Vietnamese tourists find ways to cope before Taiwan's 'G hour' of tightening e-visa

Nguyen Ngoc Thao bragged to her friends that she successfully applied for an e-visa at 8:00 p.m. on September 13, a few hours before Taiwan changed its policy.

"I work in the tourism industry so I received information early that after 10am on September 14, Vietnamese visitors cannot apply for entry to Taiwan with Korean and Japanese visas," Thao said. After hearing the news, Thao applied for a Taiwanese e-visa on September 13 and was approved. "I'm happy that my plan to see the red and yellow leaves in Taipei has not changed," she said.

Autumn at Phuc Tho Son farm, Taiwan. Photo: Flickr — Autumn at Phuc Tho Son farm, Taiwan. Photo: *Flickr*

Nguyen Thanh Nam, 36 years old, living in Hung Yen was not so lucky. On the evening of September 13, after hearing the news, he quickly went online to register. After 5 failed attempts to apply for both Korean and Japanese visas, Nam had to accept spending more effort, time and money to apply for a paper visa. Nam's travel plans to Taiwan could be disrupted because he had already booked a hotel and plane tickets. Nam believes that he was rejected because his name "matched someone on the blacklist".

The Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Ho Chi Minh City announced on the afternoon of September 13 that from 10:00 a.m. on September 14, Vietnamese people using Korean and Japanese visas to apply for e-visas to enter Taiwan will not be accepted when registering on the online review system. Visas issued before September 14 in this form can still be used normally.

Phan Tan Phat, a PhD student in Taiwan and founder of the travel consulting site Eat and Play Taiwan with more than 120,000 followers, said that as soon as he heard about the new regulations, he encouraged everyone to "apply for an e-visa immediately."

Phat said that filling out the information on the system takes less than 10 minutes and the result will be known immediately. If not approved, the website will notify the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO) in Vietnam for support. Most of the cases that are not approved have duplicate names on the "blacklist" or do not meet the criteria for submitting an e-visa.

The new regulation has caused many Vietnamese tourists who successfully applied for e-visas at the "border" time - before 10am on September 14 - to wonder whether these e-visas will be accepted to enter Taiwan.

Phat said that there was a small change in the announcement on TECO's website on September 13 and 14. On September 13, the announcement stated: "Those who have applied for approval before September 14 (including) can still enter the country." But on September 14, the announcement removed the word "including". Phat said that the word "including" here includes the time to apply for an e-visa on September 14. When TECO removed that word, it meant that only e-visas issued on September 13 or before can enter the country.

According to a survey by VnExpress, when tourists called TECO's hotline in Hanoi to ask about this issue, they were told: "E-visas issued to Vietnamese visitors using Korean or Japanese visas to apply from September 14 will not be usable."

A source from the Taiwan Tourism Promotion Center added that being granted an e-visa does not mean that visitors are 100% sure of being able to enter the country. The visa has a section that clearly states "it does not guarantee that the applicant will be able to enter the country successfully even if he/she has a visa if the customs officer suspects the declarant."

Like many other Vietnamese tourists, Nam feels "disappointed" with the new visa policy because the main reason Nam has traveled to Taiwan many times is because it is easy to apply for an e-visa.

However, Phan Tan Phat believes that Vietnamese tourists traveling independently may be more inconvenient because of the stricter regulations, "but that does not mean it is impossible to travel to Taiwan." He suggests using other visas such as Schengen, UK, US, New Zealand to apply for Taiwan e-visas. If these visas are not available, Vietnamese tourists traveling independently can apply for paper visas or buy tours from travel companies to enjoy the Quan Hong visa policy, a type of e-visa issued to groups of 5 or more people from Vietnamese travel companies on the list designated by the Taiwan Tourism Bureau.

Taiwan is one of the favorite destinations for Vietnamese tourists because of its short flight time, many direct flights, and low prices. According to data from Statista, Vietnam is the market sending the most visitors to Taiwan in 2022, with nearly 135,000 out of a total of 900,000 international visitors to the island.

"Taiwan has beautiful scenery, friendly people, delicious food, it's worth visiting once in your life," Phat said.

Phuong Anh

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