Divorce Rate Observations From The Cross Cultural Marriage Survey

[Maxx2]

Now the real interesting question for the board is, what makes a GCG a GCG?  I remember talking to a RW who came to the USA through an marraige to an AM, it was to secure a future for her and her daughter (love was not part of the equation) and it lasted for 13 years.  So since her intent was to secure her future in another country, would she be considered a GCG, even if she stayed married for 13 years (BTW, this was the period of time it took for her to learn English, get a US degree, and a career where she could stand on her own feet)?

I defined what I think is a GCG as a woman (or man) who enters into a marriage with no intention of making it work. I would also add to that those who claim falsely to be abused so as to continue their green card quest.


The example you quoted is in my opinion not all that uncommon. I've seen many loveless or one sided love marriages that drag on for years. The usual motivation for the immigrant mother is for the sake of her children such as providing them an education, a son to avoid the draft or secure an economic footing. A "landing field" as former poster Donna Pedro termed it.  Would your example be a GCG? I would think so but only in a second degree sense of the word. There are lots of marriages like those. I do not have any animosity towards such women. Some husbands might not care all that much or at all if they found out their wives married them for immigration benefits only. Where a woman becomes a real hard core GCG is when she has it planned to get out of the marriage ASAP and with as much hurt and damage towards her victim as she can inflict. There seems to be a need to punish the victim for being such a fool for blindly falling in love with them.

[OlgaH]

Now the real interesting question for the board is, what makes a GCG a GCG?  I remember talking to a RW who came to the USA through an marraige to an AM, it was to secure a future for her and her daughter (love was not part of the equation) and it lasted for 13 years.  So since her intent was to secure her future in another country, would she be considered a GCG, even if she stayed married for 13 years (BTW, this was the period of time it took for her to learn English, get a US degree, and a career where she could stand on her own feet)?

wicheese, I also met a woman with two teens who said very openly that she will divorce her "grandpa" as soon as she will stand on her own feet firmly. Her main goal is to get a law degree, though she is already working as a paralegal the marriage helps her to save the money for future, plus her husband -"grandpa" is a free "babysitter" who takes care of her children while she is at work or "satisfying" her two married bosses who also sponsor her.

Opportunistic women (and men as well) are a quite frequent phenomenon and not only in MOB, and such people will play their cards as long as they need. BTW FSU men from big megalopolises usually try to avoid to marry women from provinces giving them the official residence in their apartments, because there is always 50/50 chance for them to loose what they have.

Marriage of convenience between a Russian woman and a guest worker (a gastarbeiter) became a very frequent case in Russia (when a gastarbeiter pays a woman for marriage and temporarily official residence in Russia). Women are protected more in case of divorce.

[TomT]

Maxx,
 
You are expanding this discussion beyond the modest scope of my comment. There is no evidence of GCGs rushing out the door at the two-year point. That's all. I am not denying their existance. Writing that the poll is not accurate isn't much of an argument. If there is any flaw, it is that it doesn't show how long the marriages lasted.
 
A few things jump out at me, though. The first is that there are quite a few first-year failures. The other is that the poll debunks the misconception that the divorce rate for international marriages is lower than the divorce rate for the population as a whole. (That isn't good news.)