Taipei: Representative Kelsang Gyaltsen Bawa of the Office of Tibet in Taiwan paid a courtesy call to Deputy Minister Sawyer Mars of Taiwan’s Ministry of the Interior, along with Director of the Ministry’s Immigration Affairs Division, Lee His-Zen, on 18 June 2024.
During the meeting, Representative Bawa discussed the difficulties Tibetans face in obtaining residential permits in Taiwan. He also raised concerns about challenges that Tibetan students encountered due to the Ministry of Education’s restrictions on foreign students holding stateless person’s travel documents.
Deputy Minister Mars acknowledged these issues and informed that Minister Liu Shyh-Fang of the Ministry of the Interior had instructed officials to assist Tibetans in addressing these challenges.
Following the meeting, the Immigration Affairs Division promptly reached out to the Office of Tibet to communicate that the Taiwanese government had approved Tibetan students to obtain student visas in advance and Tibetan residents to extend their residential permit prior to its expiration.
-Report filed by Office of Tibet, Taiwan