Vietnamese Brides in Taiwan: Who Are They?

Since 2001, Vietnamese brides account for almost half of the foreign brides in Taiwan. In 2006, Vietnamese brides accounted for 85 percent of total 11,973 persons becoming Taiwanese citizens with an additional 1,000 new brides each year. This study provides an overview of characteristics of Vietnamese brides as well as factors affecting their decision to marry with Taiwanese. The study is conducted in Mekong River Delta – the main source of Vietnamese brides to Taiwan Research findings reveal a big gap in age between brides and blooms i.e. 13 year, relative low educations and lower economic conditions. The marriages are in many cases arranged by marriage agencies with average time to official marriage ceremony is only 3.5 days. Marriage decision is decided by the brides themselves (40%), parents (34%) and jointly (24%). Economic reason plays an important role in making marriage decision in the forms of willingness to help families or the brides themselves want to have opportunity to change their lives, to stay in a foreign country, etc. Public attitude towards this marriage phenomenon also change over time from against the marriage to understanding and then somewhat agree with the Vietnamese brides.