VIETNAMESE BRIDES TO TAIWAN

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 HO CHI MINH CITY 001299 SIPDIS SENSITIVE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PHUM PREF PREL CVIS KWMN ELAB SMIG SOCI TW VM TIP SUBJECT: VIETNAMESE BRIDES TO TAIWAN REF: 04 HCM 1494 ¶1. (SBU) Summary: During a December 6 meeting with DPO and PolOff, representatives of the HCMC Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO) said that in 2005 they had instituted a system of one-on-one interviews with prospective Vietnamese brides and their Taiwanese fiancees in response to mounting fraud concerns. TECO estimates that some 90,000 Vietnamese women have been issued marriage visas to Taiwan, but once in Taiwan there is no effective control or monitoring of the women. One Taiwanese immigration study found that nearly 50 percent of Vietnamese brides in Taipei County are not living with their husbands and are unaccounted for. Preliminary research suggests that these women have "disappeared" into the unofficial economy. However, additional monitoring of Vietnamese overseas migration trends and programs to counsel prospective Vietnamese brides -- for those headed to Taiwan as well as to emerging destinations such as South Korea -- is warranted. End Summary. Vietnamese Brides to Taiwan -------------- ¶2. (SBU) Increasingly common over the past decade, the phenomenon of young Vietnamese women from poor communities in the Mekong Delta marrying Taiwanese men has drawn increasing scrutiny from HCMC officials and media outlets. Over the past year, local HCMC officials have taken some limited steps to address the issue. For example, the HCMC Women's Union launched a self-funded initiative to create a counseling center for Vietnamese women who plan to marry foreign husbands. The Union hoped to help the fiancees avoid situations such that faced by a number of Vietnamese women who unknowingly were married to disabled men to be their caregivers. ¶3. (SBU) Last year, the Women's Union representatives told a visiting State Department official that from 1993 through May 2004, 41,900 women from Vietnam's southernmost 13 provinces became overseas brides. A large percentage of these went to Taiwan. According to the Women's Union data, 69 percent married men who were at least 20 years their elder; 80 percent were unemployed prior to marriage; and 75 percent had low education levels -- some were illiterate. Many did not speak their future husband's language. On average, the brides' families received 6 million Vietnamese Dong (USD 375) from marriage brokers, according to Women's Union statistics. ¶4. (SBU) To follow up on the issue, on December 6, DPO and PolOff met with Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO) Director General Sonny Chen, Deputy Director General Chen Borshow and Director of the Consular Division Larry Su. The officials estimated that since 1995, TECO had issued spousal visas to 90,000 Vietnamese women from its offices in Hanoi and HCMC. TECO officials first started tracking the numbers of Vietnamese brides to Taiwan in 1995, when they processed 1,476 applicants. The number rose to 13,863 in 2000, and remained over 10,000 per year from 2001-2004. The TECO officials stated that Vietnamese brides constitute 70% of foreign brides coming to Taiwan, excluding mainland Chinese brides. ¶5. (SBU) The majority of these brides met their grooms through a highly evolved marriage brokerage system in Vietnam and Taiwan. Since marriage brokers are illegal in Vietnam, the brokers routinely pose as "travel agents" who "facilitate" the travel of the Taiwanese men to Vietnam. The TECO officials told us that the typical groom pays USD 6,000 to 10,000 for a "full package," which includes one or multiple trips to Vietnam, the opportunity to pick a bride from a lineup of young women, and any marriage ceremonies and paperwork needed to complete the migration process in both countries. ¶6. (SBU) While the migration of brides to Taiwan traditionally was a southern Vietnam phenomenon, increasing numbers are coming from northern provinces, with 1,200 spousal visa applications received in Hanoi this year, according to Consular Division Director Su. DG Chen noted that whereas Vietnamese families in the South may receive some money (typically USD 200-300) for the marriage of their daughter to a Taiwanese, he has heard that families in northern provinces pay as much as USD 600 for their daughter to marry a Taiwanese. Once In Taiwan -------------- ¶7. (SBU) The TECO officials cited a survey conducted by police in Taipei County in March 2005 which showed that 47 percent of Vietnamese brides in that county were not living with their husbands. The Taiwanese authorities have no statistics about the current status of these women. Although hard data is difficult to obtain, the TECO officials said that domestic abuse can be a problem in these marriages, and cited age differences, language barriers and cultural norms common to Taiwan and Vietnam of dominant men and subservient women as contributing factors. They also noted that no one performs a criminal or domestic abuse check of the prospective Taiwanese groom prior to the marriage. ¶8. (SBU) A limited number of interviews conducted by the Mobility Research and Support Center (MRSC),a local HCMC NGO, indicated that perhaps 10 percent of Vietnamese women who returned to Vietnam from Taiwan claimed that they were in abusive marriages, although none of those interviewed said they were trafficked for sexual or labor exploitation. The TECO officials told us that Taiwan has set up hotlines for women to report domestic abuse, with accompanying Vietnamese-language advertisements to inform women how to report mistreatment. ¶9. (SBU) DG Chen said there is no effective system for tracking immigrants once they enter Taiwan. Vietnamese brides receive a 6-month resident visa upon entry to Taiwan. They are subsequently required to