Getting a Taiwan Visa: E-Visa Option for Filipinos
As a Philippine Passport holder, I needed to secure a Taiwan Visa from the Taipei Economic And Cultural Office (TECO) first before travelling to their country. Previously, the only way to enter their country was to have the visa stamped on your passport. However, as of October 2016, Filipino travelers with visa or resident card from countries such as Australia, Canada, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand, any of the European Schengen-member countries, the United Kingdom, and the United States can opt to get a Travel Authorization Certificate instead. This allows them to have multiple entries to Taiwan for a maximum stay of 30 days and is valid for 3 months.
Likewise, just this February 2017, they announced the trial run of the E-Visa. The E-Visa allows Filipinos to apply for the visa without needing to physically appear and submit documents in their office. As for the payment, the processing and corresponding fees are paid online through your credit card.
I was really happy knowing about this since I’m no longer staying in Makati. This option saves me a lot of time travelling to RCBC Plaza, as well as the time waiting there. In fact, the application process took less than 10 minutes and approval was done in just a day! So how did I go about this? Allow me to guide you through it.
Applying for a Taiwan Visa (E-Visa)
1. Based from the article, supporting documents aren’t needed when applying for the E-Visa. However, as a precaution, I prepared the same documents one would need when applying for a stamped visa such as the NSO, Bank Certificate, Certificate of Employment, etc.
2. When you’re ready, click here. After reading the disclaimer, click “Confirm & Continue”.
3. Select eVisa Applications to get started.
4. Fill in the necessary information and pay the processing fee at the end. Do take note of the case number since you will be needing this to check the status of your application.
Note: For the Taiwan Contacts and Address, unless you have a relative there, it should be safe to input the details of your accommodation.
5. You will then receive a confirmation e-mail regarding your payment.
6. Wait for one (or a few days) and hope for the best. When successful, you’ll receive another email such as the one below.
7. Click the link on the email to print the eVisa and you’ll be redirected to https://visawebapp.boca.gov.tw/BOCA_EVISA/QueryStatus.
Fill in the Application No. (or the case number), passport number and the verification code. Once done, click “Query”.
8. Download the PDF version of your E-Visa and be sure to print it!
9. Bring the E-Visa with you and enjoy your trip to Taiwan!
Note: Apparently, there’s a disclaimer saying that one could be denied entry to Taiwan even with the E-Visa. This is something I’ll only be able to verify when I arrive at Taiwan. Hopefully, it’s not true!
The Taipei Economic and Culture Office in the Philippines is located at the 41st floor of Tower 1 RCBC Plaza, 6819 Ayala Avenue, Makati City. Processing or application of documents is from Mondays to Fridays 8:45 am to 11:45 am while releasing of documents is from Mondays to Fridays 1:45 pm to 4:45 pm. For more information, you can visit their website here.
