30-Second Overview: On January 11, 2021, Taiwan issued a new version of its chip passport. The cover enlarges "TAIWAN" while retaining "REPUBLIC OF CHINA" and the national emblem. This design change, which seemingly only adjusted font size and position, did not alter the passport's legal nature. Instead, it made a travel document more clearly address three things: who issues it, where the holder comes from, and how border personnel should identify it. 1 2
When a traveler pushes a passport back across the airport counter, they usually only confirm their name, expiration date, and photo. The time the cover stays in hand is short, hardly resembling a political object. It feels more like a tool jointly used by airlines, immigration officers, and automated clearance gates. Yet, the cover of the Taiwan passport is enlarging a place name that needs to be recognized to the most prominent position. 2
Image source and license: Wikimedia Commons File Page: REPUBLIC OF CHINA (TAIWAN) Passport 2021 — Source is the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, ROC; the file page is marked as being in the public domain in Taiwan under Article 9 of the Copyright Act.
The contrast here is: the more a passport resembles an everyday item, the more it can carry the nation's most difficult questions to articulate. It not only proves that a person can travel but also brings the issuing authority, nationality legal framework, international circulation, and identity naming to every border. This article does not write the passport as a ranking, nor does it treat the number of visas as a measure of national value. We only look at how this small booklet operates between systems and daily life.
What Was Enlarged Was Not the State Name, But the Opportunity to Be Seen
In September 2020, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) announced the design direction for the new passport. The official explanation stated that the premise of the revision was "minimal change": retaining the Republic of China, REPUBLIC OF CHINA, the national emblem, TAIWAN, Passport, PASSPORT, and the original colors. The main adjustment was enlarging TAIWAN and bringing it closer to PASSPORT, creating a visual message of "Taiwan's Passport" that is easier to recognize. 2
The design did not remove all old elements. The English formal state name is still published, surrounding the outer circle of the national emblem. The change lies in rearranging visual weight on the same cover. 2 Therefore, the 2021 new version is not a renaming that clears out the old version, but a method of adjusting recognizability within the existing system.
When announcing the design, MOFA stated that the revision was to improve the recognizability of the Taiwan passport cover and safeguard the rights and convenience of nationals traveling overseas. The announcement also recorded that this case was resolved by the Legislative Yuan, and then submitted by MOFA to the Executive Yuan for approval. 2 These procedures indicate that the cover is not a poster decided solely by a designer, but a public document handled jointly by administrative, legislative, and diplomatic practices.
📝 Curator's Note: The most interesting aspect of the passport cover is not which word it chose, but that it must allow two sets of recognition to coexist: legal documents require precision, airport clearance requires speed, and the holder wants others to see Taiwan at a glance.
On January 11, 2021, the new chip passport was officially issued. Applications are accepted at domestic offices and overseas diplomatic missions. Passports currently in hand can continue to be used until their expiration date, even if they have a long validity remaining; there is no need to immediately reissue them due to the cover revision. The fee for ordinary passports remains NT$1,300 per book, and NT$900 for children under 14. 1
This detail separates symbolism from administrative costs. The cover can change, but the holder's right to travel does not need to be interrupted because of it. "Looking more like Taiwan" and "having to pay the application fee again" are not the same thing. The recognizability of the new version is a policy choice, while the continued validity of old passports is administrative continuity.
Image source and license: Wikimedia Commons File Page: Republic of China Passport Data Page — Source is marked as the National Immigration Agency, Ministry of the Interior; the file page is marked as being in the public domain under Article 9 of the Copyright Act.
A Passport Is First a Set of Qualifications, Not a Book
Whether a passport can be obtained is determined first by rules. The current Rules for Application and Issuance of Passports stipulate that the competent authority is the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. To apply for an ordinary passport, one may submit applications to the Bureau of Consular Affairs, MOFA offices, or overseas diplomatic missions. 3
For persons with household registration in Taiwan, a National Identity Card must be attached when applying for an ordinary passport for the first time. For children under 14 who have not yet obtained an identity card, a household register or a household register transcript from the last three months may be attached. 3 These documents may seem to belong to procedural workflows, but they are actually connecting "who I am" to the administrative data of household registration and nationality.
