Mail-order bride

For the Aqua Teen Hunger Force episode of the same name, see Mail Order Bride.

Mail-order bride is a label applied to a woman who publishes her intent to marry someone from another - usually more developed - country. Although the label is widely used, it may have derogatory connotations and may be offensive.

Historically, mail-order brides were women who listed themselves in catalogs and were selected by men for marriage, often with little or no communication between them prior to their first meeting. Sometimes the men and women involved were citizens of different countries, e.g. women from European countries moving to the United States during the 18th and 19th centuries, and sometimes they involved citizens of the same country. Today, most of the women referred to as mail-order brides list themselves on the internet and communicate regularly with their intended husband prior to marriage.

Women labelled as mail-order brides hail from dozens of developing countries, particularly Ukraine, Russia, Colombia, Mexico, and the Philippines. Men who list themselves in such publications may be referred to as mail-order husbands, however mail order husbands is fairly new and is less common, and most of them are homosexual. Nations that often receive mail-order brides are the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, and Australia, although some mail-order brides hail from developed nations (notably Sweden, Japan, and Canada).

Academic research

The most thorough study of international marriages that has been published to date is a 2003 book entitled Romance on a Global Stage, Pen Pals, Virtual Ethnography, and "Mail Order" Marriages, by Nicole Constable, Professor of Anthropology and Research Professor at the University Center for International Studies, University of Pittsburgh. Professor Constable spent two years interviewing hundreds of American men, Chinese and Filipina women, domestic and international NGOs and women's groups and many owners of international dating companies.

Marriage success statistics

The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) reports that "...marriages arranged through these services would appear to have a lower divorce rate than the nation as a whole, fully 80 percent of these marriages having lasted over the years for which reports are available." The USCIS also reports that "... mail-order bride and e-mail correspondence services result in 4,000 to 6,000 marriages between U.S. men and foreign brides each year."

Immigration issues by country

Canada

Canadian immigration laws have traditionally been similar to but slightly less restrictive than their US counterparts; for instance, Canadian law does not require the Canadian citizen to prove minimum income requirements such as in the United States.

Until recently Canada's immigration policy regarding mail-order brides used the "family class" to refer to spouses and dependents and "fiancé(e)" for those intending to marry, with only limited recognition of opposite-sex "common law" relationships; same-sex partners were processed as independent immigrants or under a discretionary provision for "humane and compassionate" considerations.

In 2002, the Canada immigration law was completely revised. One of the major changes was conjugal partner sponsorship, which is available between any two people (including same sex couples) that have had conjugal relations together for at least one year. However Canadian immigration authorities frown upon conjugal partner sponsorship in the case of heterosexual couples and now require the couples to marry before a visa is granted unless some serious reason can demonstrate why the couple is not married.

Taiwan

In Taiwan, mail-order brides come primarily from Mainland China and Southeast Asia, especially Vietnam. The ages of the girls from Vietnam range from 15 to 18 years of age. The cost either NT$1,000,000 or a custom built home for their families.

Brides who come from Mainland China are known colloquially as dalu mei (大陸妹, pinyin: dàlù mèi, literally: mainland wench). The marriages and immigration are arranged by licensed marriage brokers. Spousal immigration is the only legal form of immigration from Mainland China to Taiwan. Although from Mainland China, dalu mei are not normally considered members of the Mainlander minority on Taiwan. There are also mail-order grooms from Mainland China who immigrate to Taiwan, although this is much less common. Pro-Taiwan independence parties such as the Taiwan Solidarity Union have expressed concerns that brides from Mainland China and their children will adversely influence Taiwan’s political landscape as they acquire citizenship. However, these attitudes are not universal even among pro-independence supporters, and President Chen Shuibian of the independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party made a particular point of welcoming these brides at his campaign activities in 2004. Also, there was a poll that suggested that Mainland Chinese brides tend to vote for the same political party that their husbands vote.

