VI
EN
According to previous information from the Taiwan Tourism Bureau, a group of 153 Vietnamese tourists who entered Kaohsiung on December 21st and 23rd on tourist visas have gone missing, with 152 of them subsequently disappearing.
On December 25, representatives from Taiwan's National Immigration Agency (NIA) mobilized a task force to search for Vietnamese tourists who had absconded. According to the NIA, once found, these tourists will be deported for violating immigration laws and will be barred from entering Taiwan for a certain period.
The 152 tourists were part of a group of 153 people who traveled to Taiwan in four separate groups. The itinerary was arranged by a Vietnamese travel company. Taiwan's diplomatic authorities have canceled the visas of these 152 individuals and also revoked the visa applications of 182 other Vietnamese tourists who were scheduled to travel to Taiwan.
This incident has led Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs to decide to stop issuing visas to groups from Vietnam, even though Vietnam has always been a destination they aim to establish close relations with and attract more tourists to.
This visa program, implemented since 2015, allows groups of tourists with a minimum of five people to apply for visas without having to provide proof of financial means.
In the three years prior to this incident, Taiwan's Immigration Department reported that approximately 150 tourists had been reported missing upon entry. The recent case involving 152 missing people is the largest number of tourists who absconded since the visa program was implemented in 2015.
