TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – The Bureau of Consular Affairs said Tuesday it might run out of new passports in October due to budget cuts passed by the opposition.
The KMT and TPP used their majority at the Legislative Yuan on Tuesday to push through cuts totaling NT$207.5 billion (US$6.33 billion) in the NT$3.13 trillion central government 2025 spending budget. Ministries have complained that the cuts will harm their operations.
At the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Consular Affairs Deputy Director Chen Shang-yu (陳尚友) said the cuts would affect his service’s ability to provide new passports to the public, per CNA.
His department’s budget had been proposed at NT$1.59 billion, but a section related to passport production had suffered a NT$120,000 cut. Chen said as a result it would be difficult to issue the 2.05 to 2.09 million passports expected to be needed this year.
With the budget left, only 1.85 million passports can be made, with stocks running low from October. Chen said his department’s predictions were usually accurate, as last year it had estimated that 2.8 million passports were needed and 2.86 million were issued.
Other budget cuts would hinder passport distribution in regions outside of Taipei and during emergencies, according to Chen. The consular official noted that his department was still discussing the possible impact of the budget cuts.