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A 1988 survey done by the University of Texas at Tyler shows that over half of the men who engage in mail-order marriages had been married at least once before and three quarters of them wanted children. These men range between the ages of 35-70 and are usually older than the women they choose<ref name="Constable" />. Younger men under the age of 30 rarely choose mail order brides.<ref name="Constable" /> Each man, of course, has his own reasons for choosing to marry a mail-order bride. For example, men are attracted to Filipino women because they can speak English and the Philippines are the only Asian country that is predominately Christian.<ref name="Constable" /> [[Gender imbalance]] with a male majority in such areas like the U.S. states of [[Alaska]] and [[Texas]], [[South Korea]], [[People's Republic of China|Mainland China]], the [[Middle East]], and the Canadian province of [[Alberta]] is often a reason, because they were unable to get wives in such regions due to male surpluses.<ref name="Constable" />
A 1988 survey done by the University of Texas at Tyler shows that over half of the men who engage in mail-order marriages had been married at least once before and three quarters of them wanted children. These men range between the ages of 35-70 and are usually older than the women they choose<ref name="Constable" />. Younger men under the age of 30 rarely choose mail order brides.<ref name="Constable" /> Each man, of course, has his own reasons for choosing to marry a mail-order bride. For example, men are attracted to Filipino women because they can speak English and the Philippines are the only Asian country that is predominately Christian.<ref name="Constable" /> [[Gender imbalance]] with a male majority in such areas like the U.S. states of [[Alaska]] and [[Texas]], [[South Korea]], [[People's Republic of China|Mainland China]], the [[Middle East]], and the Canadian province of [[Alberta]] is often a reason, because they were unable to get wives in such regions due to male surpluses.<ref name="Constable" />


Other men are attracted to women from these poverty-stricken countries because they believe the sexual division of labor makes the women more likely to be domesticated. In many of these countries, the men work while the women stay home and tend to the children and the home. According to one of these men, “there is just something in their culture that makes marriage work”. These men like the idea of being the breadwinner and having their wives be the homemakers, something that is not seen as much in Westernized women because of the vast job opportunities for them<ref name="Ami" />. They generally want women who do not want to work outside the home and deviate from their husband’s rules. Failure to comply with their husband’s requests can sometimes result in physical abuse<ref>Narayan, U. (1995). [http://www.jstor.org/stable/3810460?seq=4&Search=yes&term=mail&term=order&term=brides&list=hide&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3Dmail%2Border%2Bbrides%26x%3D0%26y%3D0%26wc%3Don&item=5&ttl=1057&returnArticleService=showArticle&resultsServiceName=doBasicResultsFromArticle Male-order" brides: immigrant women, domestic violence and immigration law]. Hypatia, 10(1)</ref>.
Other men are attracted to women from these poverty-stricken countries because they believe the sexual division of labor makes the women more likely to be domesticated. In many of these countries, the men work while the women stay home and tend to the children and the home. According to one of these men, “there is just something in their culture that makes marriage work”. These men like the idea of being the breadwinner and having their wives be the homemakers, something that is not seen as much in Westernized women because of the vast job opportunities for them<ref name="Ami" />.

==Human Trafficking?==
Many{{Who|date=April 2010}} argue that mail-order brides are participating in human trafficking because of the fact they “sell” themselves to men.{{Citation needed|date=April 2010}} They compare them to prostitutes because they market themselves to men all across the world.{{Citation needed|date=April 2010}} It is true that mail-order brides market themselves; they manipulate their profiles and catalogue biographies in order to attract a certain type of man. They do not, however, sell their bodies. In fact, they don’t sell anything to these men. The mail-order bride business includes the money made from catalogue and profile subscriptions, not the sale of women. These women are never “sold” to men for a sum of money. They have the choice over which men they write back to and which man they choose to marry<ref name="Constable" />.


==Divorce rate==
==Divorce rate==

Revision as of 02:45, 5 April 2010

For other uses, see Mail order bride (disambiguation).

Mail-order bride is a label applied to a woman who publishes her intent to marry someone from another - usually more financially developed - country.[1] This term is considered offensive by some definitions.[2]

Historically, mail-order brides were women who listed themselves in catalogs and were selected by men for marriage. 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. [citation needed]

Although historically, mail-order brides came from well-developed areas to marry men in overseas colonies and frontier lands, the trend has reversed. Recently, the trend is primarily one of women who live in developing countries seeking men in more developed countries. The majority of these women are from Southeast Asia, countries of the former Soviet Union, and to a lesser extent, from Latin America.[3] Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, large numbers of eastern European women have advertised themselves in such a way; primarily being from Russia, Romania, Ukraine and Moldova. In the past, international marriage agencies such as Cherry Blossoms allowed women to sign up to be listed in picture magazines; now the Internet has largely supplanted this method. Men who list themselves in such publications are referred to as mail-order husbands. Nations that often receive mail-order brides are the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Germany, and Australia.

