IndiaPost.com - Spouse abandonment reaches epidemic proportions

India Post News Service

LOS ANGELES CA: "He told me that he would send for me after a few months but the only papers that arrived were the ones seeking a divorce," states Maya. Maya's family arranged her marriage with an émigré from Los Angeles, California and soon afterwards she arrived in the US where she resided with her husband as a H4 visa holder.

She was physically and mentally abused by her husband and often harassed for more dowries. Soon after, they had a daughter and she went on a holiday to India to see her parents. However, while she was there her husband filed for divorce and served her with the petition for dissolution of the marriage and warned her against returning to the US, stating that since she is on a dependant visa she would be arrested upon arrival.

Abandonment has reached epidemic levels as 30,000 marriages to émigrés have resulted in a spouse being abandoned in India, with 15,000 of those in Punjab, and increasingly from Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Kerala, according to the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs (MOIA).

Abandonment of spouses in their country of origin, much like threatening deportation, withholding immigration documents, and refusing to proceed with immigration applications immediately after marriage, are all patterns of abuse based on immigration status.

South Asian women's organizations in the United States, such as Manavi, are leading the efforts to document the incidences of abandonment of women from India, as well as Bangladesh and Pakistan, although currently there are no available statistics for the latter two countries.

Ali Kazimi's documentary, Runaway Grooms (released in 2005), shows two women, Namita Jain and Sonia Kaur, in India who have been impacted by a combination of social customs, foreign law and greed and are speaking out about the issue through the media and the judicial system.

As shown in the documentary and attested to by domestic violence advocates, women are abandoned (also referred to as "marry-and-dump") after they marry an émigré, who returns with the promise of applying for his spouse to immigrate to the US.

However, the bride is left waiting, often pregnant and with no communication from the husband. If the émigré happens to bring the spouse to the US, the couple often returns to the country of origin under the pretext of going on a "vacation" to visit their families and the spouse is abandoned, leaving her without her immigration and identification documents so as to disallow her from returning to the US.

When the émigré returns to the US, he petitions for the dissolution of the marriage and given the lack of access to information, immigration documents and financial resources the abandoned spouse is unable to retain an attorney to represent her interest in court thereby allowing the émigré to get a default judgment.

Given that the abandoned spouse does not respond to the divorce filing as they are often falsely informed by her émigré that they do not need to file a response, the judge presiding over the case does not order alimony, child support or equitable distribution of assets. In these instances, the women are debased and at times, the family has been forced to relocate due to the shame that has been brought on to the family due to the divorce.

South Asian Network (SAN) finds that the victims of this are mostly women with educated and upper class women being impacted as much as women from rural areas. SAN advocates find that often the émigrés want to extort dowry, and if the wife's family is unable to provide it, they are abandoned.

Also, often émigrés cite that they were under parental pressure to marry someone from their country of origin hence abandonment of the spouse is an easy way to address the matter. However, whether for greed or due to pressure, much like other forms of abuse, the immigration status of the émigré leaves the abandoned spouse at their mercy. Such dependency plays a critical role in increasing the vulnerability of women who are on H4 dependant visas as they are unable to work and have limited access legal and health resources.

In most of these cases, the children are taken away from the abandoned woman and if the woman is pregnant when she is abandoned the émigré does not provide for the child. Recently, Sandhya Shukla, Director of Social Services at the (MOIA), met with SAN and other South Asian women's organizations in the United States to develop transnational alliances to address this issue.

She traveled with the intention of gathering recommendations from advocates as to the measures that MOIA can take to address the concerns of women who have been abandoned by their émigré spouses. The Ministry of Overseas Indian

Affairs began an initiative this year to provide legal, financial and mental health resources to women who have been abandoned. The Ministry has also published a pamphlet, titled "Marriages to Overseas Indians", to increase the level of awareness, suggest preventive measures as well as interventions for women in India, whose soon-to-be husbands reside aboard. According to Shukla, "many cases involve women who are unaware of the available resources."

This is cited by Shukla and other advocates as one reason for the under reporting hence they feel it is imperative that women are provided the necessary information so that they may report these issues to the government. Firoza Chic Dabby, the Executive Director at Asian & Pacific Islander Institute on Domestic Violence, also encourages parents to be vigilant as often families aspire to send their children to live abroad without realizing the potential risks as these marriages occur without a thorough background check of the émigré.

Currently in the US, efforts are underway to address abandonment and support women through financial, legal, and mental health resources. SAN finds that the federal immigration laws such as Violence Against Women Act and Immigration Marriage Fraud Act govern marriages involving immigrants much more so than state laws allow hence abandoned women can often seek immigration relief under these acts.

If abused, derivative spouses who were married to a US citizen or legal permanent resident can seek to adjust their immigration status by self-petitioning. If their spouse is a temporary foreign worker admitted under the A, E, G, or H non-immigrant visa programs, the abandoned spouse may be approved to work if there is evidence of violence or extreme cruelty.

Also, based on the recommendation of the National Commission of Women, the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs has stated that they will establish "cells" in the India embassies and high commissions to collaborate with domestic violence organizations, which in turn will disburse financial assistance in the amount of $1,000 to Indian women deserted in India or overseas within two years of marriage and divorce proceedings initiated by the émigré husband within two years of the marriage. They also plan to provide legal assistance to abandoned spouse where the émigré is granted an ex-parte decree of divorce.

In addition to this, advocates believe that various other actions such as the enforcement of mandatory registration of marriages, listing of marital status on passport, bilateral treaties with foreign countries so as to seek legal action against émigrés, etc. need to be taken to hold the émigrés accountable. Also, families and individuals need to be alert as to the background of the émigré and retain copies of immigration documents so as to avoid such situations.

SAN is also attempting to change the perceptions of police officers and family law judges through cultural sensitivity trainings so that they prioritize the rights of the victims regardless of their immigration status since advocates have found that often the victim is not given the same amount of credibility as her émigré spouse.

Often when victims from South Asia need legal resources they are forced to retain private attorneys, who generally charge at least $4,000 in fees. Domestic violence advocates continue to identify and create a network of pro bono attorneys, referrals for educational, financial and mental health resources, create materials to raise awareness and empower victims in the South Asian community as well as connect with other immigrant communities that may be faced with similar concerns.

Another victim of abandonment whose husband surprised her with a trip to Dhaka, Bangladesh contacted SAN when she realized that her husband had fled the country a few days after they landed along with her immigration documents.

She was able to return to the US by obtaining travel documents through the US Embassy as she had sufficient proof of her marriage to the émigré and immigration status. Upon her arrival in the US, she was able to stay with supportive friends and later in a shelter where she accessed counseling services, job placement, and legal resources to file for divorce.

While the emotional impact of such an event can only be addressed over a course of time, the creation of a strong formal legal and community framework is the only way in which the immediate financial and legal issues faced by women who are abandoned in South Asian can be addressed.