Taiwan visa and entry requirements

Decision flow

Check these in order; the first match is your regime.

1. Your travel document. An ordinary passport valid at least 6 months from the entry date. Only citizens of the United States and Japan are exempt, needing validity for the planned stay only. Emergency, temporary and other non-biometric passports cannot use visa-free entry and need a classic visa or a Landing Visa at the airport - not available for US emergency passports, which do qualify for visa-free entry.
2. Visa-free (Visa-Exempt, VF). EU member states, the USA, Canada, the United Kingdom, Japan, South Korea and Australia get 90 days. Singapore and Malaysia get 30 days. Thailand, the Philippines and Brunei get up to 14 days under a trial programme that runs until 31 July 2027, and Oman gets 14 days outside any trial.
3. e-Visa. For travelers outside the visa-free list, available with no special invitation to citizens of Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the UAE, Oman and other Gulf states.
4. Travel Authorization Certificate (TAC / ETA). Free and online, for travelers from India, Cambodia, Vietnam, Indonesia, Laos and Myanmar who hold a valid - or expired within the last 10 years - visa or residence permit for the USA, Canada, the UK, the Schengen area, Japan, South Korea or Australia.
5. Otherwise, a classic visa applied for before departure at the nearest Taipei Economic and Cultural Office.
6. The clock starts the day after you land, and a visa-exempt stay cannot be extended or converted to a visa - with one exception worth knowing: British and Canadian passport holders can extend 90 days to 180.
7. Only British Citizen passports qualify for visa-free entry; other British nationality classes do not.
8. Every regime needs the same supporting documents: a confirmed return or onward ticket with a reserved seat, and proof of accommodation.

Entry formalities applicable to everyone

Paper arrival cards are gone. Since 1 October 2025 the National Immigration Agency (NIA) has run the electronic Taiwan Arrival Card (TWAC), free at twac.immigration.gov.tw.

• Who - everyone entering visa-free or on a short-term visa, minors of any age included. Only holders of resident certificates (ARC), resident visas and diplomatic cards are exempt.
• When - the window opens at the earliest 7 days before arrival; it was three days until June 2026.
• How - the submission code is generated after you verify your e-mail on the portal's landing page. Nothing needs printing: the data pairs automatically with your passport number in the border-control database.

Customs duty-free limits, per person:

• Cash - undeclared limits are 10,000 USD in foreign currency or equivalent, 100,000 NTD locally and 20,000 CNY. Anything above goes to a customs officer in the red channel, or faces immediate confiscation without compensation.
• Alcohol - over-18s only, 1 litre.
• Tobacco - over-20s only, 200 cigarettes, 25 cigars or 454 grams of tobacco.
• Other goods - personal gifts and purchases up to 20,000 NTD in total.

Meat is banned absolutely, and the fine is not symbolic. African swine fever protection bans any meat product, pork above all - heat-processed foods, cans, dried meat, mooncakes with meat filling, and the unfinished meal from your plane.

• First violation: 200,000 NTD. Repeat violations: 1,000,000 NTD.
• A foreign traveler without resident status who cannot pay on the spot is refused entry and repatriated on the next flight.

E-cigarettes are illegal to import, sell or even possess, nicotine-free ones included, under the Tobacco Hazards Prevention Act.

• At customs the devices are seized and destroyed without compensation, with an administrative fine of 50,000 to 5,000,000 NTD.
• Using one draws 2,000 to 10,000 NTD under the law in force since 22 March 2023. Simple possession has no penalty of its own yet, which is the only soft edge in an otherwise hard regime.
• That is about to get harder, but it has not happened yet. On 25 June 2026 the Executive Yuan approved a draft amendment - the cabinet, not the legislature - which would make manufacturing, importing, selling, supplying or displaying e-cigarettes a criminal offence carrying up to 7 years and a 5,000,000 NTD fine, and would fine possession or use up to 100,000 NTD. It was sent to the Legislative Yuan and has not passed third reading, so it is not law today. Check before you travel rather than assuming either version.

What matters in practice

• Have the onward ticket ready at check-in. Airlines verify a return or onward ticket out of Taiwan at the departure airport in Europe or the USA, and without a confirmed one they typically deny boarding.
• Use Gmail or Yahoo for the TWAC code. The system has run since October 2025 and travellers still report slow verification e-mails, occasional instability and strict airline-name matching; delivery to those two providers is the reliable route. If digital registration fails entirely, self-service tablets stand in the airport immigration halls - but using them at peak times costs significant time.
• Dual citizens: enter on the Taiwanese passport. Under Article 14 of the draftee exit regulations, every Taiwanese citizen with active household registration must enter and exit exclusively on the Taiwan (Republic of China) passport. Entering on a foreign passport to avoid military service is illegal and leads to exit restrictions.