Romanian Transnational Families by Viorela Ducu

Author:Viorela Ducu
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Springer International Publishing, Cham

The Transnational Formation of These Couples

A defining moment in the life of people on the move in foreign countries is the formation of transnational couples (Romanian-Romanian of binational ), in which we can observe the role that online technology (e.g., Facebook, dating sites or simple transnational communication by phone) has in finding a partner, either in the home country or in another. This moment in the life of a couple tends to be analyzed as a specific moment; but, in the case of couples who are formed transnationally, it tends to be the transnational relationship that is highlighted, since this differentiates the period when the couple was formed and/or existed in a virtual sense from that when it actually became physically connected.

Young Romanian migrants, as in the case of migrants of other nationalities, tend to form couples with other Romanians, even if it seems that they are the Eastern European migrants who are most open to binational marriages (Robila 2009). When the migrant’s partner lives in another country, usually in Romania, ICT plays a fundamental role in developing and crystallizing their couple relationship.

The classical scenario is thus: the young migrant meets his/her future partner while the latter is on a trip abroad, or during the former’s visit to Romania while making new acquaintances or rekindling old ones. During these (usually short) encounters, a contact is made, and then partners switch to communication through ICT means. Eventually, their relationship reaches a new level and they decide to move in together, meaning that the Romanian partner follows the other abroad.

Rareș met his wife Anca while she was visiting a mutual friend in the USA. They went onto communicate through Yahoo Messenger for nine months. After nine months, he traveled to Romania to marry her. Their decision to marry so quickly was influenced by US legislation; otherwise, Anca’s reunion with Rareș would have been much more difficult.

András, who joined his parents in the UK at the age of 14, met his wife, former schoolmate Maria, during a tenth-grade school graduation anniversary, to which he was invited in Romania. After this reunion, Maria and András became friends on Facebook and continued to communicate for a few months, before the couple decided that Maria should move to London as well. After a few months, the family in London organized the wedding.

Laura met her partner during a short visit to Romania in a town where she used to live before moving to Belgium. They communicated for several months using ICT , before deciding that Codrin should move in with her in Belgium.

These limited connection times, followed by the consolidation of the relationship through ICT , reflect the most common ways in which couples involving migrants and stayers form. Technology has made it possible to develop new strategies of transnational couple forming, whereby the partners meet and develop a relationship through ICT, then go onto form a real-life couple.

“But when relationships are developed online, they are done so without all of the information one might ascertain in

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