Do I need a visa to visit Taiwan?

For most Western travellers, no. Taiwan grants visa-free entry to a long list of nationalities, and the largest group — including the US, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Korea, Israel and essentially all of the EU and Schengen area — gets 90 days. A smaller group gets 30 days: Malaysia, Singapore, Belize, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, and the Dominican Republic (ordinary passports). A third group gets 14 days: Oman, plus Thailand, Brunei and the Philippines under a trial scheme. If your nationality isn't on any of those lists, you'll need either an eVisa or a regular visitor visa from a Taiwan representative office. Always confirm against Taiwan's Bureau of Consular Affairs before you book — this is exactly the kind of rule that changes.

Can I stay longer than 90 days without a visa?

If you hold a Canadian or British passport, yes — those two nationalities may extend a visa-free stay to 180 days. That's an unusual exception and I rarely see it mentioned in English travel guides, so it's worth knowing if you're planning a longer trip. For everyone else on the 90-day list, 90 days is the limit for visa-free entry. If you want longer, that's a visa question, not a visa-free question, and you'd need to apply through a Taiwan representative office before travelling. Extension procedures and eligibility are handled by Taiwan's immigration authorities and I'd point you to them directly rather than paraphrase the process here.

How long can Thai, Philippine and Bruneian passport holders stay?

14 days, counted from the day after arrival — under a trial scheme rather than a permanent arrangement. This matters because the scheme has an expiry date and gets renewed roughly annually. The current period runs 1 August 2026 to 31 July 2027, announced by Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs on 17 July 2026. It has now been renewed at least three times. Practical advice: treat the end date as rolling and re-check every July. Also note the extra requirements for these three nationalities — BOCA's wording specifies proof of accommodation booking, host or sponsor contact information, and sufficient travel funds, on top of the standard passport validity and confirmed onward ticket. The 14 days are not extendable and crew members are excluded.

What do I need at the border even if I'm visa-exempt?

Visa-free doesn't mean documentation-free. The standard requirements are a passport valid for at least six months from your date of arrival, and a confirmed return or onward ticket. For Thai, Philippine and Bruneian nationals under the trial scheme, add proof of accommodation, host or sponsor contact details, and evidence of sufficient funds. There is one more piece of the arrival process that I've deliberately not covered in this article — see the section on what I couldn't verify. Please check Taiwan's official immigration and consular sites for the current arrival procedure before you fly; that's genuinely the right source for this, not a blog.

Is there still a COVID entry requirement for Taiwan?

I found no vaccination, testing, quarantine or mask requirement anywhere in Taiwan's current official entry material. The visa-exempt requirements list contains only passport validity, onward ticket, and the extra items for the trial-scheme nationalities. I want to be precise about the nature of this evidence though: this is confirmation by consistent absence across official pages, not a positive official statement saying COVID rules were rescinded. I did not find such a notice. One thing that's easy to misread: Taiwan's consular bureau files a 2026 Ebola-related measure under 'antipandemic policy' — that measure suspends visa issuance for residents of the DRC and Uganda for a 90-day period from 2 June 2026. That's Ebola, not COVID, and it doesn't affect the general visa-free lists.

What if my nationality isn't on any visa-free list?

Two main routes. Taiwan operates an eVisa for a specific set of nationalities — including Türkiye, Russia, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Panama and others — at NT$1,600 plus a NT$46 card processing fee, with processing taking around three working days. Some of those nationalities have additional conditions attached. Separately, nationals of India, Indonesia, Vietnam, Myanmar and Laos may qualify for a free online Travel Authorization Certificate if they hold a valid resident card or entry visa from Australia, Canada, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, a Schengen country, the UK or the US. Otherwise it's a regular visitor visa from a Taiwan representative office. ⚠️ Note that Cambodia lost Travel Authorization Certificate eligibility from 1 August 2026.

Are you actually Taiwanese, or is this another tourist blog?

