As Taiwanese households gather for Lunar New Year celebrations, many Vietnamese workers abroad unable to return home for Tết, resort to video calls to spend the holiday with loved ones thousands of kilometers from home.
Tết, Vietnam's Lunar New Year and the country's most important holiday, is traditionally a time for family reunions.
For a retired veteran who goes by the name Văn, this year's celebration in Ba Vì, west of the capital Hanoi, will be incomplete because two of his four children are working overseas and unable to return home.
Photo: CNA
His youngest son, Thân, works as a technician in Linkou District in New Taipei, while his second daughter, Ta Thi Kim Anh, who previously spent three years working in Taiwan, is now employed in Singapore.
Văn's face lit up when Kim Anh called to offer New Year greetings.
"I am sad and I miss home," she told CNA during the video call. "But we cannot be sad during the New Year."
She works abroad to build a better future and gain new skills, Kim Anh said.
According to Vietnam's Department of Overseas Labor (DOLAB), Taiwan is the second-largest destination for Vietnamese migrant workers after Japan, with about 47,000 new workers registered in the first 10 months of last year, compared with 55,000 in Japan.
DOLAB estimates that Vietnamese workers abroad remit home between US$6.5 billion and US$7 billion annually, with those in Taiwan expected to have sent home about US$2.8 billion in 2025.
Văn said the stable jobs and income of his four children have improved life for the family. Two of those children previously worked in Taiwan and one still does.
"When they return home, the whole family is very happy," he said.
He told CNA that his family cherishes the friendship between Vietnam and Taiwan. "We have a special affection for our children who went to work in Taiwan. They worked and lived there very diligently, so we also greatly value the bond between the Vietnamese and Taiwanese people."
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