It's unfortunate that many people know loved ones who have had bad experiences with this.

Many of you know about my familiy and how my mom and dad had an "arranged" marriage. See, my mom wasn't some random chick that needed to come to America to get her citizenship. My father was a tenant living at my granduncle's and aunt's house. He lived there for many years before he met my mom. In the 1960s and 1970s many Filipinos immigrated to Hawaii in waves because laws were revised, making it easier to come here.

If he had married her prior to her coming here, it would have been years before the paperwork would have gone through the red tape. If you petition someone as a fiance/e...they're on the plane, just like that.

I don't know how long you'd have to be married to the person before being able to get a divorce. The arrangement was to divorce ASAP after mom got her citizenship. Thankfully something happened...and six years later..I came along.

As a result of my dad's kindness and unselfishness, my mom's been able to bring her parents, her two brothers, and THEIR families over from the Philippines in the past 32 years and all have since started new lives here.