Millions of people around the world hope to immigrate into the United States. Due to American immigration quotas, only a small percentage are admitted to the U.S. each year. One way to hasten the process is to marry an American citizen. As a result, there are many companies that help American men meet foreign women.

Usually they publish a directory of foreign women, including photo and brief descriptive profile. American men are encouraged to correspond with these foreign women through the mail.

There is nothing illegal about these correspondence dating services. What is illegal, however, are sham marriages that are often arranged by unscrupulous companies that charge foreign women thousands of dollars to come to the U.S. to marry 

American men whom they have never met. Usually these marriages are never consummated sexually and a divorce follows shortly. The U.S. Immigration Service is quite aware of this scam and has tightened procedures to prevent the success of such unscrupulous companies.

The basic problem with these services is that eventually either you or your "pen pal" have to travel a long distance in order to meet each other. In the case of American men seeking foreign women, almost inevitably it is the American who winds up paying for the plane fare.

A second problem with international dating services is the potential for being exploited. As soon as your mate becomes naturalized, you may be expendable. 

Also, it is common for foreign brides to want to bring their entire families over to the United States eventually. Guess whose home they'll be staying at while they are getting established?

Not all correspondence dating services involve American singles meeting foreign singles. There are many such services that entail a "pen pal" relationship between American singles.