register with the police for their Alien Resident Certificates and re-entry permits, which are valid for one year. After three years, a bride can apply for Taiwanese citizenship if she renounces her Vietnamese citizenship. Theoretically, during those three years, if a bride does not live with her husband, the marriage would be considered fraudulent and her stay in Taiwan rendered illegal. In reality, the police do not have the resources to monitor whether these brides live with their husbands. Consular Division Director Su initially estimated that there were over 10,000 Vietnamese living illegally in Taiwan; Deputy DG Chen Borshow shook his head and said there were "many, many more than 10,000." TECO's response -------------- ¶10. (SBU) The TECO officials told us that in response to growing concern in Taiwan, TECO HCMC in January 2005 initiated one-on-one spousal visa interviews with prospective Taiwanese brides and their fiances. Previously, TECO had held group "interviews" with 100 to 120 couples, where general information was provided and visas approved almost automatically. Prior to 2005, only a handful of cases were refused, typically when the Vietnamese woman had a communicable disease, a police record in Vietnam, or a prior illegal stay in Taiwan. In 2004, 10,912 spousal visa cases were processed and approved. In contrast, through November 2005, 5,170 spousal cases have been approved in HCMC. DG Chen estimated that thousands more -- 30 to 35 percent of cases -- had been rejected outright since initiation of one-on-one interviews. ¶11. (SBU) According to Su, couples rarely admit during the interview that they met through marriage brokers. Instead, he typically hears that a "relative" introduced them. None of the TECO officials with whom we spoke would say what criteria they used to determine whether a relationship was legitimate. They explained that the lack of a common language was not sufficient reason for rejection. Although Chen maintained that "99% of these marriages are for financial reasons," this too was not grounds for disqualification. They implied that they reject a large number of cases of disabled Taiwanese men who seek young Vietnamese women as brides. Beginning in 2005, TECO has required couples receiving visas to attend a mandatory two-hour information session where women are informed about their rights under Taiwanese law. No Visa, No Marriage Certificate -------------- -- ¶12. (SBU) Couples applying for spousal visas at TECO are not legally married at the time of the visa interview. If the spousal visa is approved, TECO will issue a certificate of unmarried status to the Taiwanese citizen, a document required by GVN for a couple to apply for a marriage certificate. The TECO officials expressed surprise that USG practice is to issue Affidavits of Single Status to U.S. citizens without an interview, asking how we know they are legitimate. PolOff explained that consular officials serve as notaries in these instances, not as authenticators, which was how Director General Chen characterized the process of issuing the certificate of unmarried status for Taiwanese. Deputy DG Chen Borshaw added that TECO found it easier to justify rejecting cases if the couple is not yet legally married. Immigration Laws Needed -------------- ¶13. (SBU) DG Chen fretted that Taiwan currently has no Department of Immigration or equivalent and few laws addressing immigration directly. Chen indicated that he had long lobbied for legislation to implement a comprehensive immigration law, but only recently has the influx of foreign brides and the accompanying social implications caught the attention of political leaders. Legislation may be drafted in 2006. In this context, TECO officials were eager to hear about our visa issuance and immigration processes and policies. They were especially interested in our fingerprinting process in which fingerprints taken at the visa interview are accessed by immigration officials when the approved visa applicant enters the U.S.; TECO HCMC does not fingerprint visa applicants. ¶14. (SBU) Comment: Survey data indicating that nearly half the Vietnamese women in Taipei County are not living with their husbands, and the high rejection rates of TECO one-on-one interviews in 2005, suggest that many Vietnamese women have fallen -- intentionally or unintentionally -- through the cracks. More research is needed to examine the motives of the brides and grooms entering into marriage contracts and what actually happens once the women arrive in Taiwan. Similarly, continued monitoring of Vietnamese overseas migration trends and counseling for prospective Vietnamese brides appear warranted. For example, TECO's more rigorous interviewing process for spousal visas may push more Vietnamese women towards marriage with South Koreans, which MRSC reports is increasing from a low base very rapidly, perhaps by as much as 75 percent in 2005. ¶15. (SBU) Comment, continued: The International Organization for Migration (IOM) is seeking funding to launch a program to distribute contact cards to prospective brides with information about Vietnamese-speaking NGOs in their destination country at the Office of External Relations in HCMC, where the women go for pre-departure registration. This program aims to provide a contact for women in abusive situations, particularly those where the husband seeks to maintain control of the relationship by isolating or confining his wife. IOM also proposes to run a one-day pre-departure orientation for Vietnamese women marrying Taiwanese men that would provide basic cross-cultural information as well as data on social assistance networks in Taiwan. IOM is currently awaiting approval from the Women's Union for this project. However, some GVN officials reportedly have expressed concern that requiring all women marrying Taiwanese to take this course might be viewed as too authoritarian. End Comment. CHERN