Taiwan Likely Relaxes Entry Requirements Late September/Early October

Taiwan has recently somewhat relaxed transit and entry requirements. There is no longer a pre-departure PCR-RT test requirement (there is one on arrival for everyone entering the country) in place, and quarantine has been slashed to 3 days, followed by 4 days of self-monitoring.

Now, there are bits and pieces coming out from Taiwan’s Central Epidemic Command Center that there will be relaxation of entry requirements on the horizon once the current waive of Covid-19 infections has passed.

Taiwan News reports that change is expected in late September/early October, while Focus Taiwan reports that it would take place in October.

It is unlikely that the entry restrictions would be removed entirely, but what could they tinker with about the current 3 (quarantine) + 4 (self-monitoring) model?

They could, like Thailand did at one stage, require incoming passengers to quarantine for a few hours until the test result from the airport are ready and have one or two follow-ups. There is still a weekly arrivals cap of 50,000 that could be raised.

The four days of “self-monitoring” is quite useless because people can go on with their lives as they please.

Conclusion

I have been closely following the developments in Japan, Hong Kong, and Taiwan because I am heading for Asia-Pacific next week for two to three months.

I don’t plan visiting countries that have made entering without a quarantine impossible (Hong Kong & Taiwan) or has ended visa-free travel (Japan).

Let’s hope that Taiwan can amend its entry requirements next month. Unfortunately, both Hong Kong and Japan are lost cases at this point.