Monday, October 11, 2010

Germany, Taiwan launch working holiday program

Taipei, Oct. 11 (CNA) Germany became the fifth country to sign a working holiday program with Taiwan when representatives from Germany and Taiwan completed the signing of a joint statement Monday in Taipei, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said in a statement.

According to the statement, Birgitt Ory, director of the German Institute Taipei, signed the joint statement Monday while Wei Wu-lien, representative of Taiwan's office in Germany, signed the statement Sept. 28.

Under the joint statement that took effect immediately, people aged 18-30 from Germany and Taiwan can travel and work in each other's territory for up to one year. Each side has offered a quota of 200 multiple entry visas in the first year of the program.

Taiwan also has working holiday agreements with Australia, New Zealand, Japan and Canada.

Last year, more than 12,000 Taiwanese youths took part in the program, with more than 9,000 going to Australia, which has not set a quota for Taiwanese participants.

Canada has a quota of 700, up from the original 200 due to the popularity of the program, and Japan has a quota of 2,000. (By Chris Wang) enditem/ls