Travelers from the Republic of China (Taiwan) are eligible to use Australia’s arrivals SmartGate self-processing e-passport control system in operation at the country’s eight major international airports effective Nov. 6, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Taiwan’s addition to the list of permanently approved SmartGate countries is welcomed by the government and represents a further deepening of collaboration and exchanges across a broad spectrum of areas between the two nations, the MOFA said.
Under the system, travelers 16 years or older holding a valid visa scan their passports at a SmartGate kiosk.They are issued with a ticket enabling them to proceed to a border gate for image recognition processing and entry clearance.
The decision to extend SmartGate privileges to ROC nationals was taken following a two-year technical trial and confirmed during the 21st Bilateral Economic Consultations—the highest level annual Taiwan-Australia forum—held last month in Taipei City.
“SmartGate access makes entry to Australia much smoother,” a spokesperson for the Australian Office Taipei said, adding that it was a logical step given the rising number of arrivals from Taiwan and last December’s amended bilateral open skies agreement allowing for unrestricted capacity of flights both ways.
The latest statistics from the Tourism Bureau under the Ministry of Transportation and Communications reveal that the number of ROC nationals traveling to Australia in 2016 increased 34 percent to 139,500 from the year before. For the same period, Taiwan welcomed 82,360 arrivals from Down Under, up 8 percent year on year. (KWS-E)
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