The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday said that it has approved the visas of 19 Ukrainians wishing to visit relatives in Taiwan under a special waiver program launched last month.
Taiwan on March 11 launched the program offering certain Ukrainian nationals visas of between 30 days and six months to assist Ukrainians affected by the Russian invasion.
About 4.5 million refugees have fled the invasion, the UN has said.
Photo: Ann Wang, Reuters
The ministry as of yesterday has granted visa applications to 19 Ukrainian relatives of Taiwanese or foreigners with local residency, Bureau of Consular Affairs director-general Chou Chung-hsiung (周中興) said.
The applications were filed at Taiwan’s representative offices in Poland, Latvia, Turkey and other countries near Ukraine, he added.
An additional 47 Ukrainians have been granted business visas, Chou said.
More than 200 Ukrainians hold residency in Taiwan.
The government also said last month that it was considering allowing Ukrainian students and researchers to stay in Taiwan temporarily.
Academia Sinica launched a scholarship program for Ukrainian students and researchers last month.
Academia Sinica had as of April 16 approved 12 out of 165 Ukrainian scholarship applications for undergraduate, master’s and doctorate degrees.
Some of the students have arrived in Taiwan, the institute said.
Academia Sinica is also in the process of selecting 15 academics from among 42 applicants to study under the same program, it said.
Taiwanese could risk being extradited to China when traveling in countries with close ties to Beijing, Taiwan Association of University Professors deputy chairman Chen Li-fu (陳俐甫) said on Friday. Chen’s comments came after China on Friday last week announced new judicial guidelines targeting Taiwanese independence advocates. Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Djibouti are among the countries where Taiwanese could risk being extradited to China, he said. The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday elevated the travel alert for China, Hong Kong and Macau to “orange” after Beijing announced its guidelines to “severely punish Taiwanese independence diehards for splitting the country and inciting secession.” Extradition treaties
Taiwan and Thailand have signed an agreement to promote and protect bilateral investment and trade, the Executive Yuan’s Office of Trade Negotiations (OTN) said on Friday. The agreement on “Promotion and Protection of Investments” was signed by Representative to Thailand Chang Chun-fu (張俊福) and Thailand Trade and Economic Office in Taipei executive director Narong Boonsatheanwong on Thursday, the OTN said in a news release. Thailand has become the fifth trading partner to sign an investment agreement with Taiwan since 2016, following earlier agreements with the Philippines, India, Vietnam and Canada, the OTN said. The deal marks a significant milestone in the development of
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
CROSS-BORDER CRIME: The suspects cannot be charged with cybercrime in Indonesia as their targets were in Malaysia, an Indonesian immigration director said Indonesian immigration authorities have detained 103 Taiwanese after a raid at a villa on Bali, officials said yesterday. They were accused of misusing their visas and residence permits, and are suspected of possible cybercrimes, Safar Muhammad Godam, director of immigration supervision and enforcement at the Indonesian Ministry of Law and Human Rights told reporters at a news conference. “The 103 foreign nationals stayed at the villa and conducted suspicious activities, which we suspect are activities related to cybercrime activities,” he said, presenting laptops and routers at the news conference. Godam said Indonesian authorities cannot charge them with conducting cybercrime. “During the inspection, we