“Mail order bride” is a notion that most of us have heard about, but few actually know what it really means. There are all kinds of myths and misconceptions surrounding mail order brides. One of them is that this concept is a thing of the past, and that now people are no longer using this method of finding potential spouses. The good news is that we are here to make things clear, so here is a definitive investigation to answer one important question: “Do mail order brides actually exist?”
Who Is a Mail Order Bride?
Over the years, you may have heard about mail order brides, from the media or maybe even from someone who met their spouse this way. But who exactly is a mail order bride and how do mail order brides work? Moreover, are mail order brides legal?
What’s a mail order bride? Let’s start with the basics. A mail order bride is a foreign woman, typically aged between 18 and 45, who has made the decision to look for a husband abroad. She is well aware of the fact that she’ll need to move to her husband’s home country, and she accepts that as part of the deal. In fact, for most brides, the opportunity to move to a foreign country is one of the main deciding factors for becoming mail order brides. As for the legal side of these unions, I will explain it in detail later in this article.
History of Mail Order Brides
The concept of mail order brides originated in the 17th century, when the first single English ladies responded to newspaper marriage ads published by American settlers. Since then, there have been a few waves of popularity for foreign brides in the 18th and 19th centuries.
However, mail order brides have never been more popular than in the 20th and especially the 21st century. A major reason why the popularity of mail order brides is at an all-time high is that now men don’t have to resort to newspaper ads or sketchy agencies to find their dream woman. All they have to do is join an online dating service and do the whole search from the comfort of their homes. So, are mail order brides a thing in the 21st century? They absolutely are, and the popular show 90 Day Fiancé is great proof of that.
What’s interesting is that the “classic” mail order bride era of the 19th century already looked surprisingly modern: in the American West, serious gender imbalances meant many frontier men advertised for wives in newspapers and specialized matrimonial catalogues, while women on the East Coast or in Europe carefully evaluated letters, photos, and references before deciding to relocate—something well documented by the Smithsonian National Postal Museum.
Do Mail Order Brides Still Exist?
If you’ve never actively find a mail order bride, and don’t know anyone who is happily married to a mail order bride, it can be difficult to believe that people are still using this unconventional way to find a life partner. So, do mail order brides exist? There are at least three reasons why they definitely exist, and these reasons are hard to argue with:
- There are international marriage agencies and dating sites. Even though agencies have lost a bit of their popularity when international dating services have become a thing, both are still alive and well. Moreover, these are the two most popular ways to find a potential marriage partner. The difference is that while the agency will do the search and matchmaking for you, with dating sites, you are going to be the one doing all that, and we believe it’s a far more effective option.
- There are countries particularly known for their number of mail order brides. There are different factors that go into the popularity of mail order brides in one country or another, and most of those factors are social and economic. In the best countries to meet a wife, such as the Philippines, Ukraine, Colombia, and China, there is a particularly high number of women who want to become mail order brides, which means this concept has not gone anywhere.
- There are legal frameworks for mail order spouses around the world. In many countries that like American guys, the legal side of mail order brides and mail order marriages is regulated by specific legislation. For example, the US has the International Marriage Broker Regulation Act, which requires marriage agencies to conduct background checks and protect the safety of foreign women using those services.
If you want another proof that mail order brides still exist, all you need to do is check out any international dating website. The women there won’t necessarily refer to themselves as mail order brides, but a single look at their profiles and what they want from a relationship reveals that they fit the exact description of a mail order bride.
Do Mail Order Marriages Exist?
The short version of the answer to this question is yes, mail order marriages absolutely do exist. If you want proof, you can look at each year’s Non-Immigrant Visa report published by the US Department of State. You can see that there are thousands of K visas issued every year, which means thousands of American citizens marry foreign individuals each year. And while there is no way of knowing how many of those marriages involve mail order brides, one thing is clear: the share of mail order brides in those unions will only continue increasing because there is no alternative that is as easy and as effective as mail order marriage.