The rules do not treat all holders as the same type of person. Nationals without household registration in Taiwan, those who have acquired nationality through naturalization but have not yet settled with household registration, and those with the status of mainland China residents, Hong Kong residents, or Macau residents who are permitted to reside in Taiwan, each have different application conditions, proof documents, validity periods, or passport annotations. 3
The Passport Act defines the passport as an international travel document and proof of nationality, and explicitly states that passports are divided into three categories: diplomatic, official, and ordinary. Diplomatic and official passports are issued by the competent authority, while ordinary passports may be issued by the competent authority or overseas diplomatic missions. Ordinary passports generally have a validity period of ten years, and five years for those under 14. Diplomatic and official passports have a validity limit of five years. 4
Thus, the blue cover of the passport is merely the entrance; what truly supports it is a series of determinations not printed on the cover: how the applicant's identity is proven, which authority is responsible for issuance, whether additional annotations are required, and how long this document can remain valid. A passport does not flatten everyone's identity but delegates differences to the regulations to handle.
Replacement for loss also bears the same institutional traces. For ordinary passports lost domestically, one must generally attach a loss report issued by the police authority and other application documents. The validity of a replacement passport is limited to five years, and three years for those under 14. For those in overseas emergencies who urgently need to use a passport and cannot wait for the issuance of a chip-embedded passport, they can also apply to overseas diplomatic missions for a one-year validity non-chip passport. 3
These articles remind us that a passport is not a binary object of "having or not having." It may be an ordinary passport, a diplomatic or official passport, a passport reissued after loss, or an emergency solution. Each form answers the same question: how does the state confirm identity while allowing people to continue moving?
The system is also extending the counter to the internet. An announcement by the Bureau of Consular Affairs, MOFA in 2026 stated that conditional online application and replacement of passports will be implemented starting January 1, 2025. Starting July 1, 2026, adults with household registration in Taiwan, provided their current passport has expired or has less than one year of validity remaining, has not been lost, and their data has not changed, can use the Natural Person Certificate to apply and replace. The announcement stated that as of that time, over 110,000 people had obtained passports through this measure. 5
This change does not remove the passport from paper. The application process moves online, but collection still requires carrying identity proof and the current passport to a designated location. What changes is how data reaches the issuing authority, not how the document is verified at the border. 4 5
From Paper Pages to Chips, the Border Begins to Read the Invisible
The Taiwan passport did not enter electronicization only in 2021.
Image source and license: Wikimedia Commons File Page: Republic of China Passport 1946 — Original source is the collection of the Hsinchu City Culture Bureau, author marked as He Yun-yuan. The file page is marked as being in the public domain in Taiwan.
MOFA data shows that the second-generation chip passport was issued starting December 25, 2017, adopting anti-counterfeiting designs such as the holder's third image and metalized surface raised anti-counterfeiting film, and updating the patterns on the passport's inner pages. 6
The significance of the chip lies not just in "adding an electronic component inside." The International Civil Aviation Organization's Doc 9303 is the entry point for specifications of machine-readable travel documents, which includes TD3 size machine-readable passports and other machine-readable travel document specifications. 7 This means that for a passport to function across international borders, it must simultaneously comply with the domestic issuing system and international machine-readable standards.
The International Civil Aviation Organization also states that the chip of an electronic passport must be verified during border inspection. If the chip is not verified, the advantage of an electronic passport over a traditional non-electronic passport is very limited. 8 Thus, the passport has two readers: one is the traveler holding it and looking at the cover, and the other is the system checking the authenticity of the data, which usually does not fully display the reading results to the traveler.
This change splits "being recognized" into two layers. The human eye needs to see TAIWAN and PASSPORT within seconds. The machine must verify whether the chip data is trustworthy. The cover is responsible for reducing misidentification, while the chip and international verification mechanisms are responsible for reducing the risks of forgery and misuse. The two do not replace each other but divide the same clearance problem among different readers.
📝 Curator's Note: The electronic passport does not make the state disappear; rather, it makes the state a more layered interface: the cover is for people to see, the machine-readable zone is for devices to scan, the chip is for systems to verify, and the regulations determine who is qualified to obtain it.
