The Ministry of Foreign Affairs reminded travelers yesterday that certain travel documents were still necessary for visa-free entry into the UK after some Taiwanese tourists were refused entry.
“Though Taiwan citizens enjoy visa-free entry to the UK, they still need to follow related requirements when entering the country, such as bringing necessary documents related to the purpose of their visits,” said Anne Hung (洪慧珠), director-general of the ministry’s Department of European Affairs, at a regular press briefing.
The Foreign Ministry has informed the Tourism Bureau of the recent incidents so that it can remind travel agents and individual travelers, she added.
The British government began including Taiwan in its visa-waiver program on March 3, which allows travel to Britain for tourism, business, study or family visits for up to six months.
Hung said the ministry and its representative office in the UK had heard of several cases in which Taiwanese were refused entry into the UK, mainly because they did not understand the visa-free program’s conditions or could not provide required documents.
A student surnamed Wu had been refused entry on April 12, for example, because the letter of acceptance issued by a language school he was to attend was for one year, while the visa-free program only allowed him a maximum stay of six months, Hung said.
Hung advised travelers to bring other forms of identification, such as a driver’s license, in case of an identity check.
She said British authorities had instructed embassies and overseas representative offices to stay alert for Chinese human trafficking syndicates using Taiwanese passports.
More than 40,000 Taiwanese visited the UK last year, and around 15,000 Taiwanese students study there.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
RSS