Many commentators have pointed out that the immigration of foreign brides from Mainland China and Southeast Asia is already changing the ethnic composition of Taiwan, in that mail-order brides and their children already outnumber Taiwanese aborigines. Some now consider foreign brides to be Taiwan’s fledging fifth ethnic group and are interested in observing how Taiwan’s demographics will gradually change by this group. In recent years, there has been a proliferation of Vietnamese stores and restaurants in Taiwan that are operated by Vietnamese brides. Taiwan's Ministry of the Interior has also published domestic violence-prevention materials in Indonesian, Vietnamese, and Thai, as well as a general guide to life in Taiwan in Khmer.

United States

The United States issues a K-1 "fiancée" visa that can be used within six months of issue and is valid for a 90-day entry into the U.S. The K-1 (and K-2 for accompanying minor children) is classified as a "non-immigrant" visa, though all the immigrant visa checks (i.e., FBI check and medical exam) are required for this visa. While this visa is issued as a single entry visa, should the intending spouse return to her country within the 90 days and seek to return again to the U.S. for the purpose of marriage the Embassy may issue a second visa document. The USCIS reports that approximately 17,263 such visas were issued in fiscal 2001, about 7988 coming from Asia and about 4714 coming from Europe (including all of the former Soviet Union states). It should be noted though, that the K-1 visa is used by Americans who met partners overseas, and perhaps most commonly, by recent immigrants to the US. "Mail-order" style engagements account for a tiny fraction of all K-1 visas. This type of visa application specifies the applicant's fiancé. If the visa holder does not marry the specified fiancé within the validity of the visa, she is required to return to her country of origin. However, if she marries her fiancé, she and her husband can apply to obtain "green card" permanent resident status with her husband (and possible co-sponsors) promising to support her for ten years or until she obtains citizenship. This residence status is conditional for a period of two years, after which the couple is expected to apply to have the condition removed. Removal requires the couple prove that they are married to each other in good faith. If the couples have divorced, the immigrant can apply for a waiver to remove the condition. In all cases supporting evidence is reviewed by the USCIS, often consisting of wedding and vacation photos, love letters, birth certificates of children, and evidence of mutual financial trust such as joint bank account statements, leases signed by both spouses, bills, insurance policies and other documentation demonstrating a genuine marital relationship. If evidence is found to be suspect further investigation by the USCIS may be required. This process is intended to prevent would-be immigrants from abandoning their sponsors immediately after obtaining residency and fraudulent marriages solely for the purpose of immigration. There are exceptions. For example, a woman who is determined to have been a battered wife can self-petition under VAWA provisions. Exemptions are also granted if a woman shows that the marriage was bona fide and her spouse died. Additional information on this topic can be found at Immigration Letter Weeky.

The parties can also marry before the fiancée enters the United States in which case the spouse must retain her residence outside the United States and her U.S. citizen spouse (or permanent resident alien) can apply for a permanent residence visa for her, in which case the visa is processed at the consulate and she is issued a "green card" valid from her date of entry into the United States, though she may also be subject to the two year condition as stated above if the date of entry is less than two years after her marriage date. A K-3 non-immigrant visa can be issued to the overseas spouse to reunite her with her husband while the permanent residency visa (green card) is being processed. The average wait for a K-3 visa (6 months to 1 year), is usually a little longer than the wait for a K-1 visa. (3 to 6 months.)

Comparison with other matchmaking forms

Classified and online matchmaking services

Main article: online dating service

Classified listings were a common matchmaking practice for many years. With the advent of the internet, online matchmaking websites have proliferated and largely replaced traditional paper-based classifieds. Thus, online matchmaking is only an updated form of the American mail-order bride tradition, with the sole difference being the method used for broadcasting the personal ad.

Arranged marriage

Main article: arranged marriage

An arranged marriage is one in which the marital partners are chosen by others, usually parents, based on considerations other than the pre-existing mutual attraction of the partners.

Casual contact

Casual contact is the most common means of beginning a relationship, and this includes relationships between persons born in different countries. Persons who enter the United States on immigrant, student, tourist and temporary employment visas, or those who enter the country unlawfully, are most likely to meet as a result of work, socializing, and mutual or family friends.

