Taiwan Changes Visa Conditions for Filipinos

Well, this is interesting.

From site: Taiwan Economic and Cultural Office in the Philippines

Following Japan's slight lift of visa restrictions last June, now Taiwan has decided to be more lenient with Filipinos entering their territory. The condition that you have never worked in the country means they're ensuring you're not there to become an OFW (or eventual TNT). And the one for having a valid first world country visa means that if those stricter, go-through-your-application-with-a-fine-tooth-comb embassies can let you in, then maybe you're good enough to temporarily visit them as well.

Honestly, and let me get sidetracked here for a moment, I think it makes their job sifting through applications easier. Let's face it, the US, Japan, and Europe's applications cost, plus they're not very generous with giving away those fancy rectangular stickers. We have a friend who, despite his history of European travel, wasn't granted a visa this time around. And back in 2007, when Japanese visa applicatioins weren't passed through particular agencies and people still had to visit the embassy, my husband heard constant denials stated through a speaker while in line for recovering our passports. It was a stream of "DENIED." "DENIED." "DENIED." "DENIED." peppered by the occasional "APPROVED." followed by more declarations of "DENIED." (There was one woman whose baby was approved, but she, the mother, was denied. Figure that out for a second.) I suspect that kind of experience can haunt you if you were on the receiving end of a flatly-stated "DENIED." I mean, it haunts me and my husband, and we were one of the lucky ones. (Come to think of it, what haunted me more were the whispered incredulous and slightly envious expressions of "Uy, they were approved o..." after we got our passports.)

I do wonder if this is some kind of olive branch considering recent issues between the Philippines and Taiwan. If not, at least this move makes it easier for Filipino-Chinese to visit their relatives there. I imagine they comprise most of the leisure travellers to that country anyway.