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Entry-Exit Regulations

1. Employees transferred abroad, dependents visiting relatives, or overseas students who have left the country for six months and whose passports have more than six months until their expiration dates and plan to return for less than three months, may process exit procedures at the airport upon arrival. Exit procedures may also be done at local branches of the United Service Center.

2. Individuals may bring to the Republic of China the following items duty-free: cigars (no more than 25), cigarettes (no more than 200), tobacco (no more than one lb), liquor (no more than a 1 kg bottle or 10 1 kg bottles). The above regulation only applies to travellers over 20 years old.

Individual property and cash (excluding travelers' and bank checks) must be reported on entering the country. Gold and silver bars and foreign currencies face no import restrictions, but all such materials imported must be reported to customs authorities, regardless of amount.

Visitors to the Republic of China may bring in a maximum of NT$8000. Any amount in excess of this figure must be registered and approved by customs, so as to prevent confiscation during luggage inspection. The Republic of China forbids the import of weapons, explosives, narcotics, gambling equipment, and pornographic materials.

Those leaving the country may not take gold or silver bars, undeveloped film, weapons, explosives, and books and records whose export is forbidden by copyright law.

Government Scholarship Stipend Limited to Six Months

Those studying abroad on government scholarships will receive stipends now for only the first six months, instead of one year, starting in 1986. Before leaving the Republic of China, they must guarantee that they will return at the end of their studies, with no extensions given. Those not returning must compensate by paying the government the tuition and stipend costs.

Overseas Chinese Returning to Study

The Overseas Chinese Affairs Commission has already begun to receive applications in response to its plan to encourage overseas Chinese youth to return to study in the Republic of China.

Any overseas Chinese high school graduate who was born and lived continuously in a foreign country or who can show certification of having lived continuously abroad for over five years (certification must be submitted upon application), may apply to study in the Republic of China. Applications are available at the local embassy or representative of the Republic of China. All applications should be postmarked before March 10, 1986.

Plant Quarantine Regulations.

1. The import of soil, gravel, and plants growing in soil is prohibited.

2. Fruit from Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia, Hawaii, Africa, Europe, South America, and any other area where the Mediterranean fruit fly has been reported may not be imported. Fruit from other areas must be presented with certification from the quarantine bureau of its country of origin, stating that the said fruit is free from pests before it may be admitted.

3. Plants from areas infested by the bur rowing nematode (North America, Hawaii, Africa, Indonesia, India, Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Singapore) whose roots penetrate beneath the topsoil may not be imported.

4. Flower buds and fruit tree seeds must be inspected apart from the seedbed in which they are transported.

5. Plants of unknown origin may not be admitted.

6. Plants that have passed through banned areas in the course of their journey may not be admitted.

7. Those who wish to import plants in large quantities must first apply to the Bureau of Commodity Inspection and Quarantine.

8. Those with further questions should address their inquiries to the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Bureau of Commodity Inspection and Quarantine (Animal and Plant Division), or consult the government's "Quarantine Restrictions on the Importation of Plants and Plant Products into Taiwan, ROC"