Mail
Order Brides
Services
To marry an American...
Today the mail order brides service is a substantial
branch of the marriage industry, which develops day by
day. More and more men turn to marriage agencies in search
of a mail order bride. More and more female
representatives of the former USSR-countries try to find
their happiness overseas. This issue is directly connected
to immigration problems and is a matter of concern for
many Russians on both sides of the ocean.
According to the Service of Immigration and Naturalization, from 100 to
150 thousand women of various countries, including USA,
Canada, Europe and Australia, annually turn to marriage
agencies in search of a foreign husband. An overwhelming
majority of these women are natives of Southeast Asia,
especially of Philippines, Russia and other republics of
the former Soviet Union. The majority of Asian brides are
Philippine women, in spite of the fact that the “brides by
mail” service was considered to be illegal there for many
years and was forbidden. Recently international marriage
agencies have switched their attention to women from
Russia and republics of the former Union. Last year’s data
suggests that 69 of the 153 registered marriage services
focus on them (two months after the research was carried
out the number soared to 202). A significant percentage of
brides in their lists are Ukrainian.
In general, the marriage agencies that specialize in selection of brides
from abroad could be subdivided into two categories. The
first includes “Mail order brides services”
(representatives of them prefer to be called “services of
international correspondence“), offering their clients
names, photos and addresses of women in printed catalogues
or on the Internet. Agencies do not take money from the
women who provide their data. The men who wish to contact
women from the list pay from $2 to $5 for each address.
The second way for an American to meet a potential “overseas” wife is through e-mail or clubs of pen-friends.
These services are usually free-of-charge. Men and women
send in their profiles and emails, stating which qualities
they want to see in their future partners. It is possible
to find data there about more than 10,000 women, which are
looking for a husband or a long-term partner. As such
services are carried out through the Internet, their
participants are usually older and more educated than
those who are “ordered” by mail, and they live in more
advanced countries, such as Japan or Russia.
American
Husband
What do women look for
in American husbands? According to many sources, the
reasons are mostly social and economic. However, many
women maintain that Americans are more attractive
(everyone looks like a movie star) and consider Americans
to be loyal and devoted husbands while Russians
(Philippine, Indonesian etc.) are rude and frequently
unfaithful.
On their part men, especially American, try to find in a
spouse across the ocean a mild and restrained girlfriend,
a good mother and a housewife. The lucky ones say that in
search of traditional values they eventually had to refer
to the help of marriage agencies. They are sure that in a
marriage American women only look for the satisfaction of
their own ambitious and career-oriented plans, they are
not good enough as wives and mothers, whereas foreign
ladies are happy in the role of home keeper and do not
need much more than a husband, a family and a home.
Whether this is actually true is a controversial point,
but such is the opinion of American men.
The Service of Immigration and Naturalization carried out a survey, during
which 607 American men searching for wives through
marriage agencies were questioned. Only 206 have responded
to written requests. 94% of them turned out to be white
Americans with higher education (50% have two or more
years of college). They support rather conservative views
in politics and ideology and are quite successful
financially (64% earned more than $20,000 a year, and 42%
occupied managing positions). The average age of these men
was 37 years, they represented 44 states, 22% were from
California, 84% - inhabitants of large cities.
However, from 30 “mail order marriages”, contracted in
1986-1993, only in two the spouses were approximately of
the same age (4-6 years of difference). In the remaining
28 age difference was from 20 to 50(!) years. At the same
time the older men preferred women who were not very
clever and educated, those who could still be “brought
up”.
How successful is mail correspondence? There is no exact
answer to this question. Many of the agencies involved in
marriage business could not present any data on the number
of marriages contracted and their duration in reply to the
inquiry of SIN. Exact statistics were presented by the
agency Encounters International that has been working
since 1993. During five years 2500 women appeared in its
lists (450 of them from Russia). 102 marriages were
contracted, i.e. only 4% of the women who applied have
found American husbands.
According to the data submitted by the USA Population
Census Office in the end of June 1998, 2,395,000 marriages
were registered in the USA during 12 preceding months
(1,154,000 divorces in the same period), from which 4-6
thousand marriages were facilitated by the international
marriage agencies (0.21% of the total number). The
agencies themselves assure that the divorce rate in their
marriages is much lower than in general in the USA. 80% of
these marriages have been observed for several years.
According to the statistics of SIN, during 1994-1996 more
than 800,000 immigrants entered the USA each year, 18% of
them - as spouses of citizens of the USA (in 1996 this
figure accounted for 169,760 of the total number of
immigrants - 915,900). 14% (130,000) of the total number
of immigrants are parents and children of citizens of the
USA.
Greencard
In any case the four to
six thousand women that enter the country with the help of
international correspondence services (mail order brides
services) make up for less than 6% of new citizens of the
USA. The majority of the women receiving the status of
permanent residents by means of marriage with Americans
achieve it by more traditional ways (getting acquainted
with future spouses at work or while studying, marrying
citizens of the USA who work abroad etc.).
Both a citizen of USA and an owner of the Green card could
submit an application for granting their spouse the status
of a permanent resident of the country. The wives and
children of citizens of the USA could enter the country
without much red tape, while there are annual quotas for
the entry of family members of those who possess the
status of permanent residents.
Types of Visa
There is no doubt that the majority of women who look for
an American husband through marriage agencies is not
really obsessed by the yearning to find a loyal partner
and to create a happy family. An American husband is a
reliable way to obtain the status of USA resident.
