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Over 5,000 Czechs married foreigners in 2014

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Prague, Sept 21 (CTK) – The number of Czechs who marry a foreigner has doubled over the past 20 years and it was more than 5000 in 2014, with men prevailing among the foreign spouses, daily Pravo writes.

In 1995, about 2500 Czech men and women married a foreigner.

In relation to the migration wave, a further increase in the number of such mixed marriages can be expected as marrying a Czech woman is the fastest way for a non-European man to get permanent residence and welfare benefits in the country, the paper writes.

But approximately 1900 of these mixed marriages get divorced every year, according to the official data.

Czechs mostly marry foreigners out of love, but sometimes the motivation is profit and feigned marriages are procured, too, Pravo writes.

In case of feigned marriages, a Czech is paid for marrying a non-EU citizen. The formal spouses often meet only once or twice in their life, on the wedding day and, if the Czech partner is lucky enough, at the divorce proceeding. If the Czech is not lucky, the foreign spouse takes loans and leaves the country, the paper writes.

As soon as the foreign partner gets a visa after the feigned marriage, they move to West Europe.

If the marriage is not feigned, people do not mind the differences in life styles, traditions and and cultures when they fall in love. But the differences may become a problem when this initial period ends, Pravo writes.

“I married an American man and I expected my life to be like that in the Dallas soap opera. I actually lived at a farm, like in the TV series, but the nearest town was 89 miles away and I got there once a month. There was only heat, herds of cows and rattlesnakes,” said a Czech woman who married in the United States.

In societies where women have very different rights and duties, it is more difficult to live together with a foreign man. Unless a Czech woman knows the environment, in which she is going to live, and unless both partners are tolerant and agree on the form of their future life in advance, problems in everyday life are likely to arise, Pravo writes.

It repeatedly happened that a Czech wife visited the homeland of her husband with their children, considering the visit to the exotic country a romantic holiday, but the husband told her that they would stay there. The woman was able to return to the Czech Republic, but only alone, without the children, Pravo writes.

Experts say a marriage with a foreigner should be carefully considered and lawyers recommend the signing of a prenuptial agreement based on Czech law.

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