Taiwan tightens visa issuance for Vietnamese tourists

The Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Ho Chi Minh City on Wednesday announced Vietnamese citizens using South Korean and Japanese visas to apply for e-visas to enter Taiwan will not be automatically accepted from 10 a.m. Thursday.

"Those who have been granted the visa before or on September 14 still may enter Taiwan," the office announced.

Taiwan since 2016 has implemented a conditional visa-free travel policy for a number of countries, including Vietnam.

Vietnamese passport holders who held permanent resident certificates issued by Australia, Canada, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand, Schengen Agreement signatories, the U.K., or the U.S. or held a visa or a resident card from one of these countries that was valid or that expired within 10 years of the date of expected arrival in Taiwan, were eligible to use the Online Application for Travel Authorization Certificate.

Successful applicants would be issued multiple-entry visas valid for three months, allowing single stays of up to 30 days.

With Taiwan's new regulation, those holding Japanese and South Korean visas will have to apply for Taiwanese visas as normal, which take eight days for approval.

This is not the first time Taiwan has tightened the issuance of visas for Vietnamese tourists.

In 2019, Taiwanese authorities temporarily suspended the issuance of electronic visas for Vietnamese tour groups under the special program following the infamous case of 152 Vietnamese tourists going missing en masse after arriving in the territory on tourist visas.

The policy was later resumed with strict requirements.

In recent years, Vietnam has been among the biggest feeder markets for Taiwan's tourism. In 2019, the year before the onset of Covid, Taiwan welcomed over 777,000 Vietnamese tourists, a year-on-year increase of 26.5%.