Focus Taiwan
Date: 03/20/2020
By: William Yen

Taipei, March 20 (CNA) Taiwan started a three-month amnesty program for foreign nationals who have overstayed their visas, allowing them to pay smaller fines should they decide to report to the immigration authorities during the grace period, the National Immigration Agency (NIA) said Friday.

At a press conference, NIA Deputy Director-General Bill Chung (鐘景琨) said that the "Expanded Overstayers Voluntary Departure Program," which will run until June 30, comes at a time during the COVID-19 pandemic, in which undocumented migrant workers and general visa overstayers may wish to go back to their countries of origin but are concerned about the penalties they might incur.

Under the program, there will be no mandatory detention, while the maximum penalty will be NT$2,000 (US$66) and no re-entry ban, compared with detention, a maximum fine of NT$10,000 and an entry ban of 1 to 8 years for those who do not voluntarily contact immigration authorities, Chung said.

"In other words, we won't detain or restrict them from returning to Taiwan at a later date, while minimizing the fine to only NT$2,000, which is the minimum fine if an overstayer is caught," he said.    [FULL  STORY]