How Many Mail-Order Marriages End in Divorce: Main Statistics

The number of international marriages is growing rapidly. In 2021, the share of marriages in the USA including a foreign spouse reached a historical maximum — 12.4%. But without specific numbers, it’s difficult to understand the real scale.

Mail order bride statistics show not only this; you can see the real impact of international marriages on the economy and social structure of the USA. This article will give you an understanding of this and many other aspects of dating. For example, how many mail-order marriages end in divorce? Some claim that the divorce rate for mail-order marriages ranges from around 35% to 41%, which is 7-13% lower compared to the overall US divorce rate. Other studies confirm that immigrants are less likely to divorce than conational couples. The approximate answer is 30-40%, but a lot will depend on a plethora of factors, and we’re going to discuss all of them here.

Facts that explain everything: Statistics & scientific findings

First, let’s start with some key facts and figures that can help understand what the situation with cross-cultural marriages is really like.

Over 21% of married households in the United States have one foreign-born spouse.
Intermarriage rates are also very high in the UK, which welcomed over 242,000 family migrants in 2022.
There are certain countries with the highest marriage migration rates. For example, in Asia, it’s the Philippines. In 2022, nearly 5,000 K-1 Filipino visa applicants will enter the US to get married. The US, along with the UK, Canada, and Australia also welcomes marriage migrants from Thailand, China, Vietnam, Ukraine, Russia, Mexico, and Brazil.
Contrary to popular belief, mail-order brides don’t mention financial motivation or an opportunity to immigrate as the main reasons why they made such a decision, even when their husbands are not around. Most say that they were just attracted to foreign men, which is often explained by positive stereotypes.
The divorce rate for mail-order marriages is a bit lower than the divorce rate for conational couples, which can be explained by the fact that foreign brides usually come from more religious and traditional societies and take marriage more seriously.

Simply put, mail-order bride marriages are still a thing. There are countries with the highest number of brides who intermarry, and their motivation is usually related to their personal preferences and desire to start a family rather than financial or other reasons. Their strong family and sometimes religious values often make their marriages last.

Recommended mail-order brides websites

Another interesting question is how men find foreign brides. The time when you could literally choose a wife from a catalog is long gone (which, by the way, explains the better success rate). Today, men search for future spouses online and build authentic relationships before they propose. We’ve picked a few websites that work best for singles seeking cross-cultural relationships.

Dating Sites | Jacob Lucas recommendation

Approved by: Peggy Freeman

Core U.S. Immigration Data

K-1 visa is the main path for foreign brides to the USA. The numbers show clear trends and speak of the real scale of international marriages.

Fiscal Year	Total K-1 Visas Issued	Top Source Countries (with numbers)
FY2022	21,351	Philippines (4,968), Mexico (1,216), Colombia (1,006), Dominican Republic (710), Great Britain and Northern Ireland (675)
FY2023	19,825	Philippines (2,747), Mexico (1,696), Colombia (850), Dominican Republic (749), Brazil (657)
FY2024	47,579	Philippines (10,228), Mexico (4,180), Vietnam (2,208), Dominican Republic (1,969), Colombia (1,863)

Pay attention to the dramatic jump in 2024. Almost 2.5 times more visas than in 2023. This is not a coincidence and not an anomaly. COVID-19 seriously disrupted the work of consulates in 2020-2021.

Demographic Statistics

Stereotypes paint a picture of old, rich Americans and young, uneducated brides seeking salvation. Official data destroys these myths.

Category	U.S. Men	Foreign Brides
Average age at first Marriage	~30.2 years	~27.9 years in cross-border marriages
Age gap in cross-border marriages	~7 years older than the bride, on average	~27.9 years (~4 year gap on average)
Education (Age 25+, bachelor’s or higher)	36.9% of American men have bachelor’s degree	Over 1/3 of immigrant women 25+ have bachelor’s degree
Employment & labor force	General participation	Immigrant women = 7.9% of U.S. workforce in 2025
Post-2019 labor force growth	General participation	Foreign-born women drove nearly 2/3 of post-2019 increase in prime-age women’s labor-force participation

Legal and Safety Statistics

History has shown that without regulation of international marriages, abuse and fraud are possible. The USA has created one of the strictest protection systems in the world. Let’s look at specific laws and statistics.

Romance scams

More than 70,000 Americans became victims of online romantic scams in 2022. This is more than just an inconvenience. This is a serious financial catastrophe for many victims. Many lose tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Verified platforms with profile verification help avoid this. They remove profiles that ask for money or behave inappropriately.

