David Campbell

A message from our Director

Welcome to the BTCO website, providing information about all aspects of the United Kingdom's links with Taiwan. Around 35,000 Taiwanese visit the UK every year. Our annual two-way trade is around £3bn. and some 180 Taiwanese companies have invested in the UK. Our aim is to develop these links still further.

From 3 March 2009 Taiwan passport-holders who wish to visit the United Kingdom for less than six months on business or as a tourist, family visitor or student visitor will no longer require a visa. Those wishing to stay in the UK more than six months, or to live, work, marry or study there on courses over six months, will continue to require a visa as before. This means that visa applicants must apply in person at our Visa Application Centres in Taipei. So if you expect to travel to the United Kingdom in the near future, do please ask about our premium visa service. Please visit our Visas for the UK page for more information or email to info.uktw@vfshelpline.com for any visa enquiries.

If you are a British citizen living in Taiwan then do please register with our British Assistance & Services Section. Typhoons and earthquakes do strike Taiwan regularly and if you are registered with us it makes it much easier for us to contact you in the event of an emergency. We can also help with a limited range of other services including registering births and passport renewals. 

Our UK Trade & Investment Section in Taiwan is here to help to businesses thinking of setting up in the UK and British based companies seeking to do business in Taiwan. Our Science & Innovation Team promotes UK-Taiwan co-operation, especially in the all-important area of tackling climate change, and in key industries including semiconductors, opto-electronics and nano- and bio-technology.

I hope you find our website easy to use and that it provides the information you are looking for. But if you have suggestions on how we might improve it, or about any aspect of the service we offer, please send your feedback or contact us at info@btco.org.tw.