Taiwanese, living here — but I want to be honest that this is the one topic where being local helps me least. I've never needed a visa to enter my own country, so unlike the EasyCard or typhoon articles, I have no first-hand experience to add. What I can offer instead is sourcing discipline: everything here comes from Taiwan's Bureau of Consular Affairs and Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and I've flagged where their own pages disagree with each other. I also left out two things I couldn't verify rather than guessing, and I've said what they are. For a visa question, the official source is always worth checking yourself — being wrong about this costs you a flight, not a bowl of noodles.

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Planning

Do You Need a Visa for Taiwan? Visa-Free Entry Explained (2026)

August 4, 2026

Heads up: this article may contain affiliate links. If you book through them, the price stays exactly the same for you, and I may earn a small commission — that's part of how I fund this project. Written by a Taiwanese, fact-checked, sources at the bottom.

Short version for most people reading this: you probably don’t need a visa, and you get 90 days.

But there are a couple of details worth knowing — including one that applies to British and Canadian passports and that I almost never see mentioned in English guides.

First, an honest caveat about this particular article

I’m Taiwanese and I live here. On most topics that helps — I’ve used an EasyCard for years, I’ve lived through plenty of typhoon days.

On visas, it helps me least. I’ve never needed one to enter my own country.

So instead of experience, what I’m offering here is sourcing discipline: everything below comes from Taiwan’s Bureau of Consular Affairs (BOCA) and Ministry of Foreign Affairs, I’ve flagged where their own pages contradict each other, and I’ve left out two things I couldn’t verify.

🔴 And please check the official source yourself before you fly. Being wrong about a visa costs you a flight.

The 90-day list

Visa-free for 90 days — the big list:

Europe: Albania, Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Holy See, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Kosovo, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, San Marino, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UK

Americas: Canada, Chile, Guatemala, Paraguay, USA; Honduras (ordinary passports)

Asia-Pacific & other: Australia, Eswatini, Israel, Japan, Korea, Marshall Islands, New Zealand, Palau

🔴 The exception worth knowing: Canada and the UK

Canadian and British passport holders may extend a visa-free stay to 180 days.

That’s double what everyone else gets, and it’s the single most useful thing in this article if you’re one of those two nationalities planning a longer trip.

I rarely see it mentioned in English guides about Taiwan. If you’re British or Canadian and you were budgeting your trip around a 90-day ceiling, you may have more room than you thought.

The 30-day and 14-day lists

30 days: Belize, Malaysia, Singapore, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines; Dominican Republic (ordinary passports)

14 days: Oman — plus Thailand, Brunei and the Philippines under a trial scheme (see below)

⚠️ The trial scheme that expires every July

Thailand, Brunei and the Philippines get 14 days visa-free — but not permanently. It’s a trial arrangement that has to be renewed.


Current period	1 Aug 2026 → 31 Jul 2027
Announced	17 July 2026, by Taiwan’s MOFA
Renewed	At least three times so far

So treat the end date as rolling, and re-check every July. If you’re planning a trip for late 2027, the scheme’s status by then is genuinely unknown today.

Extra requirements for these three nationalities, in BOCA’s own wording — proof of accommodation (hotel) booking, host/sponsor’s contact information and sufficient travel funds — on top of the standard passport and onward ticket.

Also: the 14 days are counted from the day after arrival, they’re not extendable, and crew members are excluded.

What you need at the border anyway

Visa-free is not documentation-free. Standard requirements:

Passport valid at least 6 months from your arrival date
Confirmed return or onward ticket
(Trial-scheme nationalities: accommodation proof, sponsor contact, sufficient funds)

If your nationality isn’t on any list

eVisa — available to a specific set of nationalities including Türkiye, Russia, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Armenia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Panama, Mauritius, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Dominica and Haiti.

NT$1,600 + NT$46 card processing = NT$1,646
Processing: about 3 working days
⚠️ Some nationalities (Colombia, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan) have additional conditions
🔴 BOCA warns against third-party eVisa sites — apply through the official portal

Travel Authorization Certificate — free, online, for nationals of India, Indonesia, Vietnam, Myanmar and Laos, conditional on holding a valid resident card or entry visa from Australia, Canada, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, a Schengen country, the UK or the US (or a prior ROC visa within the past 10 years, with no immigration violations).

