"Since anti-terrorism has become a global trend, Taiwan will follow the lead of the United States, Japan, Canada and the European Union in imposing the biometrics requirement for foreign nationals entering the country," the ministry said.
The requirement is part of a series of new measures in a proposed revision of rules governing foreign applicants for Taiwan resident visas.
The new requirement, scheduled to take effect at the end of this year after it is approved by the Executive Yuan, will first be applied to migrant workers from Southeast Asian countries to prevent those with criminal records from entering the country using fake identities, it said.
Taiwan currently hires around 300,000 migrant workers, mostly from Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam and other countries in the region.
The revised rules will also seek to ease current restrictions on certain categories of visa applications in a bid to attract talented foreigners to work in Taiwan and to offer convenience to those who urgently need to visit Taiwan for extraordinary reasons, such as people whose Taiwanese relatives die or are hospitalized.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Emmanuelle Tzeng & Bear Lee
Quelle/Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel, 31.03.2011
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