Visa-Free Status Is Not the Single Score of a Passport
In the updated information on overseas travel for nationals published by the Bureau of Consular Affairs, MOFA on July 23, 2026, it listed countries and regions where visa-free, visa-on-arrival, or e-visa entry is possible, and reminded that visa and immigration regulations of each country may change, and actual treatment should be based on the latest announcements by the government of the country of entry. Most countries also require passports to have at least six months of validity. 9
This reminder is easily ignored because when people talk about passports, they often think of "visa-free" as a fixed capability possessed by a passport. In reality, visa-free status is an entry arrangement by another country or region for specific travel conditions. It may be affected by the purpose of travel, length of stay, passport validity, return ticket, or other documents. 9
In other words, a passport is not a membership card with a fixed score written on it. It is a document that allows other governments to recognize the holder and then decide whether to grant convenience according to their own laws. The reason MOFA's list includes the warning "confirm again before departure" is precisely because circulationability changes with the other party's policies; one cannot simply look at numbers circulating on the internet. 9
Earlier MOFA data also recorded that holders of the Republic of China passport can enjoy convenient treatments such as visa-free, visa-on-arrival, or e-visa. 10 These treatments are very practical for travelers, but they are not equivalent to a complete ranking of diplomatic recognition, nor can they alone represent the effectiveness of a passport in all contexts. Equating convenient treatment directly with national status flattens a complex entry decision into a single number.
Border personnel of the country of entry must also handle more than just a cover name. They must confirm whether the passport is valid, whether it complies with machine-readable and chip verification standards, whether the traveler meets visa-free conditions, and whether an additional visa is required. 7 8 What the traveler feels at the counter is a single stamp or a single release, but behind it, multiple systems are interfacing with each other within seconds.
The 2025 Shortage Revealed the Supply Chain Behind the Cover
Passports are usually quiet until inventory problems arise. In April 2025, MOFA responded to inquiries about whether the passport shortage was related to the 2021 revision, stating that the insufficient safety stock of passports that year was related to budget cuts, and denied that the revision caused the shortage. 11
The value of this controversy lies not in drawing conclusions for either side, but in making a passport no longer just a cover and regulations. Passports also require blank booklets, chips, special anti-counterfeiting materials, printing, and inventory management. If any link has a gap, travelers may only discover when they are truly ready to depart that "having a valid passport" is not an automatic occurrence. 1 11
MOFA's 2021 announcement explicitly stated that reissuing the new version was not mandatory; old passports could be used until their expiration date. 1 This arrangement reduced the impact of the revision on the volume of applications at the moment. But when travel demand recovered and inventory and budgets became public issues again, the materiality of the passport re-emerged: it is not an identity in the cloud, but an item that must be printed, verified, stored, and delivered.
This is why "design" cannot be understood only as aesthetics. How much the text is enlarged, where elements are placed, affects recognition. How chips and anti-counterfeiting are configured affects verification. How printing volume and budget are arranged affects whether people can depart at the scheduled time. The cover, system, and supply chain jointly constitute the actual function of the passport.
📝 Curator's Note: A document is usually unnoticed when it is truly reliable. Only when the cover is misidentified, the chip cannot be verified, or inventory is insufficient do we see that "the state" is actually a service chain that needs to be maintained daily.
How a Small Booklet Carries Identity Across the Border
The passport has another often-ignored function: it temporarily separates "nationality" from "travel qualification." Whether the applicant has Republic of China nationality is a question for the issuing end to handle. Whether the holder can enter a country visa-free is a decision made by the entry end according to their own laws and current conditions. The passport brings the first determination to the face of the second determination, but cannot pre-guarantee the result for the second determination. 3 9
This difference is important for travelers. A valid passport may still require a visa. A traveler enjoying visa-free convenience may also be unable to enter directly due to passport validity, purpose of stay, return arrangements, or the latest regulations of the country of entry. MOFA placing "confirm before departure" at the front of overseas travel information is not administrative politeness, but an acknowledgment that cross-border travel is inherently jointly determined by multiple sovereign systems. 9
Going to Mainland China: Primarily Using the Taiwan Resident Permit, Not Treating the Passport as an Entry Document
When going to mainland China, the primary travel document used by Taiwan residents is the Mainland Travel Permit for Taiwan Residents, commonly known as the "Taiwan Resident Permit" (Taibaozheng). It is not the same document as the Republic of China passport, and their functions cannot replace each other. The service guide of the National Immigration Administration of mainland China lists the Taiwan Resident Permit as a specialized document for Taiwan residents applying to travel to mainland China; applications require filling out forms, submitting photos, and presenting the Taiwan Identity Card and Taiwan region entry-exit documents. 12
Therefore, when discussing "where the Taiwan passport can go," one cannot directly place mainland China into the general visa-free or visa list for interpretation. For Taiwan residents, entry, exit, and stay/residence in mainland China are practically handled using a valid Taiwan Resident Permit. The National Immigration Administration's guide lists two types of Taiwan Resident Permits: five-year multiple entry-exit valid and three-month single entry-exit valid; if arriving at the port without a valid document, there is also a system to apply for a single entry-exit valid Taiwan Resident Permit. 12
The relationship between the two documents can be distinguished in the following way:
| Document | Primary Function | In the Context of Going to Mainland China |
|---|---|---|
| Republic of China Passport | International travel document and proof of nationality issued by the Taiwan government | Cannot alone replace the Taiwan Resident Permit as the primary document for Taiwan residents traveling to and from mainland China |
| Mainland Travel Permit for Taiwan Residents (Taiwan Resident Permit) | Travel document for往来 issued by the mainland China side to Taiwan residents | Used for the document procedures of Taiwan residents traveling, entering, and staying/residing in mainland China |
This distinction is particularly clear when documents are lost. Q&A from the Bureau of Consular Affairs, MOFA states that when a person loses their Republic of China passport in mainland China, besides reporting to the local public security department, they must also process a temporary Taiwan Resident Permit to return to Taiwan via relevant routes; another explanation also lists the return documents for expired or lost passports as two different items: "Passport" and "Taiwan Resident Permit." 13 14 In other words, the passport handles the international travel identity of Taiwan nationals, while the Taiwan Resident Permit handles the travel qualification between Taiwan residents and mainland China.