Legal issues

Marriage agencies and mail-order bride publications are legal in almost all countries. Certain notable legal issues are:

Turkmenistan

On June 4, 2001 Turkmenistan President Saparmurat Niyazov, also known as Turkmenbashi, authorized a decree that required foreigners to pay a $50,000 fee to marry a Turkmen citizen, regardless of how they met, and to live in the country for one year and own property for one year. Authorities indicated that the law was designed to protect women from being duped into abusive relationships.[1]

In June 2005, Turkmenbashi scrapped the $50,000 requirement and the property-owning requirement. [2]

Philippines

• The Philippines prohibits the business of organizing or facilitating marriages between Filipinos and foreign men. The Philippine congress enacted Republic Act 6955 or the Anti-Mail-Order Bride Law in 1990 as a result of stories that appeared in the local press and media about Filipinos being abused by their foreign husbands. Because of this, Filipinas often use "reverse publications"--publications in which men advertise themselves--to contact foreign men for marriage on behalf of the Filipina women.

Belarus

• In 2005, President Alexander Lukashenko attempted to regulate "marriage agencies" in Belarus and make it difficult for them to operate. He believed that western men were draining his country of all the women of child-bearing age. However, as most agencies are being run from outside Belarus (either in Russia, European countries or in the United States), he has been unable to stop or otherwise regulate this activity.

Australia

• Since 2003 Australian Federal Government's resolve to decrease, what was deemed 'inappropriate immigration' by Prime Minister John Howard, has gained momentum. Initial reactions to the program were mixed. However, during the January 2004 visit to Eastern Europe by Australian Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs, Philip Ruddock, Australian-Russian relationships were strengthened while both nations committed to a timetable for reductions in Russian human trafficking into Australia. The Australian public further embraced their government's new policies following the media frenzy of the Jana Klintoukh case. This case first exploded into the public's view when premier current events program, Today Tonight, aired footage of a young Russian born Australian, claiming she was imported via an Internet site and was used as a sexual slave by her 'husband' while being confined to his Sydney home.

United States

• On January 6, 2006, President George W. Bush signed the "International Marriage Broker Regulation Act of 2005" (IMBRA) as part of the H.R. 3402: Violence Against Women and Department of Justice Reauthorization Act of 2005. The requirements of the law are controversial, and some commentators have claimed that it presumes that American men are abusers.

The law requires that before a foreign woman's address or other contact information may be sold to a US citizen or resident by an international marriage broker:

1. The man must complete a questionnaire on his criminal and marital background.
2. The seller must obtain the man's record from the National Sex Offenders Public Registry database.
3. The questionnaire and record must be translated to the woman's native language and provided to her.
4. The woman must certify for each specific individual, that she agrees to permit communication.

In enacting IMBRA, the Congress of the United States was responding to claims by the Tahirih Justice Center (TJC), a woman's advocacy group, that mail order brides were vulnerable to domestic abuse because they are unfamiliar with the laws, language and customs of their new home. The TJC insisted that special legislation was needed to protect them. The TJC asked the United States Congress to consider several notable cases mentioned in the Congressional Record. Critics of IMBRA claim that the TJC failed to ask Congress to consider the relative amount of abuse between mail order bride couples and regular couples, including the thousands of spousal murders that occurred inside the USA over the past 15 years.

Two federal lawsuits (European Connections & Tours v. Gonzales, N.D. Ga. 2006; AODA v. Gonzales, S.D. Ohio 2006) sought to challenge IMBRA as unconstitutional. The AODA case was terminated when the plaintiffs withdrew their claim. The European Connections case ended when the judge ruled against the plaintiff and found that the law was Constitutional with regards to a dating company.

On March 26, 2007, U.S. District Judge Clarence Cooper dismissed, with prejudice, the suit for injunctive relief filed by European Connections, agreeing with Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and TJC that IMBRA is a constitutional exercise of Congressional authority to regulate for-profit dating websites and agencies where the primary focus is on introducing Americans to foreigners. Additionally, the federal court specifically found that: "the rates of domestic violence against immigrant women are much higher than those of the U.S. population." The judge also compared background checks on American men to background checks on handgun buyers by stating, "However, just as the requirement to provide background information is a prerequisite to purchasing a firearm has not put gun manufacturers out of business, there is no reason to believe that IMBs will be driven by the marketplace by IMBRA."

