A/HRC/4/24/Add.2 page 11 39. In accordance with Article 333 of the Amended Guidelines on the Resident Status of Foreign National Spouse married with Korean Nationals (1 October 1999), foreign spouses married to Korean nationals - whether male or female - shall obtain approval regarding the resident status. 40. As of May 2006, according to the Korean Nationality Act, foreign wives are eligible to apply for Korean nationality after two years instead of five years of married life with a Korean spouse. However, the male spouse’s support is required for the application, which is another inequality in favour of Korean male spouses. 41. One of the most fundamental problems for the authorities is the integration of foreign spouses into the Korean society and very few surveys are carried out through provincial authorities and governors to understand the phenomena and provide assistance. 42. The federal government believes that this is an area under the jurisdiction of provincial authorities. But provinces are not allocated sufficient budgets from the federal government for language classes and cultural integration. Provincial authorities’ guidelines are not legally binding. Each province has its own system of running agencies, regulations and education programmes. The provincial authorities can also contact the Government of a foreign spouse directly. 43. A number of the international marriages are prearranged and constitute mail ordered brides. In 2005 it was estimated that there were more than 1,000 wedding agencies operating in the Republic of Korea.5 These matchmaking agencies are registered as business companies without specific qualifications. The procedures of international marriage agencies are diverse photo, interview, post-mail order, video file, travel packages through marriage agencies and group marriages through religious groups. The agencies reportedly charge excessive fees from both sides. International marriage agencies offer various marriage packages for South Korean men, which cost approximately US$ 10,000. During the application process to RoK, foreign wives often suffer from lack of information about the country, its traditions and social life. They often do not speak the language and no adequate interpretation facilities are provided to them upon arrival to RoK. 44. Matchmaking agencies are reported to confiscate the passports and the immigration visas of foreign spouses and prevent female foreign spouses from contacting those who have the same nationality. If they divorce, in some cases they are sent back to their countries through the agencies. 45. Foreign female spouses interviewed by the Special Rapporteur expressed their distress due to varying reasons. In many cases their husbands did not have a stable job and they had to work to pay their husband’s expenses. Since they are not allowed to work legally, they automatically belong to a marginal labour market. Without any formal language training, foreign wives are sometimes put to work soon after entering RoK along with other migrant 5 www.semoonchang.com.