Daily AncestorWar bride
A war bride was the foreign wife of a U.S. serviceman; the War Brides Act of 1945 let such wives and their children enter outside the quotas.
The War Brides Act of December 28, 1945 admitted alien spouses and children of members of the U.S. armed forces as nonquota immigrants, if otherwise admissible. More than 100,000 came under it and its extensions before it expired in December 1948. The Fiancees Act of 1946 eased admission of fiancees as well.
Racial limits still applied at first. Chinese wives qualified because Chinese exclusion had been repealed in 1943, and a 1950 law opened the way for Korean and Japanese spouses. Japanese wives of U.S. servicemen also arrived in the mid-1950s.
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Daily Ancestor. "War bride." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/immigration/war-bride. Last checked 2026-10-12.