At first glance, it seems that the stir is now over. However, if we take a closer look at K-1 visa reports for 2022 and intermarriage rates, we’ll see that the number of female marriage immigrants is growing instead of declining.
So, are mail-order brides still a thing? Yes, they are, but this market has changed a lot, and those changes must definitely be taken into consideration. In this guide, we’ll talk about mail-order marriages, modern foreign brides, their motivation, and real ways to meet them in 2025.
| Best countries to meet a real mail-order bride | Average age of a mail-order spouse | Top sites to meet a real mail-order bride | Minimum price of getting a mail-order bride |
| The Philippines | 27 | SakuraDate | $6,000 |
| Thailand | 25 | SakuraDate | $6,500 |
| Ukraine | 26 | SofiaDate | $5,500 |
| Brazil | 30 | LatiDate | $7,000 |
| Mexico | 30 | ColombiaLady | $6,500 |
Best mail-order bride & international dating sites
Are mail-order brides real? Yes, there are a lot of foreign women looking for foreign boyfriends and husbands online, but the thing is, you can meet them only on top international websites. Our experts have chosen the top platforms for you. Decide who you want to meet—Russian women, Latin brides, Asian girls, or Ukrainian women—and choose the website that will suit your needs.
Most Popular Choice
Mail-order bride regulations in different countries
In the eyes of the law in most countries, mail-order brides are just foreign citizens who are going to immigrate to start families with local citizens. There are certain legal procedures that allow immigrants to enter without much difficulty, so let’s take a look at them with the example of the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom.
- USA. Couples who want to get married in the United States need to apply for a K-1 visa for a bride, wait for around six months until it’s approved, and then the foreign bride can stay in the country, get married within 90 days, and apply for adjustment of status.
- Canada. In Canada, foreigners can get married as country visitors. A foreign wife who married a Canadian citizen will be able to apply for spousal sponsorship and become a permanent resident in Canada.
- UK. If a bride is going to get married in the UK, she’ll need to apply for a marriage visa. After it’s approved, she’ll be able to enter the country, get married within six months, stay for five more years, and apply for Indefinite Leave to Remain status.
In all cases, the couple will need to prove that the foreign spouse or fiancee isn’t motivated solely by migration as is, that they have an authentic romantic relationship, and that they have met in person at least once.
Understanding the motivations from both sides
Are mail-order brides a real thing? Yes, they are. But another interesting question is, what makes people living thousands of miles away from each other overcome multiple difficulties to start a relationship? Are foreign wives interested only in migration and money? Do men look for submissive spouses who’d be fully dependent on them?
Not really—it’s a bit more complicated.
What makes foreign women consider mail-order marriage?
- Strong desire to start a family. First and foremost, it’s about the desire to find a serious relationship. Most foreign mail-order brides are young and beautiful, so they experience no difficulty with finding local partners, but, as many of them note, it’s difficult to find someone who’s really ready to settle down.
- Local social, economic, cultural, and political difficulties. These circumstances vary greatly from country to country. It may be the negative impact of machismo values, high domestic violence rates, problems with women’s rights, high alcohol abuse rates, etc. Still, there’s at least one thing all foreign wives have in common. They see a mail-order marriage as a way to avoid negative scenarios.
- Personal preferences. There are a lot of places in the world where women are attracted to foreign women. Sometimes, it’s explained by historical reasons; sometimes, it’s explained by the strong cultural impact, but often, foreign brides choose men from other countries just because they like them.
- Past experiences. Hard breakups and divorces also often become the final reason to change the approach and consider finding a partner with a completely different cultural background.
What makes men search for mail-order brides?
- Desire to settle down. Dating may be great, but sometimes, people just aren’t ready to date different partners for years and years until they find the right person. Just like Colombian women, girls from Asia, and brides from Slavic countries, some men just want serious relationships and a family as soon as possible, not in the next decade.
- Easier way of finding a partner. Brides looking for foreign men and men looking for foreign brides usually know what they want. On top niche websites, you’ll meet people with similar goals and will be able to find a partner. The success rate is higher compared to most mainstream dating apps.