The validity of the passport is also not judged only by whether the cover is damaged. The machine-readable zone, photo, data page, and chip jointly constitute the object of inspection. The specifications of the International Civil Aviation Organization handle how travel documents are read by machines. PKD handles the verification trust chain of electronic passports. Travelers may not see these procedures, but automated clearance equipment and manual inspection must judge whether the document is trustworthy within a limited time. 7 8
This makes the passport a very special public interface. A general website's interface serves one login user; the passport's interface simultaneously serves the holder, the issuing authority, the airline, the country of entry officials, and border equipment. Each party reads different content: the traveler cares about name and validity, the airline cares about whether it can be carried, the machine cares about whether the data can be verified, and the country of entry decides whether to release based on its own rules. 1 3 9
When these readings are completed smoothly, the traveler may think they are just "going abroad." Only when data is inconsistent, the chip fails to read, the passport is lost, or visa conditions change does this interface suddenly become heavy. At that time, the passport is no longer an item in a pocket, but a fine thread connecting personal identity to several national systems.
Therefore, passport revision cannot be evaluated only by "whether the cover looks good." The 2021 adjustment handled human eye recognition. The 2017 second-generation chip and anti-counterfeiting design handled document credibility. Application methods handled who can obtain it, where to obtain it, and how to reissue it after loss. Visa information handled how another country responds to this document. 2 3 6 9
Back at the airport, the traveler only needs to hand over the passport. This action looks private, but simultaneously triggers several public judgments: whether the issuing authority is trustworthy, whether the document is still valid, whether the holder matches the photo and data, whether the chip can be verified, and whether the country of entry provides corresponding visa convenience. 3 7 8 9
The 2021 cover enlarged TAIWAN, did not eliminate legal text, nor did it alone create visa-free treatment. It made Taiwan easier to be seen by the human eye on a highly standardized travel document. The rest of the work is still jointly completed by passport regulations, international machine-readable standards, chip verification, and entry policies of various countries. 2 7 8
This division of labor also explains why the significance of a passport cannot be judged only by its cover. The cover provides recognition clues, the law provides the basis for issuance, the chip provides machine-verifiable data, and visa policy determines whether the traveler can enter after arriving in another country. No single layer can alone represent the entire passport, but without any one layer, travel may stop at the counter.
Source: Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Bureau of Consular Affairs, MOFA
Therefore, what is most worth remembering about the Taiwan passport is not the list of "where one can go," but how it turns abstract identity into an operable document. It prints the state name on the cover, writes qualifications into regulations, puts anti-counterfeiting into materials, puts data into chips, and then hands this entire arrangement to border systems worldwide to read.
After the Passport Leaves the Counter, It Must Still Be Properly Kept
The passport will eventually return to the traveler's hand. It may be tucked in the inner layer of a backpack, waiting for the next departure. Or it may be put away in a drawer, only to be opened again when the expiration date is near. At that moment, the words on the cover, the data in the pages, and the verification in the chip will work together, allowing a person to walk toward the door of another system with a document recognized by the system.
But this "carrying along" also means the holder must bear the responsibility of custody. When a passport is lost, reissuing is not as simple as sending a small booklet again. The applicant must first complete the loss report, then submit documents according to their location and application channel. Procedures differ between domestic and overseas; overseas emergencies may first obtain a one-year validity non-chip passport. 3
The regulations write these situations in detail precisely because cross-border identity cannot be completed relying only on a verbal statement. Document loss, insufficient validity, or inconsistent data may force the holder to stop when they most need to move. The convenience of the passport has never been unconditional freedom, but is built upon the consistency of identity data, document security, and verification procedures. 3 8
When the passport is put back in the drawer, these rules do not disappear. They just retreat to the background of daily life, waiting for the next trip to wake them up again.
