Foreigners to receive info on services

Starting next month, immigrants recently married to a Korean spouse will receive a monthly government brochure containing information on various public services available to them and useful telephone numbers, the government said yesterday.

The brochure is part of the government’s efforts to more actively promote various free services offered by the central and local governments for marriage immigrants so they can quickly adapt to life in Korea, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family said.

The number of foreigners in the country married to a Korean stood at 141,654 in 2010, up 13.2 percent from the previous year and 25 percent from 2006, according to government data.

The marriage immigrants will also receive a welcome letter from the gender equality minister along with the 20-page brochure when they enter the country.

Both will be written in nine foreign languages, including Mongolian, Vietnamese and Chinese, according to the ministry. In addition, workers at the nation’s some 200 public offices in charge of supporting multicultural families will call or visit multicultural families in their jurisdiction to provide necessary help and information.

“That will help activate the multicultural family support centers, which are used by only 20 percent of these families,” a ministry official said.

Yonhap