History of Mail-Order Brides

The practice of ordering brides from far away began in antiquity, as evidenced in early biblical accounts. For example, while dwelling in Canaan, Abraham sent his servant to travel to his home country and get a wife for his son Issac. The servant brought back Rebekah, who agreed to marry Isaac without even seeing him beforehand.[4]

The concept of mail-order brides was first seen on the American frontier during the mid-1800s. Men from the East were migrating West in hopes of claiming land, farming, establishing businesses, and finding gold. Most of these men found financial success in the migration West, but the one thing that was missing was the company of a wife. Very few women lived in the West at this time, so it was hard for these men to settle down and start a family. Their only choice was to attract women living back East; the men wrote letters to churches and published personal advertisements in magazines and newspapers. In return, the women would write to the men and send them photographs of themselves. The courtship between the couple was done completely through the exchange of letters, until the women finally agreed to marry the men they had never met[5] Many of these women wanted to escape their present way of living, gain financial security, and see what life on the frontier could offer them. They wanted to become something more than a maid, a factory worker, or a schoolteacher and living on the frontier gave them the opportunity to experience hard labor. Most of these women were single, but some were widows, divorcees, or runaways[6].

Today’s Business

Today, mail-order brides are defined as women who meet their spouses through the use of catalogues, agencies, or advertisements. The mail-order bride business is a multi-million dollar industry that connects financially secure men with women from impoverished countries. In some cases, these women find themselves in abusive relationships due to the fact they are foreign and lack a basic education and understanding of Western culture. A primary reason women choose to become mail-order brides is often the same as women already living in the same country as the man: financial security[7]. It has been shown that the national average of mail-order brides has been significantly lower in these third world countries during periods of financial growth[8]. The concept of mail-order brides has been a symbol of the economic inequality on the global scale[9]. Other times, there are cultural reasons for entering “the business”. In the Russian culture, women are usually married by the age of 23. Many Russian men do not want to marry “older” women, so those who have not been married by their mid-20s may have little choice but to attract men from other countries if they wish to marry.[10] The reasons for seeking out mail-order brides, however, have drastically changed since the 1800s. Originally, brides were obtained for the stability they brought to the men on the frontier and for their willingness to work. Today’s brides are acquired more for the man’s need of companionship and to fill a domestic role[7].

The Meeting Process

In the 1980s, before the Internet became an international form of technology, catalogues were the most popular way to connect with potential spouses. Women from all over the world would send agencies photographs and biographies, which were intentionally written to make the women seem more intelligent and attractive, in the hopes of attracting nice, rich men. Catalogues are still used today, but the Internet has become the primary search for these foreign women. Women set up Internet profiles through their designated agency, and just like the catalogues, men pay a subscription price to visit and browse these “introduction sites”[7]. The men essentially shop for women they might be interested in[11]. The owners and operators of the agency website usually edit the women’s profiles with Photoshop or other photograph editing software in order to make them appear more desirable. As the owner of one such agency described, “if the girls aren’t beautiful, they don’t get on the board”. In some occasions, these women have to pay in order to create an online account.

Once a man finds a woman he is interested in, he begins their relationship by writing her. This “pen-pal” relationship is strictly for the purpose of finding a spouse. Most men write to a number of different women and carry on many different written relationships until deciding on a particular bride. After the two have developed a trusting relationship, the men will usually visit the women in their native country and ask to marry them. The majority of the women have fears of marrying men they have never met, so this visit is a crucial part in the mail-order bride process[12]. The wedding, however, can take place at anytime during the relationship. For example, men who buy Taiwanese brides have been known to marry only three days after the selection of their bride[13].

Reasons for Becoming Mail-Order Brides

Becoming a mail-order bride gives young women in impoverished countries the opportunity to have a better life while supporting their family back home. They go overseas because that’s where the money is. In most cases, these young women send food, money, and clothing to their families back home[12]. Living in a Westernized country would also allow them opportunities they might not have had before such as an education, a career, and health care.

