Taipei - Taiwan is to provide visa exemptions to certain foreign nationals who have already obtained visas from "advanced countries," press reports said Monday.

Starting January 20, 2009, citizens from India, Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam and Indonesia will be allowed to visit Taiwan without a visa if their passports are stamped with permanent residency visas from Canada or the United States, according to the Central News Agency (CNA).

The conditional visa exemption was proposed by the Tourism Bureau and has been approved by the Cabinet following a month-long trial of visa-exemption.

The Tourism Bureau hopes with the new initiative to attract people with high purchasing power to visit Taiwan, CNA said.

So far, Taiwan has extended visa exemptions to 36 countries in the hope that they would reciprocate for Taiwanese visitors. More than 50 countries have exempted Taiwan from visa requirements, allowing Taiwanese visitors to stay in their countries from seven to 90 days. (dpa)