Taiwan extends visa-free entry for Thais, Filipinos, Bruneians

IN ORDER to attract more tourists from Thailand, the Philippines, and Brunei, Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) announced the extension of its 14-day visa-free entry trial programme for those Southeast Asian nationals.

MOFA confirmed that the trial of visa-free treatment Thais, Filipinos, and Bruneians will continue for another year from Aug 1, 2018, through July 31, 2019.

The programme may even be extended in the future after a review of the results.

“On behalf of the government of the Republic of China (Taiwan), the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO) in the Philippines has the pleasure to announce hereby that the visa exemption program for the nationals of the Philippines will be extended for another year. The trial period will continue until July 31, 2019, and will be reviewed for further extension,” Rappler quoted TECO as saying.

“This visa-free privilege is a reflection of Taiwan’s goodwill and friendship towards all Filipinos under the ‘New Southbound Policy,’ which aims to build stronger bilateral relations and closer people-to-people connectivity between Taiwan and the Philippines,” TECO added.

Taiwan first rolled out its visa-free entry programme for visitors from Thailand and Brunei in August 2016 and extended it once before.

Last November, Philippine tourists were added to the programme for an initial nine-month trial period.

A colorful panoramic view of the charming Jiufen old city at sunset in Taiwan. Source: Shutterstock.

The programme is being continued to attract visitors from Taiwan’s New Southbound Policy partner countries for tourism and business purposes. The extension was also based on the average length of stay by quality tourists and business travelers.

According to statistics from the Tourism Bureau, nationals from New Southbound Policy partner countries made a total of 2.3 million visits to Taiwan in 2017, a significant year-on-year increase of 27.7 percent over the 1.8 million visits made in 2016.

Statistics show that about 290,000 visitors came from the Philippines in 2017, up from 172,000 in 2016, according to ABS-CBN.

The number of visitors from Thailand in 2017 was more than 292,000, up from 195,000 in 2016.

Meanwhile, those who want to stay in Taiwan for more than 14 days or for the purpose of study, work, missionary, employment, and other gainful activities will still need to get visas.

For more information, visit the Taiwan Tourism Bureau’s website.

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Source: travelwireasia.com