Taiwan, Biometric Passports and Visa-free Travel to the US

U.S. to give positive hints on Taiwan’s visa waiver candidacy (TaiwanNews.com)

Taiwan is close to achieving the requirements of the VWP [ed. Visa Waiver Program], Yang said, after having reached a U.S. visa rejection rate below 3 percent, issued biometric passports and introduced a mandatory in-person passport application procedure for first-time applicants.

All around the world, it seems like strengthening ID by issuing biometric passports has become a prerequisite to any new bi-lateral or multi-lateral agreements on visa free travel.