Mail Order Bride Murders in the US

There are three incidents of mail order brides being killed in the US over the past decade.

1. In September 2003, 26-year-old Ukrainian engineer and mail-order bride Alla Barney bled to death on the floor of her car after her American husband Lester Barney, 58, slashed her throat in front of the couple’s four-year-old son, Daniel. Lester fled with Daniel from the scene in the parking lot of the boy’s daycare center, but after an Amber Alert was triggered, he turned Daniel over to a friend and was himself taken into custody by police. Alla had been granted a restraining order against Lester a few months before and had been given temporary custody of Daniel.
2. Susanna Blackwell met her husband through an International Marriage Broker called ‘‘Asian Encounters’’ and left the Philippines to settle with him in Washington state in 1994. The husband, Timothy Blackwell, physically abused Susanna, including one incident in which he choked her the day after their wedding. Susanna reported the abuse to the police and obtained a protection order against him. While awaiting divorce/annulment proceedings in a Seattle courtroom many months later, the pregnant (by another man) Susanna and two of her friends were shot dead. Blackwell was convicted of murdering all three women.
3. Anastasia King, a young woman from Kyrgyzstan, was found strangled to death and buried in a shallow grave in Washington State in December 2000. At the age of 18, Anastasia had received an email from a 38-year-old Seattle man, Indle King, from a "mail order bride website". He flew to her country and they were married soon after. Two years later, after considerable strife, Indle wanted another bride. He was allegedly unwilling to pay for a divorce so King ordered a tenant in their Washington home to kill Anastasia. Weighing nearly 300 pounds, King pinned Anastasia down while the tenant strangled her with a necktie. Both were convicted of murder. King’s previous wife, whom he had also met through an IMB, had a domestic violence protection order issued against him and left him because he was abusive.

Murder by mail order bride in the US

• In 2002, Tessie Buhawe Spotts, a native of the Philippines,, was charged with the slow poisoning murder of her husband, Alfred Spotts, in Newberry, South Carolina. The couple met through an international magazine advertisement.

Lawsuits in the US involving Mail Order Brides

• On November 18, 2004, a federal jury in Baltimore, Maryland awarded Ukrainian mail order bride Nataliya Fox $433,500 ($341,000 of which were punitive damages) against international marriage broker Encounters International and its Russian immigrant owner, Natasha Spivack. Spivack arranged Nataliya's marriage to an American man with a history of violently abusing women and who, after being matched with Nataliya, abused her over the course of their marriage. The jury unanimously found the marriage broker guilty of fraud, unfair and deceptive trade practices, willful and wanton negligence, unauthorized appropriation of Ms. Fox's name and likeness, and defamation. The jury found the mail order bride company (Natasha Spivak) liable for failing to tell Nataliya about a federal law that allows foreign nationals to escape abusive marriages without fear of automatic deportation, and for actively misleading her about her legal options. The jury also found EI (Natasha Spivak) liable for misrepresenting that it screened male clients when it did not; and publicizing Nataliya’s marriage to Mr. Fox as an EI “success” story, without her permission, even after she fled to a domestic violence shelter. On April 14, 2006 a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit upheld the jury's verdict in full, noting that Spivack's conduct involved "moral turpitude."

• On March 26, 2007, the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia upheld IMBRA against constitutional challenges brought by an international marriage broker, European Connections and Tours. After initially issuing an ex parte temporary restraining order against the law, the federal judge was persuaded after hearing argument, that entering the restraining order was wrong. Rather, he found that "IMBRA is highly likely to reduce domestic abuse – and may actually save lives."

• In 2006 an ad-hoc group of dating companies sued the federal government to overturn IMBRA in the Southern District of Ohio. After a period of litigation, the plaintiff group withdraw their lawsuit prior to trial.

Cultural references

1980's

The 1986 children's novel Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan, winner of the 1986 Newbery Medal, features a 19th century American mail-order bride, Sarah, who travels from Maine to Kansas to marry a farmer.

1990's

The feature-length 1991 BBC TV movie Filipina Dreamgirls was a fictionalised account of the stories of a number of couples.

