TAIPEI - Taiwan’s National Immigration Agency said on July 3 that prosecutors indicted 9 suspects in a passport-smuggling case involving Taiwanese passport holders and Chinese nationals attempting to reach Canada.
The case was investigated by the NIA’s Border Affairs Corps and Chiayi City police before being referred to the Chiayi District Prosecutors Office.
Prosecutors indicted a suspect surnamed Hsu, a Taiwanese man surnamed Hsiao and 7 other alleged accomplices under Taiwan’s Passport Act, Immigration Act, and the Act Governing Relations between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area.
The NIA said the alleged scheme used airport document swaps in China and Hong Kong, Canadian electronic travel authorizations and forged or altered passports. Investigators said the group recruited Taiwanese nationals as passport stand-ins by offering free overseas trips and payment.
The group allegedly applied online for Canadian electronic travel authorizations, then arranged for the Taiwanese passport holders to travel to airports in China or Hong Kong and meet Chinese nationals attempting to travel onward to Canada.
The Taiwanese participants allegedly handed over boarding passes, Canadian eTA documents and other materials so Chinese nationals could travel under Taiwanese identities.
The attempt failed after the Chinese nationals reached Canada. Canadian immigration officers detected the identity mismatch and notified Taiwan through an international cooperation mechanism, allowing the NIA and Chiayi police to trace the alleged network, according to the agency.
Canada requires most visa-exempt foreign nationals flying to or transiting through a Canadian airport to have an eTA. The authorization is electronically linked to a traveller’s passport and remains valid for up to five years or until the passport expires, but Canada says an eTA does not guarantee entry because a border officer still checks admissibility on arrival.
The NIA warned Taiwanese nationals not to sell, lend or hand over passports for another person’s use. The agency said providing a passport for someone else to use under a false identity can carry up to 5 years in prison under the Passport Act.
Border Affairs Corps commander Lin Ching-fen said Taiwan’s passport has “a high degree of credibility and convenience” internationally, urging citizens not to become tools for criminal groups for small payments.
The case followed another Canada-bound smuggling attempt announced by Taiwan’s Ministry of the Interior on May 22, when the NIA said officers intercepted a Chinese national at Taoyuan airport after he allegedly tried to transit through Taiwan using an altered Canadian passport.
