How much does a mail order bride cost? The amount of money you’ll need is somewhere around $4,000 and $10,000 or even more because there are too many factors that can affect it. The mail order bride price actually consists of several components such as the cost of the online dating site, the cost of a trip to her country, the cost of the K-1 visa, etc. The only constant here is the latter—the government fee for a K-1 visa is $2,790, but there are some nuances, too.
Here, we’ll tell you everything about the cost of mail order brides, but before all else, here’s a summary of the main point.
- You CAN NOT buy them. We call it the “mail order brides cost”, yes. But despite that, it’s not the amount you pay to get her from the supplier (say, an agency). It’s just the total expense, all expenses for meeting, dating, and marrying a foreign bride.
- The total cost consists of 4 main components: online dating, travel costs, dates and gifts, and the cost of the K-1 visa for your bride.
- The average price is $5,700 and that’s exactly the average price of a bride from Thailand and Brazil.
- Mail order bride prices in Hispanic countries are actually the lowest, mostly because a trip to Mexico would cost you much less than a trip to Asia or Europe. Thus, the cheapest mail order bride countries are Colombia and Mexico.
- The same can’t be applied to mail order brides pricing in Asia. Asia is the most expensive MOB region with countries like Japan and South Korea topping the list.
- Your first choices are Ukraine, Colombia, Japan, and the Philippines. But you can actually find a mail bride in almost any country and there are at least 10 countries with tens of thousands of potential brides.
| Mail order bride country | Average cost of a mail order bride |
| Ukraine | $5,300 |
| Japan | $7,400 |
| Colombia | $4,700 |
| Philippines | $5,300 |
| Mexico | $4,800 |
| South Korea | $7,000 |
| Brazil | $5,700 |
| Thailand | $5,700 |
| Dominican Republic | $6,500 |
| Vietnam | $5,000 |
How much does an average mail order bride cost?
So, what’s the average cost of mail order bride?
- Online dating: Around $200 per month, typically. However, it may depend on lots of factors like the dating site you’re using and the communication features. We’ll cover all these factors later.
- Travel costs: $1,500-$3,000. It’s the cost of a 2-week trip to a foreign country—in most cases, if you avoid high-end hotels and business class flights, this will be enough.
- Dates/gifts: $300-$1,000. Typically, mail order brides don’t expect to get really pricey gifts but it depends on your budget and on your bride’s preferences, of course.
- K-1 visa: $2,800. However, the cost can rise if you require legal services or extra documents like Advanced Parole ($630).
That’s not all you need to know. Continue reading to learn more about how much does a mail order wife cost!
What is included in the mail order bride price
We’ve just explained how much is a mail order bride. Still, we’re certain it’s very important to cover all those factors in more detail. Here’s the guide.
Online dating expenses
First of all, what we just said was true: in most cases, it’s around $200 per month. But that’s not the whole truth.
The point is, there are different dating sites that offer different features and have different pricing policies. Most of them, however, have a so-called “credit” system where you buy credits and exchange them for chatting, sending messages, etc. Such a system allows the users to control their budget.
On a website like ColombiaLady or AsiaMe, you’ll pay $6 or $4 for 1 credit and around $220 for 1 month of communication (300 minutes of chat, 20 emails, 10 minutes of video chat). Websites like LatiDate and SofiaDate are slightly cheaper, but it’s always around $200/month for most users. But there are options, of course. These sites usually have extra features like video chat, video files exchange, or real gift delivery—and these features are obviously more expensive than a live chat, so the more minutes you’re going to spend in a video chat or the more gifts you’re going to send, the more you’ll pay.
Travel costs
The travel cost is probably the largest part of the total cost (unless you’re planning a fancy $50k wedding, of course). However, it’s not that bad.
First of all, the trips are actually not that expensive. Even when we’re talking about countries like Japan or Korea, a 2-week trip will cost you around $3,000. What’s more, there are lots of cheaper countries, and if we’re talking about Mexico or Colombia, a trip will cost you $1,200-$1,500.
And second, you can always save money at this stage. Using flight and hotel aggregators or AirBnb, booking your flight in advance, airline credit cards and miles/points, finding the right time (not a “high” season), searching for discount codes, looking for travel passes instead of rental cars, etc—if you do some research and spend some time, you can easily save up to $500 or even more, depending on the destination country.
Dates & gifts
The cost of a date is a very complicated topic.
Just an example: let’s say it’s your first date with a Japanese lady. You can have a meeting at Fuglen Tomigaya and pay $15 for 2 large cups of coffee and a dessert, you can meet her in a fancy Kyoto Kitcho Arashiyama and pay $200 for a lunch, or you can meet her in thousands of places that fall in between. The same goes for every other country and city—even in “cheap” Mexico there are many fine dines where you’ll pay $100 or $200 for a 2-person dinner (like Les Moustaches, for example). And of course, you can always make it free, especially if she lives in a nice place with beautiful parks, beaches, and so on.
