Udon Thani Leads Nation In Foreign Husbands

[george]

Udon Thani leads nation in foreign husbands

UDON THANI: A survey carried out in the Northeast has found that Udon Thani province has the most women married to foreigners.

The survey, carried out in 15 northeastern provinces by the National Economic and Social Development Board, found 14,063 women from the predominantly agricultural Northeast who were married to non-Thais.

Udon Thani, Khon Kaen and Nong Khai topped other provinces with 15 per cent, 14 per cent and 9 per cent, respectively, of the women surveyed who were married to men from foreign countries.

Supoj Rodruang secretary of Udon Thani Provincial Office said that there were 845 women in Udon Thani married to foreigners and living in Thailand, and more than 1,000 women living overseas with their foreign husbands.

Supot said Nong Wua Saw District, where many women seek work overseas, reported the most foreign marriages.

“They return from abroad with foreign husbands and marry them in Thailand,’’ he said.

Sureeporn Intanet, 27, a resident of Maha Sarakham’s Kosumpisai district, said she employed a dating company to find a foreign husband.

In May Sureeporn went to Germany to live with a 42-year-old German computer programmer.

“He has taken good care of me. We fell in love and decided to get married in Thailand,’’ she said.

Sureeporn said she heard about the dating service from friends, some of whom returned from overseas with husbands of their own.

--The Nation 2003-11-24