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Fewer Taiwanese applying for student
visas abroad
By Flora Wang
STAFF REPORTER
Monday, Mar 29, 2010, Page 3
Statistics released yesterday by the Ministry of Education (MOE) showed a
substantial fall in the number of students applying for visas to study in Europe
and North America over the past year.
A total of 17,914 people applied for student visas issued by nations on the
American continent, including Canada and the US last year, down from 22,668 in
2008.
Most of the fall came from a decrease in the number of applications for US
student visas, with 15,594 people filing an application last year, down from
19,402 in 2008.
The number of applicants for Canadian student visas also dropped by 946 over the
past year to 2,320 people, the statistics showed.
Applications for student visas for European countries also fell, with the number
of applicants dropping by 1,978 from 8,838 in 2008.
The fall was the third in a row since applications for visas to study in Europe
reached a new high of 11,841 in 2006 ¡X the highest in nearly a decade, data
showed.
Among European nations, the number of those who applied for a British student
visa fell from 5,885 in 2008 to 3,895, while a total of 882 people filed an
application for a visa to study in France last year, down from 983 in 2008.
The number of visa applications to study in other European nations, however,
climbed slightly, with the number of applicants for German student visas
increasing by 88 over the past year and those for Swiss student visas by 70.
In contrast to the falling number of people applying to study in the US and
Europe last year, the number studying in Asian, Australia and New Zealand
increased.
Up to 3,912 people applied for a student visa for an Asian nation last year, up
from 3,301 in 2008, while 4,645 applied for a student visa from Australia or New
Zealand.
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