Taipei, Dec. 22 (CNA) The visa waiver privilege for Taiwan passport holders to the Schengen Area and three European Union (EU) member states will take effect Jan. 11, 2011, the EU's representative office in Taiwan said Wednesday.
The decision to lift visa requirements for Taiwan citizens will be published in the Dec. 22 issue of the Official Journal of the EU and will take effect 20 days from that date, said Guy Ledoux, head of the European Economic and Trade Office (EETO) in Taipei.
"We finally know the first day that Taiwan visitors will be able to visit Europe without a visa," he said. "That will be the 11th of January next year."
He said that an expected rise in the number of Taiwanese visitors to the EU signals a need to increase the number of flights between Taiwan and the EU -- the world's largest economy with 500 million inhabitants.
The visa waiver allows Taiwanese travelers to enter countries covered under the exemption for stays of up to 90 days within a six-month period.
The exemption applies to 25 Schengen Area countries, comprising 22 EU member states and three non-EU states -- Norway, Iceland and Switzerland -- and three non-Schengen EU member states -- Romania, Bulgaria and Cyprus.
It also includes seven smaller European countries and territories -- the Vatican, Monaco, Andorra, Liechtenstein, San Marino, Greenland and the Faroe Islands.
Ledoux announced the start date of the visa waiver at the launch of a comic journal, which coincided with the publication of Taiwan's visa exemption in the Official Journal of the EU.
The comic journal was published by Taiwanese cartoonist Wan Wan, who was named Goodwill Ambassador to the EU and was invited by the EETO to visit seven European countries from June 16 to July 5 this year on a 20-day tour. The journal is a humorous account of her trip. (By Chris Wang) enditem /pc