longer, the site says.
A person who must depart before their application is approved, can travel to the UK while waiting for a decision, it says.
An ETA is valid for two years, but it does not guarantee entry to the UK, as immigration officers at the border have the final say, it says.
Similar travel requirements have been introduced for Taiwanese travelers to Australia, which requires an Electronic Travel Authority document, and the US, which has the Electronic System for Travel Authorization.
Meanwhile, no date has been announced for the rollout of the European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS) for the Schengen Area or Cyprus for a short stay, due to delays in the installation of equipment at some airports in the area, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
Taiwanese travelers eligible for visa-free visits to the area can still do so, until the ETIAS is officially introduced, it said.
Taiwanese can file complaints with the Tourism Administration to report travel agencies if their activities caused termination of a person’s citizenship, Mainland Affairs Council Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday, after a podcaster highlighted a case in which a person’s citizenship was canceled for receiving a single-use Chinese passport to enter Russia. The council is aware of incidents in which people who signed up through Chinese travel agencies for tours of Russia were told they could obtain Russian visas and fast-track border clearance, Chiu told reporters on the sidelines of an event in Taipei. However, the travel agencies actually applied
New measures aimed at making Taiwan more attractive to foreign professionals came into effect this month, the National Development Council said yesterday. Among the changes, international students at Taiwanese universities would be able to work in Taiwan without a work permit in the two years after they graduate, explainer materials provided by the council said. In addition, foreign nationals who graduated from one of the world’s top 200 universities within the past five years can also apply for a two-year open work permit. Previously, those graduates would have needed to apply for a work permit using point-based criteria or have a Taiwanese company
The Shilin District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday indicted two Taiwanese and issued a wanted notice for Pete Liu (劉作虎), founder of Shenzhen-based smartphone manufacturer OnePlus Technology Co (萬普拉斯科技), for allegedly contravening the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例) by poaching 70 engineers in Taiwan. Liu allegedly traveled to Taiwan at the end of 2014 and met with a Taiwanese man surnamed Lin (林) to discuss establishing a mobile software research and development (R&D) team in Taiwan, prosecutors said. Without approval from the government, Lin, following Liu’s instructions, recruited more than 70 software
Taiwanese singer Jay Chou (周杰倫) plans to take to the courts of the Australian Open for the first time as a competitor in the high-stakes 1 Point Slam. The Australian Open yesterday afternoon announced the news on its official Instagram account, welcoming Chou — who celebrates his 47th birthday on Sunday — to the star-studded lineup of the tournament’s signature warm-up event. “From being the King of Mandarin Pop filling stadiums with his music to being Kato from The Green Hornet and now shifting focus to being a dedicated tennis player — welcome @jaychou to the 1 Point Slam and #AusOpen,” the
RSS