Foreigners who have lived in Taiwan for decades and love the country should be granted a permanent-resident visa, a lawmaker said yesterday.
At a press conference held yesterday at the legislature, KMT Legislator Apollo Chen (
"Taiwan owes them too much," Chen said.
Doris Brougham (彭蒙惠), the founder of the English magazine Studio Classroom (空中英語教室), for example, has failed in her efforts to apply for a permanent-resident visa although she has lived in Taiwan for over 50 years.
"It seems a face-losing thing for me because I am still treated as a guest despite living here for so long," the well-known English teacher said in fluent Mandarin.
Brougham, who is almost 75, came to Taiwan alone in 1926 and established the popular magazine and the radio program in the same year.
Over the past few decades, she has been awarded several important educational prizes, including the annual National Teachers' Award (
Because Brougham has to attend international conferences or return home to visit her family every year, she cannot conform to the regulations stipulated in the Immigration Law (
Chen said he would advocate amendments to the law after the new legislature convenes on Feb. 2.
In a similar case, DPP Lawmaker Tsai Hung-lang (蔡煌瑯) has repeatedly tried to help Bjarne Gislefoss (徐賓諾), former superintendent of the Puli Christian Hospital (埔里基督教醫院), and his wife Alfhild Gislefoss (紀歐惠), to obtain the permanent-resident visas.
But the help has always been in vain.
Therefore, Puli citizens organized a petition parade recently on the behalf of the Norwegians.
The parade was made up of ambulances, cars, minibuses and election campaign vans, as well as hundreds of people marching.
Liu Chien-chih (劉建志), vice superintendent of the Christian hospital, said Gislefoss, 79, and his wife, 84, tied the knot in Taiwan decades ago. In a bid to establish the hospital in Puli, they returned to their country to raise funds.
They have also spared no effort to take care of Taiwan's Aborigines, Liu said.
"They do not have children of their own, but have become the grandfather and grandmother of many thankful people," the vice-superintendent said
In addition to the many prizes and honors they have received over the years, the couple was honored by the Cabinet-level Council of Aboriginal Affairs last year for their dedication. President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) has also granted them an audience.
The parade may not have been in vain.
With the assistance of Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) and lawmakers Tsai and Apollo Chen, the president has ordered the ministries of foreign affairs and the interior to deal expeditiously with the issue, local media reported.
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