The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday advised Taiwanese nationals who take part in the Australian working holiday program to obtain full insurance covering their stay in the country.
“There are several Taiwanese nationals who joined the working holiday program and had car accidents. The cost of their medical treatment became a problem as their insurance coverage had expired,” said Gary Lin (林松煥), Taiwan’s representative to Australia, at a media reception in Taipei for 12 diplomats posted overseas.
Lin said many people chose not to extend their insurance after six months — the minimum period required to obtain a working holiday visa — to save money.
He urged anyone interested in joining the program to obtain insurance that covers their entire stay in Australia and to give their emergency contact numbers to the local Taiwanese representative office.
Australia’s working holiday program provides opportunities for people aged between 18 and 30 years old to holiday in Australia while supplementing their travel budget with incidental employment.
The working holiday visa, available to eligible candidates once in a lifetime, allows a stay of up to 12 months from the date of first entry to Australia, regardless of whether the holder spends the whole time in Australia.
Working holiday visa holders are permitted to hold temporary jobs for up to six months with any one employer and are entitled to study or take a training course for a maximum of four months.
The coast guard drove away 567 Chinese boats and seized seven illegally operating in Taiwanese waters in the first six months of this year, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. They mostly operated near Kinmen and Penghu counties, resulting in fines totaling NT$1.7 million (US$52,440), it said. Three ships — two near Kinmen County and one near Penghu County — were detained in January for illegally crossing the border, while one ship each was detained near Kinmen in February and Penghu in March respectively, it said. The ship seized near Penghu in January was the Yun Ao (雲澳), detained by the CGA’s
Military photovoltaic projects have been found to have used Chinese-made devices blacklisted by the government, including Huawei Technologies Co routers, the Ministry of National Defense’s Armaments Bureau said on Thursday. An ongoing investigation has identified the illegal use of 128 current transformers, two routers and a data reader at the Hungchailin Army Base, Pinghai Navy Base and Tri-Service General Hospital’s Songshan branch, it said. The devices were manufactured in the Chinese factories of German solar energy equipment supplier SMA Solar Technology, Taiwanese electronics manufacturer Delta Electronics Co, Chinese electronics manufacturer Huawei and Taiwanese industrial PC maker Advantech Co, the bureau said. The bureau’s
The entire Alishan Forest Railway line is to reopen for the first time in 15 years on Saturday, with tickets to go on sale at 2pm today. The historic railway from Chiayi to Alishan (阿里山) is finally set to reopen after the completion of the final No. 42 tunnel, Alishan Forest Railway and Cultural Heritage Office Deputy Director-General Chou Heng-kai (周恆凱) said. It is to run on a new timetable, with four trains daily, he said. The 9am train is to depart from Chiayi Railway Station bound for Shizilu Station (十字路), while the 10am train departing from Chiayi is to go all the
Beijing’s recent provocative actions against the Philippines in the South China Sea were partly meant as a “dress rehearsal” for the invasion of Taiwan, former US deputy national security advisor Matt Pottinger said at a Heritage Foundation forum in Washington on Tuesday. Beijing’s blocking of a Philippine resupply mission on June 17 with unprecedented violence had multiple implications. “What they’re doing is trying to demonstrate that they can blockade, create a sense of futility and discredit the idea that the United States is going to help not only the Philippines, but by extension Taiwan,” Pottinger said. Pottinger was referring to a clash