Mail Order Brides by the Numbers (Latest 2022–2025)
Because “mail order bride” isn’t an official legal category, the best fresh numbers come from proxies like international marriages, family-migration visas, and K-1 fiancé(e) visas.
- United States – K-1 fiancé(e) visas
In FY2022, U.S. consulates issued 21,351 K-1 fiancé(e) visas; in FY2023 they issued 19,825, and in FY2024 that jumped to 47,579 out of 53,709 applications (about 88.6% approval). Many of these couples met online or via agencies, which is why K-1 data are often used as a rough indicator of the “mail order bride” style of cross-border relationships. - South Korea – international / multicultural marriages
After a COVID slump, international marriages in South Korea rebounded from 17,428 in 2022 to 20,431 in 2023, then 21,450 in 2024, about 9–10% of all marriages. Most involve Korean husbands and foreign wives (over 70%). - European Union – family-reason residence permits
In 2023, EU states issued a record 3.7 million first residence permits to non-EU citizens; 26.4% (986,453) were for family reasons (marriage, family reunification etc.), up 6.4% versus 2022. In 2024, the EU issued about 3.5 million first permits, with 27.1% again granted for family reasons. - Global/OECD – family migration still dominant
Across OECD countries, family migration has remained the leading reason for permanent immigration: around 40% of new permanent immigrants in 2022, and still the top category in 2024, even as total permanent migration reached about 6.2 million people.
Taken together, recent numbers show that cross-border marriage and family-based migration are not fading at all in the 2020s—if anything, they remain a major, growing pathway for people who meet online, through international dating sites, or via classic “marriage broker” style services.
Are Mail Order Brides Legal and How Much Do They Cost?
We are not going to beat around the bush here: despite what you may have heard, mail order brides are perfectly legal. This is because from the legal standpoint, marrying a foreign mail order bride works just like marrying any other foreign woman, and you are not required to disclose how you met at any point of the process of helping your bride (and then wife) obtain a legal status in the US. However, there is one extra step you need to take to make things legal, which is to get the right type of visa for your bride. Once that is taken care of, you can enjoy the rest of your lives together.
How much is a mail order bride? The answer to this question depends on many factors, and there is never a fixed price for a mail order bride. For most men, the experience of looking for a foreign bride costs between $4,000 and $8,000, although sometimes it can cost more than that — for example, when the man maintains active communication with more than one woman. The overall price includes such expenses as advanced access to the best mail order bride website, traveling to the bride’s country to meet her, and taking care of the visa and related expenses.
Why Mail Order Brides Look for Husbands Online
Despite the old-fashioned name, most so-called mail order brides today are simply women using international dating or matchmaking sites to look for partners abroad. Research on marriage migration shows their reasons are varied and much more complex than “escaping poverty.”
Many women turn to online international dating because:
- Limited options at home. In some regions, local “marriage markets” are skewed by gender imbalance, unemployment, or mass migration, so it’s genuinely harder to find a compatible partner nearby.
- Economic and life opportunities. Marrying abroad can offer better job prospects, social benefits, and education for future children—similar to how men often migrate for work.
- Desire for different gender norms. Studies show some women actively seek partners from cultures they perceive as offering more equal, emotionally supportive relationships than what they experience locally.
- Control and safety in choosing. Online platforms let women screen potential husbands, talk for months, compare offers, and walk away more easily than in traditional brokered or family-arranged matches.
- Personal dreams and adventure. For others, the appeal is romance, travel, and the chance to build a transnational life, not just money or survival.
Final Thoughts
The idea of mail order brides and mail order marriages can be a confusing one, but only if you’re not really familiar with how exactly this type of relationship works. So, are there still mail order brides? The important thing here is that the existence of mail order brides is not up for debate, and the truth is that the number of mail order brides online, as well as the number of men actively seeking them, only continues to grow. It means now is the perfect time to start looking for your dream woman.