In the end, each woman has a different reason for becoming a mail-order bride. Russian women, for example, believe that their role is to get married, have children, and raise them in an enriching environment. Becoming a mail-order bride would give them a husband, financial security, and the ability to create their desired family. Their goal is to become successful mothers, not necessarily to fall in love with their husbands[10]. Filipino women, on the other hand, usually follow in their sisters’ footsteps. Their families are more likely to force them to become mail-order brides because it is what their sisters experienced and it brings their families economic dependence. Love is not always a factor in mail-order marriages. Instead, these particular marriages bring both parties different needs rather than an emotional connection. For the women, it’s the financial dependence and the chance at a better life. For the men, it’s the domestic capability these women bring and the idea of companionship[12].

Reasons for Choosing Mail-Order Brides

A 1988 survey done by the University of Texas at Tyler shows that over half of the men who engage in mail-order marriages had been married at least once before and three quarters of them wanted children. These men range between the ages of 35-70 and are usually older than the women they choose[7]. Younger men under the age of 30 rarely choose mail order brides.[7] Each man, of course, has his own reasons for choosing to marry a mail-order bride. For example, men are attracted to Filipino women because they can speak English and the Philippines are the only Asian country that is predominately Christian.[7] Gender imbalance with a male majority in such areas like the U.S. states of Alaska and Texas, South Korea, Mainland China, the Middle East, and the Canadian province of Alberta is often a reason, because they were unable to get wives in such regions due to male surpluses.[7]

Other men are attracted to women from these poverty-stricken countries because they believe the sexual division of labor makes the women more likely to be domesticated. In many of these countries, the men work while the women stay home and tend to the children and the home. According to one of these men, “there is just something in their culture that makes marriage work”. These men like the idea of being the breadwinner and having their wives be the homemakers, something that is not seen as much in Westernized women because of the vast job opportunities for them[12].

Divorce rate

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." [14] 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, previously not requiring the Canadian citizen to prove minimum income requirements as has been a long standing requirement of United States immigration laws. While there is still no formal requirement for a minimum salary, the sponsor must provide evidence of income in the form of their most recent T4 Income printout from the Canadian Revenue Agency as an attachment to their IMM 5481 Sponsorship Evaluation.[15]

Until recently (2001) Canada's immigration policy designated mail-order brides under the "family class" to refer to spouses and dependents and "fiancé(e)" class for those intending to marry, with only limited recognition of externally married opposite-sex "common law" relationships; same-sex partners were processed as independent immigrants or under a discretionary provision for "humane and compassionate" considerations.[16]

In 2002, the Canadian Immigration Law was completely revised. One of the major changes was conjugal partner sponsorship, available for any two people (including same sex couples) who have had conjugal relations together for at least one year. Currently, Canadian immigration authorities frown upon conjugal partners sponsorship in the case of heterosexual couples and now require the couples to marry before a visa is granted unless serious reason can be demonstrated why the couple is not yet married.

Taiwan

In Taiwan, mail-order brides are sourced primarily from Mainland China and Southeast Asia, especially Vietnam. The common age range for Vietnam women range from 20 to 28 years of age. On average, Taiwanese men spend USD $10,000 on this type of marriage; however, only USD $500 to USD $1,000 US dollars will be received by the bride's family and the remainder absolved by marriage brokers of the groom and the bride.

Brides from Mainland China are known colloquially as dalu mei (大陸妹, pinyin: dàlù mèi, literally: little sister from the mainland). 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 perceived as members of the Mainlander minority of Taiwan. There are also mail-order grooms from Mainland China to emigrate 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 former President Chen Shuibian of the independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party made a particular point of welcoming these brides during his campaign activities in 2004. A local poll suggested that Mainland Chinese brides tend to vote for the same political party as their husbands.

Many commentators have noted the emigration of foreign brides from Mainland China and Southeast Asia is already changing the ethnic composition of Taiwan, namely, 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 operated by Vietnamese brides. The Taiwanese Ministry of the Interior has published domestic violence-prevention materials in Indonesian, Vietnamese, and Thai, as well as a general guide to life in Taiwan in Khmer.[17]

See also: Nationality Law of the Republic of China

for statistics references.

Other Asia

South Korea and Japan also have accepted a large number of foreign brides. In the case of South Korea, many of the brides are Vietnamese. Japan accepts many brides from China, the Philippines, and Thailand. They have become common in recent years especially among rural bachelors who cannot find suitable wives in their small towns. South Korea notably a gender imbalance, with an excess of available bachelors relative to single women. The implications for the ethnic composition of South Korea and Japan are similar to those for Taiwan, albeit less severe due to their higher populations.

