Taiwan Excludes Russia From 21-day Visa-free Program

According to reports on September 16th, Taiwan Foreign Ministry recently announced a trial program that offered Russian passport holders a 21-day visa-free entrance to the island nation was suspended after it expired on July 31st without extension.

In 2018, Taiwan Foreign Ministry launched a special trial visa-free program for nationals from Thailand, Brunei, the Philippines, and Russia to visit Taipei. The Bureau of Consular Affairs of the Foreign Ministry extended the visa-free program for one year in 2019, increasing the visa-free period for Russian citizens from 14 to 21 days, but the stay duration for the other three countries remained 14 days.

As reported, the launch of the 14-day visa-free program for Russian citizens in 2018 was to prompt the Russians’ understanding of Taiwan, facilitate Taiwan-Russia trades and investments, exploit traveling and tourism, and develop mutual cooperation and exchanges. As a result, the policy duration was extended twice. Some analysts believe that the cancellation of the visa-free program for Russian citizens may be related to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a war that has caused large numbers of civilian casualties in Ukraine.