Background and Usage
Due to the special political status of Taiwan, neither the PRC nor the ROC recognizes the passports issued by the other and neither party considers travel between mainland China and Taiwan as formal international travel. This entry permit is therefore issued as the travel document for Taiwanese residents to enter mainland China since 1987, when then ROC president Chiang Ching-Kuo decided to lift the mutual travel ban across the Taiwan Strait. Its counterpart for citizens of mainland China is the Entry Permit of Mainland Residents to the Taiwan Area.
The design of the document takes the form of a regular machine-readable passport, but it does not have the National Emblem of the People's Republic of China printed on its cover as the regular PRC passport has. The document is valid for 5 years and has 32 pages.
This entry permit is practically the only valid identity document for Taiwan residents in mainland China. As a result this travel document is also regarded and widely used as an identity document in mainland China, and can be accepted in cases of real estate purchasing, banking, taking medical treatment, insurance, employment etc. Due to this usage as an identifying document, and the increasing instances of Taiwan residents' long-time stay and settlement in mainland China, on 7 September 2008, the Taiwan Affairs Office announced that effective 24 September 2008, the issue number of mainland China entry permit for Taiwanese will remain unchanged during the person's lifetime. The Taiwan Affairs Office also opened 6 more airports eligible for entry-permit-on-arrival. Since 20 October 2008, Beijing, Tianjin, Chongqing and Zhejiang can issue the 5-year permit. Together with Shanghai, Jiangsu and Fujian, there are, as of October 2008, 7 provinces and municipalities authorized to issue the permit to Taiwan residents.
Read more about this topic: Mainland Travel Permit For Taiwan Residents
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