Stickers for Decorating Passport Covers Are Inspired by Confusion at Customs

The owner of Match Café in Taichung, Chen Zhi-hao, recently designed a series of “Republic of Taiwan” stickers for passports that has brought about a rush to decorate passport covers.

The stickers replace the words “Republic of China” with “Republic of Taiwan,” and use images of Yushan, the Formosan Black Bear and Zheng Nan-rong (the father of freedom of speech in Taiwan) to substitute the national emblem on the Taiwan passport.

Chen posted yesterday on Facebook, the name “Republic of China” is confusing and the occasional need to explain, “I am Taiwanese, not Chinese,” has caused Taiwanese travelers a lot of trouble at customs.

According to people who travel using passports with “Republic of Taiwan” stickers, they have no problem entering or departing other countries, and only get questioned by Taiwanese immigration officers when coming back to the island.

On July 21, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs pointed out, altering the passport cover violates regulations regarding passports. The ministry also calls on people not to stick or alter on their passports in case of accidentally breaking the law.

Officials of the Border Affairs Corps under National Immigration Agency admit it is not unusual for passengers to redesign the appearance of their passports. Regarding it as an expression of individual consciousness, custom officers will ignore the decorations if the information page or chip and bar code of the passport are not falsified or damaged.

Translated by June
Edited by Olivia Yang

Sources:
UDN
Chen Zhi-hao