INEXPENSIVE: Stickers affixed to misprinted pages are made of the same material as visa stickers and cost about NT$200 million less than a reprint of all 550,000 passports
Taipei Times
Date: Jan 25, 2018
By: Stacy Hsu / Staff reporter
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday said it has inspected and accepted 100,000 of
Bureau of Consular Affairs Deputy Director-General Christine Tsai yesterday at a news conference in Taipei displays the new version of the e-passport and the original photograph used in the passport. Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
550,000 revised copies of the next-generation biometric passport, which is expected to be put back into circulation early next month at the latest.
The Bureau of Consular Affairs accepted the 100,000 copies on Tuesday and is scheduled to inspect a second batch of 120,000 on Tuesday next week, Passport Administration Division Director Ben Wang (王北平) told a morning news conference in Taipei.
“With 220,000 copies of the next-generation passport in hand, the bureau will decide when to relaunch after factoring in the stock of the first-generation passport to ensure a seamless transition,” Wang said, adding that the relaunch could be scheduled for the end of this month or early next month.
The ministry recalled the next-generation passport only days after its introduction on Dec. 25 last year after it was found that an inner page illustration mistakenly depicted Washington Dulles International Airport instead of Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport due to a designer’s mistake. [FULL STORY]