K-1 Visa process

Overall, this is a multi-level test that couples wishing to marry and live in the USA must pass. Proof of the relationship is required. Also, the bride must pass an interview at the American consulate. An immigration specialist will determine whether the relationship is real or fictitious. Approximately 20,000 applications are rejected each year at the consular interview stage. It is about 40% of all K-1 applications.

Even after the wedding, checks continue. When she files for a green card, USCIS conducts another interview with the couple together.

The first green card is conditional — it’s valid for only two years. A few months before expiration, the couple must file a petition. Then, another interview and another check await them. Only after this she receives a permanent green card for 10 years.

Economic Impact

One of the most common myths is that immigrants are an economic burden. They “take jobs from Americans or live on benefits”. Official statistics completely refute these claims.

Labor force contribution. Immigrant women constituted 7.9% of the entire U.S. workforce in 2025. They hold critical positions in many sectors of the economy.
Tax revenue. In 2023, immigrant households paid about $89.8 billion in federal and local taxes.
Labor force growth. Between 2000 and 2022, immigration provided almost 75% of labor force growth in the USA. These are critically important statistics because the birth rate among Americans is falling. Without immigrants, the U.S. workforce would be shrinking.

These numbers are indisputable. Immigrant women are not a burden, but an asset. The economic contribution of women immigrants is necessary for the prosperity of the USA.

Which mail-order marriages are most likely to last?

There are certain factors that show that a mail-order marriage is more likely to be happy, healthy, and last over decades. Most frequently, they are as follows.

1. Longer dating period

It works for conational couples, too, but it’s even more important for binational couples. If partners are dating for at least a year, they have a better chance to build a happy family. That can be easily explained by the fact that the longer people communicate, the more they learn about each other. It’s easier to see red flags and find out whether you can tolerate something that is important to your partner.

2. Deeper emotional and spiritual connection

Psychologists often note that it’s crucially important for couples, especially for couples who are now going through the long-distance relationship phase, to talk about something besides daily routine, favorite movies, colleagues, etc. It’s important to discuss values, beliefs, fears, moments that make you happy, and some spiritual and philosophical things. That will not only make your connection deeper and stronger—you’ll get immune to fights and arguments that happen for no important reason at all.

3. More meetings in real life

Physical touches, mimics, gestures, and sound voices are what keep us together. Of course, emotional connection matters, but it’s based on physical connection, too, and that doesn’t have to mean sex. It just means that couples who just met once still are strangers at least at the physical level, and though exceptions exist, we’d still recommend meeting in real life at least a few times.

4. Good relationships with families

In nearly all top mail-order bride countries, the institution of the family is really strong. No matter if you’re going to marry a woman from Vietnam, the Philippines, Mexico, or Ukraine, her relationships with her family will be strong. She’ll also need to build a relationship with your parents, and if, in both cases, you make enough effort to find common ground, that will definitely have a positive impact on your marriage. That’s especially important if one or both spouses have children from previous marriages.

5. Support during the period of cultural assimilation

Another important phase is the time after the wedding when a mail-order bride is getting used to a new life. That’s an incredibly difficult period, and though there are nations that assimilate better (for example, the success rate is high for mail-order wives from the Philippines), certain difficulties arise anyway. If both partners support and try to understand each other, they have a better chance of making it work.

6. Strong motivation of a bride to become a part of a new society

Support is important, but the motivation of a woman to assimilate matters a lot, too. If integration is not an empty sound for a wife, if she makes an effort to find new hobbies, meet new people, and find a job (not necessarily a full-time one), the chance of building a harmonious marriage will be much higher.

Which mail-order marriages are more likely to end in divorce?

There are also signs that a mail-order marriage won’t last, and usually, they are as follows:

1. Focusing on specific attributes—appearance, money, etc. when choosing a partner

Here are the most common mistakes both foreign brides and their grooms often make. They like one specific thing about their partner and think that this is already a good reason to build a relationship with this person. For example, a man has a real chance to find a foreign woman who’s “out of his league”. If that’s the only thing that motivates him, there is a high chance that won’t end well just because dozens of important personal things are missed. And in the end, we never fall for and then live with someone’s outer beauty only.

2. Very specific expectations about marriage that don’t match

Sometimes, both partners expect a very specific thing. For example, one of the partners may be completely sure that another partner must be employed no matter what, want 3 children, live in a suburb—that may be anything, but it must be a specific demand. If this expectation doesn’t become a reality, that often causes conflicts that can’t be solved.

3. Lack of communication

This is the most serious reason for divorce in the future. Chemistry matters, but it’s not enough to build a deep and healthy relationship. If couples don’t communicate enough, if they conceal their feelings instead of expressing them in a polite and friendly manner, they won’t be able to build a real emotional connection and compromise in the future.

