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Taiwan Bans 'Mail-Order Brides' Marriage Brokering

by cyn.khoo | August 1, 2009 at 07:03 pm

455 views | 40 Recommendations | 6 comments

The Taiwan immigration agency announced Saturday, August 1, 2009, that it has banned international marriage brokering, a dubious business that gave rise to the term "mail-order brides" in which men pay a fee to be partnered with Chinese or Southeast Asian women in quick marriages, many of whom come from poor families and seek economic opportunity in Taiwan.

There are currently 254 marriage brokers in Taiwan, some of whom have charged thousands of dollars for their services. Brokers were told by the agency that they must now end all overseas business. However, international marriages are still to be brokered by "government-approved non-profits".

The move is an attempt by Taiwan to improve its image. According to Lin Chen-chih, section chief in the Taiwan National Immigration Agency, marriage is not a suitable area in which to build a business.

'Marriage doesn't fit a business model,' said Lin Chen-chih, a section chief under the Taiwan National Immigration Agency.

'What has happened ends up causing social disorder.'

According to local Taiwanese media, almost 700,000 spouses, most of whom were women, entered Taiwan from abroad within the first half of 2009. Many such "brides" have been found working illegally, leading to questions regarding the authenticity and legitimacy of their marriages.

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Pythiian1

at 20:18 on August 1st, 2009

I think it's also a positive move toward stemming human-trafficking activity. These "mail-order brides" could also be used as sex workers or as the article refers to as illegal workers in menial positions.

anarkissed

at 22:37 on August 1st, 2009

This is good news. Too many western men act like they can just buy a subserviant wife from the east.

a taiwan wife (not verified)

at 14:27 on September 27th, 2009

This is NOT talking about western men!! This is talking about Easy Asian men and Southeast Asian women or women from Mainland China!!And, this is not actually talking about "subservient wives" this is talking about illegitimate marriages and the "mail order brides" becoming sex slaves.

Babel-Fish

at 03:25 on August 2nd, 2009

We have both published a story about this good action by the Taiwan immigration authorities my opinion is this is a very good move. I hate to see women abused and treated as potential sex slaves in a market place in the impoverished third world.

However many of these girls put themselves up for sale or their mothers and family tell them too. You see its normally a case of marry the girl and you have married the family. Some times both sides of fence deserve each other and the man involved loses house and property in the Philippines.

Its the girls that are fooled in to marrying a foreigner by their mums or family that I feel sorry for more if they end up in servitude or even worst situations.

taiwan-curbs-foreign-bride-firms I have placed a link to this publication

kotawinters

at 03:57 on August 2nd, 2009

I wonder if the men respect women that they bought for a price.

I wonder more about these mail-order-bride agencies if they respect their mother, their sister, their daughter.

There can't be a separation between the lens that one uses to sell for a living and what one uses to procure food to eat and survive. Merchandise you say, but marriage is more than just an exchange of goods. This system can only work between fools but in the beginning, it was not meant to be.

t k kidwai

at 04:09 on August 2nd, 2009

It is a welcome step by Taiwanese authorities.The matrimonial service providers charged exorbitant sums of money from desperate parents of girls and from those who sought a better future in Taiwan.Marriage was shortest cut to entry in Taiwan.

Girls suffered,so boys and the real beneficiaries of such disasterous knots were brokers(a dignified word for pimps).