The "Foreign Spouse Care and Counseling Fund" (
According to Minister of Interior Su Jia-chyuan (
The fund will be used for providing medical subsidies, community services and legal aid for foreign spouses, as well as offering classes and counseling sessions.
Su said that the fund will be distributed to local governments and civic groups who would each play a role in executing the plans.
People's First Party (PFP) Legislator Wu Ching-chih (
Unlike most budget proposals, the foreign spouse fund takes the form of a "fund" and not an official budget, because the former can accumulate while the latter has to be used up by the end of the year. The surplus money from the yearly budget of NT$300 million can be put aside for the next year, Su said.
Whether the fund would serve its purpose of improving policies related to foreign spouses raised concerns among legislators during the meeting.
An immigration agency was officially established yesterday under the MOI to take charge of all immigration affairs and hopefully resolve problems related to foreign brides from China and other Southeast Asian countries, Su said.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lai Shyh-bao (賴士葆), expressed concern about the decrease in Taiwan's birth rate, and said that immigration agencies should be set up abroad to encourage foreign spouses to come.
In response, Su said that agency representatives will be sent abroad to economic affairs councils in respective countries to encourage immigration.
Another PFP Legislator, Feng Ting-kuo (
Feng said these spouses should be allowed to legally enter the job market after their marriage to a Taiwanese citizen and obtain work permits so that they can improve their economic situation. Feng's proposal was taken into consideration by the ministry for reference.
Provisions for the education of the children of foreign spouses were not included in the budget, which also sparked criticism from legislators.
According to the Ministry of Education (MOE) figures, an average of 8.2 percent of elementary school children born to Southeast Asian mothers are slow in speech and language development, causing them to fall behind in school.
Su said that the education ministry was cooperating with the MOE in the education of these children and that extra classes were offered for them after school to improve the situation.
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