December 30, 2020
Central Epidemic Command Centre
TAIPEI The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) announced on Wednesday (Dec 30) that foreigners would be barred from entering Taiwan starting Jan 1, 2021.
According to Health Minister Chen Shih-chung, this is due to the recent discovery of a mutant coronavirus case in Taiwan that was imported from the UK.
Chen announced that new measures will now be in place following the newly confirmed case, including temporarily barring foreigners without the Alien Resident Certificate (ARC) from entering Taiwan in the new year.
Those under business contracts and diplomats, as well as their spouses and children will be allowed to enter, Chen added.
Several new government regulations to take effect Jan. 1
12/28/2020 05:03 PM
CNA file photo
Taipei, Dec. 28 (CNA) The government will implement a series of new regulations Jan. 1, some of which will apply specifically to foreign nationals in Taiwan. The following are some of the major changes:
▋The Ministry of the Interior will change the numbering format of Alien Resident Certificates (ARC) and Alien Permanent Resident Certificates (APRC) to bring them in line with the Taiwan national identification card so that they could be more widely used.
▋The Ministry of Finance will increase the basic allowance per person that taxpayers can deduct from their income when filing income taxes, from NT$175,000 to NT$182,000.
Numerous new regulations to begin in January
By Wu Cheng-feng,
Wang Kuan-jen
and William Hetherington / Staff reporters, with staff writer
A slew of new regulations and policies are to take effect next month.
Immigration officers are on Friday to begin using new stamps at border checks of passports of people leaving and entering Taiwan.
The Ministry of the Interior on Saturday said in a statement that the replacement of the current stamps, which have been in use for eight years, aims to prevent counterfeiting and highlight Taiwan’s image with a new design.
The main changes to the new design are the removal of a plum blossom and the addition of the image of Taiwan proper, on which the letters “TWN” are printed to form the Central Mountain Range, the ministry said.
Immigration agency specifies ARC, APRC application details
Staff writer, with CNA
Starting on Jan. 2, Alien Resident Certificate (ARC) and Alien Permanent Resident Certificate (APRC) numbers, which consist of two letters and eight digits, are to be changed to one letter and nine digits, according to the National Immigration Agency.
The letter would specify the area of residence of the cardholder and the digits correspond to the format of Taiwanese ID cards, the agency said, adding that the second digit would indicate the person’s sex, 8 for male and 9 for female.
However, cards with numbers in the old format would still be accepted for the coming 10 years, the agency said.