Although it is hard to determine the real proportion of
the women who pursue selfish ends (who knows what the
woman really wants!), the evident desire to exaggerate
their own advantages and the readiness to marry any
citizen of the USA, irrespective of his age and character,
gives out the true intentions of the majority of the
competitors. Statistics provides more evidence of their
real motivation: the overwhelming majority of those women
who married by mail terminated their marriage in 3 months
(after they received a Greencard) or in 2 years (after
receiving the status of permanent resident).
The immigration legislation on marrying foreigners contains a multitude of
restrictions aimed at fighting abuse. For a foreign person
who marries an American to receive the status of USA
resident, the spouses need to wait for several months, to
present a lot of papers and to pay a certain sum. In
general this procedure could be reduced to the following.
According to the immigration legislation, a citizen of the
USA can bring into the country his fiancée who lives
abroad only after he gets her the fiancée visa or the
foreign spouse immigrant visa. Usually it takes less time
to obtain a fiancée visa (several months), than to get a
foreign spouse visa. The foreign spouse visa demands
additional paperwork after entry to the USA if the pair
plans to reside in America. The visa of the bride also
demands additional paperwork that takes a lot of time.
Marriage contracted in the USA.
Fiancée visa.
Citizens of USA could submit an application
(form 1-129F) for reception of K-1 fiancée visa. At the
moment of the fiancée’s arrival in the country the fiance
should be unmarried. Wedding could be held within three
months after the arrival of the bride. Unlike a citizen, a
permanent resident legally living in USA could not submit
an application to obtain a fiancée visa. He or she should
marry abroad and submit the application (form 1-130) when
the future spouse enters the country.
Marriage contracted abroad.
Visa of the foreign spouse.
If a citizen of the USA marries a foreign woman in the
country of her residence, they need to submit an
application (form 1-130) after the registration of their
marriage to begin the immigration process. It could be
submitted to the Service of Immigration and Naturalization
in the USA or (upon certain circumstances) to an American
embassy or consulate abroad. There are different rules for
processing applications in different countries. Before he
leaves the country, a citizen of the USA must contact the
SIN or another office to find out, which documents he
needs to draw up an application for his future spouse.
The 1-130 application submitted should prove that the
marriage is based on love, not on the desire of the
fiancée to receive a Greencard.
Mail
order brides (part 4): Permanent residence
If the person marrying a “mail order bride” is a USA resident, the best way for him
to do it is to marry the chosen one abroad, and only then
to fill and submit the 1-130 form. Theoretically speaking,
the woman can enter the USA under any non-immigrant visa
and conclude marriage in the USA. However obtaining an
American entry visa hasn’t been an easy task recently.
If the lady has been married for less than two years at
the time when she receives a temporary status of the
country’s resident, the Greencard validity time would
expire in two years. The spouses should submit a joint
petition (form I-751) to “waiver” from this condition
within 90 days preceding the termination of the two-year
term. After that a permanent Greencard is issued, proving
the status of a country’s resident. In case of divorce, of
death of the American spouse, or because of recorded
domestic violence, the lady can submit an application to “waiver” from restrictions under the joint petition.
Some changes were recently introduced into the immigration legislation. Up
to 1986 the status of resident was given to a foreign wife
of a USA citizen quickly enough and almost without any
problems. In 1986, in connection with the increase in the
number of pro forma marriages, the Congress introduced
some amendments into the legislation. They have
considerably complicated the process of obtaining legal
status for foreign spouses. After the amendments were
ratified, the procedure is as following: the USA citizen
has to solicit for the “status of conditional resident”
for his spouse; after receiving it, they have to wait for
18 months, during which they have to be married, and only
then draw up a joint application for a resident status.
Then the spouses have to be interviewed by a
representative of the Service of Immigration and
Naturalization, when they must prove that their marriage
is authentic. Sometimes, in connection with official
delays, the procedure of obtaining a status could take up
to four years.
Foreign wives more often than Americans become the objects
of domestic violence, which - alas! - grows in the USA
year after year. There is a simple explanation for it: the
husband looked for a devoted and uncomplaining wife, and
she yearned for better life. There is an obvious lack of
convergence between the motives. When the period of
adaptation to the new environment passes, the foreign wife
becomes much more confident: she overcomes the language
barrier, acquires new friends, begins to think about her
own career. Her independence is in conflict with the
desire of the husband to dominate and to command. After he
realizes that his dreams about an obedient and devoted to
companion life did not find embodiment, husband vents
anger his disappointment and weakness on the woman. He
requires divorce and has no desire to go to the interview
in SIN.
As a result of repeated cases of cruel treatment and
domestic violence in the families, where the husband is a
USA citizen, and the wife is a foreigner, the Congress has
accepted the bill in 1990. According to this bill, the
wife who has a conditional status and who could prove that
she was mistreated by the husband does not have to wait
for two years to obtain a Greencard. Proof of mistreatment
also frees from mandatory divorce suit. Such proofs could
include (but are not limited by) testimonial evidence,
protocols of the police, statement of the judge, of the
medical worker, or of representatives of social services.
The existing immigration legislation facilitates
unhindered marriages of USA residents to foreign women and
their consequent immigration into the country of his
residence. But there are rules that reduce to a minimum
abuse and falsification. The agencies involved in “exporting” mail order brides have to inform potential
wives about their rights and responsibilities. The
existing dating industry is not devoid of many pitfalls.
This is why the personality of a potential husband also
requires direct attention. Even a man who has been
divorced three times, who is an alcoholic or a drug
addict, could come to a dating agency. This is why when
making a decision you should be as careful as possible,
and if any difficulties, even those that look unimportant,
should come up, you should contact a qualified lawyer.