The same goes for gifts. Typically, it’s all about small gifts like flowers or perfumes, and it’s not like they expect 1,000 roses or a $1,000+ perfume. We know stories about men who bought a small $10 or $20 bouquet, paid $20 for a few dates, and proposed to foreign ladies. However, we also know at least 2 men who spent much more than that—one of them bought his bride’s parents a brand new Tesla and the other one had to buy them a house in China which was $200,000 or something like that.
These are extremums. The chances you’ll only spend $20 on dates and gifts are as slow as the chances you’ll have to spend $200,000. In most cases, it’s around $500-$1,000.
P.S. And remember that “how much does it cost to buy a wife?” isn’t correct, wording-wise. Even when you buy them gifts, you don’t actually “buy” a wife. We also do not recommend trying to impress them with gifts for two reasons: first, this will probably not work; and second, if this works, that’s probably not the kind of relationship you’re looking for.
K-1 Visa costs
How much does it cost to get a mail order bride? There’s 1 thing we’re utterly, completely confident about. This thing is: the K-1 visa costs $2,800. The cost of the Form I-485 (application to adjust status; a green card, in fact) is included, too.
However, some men spend more than that—a lot of people feel uncertain when it comes to legal things and all those documents and forms, so if you feel like you need some help, you’ll probably need to contact immigration lawyers, which are, well, not free. The attorney’s fees in the most popular law offices vary from $500 to $3,000 for a client.
What else can affect mail order bride price?
These factors are not all you need to know about, of course. Here’s the list of the additional factors that can affect the price—we believe you need to be aware of them before you start this journey.
- Country. The cheapest mail order brides—or rather the cheapest trips— are in Mexico, the most expensive country is Japan, but there are at least 10 popular MOB countries and each of them is different in this regard. Each country has its own low and high seasons, its own features, its own tips for saving money, etc.
- How much you can afford to spend. If you want to be more, let’s say, cost-effective, there are lots of options, but if your limits are not that low, there are even more options, obviously. If you prefer business class flights or expensive and impressive gifts, you can spend much more than $5,000 on a bride.
- Features and services you’re going to use on a dating site. Spend 5 hours in a video chat on ColombiaLady, for example, and you’ll pay $720 instead of $200. Buy an expensive gift on a dating site and your monthly expenses will increase by $300 or $500.
- Girls’ expectations. Does she want a date in a fancy restaurant or is she ok with drinking coffee in a modest place? Does she prefer expensive gifts or will a small bouquet impress her? If a girl is not so down to earth, you’ll probably spend much more on dates and gifts.
- Wedding price. The wedding might cost you $50-$100—you can get married in most countries by simply signing marriage documents, without any ceremonies. It might cost you $2,000 or $3,000 if you’re planning a modest ceremony. Or, it might cost $20,000 or $30,000 if you want something more impressive.
- Dower. It’s not something common today, but you should be ready for it if you’re going to focus on Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal, some African countries, or some Indian communities.
That’s not all, of course—the real number of all those small factors is much, much larger. Just remember that it’s not necessary for the cost to rise—there are lots of factors that can lower the mail order bride cost, from aggregators to cutting down the wedding guest list.
Average mail order bride cost by country
| Mail order bride country | Online Dating | Travel | Dates & Gifts | K-1 Visa | Total |
| Ukraine | $200 | $1,800 | $500 | $2,800 | $5,300 |
| Japan | $200 | $3,400 | $1,000 | $2,800 | $7,400 |
| Colombia | $200 | $1,200 | $500 | $2,800 | $4,700 |
| Philippines | $200 | $1,800 | $500 | $2,800 | $5,300 |
| Mexico | $200 | $1,500 | $300 | $2,800 | $4,800 |
| South Korea | $200 | $3,000 | $1,000 | $2,800 | $7,000 |
| Brazil | $200 | $2,200 | $500 | $2,800 | $5,700 |
| Thailand | $200 | $2,200 | $500 | $2,800 | $5,700 |
| Dominican Republic | $200 | $3,000 | $500 | $2,800 | $6,500 |
| Vietnam | $200 | $1,600 | $400 | $2,800 | $5,000 |
Conclusion
So, one more time: how much are mail order brides? Commonly, it’s around $5,000-$6,000, but there are dozens of things that can affect the “price”. The most expensive countries are in Eastern Asia (Japan and Korea) and the cheapest countries in this regard are in South America (Colombia, Mexico). Brazil and Thailand are, in turn, the “most averagely priced” mail brides countries.