The Yunlin-Chiayi-Tainan Office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of the Interior, NIA Chiayi City Service Center, and the Chiayi City Government Civil Affairs Department jointly held the activity. The newly appointed deputy executive director of the Yunlin-Chiayi-Tainan United Service Center of the Executive Yuan(李碧菁), attended and offered New Year greetings. Calligraphers(王宏隆), (申婷頡), and cartoonist(詹皓凱) wrote Spring Festival couplets with new immigrants at the lobby entrance and distributed them to the public.
According to the director of NIA Chiayi City Service Center(黃艷薰), the activity of calligraphy was aimed for new immigrants to experience the traditional customs of Lunar New Year. New immigrants from Peru, Vietnam and the Philippines participated and wrote Spring Festival couplets in their mother tongue.
The calligrapher (申婷頡) invited to the activity, according to the director of the Civil Affairs Department of Chiayi City Government(劉美鳳), is a Chinese new immigrant who married to Chiayi. She not only excelled in calligraphy, but also is good at illustrations. This time, the creative Spring Festival couplets with rabbit patterns are her work.
In order to save time on the passport application process, director of the Yunlin-Chiayi-Tainan Office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs(蕭勝中), advised individuals who needed to apply for passports to use the "Online Passport Application Form Filling and Photo Uploading System" of the Bureau of Consular Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Additionally, a reminder that the length of time for passport issuance has been increased to 6 working days from January 3rd. The public is advised to avoid the peak time for passport applications around the Spring Festival if they do not have an immediate need to travel abroad in the near future.
New immigrants are appealed by the NIA Chiayi City Service Center to work together to prevent the African swine fever during the Spring Festival. Don't bring pork products back to Taiwan if you intend to travel overseas or visit your hometown. If you are found out, you will receive your first fine, NT$200,000 for one offender, and a hefty NT$1,000,000 fine for another. Please remember the applicable rules to avoid being penalized for violations.
The government's civil affairs department reminds citizens that if they lose their national identification cards during the Spring Festival, they can report the loss by calling the 1996 internal affairs service hotline, visiting the "Global Information Network of the Department of Household Registration, M.O.I." and selecting the "National ID card loss report", and then physically visiting any household registration office to request reissuance the following business day.