TAIPEI: More than 200 mail order bride agencies are being forced to close. Today is their final day of operation. Tomorrow they will be outlawed under a legislative amendment passed last year and set to be enacted.

The amendment to the Immigration Act forbids companies to offer intermediary services in cross-border marriages for profit. Those interested in finding a spouse outside Taiwan may still deal with non-profit organizations, but no contracts may be signed, no commissions charged and the agencies are not permitted to advertise.

A one-year grace period was given to the 293 mail order bride agencies registered in Taiwan when the amendment passed. They were offered the chance to become non-profit organizations.

The grace period is at an end. The "National Immigration Administration" (NIA) have approved only 11 of the 293 agencies to continue to provide service under the new rules.

The new law is intended to safeguard gender equality and improve Taiwan's international image, said Lin Cheng-chi, chief of the Immigration Planning Section and NIA's Immigration Affairs Department.

Men who dealt with the agencies in the past, after paying heavy fees, often considered they had purchased their wives as property. These sentiments were later expressed when the couple quarreled, Lin explained.

Cross-border marriages arranged through brokers smelled strongly of business transactions, he said. Some agencies presented women in television commercials. Some agencies offered money-back guarantees if brides proved not to be virgins.

According to NIA, most companies failed to meet the qualification for non-profit status. and must cease to offer matchmaking services. Violators are subject to fines between NT$200,000 and NT$1 million.

Social groups, however, expressed concern that without strict enforcement, marriage brokers will carry on as usual.

The government has failed to effectively eradicate the unregistered matchmaking service in the past. So many companies believe they can evade punishment, too, China Times quoted Guo Ming-zong, as saying. Guo's agency has been approved by NIA. According to a release by Taiwan's "Ministry of the Interior" in February, the number of cross-border marriages has been declining rapidly in Taiwan in recent years. One in every three marriages registered in 2003 involved a spouse from outside Taiwan. The ratio dropped to one in seven last year.

This is partly due to NIA's adoption of a stricter system to screen out those seeking marriages of convenience to obtain visas. Another factor has been the diminishing economic gap between Taiwan and the countries and regions from which mail order brides once originated.

China Daily/CNA

(HK Edition 07/31/2009 page2)