The Taiwan passport does not solve the identity problem into a single sentence. It only turns the problem into an everyday object that can be carried, verified, circulated, and redesigned. The more ordinarily it is opened, the closer it gets to how a nation introduces itself to the world and how it demands the world to read it correctly.
Further Reading
MOFA Bureau of Consular Affairs: Announcement on New Chip Passport. MOFA: 2021 New Passport Design Explanation. MOFA Bureau of Consular Affairs: Visa-Free Convenience for Nationals Overseas. International Civil Aviation Organization: Doc 9303
References
- MOFA Bureau of Consular Affairs: MOFA Will Issue New Chip Passport Starting January 11, 2021, Welcoming Nationals to Apply Enthusiastically — Announcement on November 30, 2020, explaining the January 11, 2021 issuance, cover recognizability, application locations, fees, and old passport validity.↩2345
- MOFA: MOFA Plans to Issue New Passport Enhancing Taiwan Recognizability in January 2021 — Published on September 2, 2020, explaining the design principles of the new passport, retained elements, positions of
TAIWANandPASSPORT, and approval procedures.↩234567 - MOFA Bureau of Consular Affairs: Rules for Application and Issuance of Passports — Current rules page published on May 8, 2024, including competent authority, application channels, identity documents, application conditions for different identities, and reissuance validity.↩2345678910
- MOFA Bureau of Consular Affairs: Passport Act — Current regulation page published in 2023 and updated in June 2025, defining the legal nature of passports, listing diplomatic, official, and ordinary categories, and specifying competent authority, validity, and chip data regulations.↩2
- MOFA Bureau of Consular Affairs: Conditional Online Application and Replacement of Passports Measure Will Further Expand Applicable Objects Starting July 1, 2026 — Announcement on June 9, 2026, explaining the applicable conditions for online replacement, collection process, and the number of applicants as of the announcement.↩2
- MOFA: MOFA Will Issue Second-Generation Chip Passport Starting December 25, 2017 — Explains the issuance date of the second-generation chip passport and anti-counterfeiting, inner page update designs.↩2
- International Civil Aviation Organization: Doc 9303 — Entry point for ICAO machine-readable travel document specifications, covering machine-readable passports and other travel documents.↩2345
- International Civil Aviation Organization: ICAO PKD — Explains the public key infrastructure and border inspection relationship for electronic machine-readable travel documents and electronic passport chip verification.↩23456
- MOFA Bureau of Consular Affairs: Countries and Regions Where ROC Nationals Can Enter Visa-Free, Visa-on-Arrival, and via E-Visa — Updated on July 23, 2026, information on visa-free convenience for nationals overseas and reminders of limitations.↩2345678
- MOFA Bureau of Consular Affairs: Nationals Holding ROC Passports Can Enjoy Visa-Free Treatment When Going to Countries and Regions Worldwide — Official press release on March 25, 2016, recording changes in the number of visa-free, visa-on-arrival, and e-visa convenience treatments at that time.↩
- MOFA: Regarding Media Inquiries on Whether the 2025 Passport Shortage Is Related to the 2021 Passport Revision — Official explanation on April 24, 2025, responding to the controversy regarding the connection between passport safety stock, budget, and the 2021 revision.↩2
- Mainland China National Immigration Administration: Service Guide for Issuing Mainland Travel Permits for Taiwan Residents — Official service guide, explaining the applicable objects of the Taiwan Resident Permit, application materials, five-year multiple and three-month single documents, port application, and replacement procedures.↩2
- MOFA Bureau of Consular Affairs: I Am Currently in Mainland China, and My ROC Passport Was Lost (Not Yet Expired) — Official passport Q&A, explaining the reporting, temporary Taiwan Resident Permit, and return to Taiwan handling procedures when losing both passport and Taiwan Resident Permit in mainland China.↩
- MOFA Bureau of Consular Affairs: I Am Currently in Mainland China, Urgently Need to Fly Back to ROC from Mainland China or Transfer via Hong Kong/Macau, but My ROC Passport Has Expired (or Was Lost) — Official passport Q&A, listing documents required for expired or lost passports separately from the Taiwan Resident Permit, presenting their different functions in the return to Taiwan procedure.↩