Mail-Order Brides.

Chagen

These are creepy as hell. Not the brides, but more that these are companies dedicated to selling women off as brides. Not to mention the language barrier. The hell?

Also, when they are shown in fiction, why is the bride always Russian?

Nyktos

I've definitely seen fictional depictions of them from places besides Russia, but the main reason would be that there are a lot of people who want to get out of Russia, I guess.

As for the concept itself...eh, lots of women marry men for their money; this way they're honest about it.

Longfellow

Eastern Europe generally.

Bob

What confuses me is the relationship part itself. Do the brides try to develop feelings for their "husbands" or do they make it known that they're just doing it for citizenship and that they want nothing further than that?

Old Saturn

Either/or, I think

Elbeem

As long as the bride isn't coerced into it, I don't have a problem with the transaction itself.

It does raise concerns of a skewed power dynamic between the husband and wife, though, if the husband can hold divorce (and deportation) over her head. I'm not sure how all that works, however.

Chagen

Also, how can you really express your love if you two don't even speak the same language?

Elbeem

You're assuming the kinds of men that are statistically likely to use a mail-order bride service would be interested in their wives being able to talk back. =P

Chagen

That's....not something one should joke about.

Forzare

That's also probably true.

Elbeem

Also, the bride would have an extremely limited social network, as all of her friends and family would be left back in her home country with potentially no means of contacting her. So there's definitely potential for abuse there.