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Taiwan woman to wed Iraqi Kurd she met
online
14.2.2009
By Flora Wang
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February 14, 2009
Taiwan-Iraqi Kurdistan, — Hsu Chia-hua
and Zanst, a social worker from Kurdistan region in
Iraq's north, plan to get married in Taiwan next
month, stay here and open a Kurdish restaurant
By Flora Wang
A former legislative aide’s online romance with a
young man from Kurdistan may have a happy ending, as
the couple plans to wed in Taiwan next month.
Hsu Chia-hua (許家華), 32, who worked as an assistant
to former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)
legislator Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴), told a press
conference Friday that her fiance, Zanst, had
received help from DPP Legislator Huang Wei-cher
(黃偉哲) and obtained a visitor’s visa.
DIFFICULTIES
Huang said Zanst had had difficulties getting a visa
because he is from Iraq, but that his chances of
being issued a visa had improved after Huang
provided a letter inviting Zanst to Taiwan.
Yusuf Chang (張元川), section chief of the
Congressional Liaison Office at the Bureau of
Consular Affairs, said the bureau would be glad to
help the couple be reunited in Taiwan.
REGISTRATION
The couple plans to register their marriage in
Taiwan after Zanst arrives next month, Hsu said.
Hsu said Zanst, a 28-year-old social worker living
in the Kurdistan autonomous region of Iraq, planned
to move to Taiwan.
He will apply for residency as a foreign spouse,www.ekurd.net
Hsu said, adding that
they planned to open a Kurdish restaurant.
“I already know that Taiwan is such a peaceful
island and a beautiful country. I’m eager to visit
Taiwan,” Zanst said in English in a prerecorded
audio file Hsu played at the conference.
MEDIA AFFAIR
Hsu and Zanst’s romance gained media exposure
earlier last month after Hsiao posted an article
titled “The Woman In Pursuit of Love” on her blog.
Hsu took US$3,000 with her and flew 11,779km,
changing flights in Bangkok, Cairo, Damascus and
Amman,
to visit Zanst in Kurdistan
last summer.
She was forced to wait in Damascus for 20 days for
an entry permit from the regional government of
Kurdistan.
Hsu said she stayed at Zanst’s home for 40 days and
got along well with him and his parents. On the day
of her departure,www.ekurd.net
Zanst wept all the way
to the airport, Hsu said.
Copyright, respective author or news agency, taipeitimes
com
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