TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The Canadian authorities have decided to increase the quota on working holiday visas offered to Taiwanese young adults from 1,000 to 1,250 for the year of 2019, confirmed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) on Thursday (May 16).
Canada’s Ministry of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship informed MOFA on May 9 that it would provide an extra quota of 250 working holiday visas in addition to the original 1,000 per year to Taiwan, said Regine Chen (陳慧蓁), a senior official at MOFA handling North American affairs, during a press briefing on Thursday.
The news shows that the performance of Taiwanese young adults in Canada has been recognized by the Canadian authorities, which are therefore willing to deepen people-to-people exchanges with Taiwan, Chen added.
Taiwan and Canada inked the reciprocal agreement on granting working holiday visas in 2010, and the annual quota of visas granted to each respective country has been maintained at 1,000 since 2011.
According to the mutual agreement, Taiwanese people aged between 18 - 35 are eligible to apply for one-year working holiday visas in Canada.
While the demand among Taiwanese people for Canada’s working holiday visas has always been high, the number of Canadian people applying for working holiday visas in Taiwan has never surpassed one thousand each year, according to MOFA. The Taiwan government will thus maintain the quota of working holiday visa for Canada at 1,000.