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The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) announced Thursday that beginning July 1, all first-time passport applicants, regardless of age, will be required to complete their applications in person at designated MOFA offices.

The policy, now in a trial stage, was introduced to prevent fraud and lift Taiwan’s passport security credentials in the international society, said Thomas Chen, director-general of the ministry’s Bureau of Consular Affairs (BOCA).

Passport applicants who are unable to apply in person at one of the four MOFA offices in Taipei, Taichung, Kaohsiung, or Hualien can confirm their identity at their household registration office before having a travel agent handle their applications, he said.

In such cases, applicants under the age of 14 must be accompanied by an adult relative since citizens of that age do not yet have national identity (ID) cards, he said. He added, applicants who qualify for an ID card should obtain one before applying for a passport.

The identity confirmation process at the household registration offices should take less than 10 minutes, Chen said. The procedure includes filling out a form, confirming the identity of the applicant and matching photograph, and scanning documents.

In the trial period for the procedure, which began in March, 2,566 applicants went to household registration offices for identity confirmation, according to BOCA statistics.

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Reflecting the importance of the United States’ diplomatic relationship with the Pacific Islands Countries, Ambassador C. Steven McGann dedicated the new United States Embassy facility in Suva, Fiji today. Fiji’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs Permanent Secretary Mr. Solo Mara and Office Director of the Department of State’s Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations (OBO), Donald Schenck attended the ribbon cutting ceremony.

The new Embassy facility was designed to incorporate green building techniques and to meet the principles of the U.S. Green Building Council for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED®) green building rating system. The multi-building complex provides more than 150 U.S. embassy employees, both American and Fijian, with over 7,500 square meters of working space.

The new facility features a collection of 30 original works of art by artists from the United States and the Embassy’s countries of accreditation: Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, Tonga, and Tuvalu, all inspired by the natural beauty of the South Pacific. The collection transcends barriers of culture, time, and language through a visual representation of shared values between the United States and the Pacific Islands Countries.

The Pernix Group of Lombard, Illinois constructed the facility, which was designed by the architectural firm of Hellmuth Obata and Kassabaum. The $81 million project generated jobs in both the United States and Fiji. The new facility was completed in June 2011 and at times involved more than 300 workers in its construction.

Since the 1999 enactment of the Secure Embassy Construction and Counterterrorism Act, OBO has moved more than 24,000 people into safer facilities. Including the dedication of the new Embassy in Suva, OBO has completed 81 diplomatic facilities and has an additional 35 projects in design or construction.

OBO’s mission is to provide safe, secure, and functional facilities for the conduct of U.S. diplomacy and the promotion of U.S. interests worldwide. These facilities should represent American values and the best in American architecture, engineering, technology, sustainability, art, culture, and construction execution.

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On 1 July, the Lithuanian-Belgian agreement comes into force, under which Belgium will represent Lithuania when issuing Schengen visas in Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria and Rwanda.

This agreement will facilitate travelling to Lithuania, because foreign citizens of the countries, in which Lithuania will be represented by Belgium and where there are no Lithuanian diplomatic representations, will be able to contact the Embassy of Belgium for visas to travel to Lithuania.

The agreement that was signed in Vilnius on 21 June by Lithuanian Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs Asta Skaisgirytė Liauškienė and Belgian Ambassador to Lithuania Christian Verdonck will also come into force on 1 July. The agreement provides that in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, foreign nationals shall be able to submit applications for Schengen visas to Lithuania at a common centre that accepts applications for the issuance of Schengen visas. Lithuania has signed similar agreements of representation with Austria, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Norway and Slovenia.

Currently, Lithuania is represented in the sphere of visa issuance by 22 Schengen countries in various regions of the world. Lithuanian diplomatic missions and consular posts represent other Schengen countries in eleven foreign countries.

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The Embassy of the United States of America would like to announce that the Consular Office will be closed for non-emergency services between Friday, July 1, 2011 and Friday, July 8, 2011 while the Embassy moves to its new location in Ta Qali. During this time, only emergency American Citizen Services will be available.

Since the U.S. Embassy will be closed on Wednesday, June 29 in observation of a Maltese holiday, the Feast of St. Peter and St. Paul, the last date available for visa interview appointments and non-emergency Consular services, will be Wednesday, June 22. Please remember that all Consular services are by appointment only and can be scheduled on the Appointment Calendar of the Embassy website at: http://malta.usembassy.gov. Inquiries can be directed via email to consularmalta@state.gov.

