Obama administration approves visa-free travel for Taiwan

By Julian Pecquet - 10/02/12 05:16 PM ET

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano announced Tuesday that Taiwanese travelers have been approved for visa-free travel to the United States.

The country joins 36 participants in the U.S. Visa Waiver Program, which permits visa-free travel to the United States for eligible travelers visiting the United States for 90 days or fewer for business or tourism. Visitors traveling under the program accounted for 18.3 million visits to the United States last year, according to the Homeland Security Department, or more than 60 percent of tourist and business travelers entering the United States by air.

“Today’s announcement is a major step forward in our long-standing economic partnership with Taiwan,” Napolitano said in a statement. “Taiwan’s participation in the VWP will not only stimulate tourism in the United States, it will also enable us to work together to maintain the strictest security standards.”

To qualify, the department said, Taiwan had to comply with U.S. security and information-sharing requirements, such as “enhanced law enforcement and security-related data sharing with the United States; timely reporting of lost and stolen passports; and the maintenance of high counterterrorism, law enforcement, border control, aviation and document security standards.”