- Better chance of meeting a similar-minded person. Surprisingly, if you have certain values, you may have a better chance to find a perfect match overseas. For example, American men who are more conservative than the American women they meet may search for love in more conservative countries, for example, in Asia.
- Attraction to foreign women. It’s a simple yet important reason. Some men are searching for a perfect Russian woman, and some want to find love in Latin America just because they know local girls are absolutely their type.
As you can see, it’s more than just the desire for a better life or the desire to marry a young and hot woman. International marriages may be satisfying for both parties: American men or guys from other Western countries and foreign women. In reality, sometimes, people with different cultural backgrounds can find things they couldn’t find in local partners in their matches living thousands of miles away.
Step-by-step guide on how to find your mail-order bride
Approaches may be different, but the algorithm of actions a foreign man should take to find a life partner in Asia, Latin America, or Europe is always the same.
Find a dating service provider.
Ideally, it should be a good international dating site or a mail-order bride site with single women from the chosen region (Asia, Latin America, Europe) or a particular country with a good set of features and reasonable prices.
Set up an account and start your search
Once you make a choice, join the community, create a competitive profile, and start using search features to find people who meet all your most important criteria.
Communicate with ladies until you find a girlfriend
Communicate with your best matches and choose the person who seems to be the one. At this stage, most people start a long-distance relationship.
Meet your girlfriend in real life
Once you make sure you’ve found the right person, go meet your bride in real life. The number, duration, and frequency of trips are up to you. Also, note that dating sites don’t provide travel services—it’s you who should arrange the trip.
Propose and get married.
At the final stage, a man usually applies for a visa for his foreign bride. The couple collects all the documents and evidence that their relationship is authentic, and once the visa is granted, they get married.
As you can see, it’s not about wealthy men looking for young, hot girls who’d agree to get married to someone from a more developed country. It’s more like regular traditional dating, and that explains why more modern mail-order marriages work.
How to choose a real mail-order bride site
The truth is, international dating sites are a lot more like regular online dating sites than you might think. However, they must meet more quality criteria and deliver better experiences, and here’s how you can distinguish a good platform from a site that won’t be effective.
- Find feedback from previous customers and read detailed reviews (you can find reviews of top international platforms here, on Mail-brides.org).
- See who the members are, pay special attention to profile quality, and find out how active users are.
- Take a very close look at the price list, make sure the site offers good value for money, and find out if there are any hidden costs.
- Make sure there’s a verification procedure and that profiles are moderated.
- See what the communication and search features are. Make sure they are effective enough and can help you find someone special and build a deep emotional connection with this person.
A good mail-order bride site must be safe, have real members, and offer a good system that will allow you to find a special woman in a short time and without spending a fortune.
The Best Mail-Order Bride Site
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Envisioning the future of mail-order brides
Do mail-order marriages still exist? Yes, they do, and most importantly, their number is likely to increase in the future. Globalization is only getting stronger as a trend, and people don’t want to limit themselves to dating people from their neighborhood, city, or country.
Even now, you don’t have to search for an international marriage agency—all the services are provided online, and you can see mail-order bride profiles in just a few clicks.
The technology will keep developing, but this can change the industry—and not in the best way. Deep fakes, catfishing, and new, more sophisticated types of scams will become more common. We believe that the companies providing international online dating services will need to take measures and improve their security systems accordingly.
Now, you can join a dating site more or less easily, but in the future, there will be more verification procedures for all members. Companies in this niche may also offer new, more interesting communication features and use more advanced matching algorithms.
All in all, though difficulty is inevitable, the industry is likely to keep growing and developing.
Bonus tip
Are there still mail-order brides? Yes, of course. Moreover, finding mail-order brides has never been easier. Still, we wouldn’t recommend just picking a random site and choosing a random country or region to find a bride.
Consider the pros and cons of marrying someone from another country. Do research. Yes, it will take time. Yes, you’ll need to study much information on different nationalities, cultural backgrounds, and peculiarities of different dating cultures. However, you’ll improve your chance of finding the right person by 300%. International marriage arrangements work, but mostly for those who know what they want and what to expect from such relationships.
