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Family members invited to visit foreign spouses

"My parents didn't want me to marry a Taiwanese."

Huang Mei-an, from the Philippines

Since marrying her Taiwanese husband 10 years ago, Wu Shu-tsai's (吳淑彩) parents back in Thailand have not had a chance to visit her new home in Taipei.

But thanks to the Taipei City Civil Affairs Department, Wu's mom and dad were recently invited to visit Taipei, and the couple flew in on Wednesday.

"My parents are very happy to be here ? I will take them to places like Yeliou (野柳) while they are here," Wu said.

Wu is one of the 15 lucky immigrants who received a NT$10,000 (US$304) monetary award from the department to sponsor family members to visit Taiwan and participate in this year's New Immigrant Cultural Festival which will be held on Oct. 1 at Taipei City Hall.

A total of 30 relatives of foreign spouses were invited to attend the event, however, due to the difficulty of obtaining Taiwan visas in Vietnam and China, only 21 from Thailand, the Philippines and Indonesia made the trip.

The commissioner of the department, Chong Ze-liang (鍾則良), will be on hand after the festival to introduce other attractions in Taipei, such as Taipei 101.

Huang Mei-an (黃美安), who is from the Philippines and has been living in Taipei for eight years, also appreciated the opportunity have her parents visit.

"My parents didn't want me to marry a Taiwanese. They said Taiwan is too far away from my hometown ? Now they know that my husband treats me well and are very happy for me," she told the Taipei Times.

Statistics from the department show that foreign spouses from China comprised 80 percent of the total of 28,519 foreign spouses.
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