Marriage agency

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A marriage agency is a business that endeavors to introduce men and women for the purpose of marriage. Agency methods and their client objectives vary widely. Many marriage agencies operate exclusively to provide mail-order brides.

[edit] Services

Services that marriage agencies offer typically include:

introductions
translating correspondence between clients who do not speak a common language
excursions in which a man is introduced to several women interested in marriage

[edit] Fraud

Many clients of marriage agencies have complained of fraud. Some firms have responded by offering money-back guarantees and other assurances. Some websites maintain a fraud "black list" [1].

[edit] Legal issues

Marriage agencies are legal in almost all countries. Certain notable legal issues are:

The Philippines prohibits 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.
On Jan 5, 2006, the United States Congress enacted H.R. 3402: Violence Against Women and Department of Justice Reauthorization Act of 2005 [2]. This law requires certain actions prior to selling a foreign woman's address to a US citizen or resident, including:

The man must complete a questionnaire on his criminal and marital background.|
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.
The woman must certify that she agrees to permit communication.

NOTE: In March, 2006, The United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia issued a temporary restraining order preventing enforcement of IMBRA against one mail order bride company, European Connections & Tours, while it makes its final decision on its constitutionality. A second federal court, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio refused to issue a similar order, finding that it was unlikely that it could be shown that IMBRA violates the Constitution.