How are couples making marriages work when they’ve met online, lived in different countries and don’t share a common language?
Mei was a 40-something divorced mother of two living in southern China when she decided to join an international marriage agency.
Barrie, a 62-year-old living on a hobby farm in coastal New South Wales, first saw Mei on an online dating site that connects Chinese women with Western men. Eight months later, Barrie was flying to China to meet her - they were married within the week.
“It was quite fast,” Mei admits to host Jenny Brockie on this week’s episode of Insight.
Seeking out a foreign husband or wife is nothing new – hopeful singles have long looked overseas for a suitable spouse, and maybe a better life. But thanks to the boom in online and mobile dating, it’s never been easier to look for love further afield.
And while local dating sites and apps mean you’re only ever one swipe away from your next hookup, the stakes are considerably higher when you’re wooing someone in a foreign country whom you’ve never met and don’t share a language with.
Lin Lan, 51, had been single for over 20 years when her friends convinced her to join a similar agency.
Six months after joining she met George, a 64-year-old builder. “I was looking for a companion, in due course a wife, somebody that I could share the rest of my life with,” George says.
Encouraged by friends and family, Lin Lan married George and moved to Brisbane. But once she arrived, she often thought about going home.
“In China I was busy. Coming here I couldn’t do everything,” Lin Lan tells Jenny. “I [was] feeling very worried, very sad for a long time.”
Not all is fair in love and visas. Marrying someone after a short period of time can be a big risk, and it can be difficult to know if you’re being taken advantage of. And getting to know your new partner when you don’t have a common language can be a problem that persists for years.
With international dating sites reporting growing subscriptions each year – along with the rising number of couples meeting and marrying through them – Insight asks: Why do people look for a partner overseas? What happens when they find one? And how do they make it work?
Credits
Presenter: Jenny Brockie
Producer: Rose Hesp
Producer: Nicola McCaskill
