Taiwan Visa for Indians [Visa exempt entry based on other visas]

I just arrived in Taipei and it’s been an incredible few days! Taiwan is a wonderful confluence of Taiwanese, Chinese, and Japanese culture. What’s even nicer is that Indian citizens can visit Taiwan for 30 days without any visa if they currently hold certain other visas.

Taiwan operates a Visa Exemption policy for citizens of India,

Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines.

The idea is simple, if you hold a valid visa or permanent residence permit from USA, Canada, Japan, UK, the Schengen states, Australia, or New Zealand, you may enter Taiwan for 30 days without needing a visa. This applies to any class of visa so whether it’s a B1/B2 for the US or a category C Schengen visa, you’re good to enter Taiwan.

Hanging out in Ximending, Taipei

The conditions are that your “supporting visa” should be valid meaning that if it’s a single entry visa, you should not have used that entry. There are some other rules that apply to these edge cases that are detailed here.

As far as the procedure is concerned, you need to obtain an online authorization before you board your flight. The authorization is instant so you just need to print out the confirmation page after you enter all your details. You should also have a flight ticket out of Taiwan as the confirmation document states that you may be asked for it.

My experience with the system was extremely straightforward. I filled up the online authorization, took a printout, and flew to Taipei. At the immigration desk, the officer asked to see my US visa and then asked how long I would be staying. I said, up to 30 days, and she stamped me in with a visa exemption stamp that stated my duration of stay as 30 days.

Taipei 101, the second tallest building in the world

It’s great to see that more and more countries are offering this type of visa exemption or visa on arrival facility to Indian passport holders with other visas.

If you haven’t planned to visit Taiwan, you should most definitely consider it!