4. Bad relationships with friends and family

As we’ve noted previously, it’s incredibly important, especially if partners’ bonds with their families are very strong and they communicate regularly. Still, even if their relationships with each other’s parents aren’t that good, there’s still a chance that they will cope with it. But if their children from previous marriages live with them, and relationships are bad, a couple will hardly handle it. That’s why it’s so important for a man dating a mail-order bride who already has kids to focus on relationships with them too, when visiting his potential wife. That may determine the future success or failure of marriage.

5. Fundamentally different values

There are 7 dimensions of culture that allow understanding the main differences between two societies. In most cases, if we compare American society and societies of mail-order bride countries, we’ll see the same difference—Americans have more individualistic values, while women from Vietnam, the Philippines, Ukraine, Mexico, and many other top mail-order bride countries have more communitarian values. It’s not a bad thing, but if the individualistic values of one of the partners are too strong, the chance is their own goals and ambitions will turn out to be more important than family goals.

Professional advice for those who consider mail-order bride marriages

How many mail order marriages end in divorce? Now you know the answer. Those who consider meeting mail-order wives should consider that they have a real chance to improve their chances of starting a strong and happy family, and they’ll be higher if they follow some practical recommendations:

Ask yourself whether you really need this. First of all, consider everything that we’ve mentioned before. Building a relationship isn’t always easy, and though cross-cultural relationships may be as or even more satisfying than relationships between people from the same cultural environment, there’ll be certain difficulties, and you should start this journey only if your motivation is strong enough.
Choose a destination country carefully. There’s enough information on national characters and personality traits of women from particular societies. As we’ve noted previously, there are 7 dimensions of culture, and you can compare them for your country and a country where you consider finding a bride using a free tool.
Choose the site and create the most informative profile possible. It may not seem to be important, but in reality, you can narrow the search to your best matches simply by explaining your goals and expectations, describing your lifestyle, and mentioning what you are looking for in a partner. A woman who’s not into your lifestyle won’t contact you, and that’s actually a good thing.
Don’t focus on appearance only. Physical attraction isn’t enough to build a happy family. Though it may seem that the chemistry between you is too strong, that won’t last if you have nothing to share.
Make every effort to build that emotional bond. When you start a long-distance relationship (and you’ll need to start it anyway), it’s crucially important to get really close to another person without having an opportunity to see them regularly. Psychologists recommend using more advanced tools to make it work. For example, texting is convenient, but if you want to build an emotional connection, video chatting and phone calls will be way more effective.
Make plans together and become a part of each other’s lives. Another thing that helps partners get closer is planning. That’s how you can wait for something great together and make the bond stronger. Also, you can introduce your partner to your family and friends even at a distance, make video calls, share news, etc.

With modern technology, finding a partner overseas and, most importantly, starting a genuine, deep, and satisfying relationship is easier than ever before. That, in part, explains why mail-order bride marriages may work, but we shouldn’t also ignore the cases in which they don’t work.

Knowledge is power, and being rational isn’t always a bad thing. If you see the perks and potential difficulties, you’ll be able to develop realistic expectations and, in the end, succeed.

Key Takeaways

Here are the main facts and numbers to remember about international marriages and mail order brides in the USA.

K-1 Visa numbers are significant. In 2022, the U.S. government issued 21,351 K-1 visas for foreign brides and 3,441 K-2 visas for their children. In 2023, the number slightly decreased to 19,825 visas. But in 2024, a dramatic jump occurred to 47,579 visas.
Romance scams are dangerous. 70,000 Americans became victims of online romantic scams in 2022. Scammers pretend to be foreign brides (or grooms) and create fake profiles.
Intermarriage is growing. In 2021 in the USA 12.4% of marriages were concluded, including a foreign spouse. This trend is especially strong among young Americans. Generation Z and millennials don’t see the barriers that their parents and grandparents saw.
Online dating is mainstream. About 19% of internet users in the USA use online dating apps to search for a partner right now. Another 27% tried them in the past. This means that almost half (46%) of Americans have experience with online dating.
30-40% – the divorce rate for mail-order marriages. It depends on various factors.

If you’re considering international relationships, these statistics should encourage and inform you.

Thousands of Americans are doing the same thing every year, and the legal procedures are clearly understandable and adequate, though not that quick. You can check out mail order bride services for starters to see how online dating works by yourself, and do it from the comfort of your own home.

Jacob Lucas

Dating Expert

Hi, I'm Jacob Lucas. I'm an experienced dating coach and influencer specializing in relationships and dating advice. I'm also the chief author at Mail-Brides.org. I use my expertise in cross-cultural relationships and communication with singles and couples worldwide to give recommendations that will really work for international singles.

How Many Mail-Order Marriages End in Divorce: Mail Order Bride Statistics