House Passes Major Provisions of Larsen's Mail-Order Bride Bill

House Passes Major Provisions of Larsen's Mail-Order Bride Bill
Wednesday, September 28, 2005

Washington, D.C. - Today the U.S. House of Representatives passed major provisions of U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen's (WA-02) mail-order bride bill.

Larsen worked with the Judiciary Committee to include several provisions of his International Marriage Broker Regulation Act of 2005 (IMBRA) in the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) section of the Department of Justice Appropriations Authorization Act (H.R. 3402).

"Today the House of Representatives voted to protect women like Anastasia King who died tragically after coming to the U.S. through the unsafe, unregulated international marriage broker industry," Larsen said.

Each year 8,000 to 12,000 U.S. men find foreign wives through for-profit international marriage brokers (IMBs). Two highly-publicized murders of women in Washington state by husbands they met through IMBs highlighted a growing nationwide trend of abuse. Larsen and Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) introduced similar legislation last year and began educating colleagues on the issue.

Larsen highlighted an IMBRA provision that passed today in the House.

"Today the House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly for commonsense provisions like the one that prevents men from playing the 'fiancee lottery' and applying for multiple fiancée visas simultaneously and then marrying whichever woman's visa gets approved first."

Portions of IMBRA that passed today in the House will:

- Prevent men from becoming serial petitioners for foreign fiancées (i.e. a U.S. client can only apply for one foreign fiancée visa (a K visa) at a time; the House DOJ bill is actually stronger than IMBRA and limits the U.S. client to two visas in a lifetime, although there is a waiver provision);

- Creates an informational brochure to be provided to women by U.S. consulates (the brochure will provide information on the legal rights and resources available to immigrant victims of domestic abuse and other crimes, the illegality of marriage fraud (i.e. knowingly entering a marriage solely to obtain an immigration benefit, and U.S. legal obligations regarding child support);

- Requires K visa petitioners to answer a question about certain criminal convictions on the K application form, which would then be shared with their foreign fiancée;

- Authorizes U.S. consulates to share with foreign fiancées any criminal background information obtained by the federal government through checks it already runs on K visa petitioners.

"Including provisions of the International Marriage Broker Regulation Act in must-pass legislation puts those measures on the fast track to becoming law," Larsen explained.

The bill is also moving quickly in the Senate where Senator Maria Cantwell has taken the lead on the bill. In the Senate, the Larsen-Cantwell bill has been attached to the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) and is expected to pass in the near future.

http://www.house.gov/apps/list/press/wa02_larsen/pr_09282005_mailorderbill.html