From a Spouse to a Citizen: The Gendered and Sexualized Path to Citizenship for Marriage Migrants in South Korea

Abstract

Morality has been a key factor in naturalization. However, defining what constitutes good moral character has never been specified, leaving interpretation of the good moral character requirement to the discretion of immigration officials and judges. Based on an analysis of court cases filed by marriage migrants, this article expands our understanding of the legal interpretation of the “good morality” requirement in two significant ways. First, by examining the nature of the morality requirements applied to marriage migrants applying for citizenship, we identify that controlling sexual morality is one of the key mechanisms of gendering the path to legal citizenship. Second, our analysis questions the fairness of the judicial rulings and shows that judges are not reliable allies for immigrant spouses. South Korean judges tend to show great deference to the administrative branch and rarely rule against the decisions of the immigration officials. Further, the rulings tend to follow cultural and gendered, rather than legal, understanding of “good” wives and husbands. Ultimately, in the case of South Korea we show that that marriage migrant moral jurisprudence deviates from the developing jurisprudence that decriminalizes intimate choices and challenges the traditional gender roles within a family.

Remarriage migration of women in Asia: The case of Japan

“…To be precise, this study provides statistical evidence that many (42.9%) intra‐Asian (especially Chinese, Korean, Filipina and Thai) female marriage migrants in Japan are middle‐aged (40.95 years average) women whose marriages to foreign (Japanese) men are their second marriage. This situation is in sharp contrast with the widely shared view of marriage migrants in East Asia in prior empirical studies: women as reproductive labour at the intersection of the transnational care regime of “global care chains” and paternalism (Kim & Kim, 2020: 445; Lan, 2008a: 841; Lee, 2008: 120; Lee, 2012: 179; Wang, 2007: 714).…”

“…Many such existing studies have tended to discuss marriage migrants in East Asia as reproductive labour. Intra‐Asian marriage migrants in East Asia are often regarded as powerless, obedient, young women from poor parts of Asia, who provide reproductive labour for deficient men who cannot afford local wives or migrant domestic workers in the rich parts of Asia (Kim & Kim, 2020: 445; Lan, 2003: 201; Lee, 2008: 120; Lee, 2012: 179; Wang, 2007: 714).…”

“…Based on empirical research, these studies have tended to place marriage migrants in the proximate domain of domestic workers or nightlife service workers – as reproductive labour at the crossroads of the “international care regime” and traditional East Asian paternalism (Kim & Kim, 2020: 445; Lan, 2008a: 841; Lee, 2008: 120; Lee, 2012: 179; Wang, 2007: 714). In traditional East Asian paternalism, the first son inherits ancestral assets, typically land, and his wife is responsible for taking care of his elderly parents.…”

Domestic Violence in Cross-Border Marriages: A Systematic Review

“…Hence, they face marginalization from both sides because cross-border marriages is condemned also by peers (Kim et al, 2017), with uncertain of citizenship after having been rejected by both countries. Studies reported that these women lose bargaining power and become outsiders without local knowledge with a suspected loyalty to their country of origin (Kim & Kim, 2020).…”

“…Studies have shown that one of the most violent practices of discriminating marriage-related bordering practice is cultural and gender stereotypes, leading to a denial of migration and settlement of South Asian women in Britain as they are forced to undergo the “virginity test” to be accepted as brides (Cheng, 2013; Hoang & Yeoh, 2015; Huang, 2020; Jashari et al, 2021; Wemyss et al, 2017). Judges also viewed marriage migrants through the lens of marriage criminality binary and imposed stricter sexual moral rules on marriage migrants (Kim & Kim, 2020). They are stereotyped as mail-ordered brides, sex workers, or as a social problem, especially Thai women (Hoang & Yeoh, 2015).…”