TAIPEI CITY – The government of Taiwan has amended the immigration policy effective from March 1st under which some visa rules have been relaxed.
According to the changes, foreigners may now apply for an extension of their visitor visa at the National Immigration Agency provided that they were originally permitted to stay for 60 days or longer and their visa does not bar extension.
It is to be highlighted that the fee for such an extension is 300 New Taiwan dollars (about US$9.39) though extension of visitor visas was previously not allowed.
It is to be elaborated that the extension period that is allowed cannot exceed the original permitted duration of stay and may not exceed a total stay of over six months.
Moreover, applicants holding an Alien Resident Certificate may now apply to extend their status up to three months before expiration, up from one month.
Besides, the changes also include allowing foreign nationals who entered the country under a resident visa on or after Jan. 1, 2024, to have 30 calendar days to apply for an Alien Resident Certificate; previously the allowed duration was 15 calendar days.
Though the visa rules have been relaxed in general, Taiwanese officials have introduced more restrictive changes to immigration policy, including for foreign nationals born in mainland China, BAL reported.
For these applicants, it has been directed to submit additional supporting documents when applying for an alien residence card or alien permanent residence card. This has been done to ascertain that these applicants do not have a household registration in China or have obtained a Chinese passport.
The government has also revised the overstay penalties to NT$10,000–NT$50,000 (from NT$2,000–NT$10,000), and the maximum ban from entering the country due to overstay has been enhanced from three to seven years.