Mainland China has become a destination for internal mail-order brides, due to gender imbalances. These tend to come from poorer parts of China, North Korea, or Burma, and Vietnam which are considerably poorer per capita than China as a whole. Trafficking and criminal gangs are prominently involved in the mail-order "business".

India has considerable mail-order bride activity, mainly within the country but also drawing women from Bangladesh and Nepal where the per capita income is less than India as a whole. This phenomenon is projected to become much more acute in both China and India over the coming decades due to an unnaturally high number of males born as a consequence of sex selection via widespread availability of cheap ultrasound pre-natal screening, will mature and seek wives. Most estimate the number of the unnaturally high male population, and lifetime bachelors probably will exceed tens of millions.

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.

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 (12 months to 2 years), is usually a little longer than the wait for a K-1 visa (8 to 12 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.[citation needed]

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. Note that this is not the same thing as a forced marriage.

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

Australia

Since 2003 Australian Federal Government's resolve to decrease what was deemed 'inappropriate immigration' by then-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 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.[citation needed]

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.[18] 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.

Philippines

The Philippines prohibits the business of organizing or facilitating marriages between Filipinas 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 Filipinas 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.

South Korea

Though South Korean men regularly marry Vietnamese and Thai women through dating agencies, the below focuses primarily on the trend with respect to Filipina women, and the recent reports of South Korean men abusing their Filipina wives.

The Frequency of South Korean men marrying Filipina wives
The Korea Times reports that every year thousands of Korean men sign up for matchmaking to Filipina brides through agencies and mail-order. Based on data from the Korean government, there are 6,191 Filipinas in South Korea who are married to Koreans.[19] This is only the women from the Philippines.

How South Korean men meet and choose Filipina wives
After contacting a mail-order agency, the majority of Filipina mail-order brides met their husbands by attending "show-ups," a meeting whereby a group of Philippino women are brought to meet a Korean man who is looking for a wife. In the show-up, the Korean man picks a prospective wife from among the group, and in just a matter of days, they get married.[19]

Why South Korean men choose Filipina Wives
An anthropological study on Filipina wives of Korean men by professor Kim Min-jung of the Department of Cultural Anthropology at Kangwon National University, found that these Korean men find it difficult to marry Korean women, so they look for girls in poorer countries with inferior qualifications and difficult circumstances.[19] The Korean men feel that because of the difficult circumstances out of which the Filipina women come, along with the major cultural differences and the language barrier, they "will not run away."[19] Further, she said, Korean men characterize Southeast Asian women as girls who are friendly, work hard because they come from agrarian societies, and are "docile and obedient, able to speak English, and are familiar with Korean patriarchal culture."[19] A gender imbalance of a majority male population in South Korea is also a reason for Korean men finding mail order brides, because of the difficulty finding a local woman.[19]

Claims that South Korean Men are Violent toward Mail Order Brides
In November 2009, Philippine Ambassador to South Korea Luis Cruz warned Filipina women against marrying Korean men. He said in recent months that the Philippine Embassy in Seoul has received complaints from Filipino wives of abuses committed by their Korean husbands that caused separation, divorce and abandonment.[19][20] As language and cultural differences become an issue, the Filipina women are regarded as commodities bought for a price.[19]

Turkmenistan

On June 4, 2001 Turkmenistan President Saparmurat Niyazov, also known as Turkmenbashi, authorized a decree that required foreigners to pay a $5,000 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.[21]

In June 2005, President Niyazov scrapped the $5,000 requirement and the property-owning requirement.[22]

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.[23] The requirements of the law are controversial, and some commentators have claimed that it presumes that American men are abusers.[24]

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 man must be screened from all mental illnesses and/or disorders.
  3. The seller must obtain the man's record from the National Sex Offenders Public Registry database.[25]
  4. The questionnaire and record must be translated to the woman's native language and provided to her.
  5. 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.[26] 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 as 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 four 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.[27][28]
  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, Susanna and two of her friends were shot dead. Blackwell was convicted of murdering all three women.[citation needed]
  3. Anastasia King, a young woman from Kyrgyzstan, was found strangled 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 he ordered a tenant in their Washington home to kill Anastasia. Weighing nearly 300 pounds, her husband 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.[29][30]
  4. Nina Reiser was a Russian-born and trained obstetrician and gynecologist. She was murdered by her husband, Hans Reiser, a businessman and computer programmer. She had a restraining order against him during their divorce. She had been reported missing on September 5, 2006. In the same month, Hans was detained by Oakland police due to the suspicions surrounding the disappearance of his wife. He was later arrested for suspected murder. On April 28, 2008 Hans Reiser was found guilty of first degree murder, and was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison. On July 7, 2008, Hans led Oakland police to his wife's remains with an agreement to only be charged for second-degree murder instead.[31]

