【By Abraham Gerber / Staff reporter】

Taipei’s Department of Civil Affairs yesterday released the results of a foreign spouse entrepreneurship survey.

Taipei is home to almost 47,000 foreign spouses, most of whom are women from Vietnam, China, or Thailand, Commissioner Huang Lu Ching-ju (黃呂錦茹) said.

While these women have often struggled to adapt to Taiwanese society, some have been able to use skills from their native nations to earn a steady income, she said.

The department’s survey of foreign spouses registered with the city government found 73 had their own businesses, with almost 70 percent opening restaurants.

Representatives of the spouses surveyed made clear the difficulties they faced. Nguyen Phuong-oanh of Vietnam said when she arrived in Taiwan, the needs of her family required her to work full-time almost immediately with little time to learn Mandarin.

When she first opened her restaurant, she also had to hold down a second night job to maintain adequate cash flow, getting only two to three hours of sleep every night for several years.

Huang Lu said that although Taipei’s population of foreign spouses is almost four times as great as its Aboriginal population, relatively little is budgeted toward welfare programs directed at meeting their needs.

While Aboriginal people elect two city council representatives and have an Indigenous People’s Commission dedicated to servicing their needs, programs for foreign spouses are spread across a number of city departments, she said.

[Taipei Times, 2014-11-13]