Taiwanese passports are pictured in an undated photograph. Investigators believe that gangs exploit the visa-free access Taiwanese passports provide to 139 countries and territories, selling them at premium prices to clients who treat the documents as “invisibility cloaks” for unrestricted international travel. Ho would pay NT$17,000 per passport upon receiving them, while the human-smuggling ring resold each document to Chinese buyers for about 10,000 euros (US$11,597). Cheng and Lai were sentenced to two years, and two years and two months respectively for participating in a criminal organization, trading passports and using passports to offset debts. Shen was sentenced to one year and four months for trading passports.

Source: Taipei Times January 18, 2026 17:55 UTC