Murder by mail-order bride in the US

  • In 2002, Tessie Buhawe Spotts, a native of the Philippines,[32][33] 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 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.[34][35][36] 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".[37]
  • 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." [38]
  • 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.[citation needed]

See also

References

  1. ^ Daniel Z. Epstein (2007). "Romance is Dead".[dead link]
  2. ^ "Microsoft Encarta Definition of Mail Order Bride". Encarta. Microsoft Incorporated. Archived from the original on 2009-11-01. Retrieved 2009-01-02. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  3. ^ http://www.uscis.gov/files/article/MobRept_AppendixA.pdf
  4. ^ Genesis xxiv
  5. ^ Enns, C. (2005) Hearts west: the true stories of mail-order brides on the frontier. Connecticut: Globe Pequot Press.
  6. ^ Jameson, E. (1976). Imperfect unions class and gender in cripple creek. Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies, 1(2)
  7. ^ a b c d e f g Constable, N. (2003). Romance on a global stage:pen pals, virtual ethnography, and "mail order marriages". Berkeley: University of California Press.
  8. ^ Kamenev, M. (2009). Summer of so-called love. Retrieved from http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?index=37&did=1699517311&SrchMode=1&sid=1&Fmt=3&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=PQD&TS=1264126903&clientId=15031
  9. ^ So, C. (2006). Asian mail-order brides, the threat of global capitalism, and the rescue of the u.s. nation-stat. Feminist Studies, 32(2)
  10. ^ a b Johnson, E. (2007). Dreaming of a mail-order husband. Durham: Duke University Press.
  11. ^ Tolentino, R. (1996). Bodies, letters, catalogs:filipinas in transnational space. Social Text, (48)
  12. ^ a b c d Ami, A. (director). (2003). Say I Do: Mail Order Brides [film]. New York. Red Storm Productions
  13. ^ Chang, C. (2005). In the market for love. Foreign Policy, (151), Retrieved from http://web.ebscohost.com/src/detail?vid=1&hid=2&sid=90a1a613-bcc6-4ab0-813c-76c94e5dc382%40sessionmgr13&bdata=JnNpdGU9c3JjLWxpdmU%3d#db=ulh&AN=18715512
  14. ^ "The mail order bride industry", INS Reports and Studies
  15. ^ "IMM 5481E: Sponsorship Evaluation"
  16. ^ "LaViolette - Immigration of Same-Sex Couples"
  17. ^ Sam, Borin (2006-12-02). "Cambodian brides in Taiwan face beatings, other abuse". Radio Free Asia. Retrieved 2006-12-14.
  18. ^ "Belarus News and Analysis", Anna Volk
  19. ^ a b c d e f g h http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2009/10/211_53320.html
  20. ^ http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/pinoy-migration/11/22/09/korea-–-pinoy-mixed-marriages-and-tensions-multicultural-family
  21. ^ http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/insight/articles/eav061901.shtml
  22. ^ http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2005/06/c2984fe7-fbca-4bc1-98d3-d5d4b42bfded.html
  23. ^ "Violence against women", 109th U.S. Congress (2005-2006)
  24. ^ "Mail Order Bride Law Brands U.S. Men Abusers", Wendy McElroy January 11, 2006
  25. ^ "National Sex Offender Public Registry"
  26. ^ "Mail Order Bride in Works", CBS News July 5, 2003
  27. ^ Retrieve Pages
  28. ^ Man accused of stabbing his mail-order bride to death - Courttv.com - Trials
  29. ^ Retrieve Pages
  30. ^ Mail-order bride's dream of a better life ends in death
  31. ^ Reiser deal ultimately hinges on judge's OK
  32. ^ Lowcountry NOW: Local News - Wife charged with poisoning husband 04/12/02
  33. ^ untitled
  34. ^ Mail-Order Misery: Imported Brides - Newsweek Society - MSNBC.com
  35. ^ Battered Wife Wins Suit Against Md. Matchmaker (washingtonpost.com)
  36. ^ Legal Affairs
  37. ^ C:\web\051139.u.wpd
  38. ^ http://www.usaimmigrationattorney.com/JudgeCooperDecision.pdf
  39. ^ "IMDB". Retrieved 2008-01-09.
  40. ^ "IMDB". Retrieved 2008-10-05.

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