⚠️ Cambodia lost eligibility from 1 August 2026 (approvals issued before then remain valid). And since 14 September 2023, Vietnamese nationals can no longer qualify via Japanese or Korean documents.

Otherwise: a regular visitor visa from a Taiwan representative office.

COVID rules: none found

I found no vaccination, testing, quarantine or mask requirement anywhere in Taiwan’s current official entry material.

I want to be precise about what that means. This is confirmation by consistent absence across official pages — I did not find a positive official notice saying COVID entry rules were rescinded. I regard the absence as reliable, but it’s not the same as a citable statement.

⚠️ One thing that’s easy to misread: BOCA files a 2026 Ebola measure under “antipandemic policy.” That measure suspends visa issuance for residents of the DRC and Uganda for 90 days from 2 June 2026, with exemptions for degree students, diplomatic personnel, spouses and minor children of Taiwan nationals, and humanitarian cases. That’s Ebola, not COVID, and it doesn’t touch the general visa-free lists.

🔴 Two things I could NOT verify — so I’m not telling you

This is where I’d rather disappoint you than mislead you.

1. Taiwan’s arrival card (TWAC). The system exists — Taiwan’s immigration agency does display it. But its official pages are JavaScript-driven and returned no readable text to me, so whether it’s mandatory, from when, who must file it, and by what deadline are all unconfirmed on my end. Claims circulating on travel blogs are not corroborated by anything official I could reach.

I’m not going to tell you “you must file X days before departure” when I’ve seen two different official-looking numbers and can’t confirm either. Check Taiwan’s official immigration site for the current arrival procedure before you fly.

2. Travel Authorization Certificate duration. Two official Taiwanese sources give different answers — one says 30 days per stay, another says 14. The page giving 30 days is demonstrably stale (it still lists Cambodia and the Philippines as eligible, which the live system contradicts), so 14 is more likely current — but that’s my inference, not confirmation. If you’re travelling on a TAC, get the duration from the application portal itself.

⚠️ A related warning that is well-sourced: BOCA’s static visa pages carry a “last updated June 2022” stamp and lag behind its news feed. Where they disagree, trust the news feed and the live application portals.

The 30-second version

Most Western visitors: 90 days visa-free, no application needed
🔴 Canadian and British passports can extend to 180 days
Malaysia, Singapore + a few others: 30 days
Thailand, Brunei, Philippines: 14 days — trial scheme, re-check every July
You still need: passport valid 6+ months, confirmed onward ticket
Not on a list? eVisa (NT$1,646, ~3 working days) or a visitor visa
No COVID entry requirements found in current official material
🔴 Check the arrival card procedure officially — I couldn’t verify it and won’t guess

Next, sort these out

When to visit: typhoon season by the numbers — the official 114-year record, and why Taipei can shut while Kaohsiung works
Cash or card in Taiwan — 81.6% electronic payment, but night markets are cash
EasyCard explained — the first thing to buy when you land
SIM card or eSIM — sort your data out
Getting around Taiwan without a car — the transport network

Sources (checked 2026-08-04): Taiwan Bureau of Consular Affairs — visa-exempt entry list and conditions, eVisa eligibility, eVisa fees, third-party site warning, Ebola measure. MOFA announcement of the trial-scheme renewal, 17 July 2026 — boca.gov.tw. Travel Authorization Certificate portal — National Immigration Agency.

🔴 Visa rules change, and this article is a snapshot. Confirm your own nationality’s current status with BOCA or your nearest Taiwan representative office before booking. Deliberately not stated here because I could not verify them: the arrival card (TWAC) requirement and deadline, Travel Authorization Certificate duration of stay, and eVisa duration and entry count.

