American Institute in Taiwan Liberalizes Group Travel

PR9632E | Date: 1996-07-01

Effective immediately, AIT Taipei will in most cases grant five-year, full validity visitor visas to tour group applicants age 18 or above who hold machine-readable passports and whose applications are submitted through a travel agency participating in the AIT group travel program. Limited single entry visas with a three-month validity will continue to be issued to participants in other group travel programs, bearers of non-machine readable passports, and applicants under age 18. The extended validity period, which should be a significant convenience for the traveling public, is possible due to the enhanced security features of the new-style Taiwan machine-readable passport, which make it less susceptible to fraud and misuse. Currently, more than half of the visa applications at AIT are accompanied by machine-readable passports.

AIT issued over 50,000 visas in May, a new record for a one-month period and a 25% increase over May, 1995. June was even busier, indicating the continuing strong attraction of the U.S. as a destination for tourism, business, and study. General information on AIT visa application procedures is available upon request by fax to (02) 2709-0908 or on the Worldwide Web of the Internet at http://www.arc.org.tw.