How Much Does a Mail Order Bride Cost?

Last Updated on December 27, 2023
Written by CPA Alec Pow | Content Reviewed by CFA Alexander Popinker

Nowadays, it is common to go through online dating sites in order to find a match. However, lots of people have resorted to ordering a mail order bride instead. A mail order bride is a service that finds a foreign woman for a possible marriage. The most common countries to offer these services are Russia and Thailand.

How much does a mail order bride cost?

The average cost of a mail order bride is anywhere between $17,500 to $29,000. The process behind it involves three steps, each of them very important in finding the perfect soulmate to.. well.. order by mail.

When talking about finding a mail order bride, an important thing to know is that you may have three different costs to consider. The first cost represents communication expenses while searching for and then meeting your possible bride online. Second and third are the travel expenses and visa/passport fees in order to bring her to the United States.

There are several mail order bride sites that can use to find a foreign bride. These online websites are not any different from the rest of the dating sites out there.

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You will first need to sign up on one of these websites. It may or may not be necessary to pay a monthly fee, depending on the website you’ve picked and whether you need a premium account with additional features or not. If the membership isn’t free, then expect costs that can reach $600+ per month.

This cost includes only the membership fee, so you can search for a woman for you to meet. Once things click and hopefully find yourself in love, you will have to bring the wife-to-be to your location and go through the steps of obtaining legal documentation for her.

This process does not guarantee you a wife and most of the time, the costs will get up to the hundreds of thousands. For example, the country your mail bride is from can substantially increase your budget. Paying this amount of money does not mean you are buying her, these are the costs of meeting an overseas woman.

Just as meeting and dating a woman in the United States, you might end up spending a lot of money only to see that you don’t like her or she doesn’t like you.

American.edu has done a study that concludes that for a group discussion, a regular man may pay anywhere from $3,500 to $6,000. As stated above, there is no guarantee of finding a wife.

Mail order bride overview

As stated above, the first thing you need to do is to sign up and become a member of a website where you can get mail order bride connections or similar types of dating services. With this membership, you will be able to look through a diverse amount of women from different countries.

When you find a profile that gets your interest, if you want to know more information, you can pay a premium fee. This additional information may be a phone number, email, or any kind of contact information. In some instances even her address.

In a group session, several women will be in a room with other men to find a possible match. In general, the rate is somewhere around 30 women to 1 man. Keep in mind that there is the possibility that most of the women can not speak English. However, most group sessions have an interpreter to help people understand each other and find the best partner.

In case you don’t want to participate in one of these group sessions, you will be provided with the contact information of the profile you are interested in. For this information, you will be charged a fee.

Extra costs aside from the mail order bride price

Being from a foreign country, most of these women can not speak English. In this case, in order for you to be able to communicate with them, you will most likely ned a translator. The average rate of a translator is from $12 to $23 per hour.

Another extra cost related to these kinds of online services is for acquiring an address. Expect to pay somewhere from $6 to $29 per woman’s address.

Similar prices are charged for phone talks as well. Several online services may charge you $6 to $12 per minute. This cost is for the translator, in order for you to understand your foreign bride.

It is possible to have some recurring annual membership costs applied. So if you want to keep the membership active and going, don’t forget to save some money, This fee will usually be somewhere around $115 per year.

If you want, you can have printed catalogs, instead of searching women online. Depending on the size, these can cost anywhere from $115 to $230.

On top of these, you have the possibility to visit your soon-to-be mail-order bride. For this type of trip, you will need to consider the costs of a hotel, airfare, food, and extra expenses. All these may come at a final cost of $2,300 to $6,000+. As an example, a flight to Russia may cost $1,400 to $2,300.

Finally, after the mail order spouse is chosen, she will need a VISA in order to live legally in the United States. The cost of obtaining a VISA may be about $1,000.

Also, take into consideration the costs of the marriage itself.

Important things to consider

Keeping constant communication can help you know the person you may want to marry better. So take it step by step and do not fall from the first few words. Many scams can occur in trying to find a wife, especially when it involves a foreign unknown woman. Do your research.

A big red flag may be if she wants to meet you right away or if she asks for money. These ideas should come from you when you consider yourself ready to do so.

Obtaining a VISA also takes time and money. So if she asks to come and visit you in the United States, do not send her money. This kind of legal process is very complex, and you may not see her or that money back.

Pay more attention to what she says, if the messages have a personal feel. Some people are looking to scam you, so watch out for those chain letters.

Keep in mind that there are people who had success in finding a mail order wife and there are people who did not have that luck. Make sure you search online for people who have experience with foreign mail order brides.

Some might think that these brides are not real. Sadly, there seem to be some scammers out there who only want to take your money. But be sure that these brides are real. As mentioned, this is not like going shopping and adding a girl to your cart, and then waiting for her to be delivered to your door.

Most of the time, these women are looking to escape from their country and find a good American citizen to marry. You will still have to woo her, just like in a normal, physical relationship, for a potential marriage.

But what about the legality of these order brides? If all the legal terms of the United States are followed and she has a VISA, this is 100% legal.

Most of the brides come from countries like Russia, the Philippines, Ukraine, India, Brazil, Thailand, and China.

Saving money on the average cost of mail order brides

As with all other services, you can compare various mail order bride companies. Keep in mind that there are a lot of scammers, beware and do your research.

Most of the time, free dating sites are full of scammers. So try to avoid them.