Re: Don't like to be pessimistic but . . .
These arrangements seem to be business deals of sort and I guess that is what a marriage used to be before Jane Austen gave everyone too many romantic ideas.
A neighbour did this, only his wife was Thai. He spent a couple of years wrangling with the home office. Then sold his house and moved to Thailand. He was incredibly annoyed that she couldn't stay here legally despite the marriage. I am not sure he was that happy. She was much younger too. I remember seeing them arguing in the street.
I also worked with someone in his thirites who had a mail order bride from an African country. He wasn't much of a looker, so I guess it was a good way for him to pair up. I'm not sure how it worked out. He was spending months trying to sort out her journey to Britain and he was really excited about it.
I also had a cooker installed by yet another guy who had married a much younger African bride but he was planning to move over there eventually and set up a charity. He was very religious and he didn't see a future in this country. Said it was too materialistic here and people were much nicer in Africa.