I am planning to visit Taiwan with my wife in the near future and I would like to know the requirements for a chinese person to visit Taiwan. I am not asking for info for foreigners - I know what they are - chinese only.

I am ONLY seeking info for a chinese national from people who have visited recently. I am not asking for travel advice about Taiwan and I already spoke with PSB. I am asking for some pesonal experience from those who visited Taiwan with a chinese national.

I did it a few years ago with my wife. The process is straight forward but cumbersome. Keep in mind this was a few years ago and I'm not sure if things have changed for the worse given the results of the election on the island.

To qualify for the self-guided tour, ie, without being part of a tour group, your wife's houkou must be from one of the 20 or so designated cities, Kunming being one of them. If her houkou is not in one of those cities then it's a non-starter.

Even though it's a self-guided tour, you would still need to process the application through one the official travel agencies designated by the Taiwanese government. (I did mine on through Yunnan Panda International Travel: www.ynxmgl.com ); From there you simply provide the information that is required and they'll take care of it for you. Most of the information is standard stuff, National ID card, houkou, emergency contacts, etc. But two things to note are:

** 1) She needs to get a special travel document (Pseudo-passort) to be used in lieu of her regular passport to place the visa sticker on. (The PRC does not recognize the ROC's passport as that would be admitting de facto independence and vice versa). This document is applied locally at the same place she would apply for her Chinese passport;

** 2) She needs to freeze a bank account under her name with a minimum balance of 50K RMB for 30 days or longer. The bank will provide documentation that said funds is frozen until xx/xx date. (The funds must be unfrozen after your date of return to the mainland or it can't be used.)

The application to visit Taiwan can take up to two weeks (or longer) as the immigration office in Taiwan only process a set amount of applications per day. If your wife does not have the pseudo-passport to visit Taiwan, the application for that could be another 2 weeks. The safest bet is to start the process 2 months before you planned date of departure. If you are unsure of your itinerary, she can get the pseudo-passport now and have it ready when you are ready to apply for the visa.

And BTW, the total length of stay on the island is limited to 15 days.

Hope this helps.

Tony, thanks a lot, this is exactly what I was looking for. My wife will get her Taiwan passport when we go pick up our stuff at PSB in 2 weeks.

I will post more info about Taiwan after she gets her Taiwan (fake) passport.

good luck Hugo, and let us know if the process has changed at all, my wife and I are keen to visit TW someday too.

The Taiwan passport costs 30 RMB and the visa is 20 RMB. The visa is only valid for 6 months. My wife was told to spend the extra 20 RMB and get a visa even though she was not going to use it within 6 months.

The reason for this is because if she already has a visa in her passport she can get a new visa in one day but if she does not already have a visa in her passport she will have to wait 2 weeks.

The Taiwan passport is valid for 5 years. We do not plan to visit Taiwan in the very near future but it is good to have the passport in hand now.

what's the spitting like in Taiwan?

My wife's student (28 y/o nurse) just returned from a visit to Taiwan. Visiting Taiwan is expensive and there are many restrictions for chinese nationals. The time limit is what really turns me off. Limited to 15 days but they will let you know exactly how many days one is allowed just before the trip begins. The nurse only got 7 days.

My wife and I also went to an agency to get some info. Going through the entire trip with an agency is inexpensive (4000 Yuan/7 days) but that is a terrible experience. Severely restricted to only 7 days and one is held captive and can not venture on ones own.

I am glad my wife got the Taiwan passport but it does not look like we will be going any time soon, not with those time limits and definitely not with a tour group.