FAQ

Do I need a visa to visit Taiwan?: For most Western travellers, no. Taiwan grants visa-free entry to a long list of nationalities, and the largest group — including the US, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Korea, Israel and essentially all of the EU and Schengen area — gets 90 days. A smaller group gets 30 days: Malaysia, Singapore, Belize, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, and the Dominican Republic (ordinary passports). A third group gets 14 days: Oman, plus Thailand, Brunei and the Philippines under a trial scheme. If your nationality isn't on any of those lists, you'll need either an eVisa or a regular visitor visa from a Taiwan representative office. Always confirm against Taiwan's Bureau of Consular Affairs before you book — this is exactly the kind of rule that changes.
Can I stay longer than 90 days without a visa?: If you hold a Canadian or British passport, yes — those two nationalities may extend a visa-free stay to 180 days. That's an unusual exception and I rarely see it mentioned in English travel guides, so it's worth knowing if you're planning a longer trip. For everyone else on the 90-day list, 90 days is the limit for visa-free entry. If you want longer, that's a visa question, not a visa-free question, and you'd need to apply through a Taiwan representative office before travelling. Extension procedures and eligibility are handled by Taiwan's immigration authorities and I'd point you to them directly rather than paraphrase the process here.
How long can Thai, Philippine and Bruneian passport holders stay?: 14 days, counted from the day after arrival — under a trial scheme rather than a permanent arrangement. This matters because the scheme has an expiry date and gets renewed roughly annually. The current period runs 1 August 2026 to 31 July 2027, announced by Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs on 17 July 2026. It has now been renewed at least three times. Practical advice: treat the end date as rolling and re-check every July. Also note the extra requirements for these three nationalities — BOCA's wording specifies proof of accommodation booking, host or sponsor contact information, and sufficient travel funds, on top of the standard passport validity and confirmed onward ticket. The 14 days are not extendable and crew members are excluded.
What do I need at the border even if I'm visa-exempt?: Visa-free doesn't mean documentation-free. The standard requirements are a passport valid for at least six months from your date of arrival, and a confirmed return or onward ticket. For Thai, Philippine and Bruneian nationals under the trial scheme, add proof of accommodation, host or sponsor contact details, and evidence of sufficient funds. There is one more piece of the arrival process that I've deliberately not covered in this article — see the section on what I couldn't verify. Please check Taiwan's official immigration and consular sites for the current arrival procedure before you fly; that's genuinely the right source for this, not a blog.
Is there still a COVID entry requirement for Taiwan?: I found no vaccination, testing, quarantine or mask requirement anywhere in Taiwan's current official entry material. The visa-exempt requirements list contains only passport validity, onward ticket, and the extra items for the trial-scheme nationalities. I want to be precise about the nature of this evidence though: this is confirmation by consistent absence across official pages, not a positive official statement saying COVID rules were rescinded. I did not find such a notice. One thing that's easy to misread: Taiwan's consular bureau files a 2026 Ebola-related measure under 'antipandemic policy' — that measure suspends visa issuance for residents of the DRC and Uganda for a 90-day period from 2 June 2026. That's Ebola, not COVID, and it doesn't affect the general visa-free lists.
What if my nationality isn't on any visa-free list?: Two main routes. Taiwan operates an eVisa for a specific set of nationalities — including Türkiye, Russia, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Panama and others — at NT$1,600 plus a NT$46 card processing fee, with processing taking around three working days. Some of those nationalities have additional conditions attached. Separately, nationals of India, Indonesia, Vietnam, Myanmar and Laos may qualify for a free online Travel Authorization Certificate if they hold a valid resident card or entry visa from Australia, Canada, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, a Schengen country, the UK or the US. Otherwise it's a regular visitor visa from a Taiwan representative office. ⚠️ Note that Cambodia lost Travel Authorization Certificate eligibility from 1 August 2026.
Are you actually Taiwanese, or is this another tourist blog?: Taiwanese, living here — but I want to be honest that this is the one topic where being local helps me least. I've never needed a visa to enter my own country, so unlike the EasyCard or typhoon articles, I have no first-hand experience to add. What I can offer instead is sourcing discipline: everything here comes from Taiwan's Bureau of Consular Affairs and Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and I've flagged where their own pages disagree with each other. I also left out two things I couldn't verify rather than guessing, and I've said what they are. For a visa question, the official source is always worth checking yourself — being wrong about this costs you a flight, not a bowl of noodles.