With the advance in technology and the world literally becoming a global village, marriages too have taken a hit. Where once couples would be besides one another in a wedding ceremony, tools such as Skype have made it possible for them to be ‘virtually’ together and be married online. However, this poses a number of problems to the immigration authorities.
Distance marriages are not a thing of our digital age. They have been happening before the era of Skype and in the past, marriages have been done over the phone, telegraph and such. However, in today’s world, tools such as Skype are able to recreate the whole illusion of togetherness so well that many people happily use it for distance marriages.
However, under the happy tag of marriage, there are a number of other issues which seek attention. For instance, many such Skype or telephonic marriages done in the U.S. are often used to help the other person gain a foothold in the U.S. and secure a nationality.
In yet other cases, women from regions such as Africa are married over internet to some person who already has a U.S. nationality but once they arrive in the States, they realize that they had been cheated. Some of these women even end up being pushed into the sex trafficking industry.
However, the immigration authorities can help improve the situation by ensuring stricter policies towards telephonic or internet marriages. In doing so, they can ensure that such a marriage really takes place by the consent of both individuals and doesn’t involve any ulterior motives.
Source: NYT
Courtesy: The Verge
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