Foreign “mail-order brides” will be able to enjoy peace of mind and a sense of security if they meet the love of their life in Maryland. The Associated Press reported that the Maryland State House Of Delegates has passed legislation that will require criminal background checks on individuals applying for marriage with a woman overseas.
Currently there is no Federal standard for agencies that arrange for marriage between eligible bachelors and women abroad. Policies on background checks can vary from a sophisticated background check to a fast name search on Google.
Typically the bride-to-be won’t have any idea about their prospective husband until she has already arrived in the United States and settled in. A little too late to realize your new partner is abusive or even worse.
However, Maryland is now on the verge of requiring mail order bride agencies to conduct complete criminal background checks on their clients and any findings will need to be shared with the prospective partner overseas.
The bill will also require that these marriage agencies will need to supply the marital history of their applicants as well as a listing of their basic human rights upon coming to the United States.
In addition to these new information requirements, all supplied reports will need to be provided in the potential partner’s native tongue.
It’s a move that will be received well by women’s rights organizations who have been critical of the Federal Government for not regulating the industry more closely. Insufficient laws and lax enforcement could place unsuspecting women into the hands of abusive and dangerous individuals.
Although we should not count all mail-order bride agencies as unscrupulous and looking to make money at the expense of a woman’s safety, there are indeed ones that do.
By enacting this new initiative into law, Maryland sends a signal to marriage agencies that human rights are to be held in just as high a regard as profit and quotas. Foreign brides will know what they are getting into ahead of time, thus preventing the dream of a new beginning from becoming a nightmare in a new land.