A 1997 episode of Unhappily Ever After titled "From Russia with Love" featured Ryan ordering and nearly marrying a Russian mail order bride, played by actress Ivana Miličević.

2000's

The 2001 movie Birthday Girl, starring Nicole Kidman, is about a Russian mail-order bride who goes to live with a banker in the UK.

The 2001 British mini-series The Russian Bride features a bride sent to Britain to marry an introverted middle aged man with no interest in her. His domineering elderly mother organised the marriage so that somebody could look after him after she dies, and in the meantime she treats her as a servant.

The 2001 graphic novel Mail Order Bride by Mark Kalesniko is about Kyung Seo, who is more fully human than her Canadian suitor ever had anticipated. Neither party to the arrangement is satisfied by their new life together.

A 2002 episode of Aqua Teen Hunger Force titled "Mail-Order Bride" involves the characters Master Shake and Carl "splitting" a mail-order bride. Shake wants her to cook and clean; Carl wants her for sexual reasons.

In MTV series Viva La Bam, Bam's friend, Raab Himself, got married to a mail-order bride.

The 2003 movie A Foreign Affair starring David Arquette and Emily Mortimer is about two brothers seeking a bride using the internet. The movie "A Foreign Affair" was re-released as "Two Brothers and a Bride" and received good reviews.

The 2003 movie Mail Order Bride tries to find humor in a story about the Russian and Italian Mafia involved in the business of human smuggling.

The 2003 movie Fat Pizza starring Paul Fenech, Pauly's (fenech) boss Bobo (John Boxer) orders a mail-order wife Lin Chow Bang off the website desperado.com so he can lose his virginity to a woman

The 2003 movie Bad Santa features a mail order bride to Tony Cox played by Lauren Tom, who also plays a mail order bride to John Amos in Men In Trees.

The 2004 film Mail Order Wife is a mockumentary of a documentarian's attempt to film the marriage between a Queens-dwelling doorman and his Burmese bride.

The 2004 film Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story has a character called Gordon (one of the Average Joes dodgeball team) who has a "Mail-Order Bride"

The 2005 series of Little Britain depicts a running comedy sketch concerning one Dudley Punt and his Thai mail-order bride Ting Tong Macadandang.

The 2005 short story Nadia, written by Judy Budnitz for her Nice Big American Baby collection of short stories, tells of a man who orders a mail order bride named Nadia.

The 2006 short film Mail Order Bride is an erotic horror comedy where a computer programmer orders a love doll which in turn end up to be a modern day Bride of Frankenstein. The film's title is a play on words and the story concept takes a lighthearted view of lonely people trying to solve relationship problems with modern technology.

In there 2006 debut, a band in Aurora Ontario, with the name Mail Order Bride.

The 2006 movie Sweet Land - A Love Story features a mail order bride. She struggles to find acceptance from her new community while chastely exploring the growing love between her and her husband to be.

Ludmila's Broken English, a 2006 novel by D.B.C. Pierre, about an impoverished young woman living the East European Bloc, sells herself on a Russian brides website in order to escape the trappings of her family.

In 2007, Natasha Galkina (the runner-up in America's Next Top Model Cycle 8) was suspected to be a mail-order bride.

On April 13th, 2007, a mail-order bride was featured on the NBC game show Identity.

In 2007, an episode topic of The Tyra Banks Show.

Present

In Australian soap opera Neighbours, it was implied that Mishka, Lou Carpenter's girlfriend was a mail-order-bride.

On the TV series Prison Break, Michael Scoffield marries a mail-order bride before entering prison as part of his plan to escape from jail

An episode of My Name Is Earl featured a vendor of stolen merchandise who lives in a storage facility with a Russian mail-order bride.

In the ABC TV show "Men In Trees," John Amos' character's wife is a mail order bride.

External links

Australia

• Migrating as a Spouse, Partner or Fiancé(e)

Canada

• Citizenship & Immigration

United States

• Citizenship and Immigration Services
• Online Dating Rights - containing downloads of legal documents, statutes, scientific studies and media reports on this topic
• Russian Bride Survey
• Russian Brides Only