Mail Order Brides

Mail-order bride is the term often used to describe women who come to a foreign land from a less developed area after only correspondence or short meeting with their eventual mate. Usually the brides are from developing countries and sent to developed countries like United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and western European countries such as Germany and the United Kingdom, or from a less developed area to more developed area in an unevenly developed country such as China.

The term probably originated during the colonial period when men travelled through various empires for financial gain. After establishing their income in a new colony they faced three choices:

* stay single,
* marry a local indigenous woman or,
* seek to have an available woman come from the metropolitan centre; or in the case of economic immigrants that came from an economically depressed region to seek employment, from their mother country.

Often these marriages were arranged by members of the immigrants family 'back home' and the relatives picked amongst available women to find one that would suit their family member thus they would negotiate with the woman before she left with her belongings (and perhaps with her children if she was a widow). Often these women were willing to travel for marriage because of the limited opportunity in their place of origin. This tradition continues amongst first generation immigrants to western countries, most particularly amongst Pakistani, Bangladeshi and East Indian males and females who wish to marry someone of similar social, economic and educational status; indeed many marriages are arranged in India and the bride and groom may not have much if any opportunity to court before the marriage ceremony is conducted.

During the twentieth century this tradition has been used for a (in some ways) similar, yet very different social phenomenon, that of an western male, usually second or third generation immigrant himself, seeking a woman from a more 'traditional' or non-western culture. For whatever reason, these men seek out women from various countries, most notably economically depressed parts of the world, such as countries in the Commonwealth of Independent States like Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and non-Muslim women from the other central Asian --stans, or from cultures where traditional views of femininity are still encouraged and women are expected to take care of their husbands and engage in housekeeping, child bearing and other domestic chores.

The Internet has led to a proliferation of services offering addresses, contact information and romance tours to men willing to pay for information about women who have expressed interest in relocating to various marriage agencies in their native countries.

These men often correspond by mail or email with these women, speak with them over the telephone with the use of translators and eventually after exchanging photos visit the women's country to decide if an engagement is possible. Often after very short courtships the men propose to the women, as they must return home to return to work and hire a lawyer to prepare the visa paperwork.

Countries of origin

Asia and the Philippines

Historical ties between the Philippines and the US go back many years; the islands were once a US possession, US soldiers fought Imperial Japan during World War II to liberate the islands and two major US military bases were in operation in the Philippines until they closed in the 1990s. Much of the early intermarriage involved US servicemen falling in love with local girls; the current Internet mail-order bride concept is far more recent.

The e-mail order bride concept is considered by many to be a threat to the Filipino cultural identity or to bring ladies into harm's way; a Philippine law (RA 6955) goes as far as to forbid a "person, natural or juridical, association, club or any other entity" to "establish or carry on a business which has for its purpose the matching of Filipino women for marriage to foreign nationals either on a mail-order basis or through personal introduction" or "to advertise, publish, print or distribute or cause the advertisement, publication, printing or distribution of any brochure, flier or any propaganda material calculated to promote the prohibited acts".

As most of the relevant Internet sites are based in other countries, they continue to remain free to operate beyond Philippine jurisdiction.

While the Philippines are probably the most common source of East Asian mail-order brides, second place would go to Thailand. There were many U.S. air bases in Thailand during the Vietnam War, and there were U.S. airmen who obtained Thai wives. In Europe, however, Thai brides seem to be more common than Filipinas due possibly to Europe's closer links to Thailand relative to the Philippines. The tourist spot of Phuket in Thailand, which achieved recent notoriety for being hard-hit in the December 2004 earthquake and tsunami, is a major destination for European tourists.

Other East Asian countries are less commonly considered as sources. Indonesia and Malaysia are Islamic countries and Islam has strong taboos against its women marrying non-Muslim men (although the reverse is still widely practiced). Meanwhile, Vietnam and Cambodia have been isolated until relatively recently.

East Asian mail-order bride services do not just cater to Western men; Japanese and Taiwanese men also often seek brides from poorer regions of that part of the world (see Mail-order brides in Taiwan, below). A more recent phenomenon is the trafficking of North Korean and Vietnamese women into China as wives for farmers who cannot get a Chinese wife due to the sex imbalance in the country.

Former Soviet Union

Wide-scale emigration from these countries is a recent phenomenon, due to the removal of obstacles posed by exit visa controls during the communist era and due to the economic collapse of many eastern European countries. The most common countries involved by far are Russia and Ukraine; women from other Eastern European countries are put on mail-order bride lists much less frequently.

Mail order bride services are so popular in Russia and Ukraine that at least two companies – Elena's Models – and – www.Anastasiaweb.com – screens the women for attractiveness, rejecting those whose photos are deemed unlikely to draw customers willing to pay for their email addresses.

Latin America & Caribbean

A number of poorer countries in Central America and the Caribbean have people eager to emigrate to more-prosperous North American countries such as the United States (and sometimes also Canada); only a select few have the means to afford higher education needed to qualify as independent immigrants. The relative ease of family-class immigration represents hope to many who would otherwise not be able to emigrate.

The most common country of origin appears to be Colombia, followed by Brazil and the Dominican Republic.

On the other hand, some Latin women who join mail order bride services are not desperate and would not want to go to the U.S with just anyone. Most Latin women would prefer to stay in their home country with their husband, their family and friends. They would only leave familiar surroundings when the love for a new man encourages them to do so.