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Hsieh Li-kung, director-general of Taiwan’s National Immigration Agency (NIA), said on Monday that negotiations on securing U.S. visa waiver approval for Taiwanese passport holders were proceeding at a rapid pace. Hsieh, currently on a short trip to Washington D.C. conveyed that Ministry of Foreign Affairs is playing the leading role in the visa waiver talks.

Hsieh said the two sides had reached a high degree of consensus, and he hoped the U.S. could come to a decision soon in areas such as anti-terrorism cooperation, anti-human trafficking capabilities and documentation verification capabilities.

Meanwhile, Hsieh was also asked whether Taiwan was ready to handle the potential problem of Chinese independent tourists overstaying their visas once they are allowed into Taiwan starting at the end of the month. Hsieh replied that the rate of Chinese tourists overstaying their visas and disappearing has been lower than that of other countries since Taiwan opened its doors wider to Chinese visitors three years ago. During that time, however, the vast majority of Chinese nationals have been part of tightly structured tours, and will only be able to visit Taiwan on their own rather than as part of a tour group when the free independent traveler program begins in late June, increasing the potential for problems.

Hsieh hoped measures could be taken to lower runaway risks, suggesting, for instance, that officials of the two sides carefully examine visitors’ identities .

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The 10-year Canadian visa for Indians will be available from mid-July this year, a Canadian official said. In an announcement made last week, the Canadian government announced the validity of multi-entry visas issued for Indians will be increased to 10 years, from the present period of five years.

“The 10-year visas will be available from mid-July,” Bruce Grundison, Deputy Immigration Programme Manager of the Canadian High Commission , said here Thursday. “There are some technical changes which need to be made,” he said.

Announcing the new visa regime last week, Canadian International Trade Minister and Asia-Pacific Gateway Minister Edward Fast said the new visa regime will boost trade ties between the two countries, which seek to treble their trade to $15 billion by 2015.

Replying to a question, Canadian Deputy High Commissioner Jim Nickel said there was no problem in Indian students getting students visa for Canada .

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Citizens of the Maldives will soon have access to a convenient online tourist visa for Australia, with the Australian government’s announcement that the e676 electronic tourist visa will soon be expanded into the area.

Maldivians can apply for the e676 electronic tourist visa online from 1 July. The application process is fast, secure and convenient, and gives applicants the ability to check the progress of their application electronically. The visa does not require a visa label to be placed in a passport.

A notification is sent to the client providing details of the visa and airlines are able to confirm the visa entitlements through the Advanced Passenger Processing System. Clients can also print a copy of their visa approval notification email to carry with them whilst travelling to Australia.

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The U.S. Embassy in Brasilia, along with the U.S. consulates in Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Recife, will open on Saturday, June 18, to accommodate Brazilian travelers seeking visas to visit the United States. U.S. consulates in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo will also open on July 23. All appointment openings for visa interviews were rapidly filled.

Trade, commerce, education, and tourism between Brazil and the United States have grown dramatically over the past several years. This has fueled a 230 percent increase in Non-Immigrant visa (NIV) demand in Brazil since 2006. In 2010 alone, the U.S. consulate general in Sao Paulo issued more than 319,000 NIV’s – more than any other post worldwide. This demand is expected to continue and even increase by up to 30 percent over last year.

About 95 percent of all Brazilian visa applicants receive visas, and most visas issued are the new combined B1/B2 for business and tourist travel with ten-year validity.

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Ukrainian Interior Minister Anatoliy Mohyliov has predicted that ID cards will be issued instead of internal passports in Ukraine in a year.

“As for the replacement of internal passports in Ukraine with ID cards, I think that it will take about nine months or a year,” he said at a press conference in Kyiv on Thursday, after an EU-Ukraine ministerial meeting on the implementation of an action plan on liberalizing the visa regime.

Mohyliov said that the provision of Interior Ministry departments and many government agencies with devices for reading these cards remained a problem in this area.

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Ukraine has established a single rate for visa processing, and reduced the number of visa types. This is stated in Cabinet of Ministers’ decision of June 1 on the rules of drawing visas for entry to Ukraine and transit through its territory which will come into force on September 10, 2011.

According to Foreign Ministry’s press secretary Oleksandr Dykusarov, the main purpose of the adoption of this resolution is to bring the legal framework of Ukraine in the visa field in conformity with modern requirements and EU legislation, as well as to improve the efficiency of state bodies of Ukraine in the sphere of combating illegal migration. The decree also regulates the issue of long-term residence and employment in the territory of Ukraine by representatives of foreign non-governmental organizations, foreign business entities, foreign banks, providing for registration by the specified categories of aliens of long-term visas and temporary residences.