You were happy, you had a pretty young Filipina bride by your side.
She was happy, she was now living in a developed country presumably with a guy that could afford to support her.
I kept in touch with her daily over internet chat and video chat, and I flew back to see her 3 additional times before the 5th and final time when I flew over there with my family and she flew back with us.
We had a traditional Thai engagement ceremony while my family was there and we had a small courthouse wedding a month after we got back to America.
While I never used one, they were a bit before my time (pre 1990 in the Philippines), I think I have a good understanding of how they worked.
You contacted some company in Asia who mailed you a packet with a bunch of pictures of girls and a small write up on each.
First, you can no longer just get a catalog and pick a woman out of it and pay to have her sent to you. In order for her to get a K-1 Fiancee visa, you have to have met her in person at least once and provide substantial evidence of a meaningful relationship such as pictures with both of you, email/phone/chat logs, or other documents such as travel records showing you were both in the same place at the same time (You can apply for an exception to this on cultural grounds if both you and her are part of cultures that regularly practice arranged marriages).
Second, she still has to go through all of the procedures involved in getting a permanent immigration visa.
This guy probably logged onto Thai Cupid: I have been married to what some might call a “mail order” bride for almost a year now, but first let me correct a few common misconceptions about how it works now (in the USA, at least).
There was also a huge uproar about a little joke Alec Baldwin made about hiring a Filipino Mail Order bride, on the Late show.
Baldwin later apologized but the Philippines Bureau of Immigration still blacklisted him from entering the country.
Officially the Filipino mail order bride business was made illegal through the Anti Mail-Order-Bride Law of 1990, which prohibits the practice of matching Filipino women for marriage to foreign nationals on a mail order basis.
Then when it came time to meet the girl they told her the made up background and when you met she played the part that was written for her.