Focus Taiwan
Date: 07/02/2020
By: Huang Li-yun and Joseph Yeh

Taipei, July 2 (CNA) Over the past three months, more than 4,000 foreign nationals who had overstayed their visas in Taiwan have voluntarily reported to authorities, under an amnesty program launched by the government to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus, the National Immigration Agency (NIA) said Thursday.

In the period April 1 to June 30, a total of 7,617 people with expired visas were identified by law enforcement agencies, and 4,443 of them were granted amnesty under the "Expanded Overstayers Voluntary Departure Program," the NIA said.

The other 3,174 were found and detained by law enforcement, the NIA said in a press release.

Among the 7,617, Vietnamese and Indonesians made up the majority, at 2,075 and 1,519, respectively, the NIA said, adding that none of the overstayers had tested positive for COVID-19.    [FULL  STORY]