Where & How to Get a Mail Order Bride? — Is It Still Possible in 2024?

Reviewed By: Margarita Zhigalova

Last updated: Mar 04, 2024

11 min read

Key takeaways about getting a mail order bride in 2024

It’s 100% legal and real—there are thousands of foreign women who’d like to find a partner from the United States or other countries. So yes, you can find a mail order bride in 2024, and it’s 100% possible to build a relationship with someone from another country. It’s also legal to bring your overseas bride to the United States.
If you’re wondering where to get a mail order bride, the best option is online dating. It’s much more convenient, much more affordable, and much less time-consuming than offline dating.
But it’s not like you have a high chance of finding a bride on Facebook or Instagram: there are “niche” dating websites where people are searching exactly for this kind of relationship. We’re talking about websites like SofiaDate, SakuraDate, and LatiDate, which are legal, trusted, and honest.
Not every country is equally good when it comes to finding a wife: in some countries, for example, they just don’t speak English at all, while in others, women are not interested in a serious relationship with foreigners. The most popular countries when it comes to mail order brides are the Philippines, Ukraine, and Colombia—but it’s not only about these three countries.
Building a successful long-distance relationship is not the easiest task in the world, to be honest. You’ll have to think “outside the box” and utilize all those additional features like video chat and gift delivery to make it work. By the way, that’s why mail order bride websites are typically much more advanced regarding technology than other dating platforms, which usually only provide a live chat tool.

Can you still get a mail order bride? Is it legal in 2024?

So, first, this whole mail order bride thing is actually real, and thousands of American men find international brides every year. You can read about how it works here—there’s a full guide with all the information you need about how this mail order bride thing works.

What’s more, it’s 100% legal. If you’re an American citizen, you can find a mail order bride, marry her, and bring her to the United States after or before the marriage. When it’s done, your foreign bride can become a US resident, and 3 years after that, she can apply for US citizenship! Basically, that’s how it works in all Western countries: they have visas for brides in the UK, Canada, and Australia, too. If you want more information about the legal side of things, click here—there’s a guide from our experts that will answer all your questions.

Now, let’s talk about where and how to get a mail order bride. As we’ve said, your best option is online dating, but it’s not so easy.

Where & how can you get a mail order bride?

So, how to get a mail order bride? The process is probably much easier than some people thought, thanks to all the modern technology. But as we’ve already said, it’s not that simple, and there are some pitfalls you need to be aware of if you’re genuinely interested in mail order brides.

1. Choose a reliable mail order bride site

When people ask, “How to find a mail order bride?” we always begin with this: you need to find the best mail bride website available. It’s the first thing you need to do, and it’s also one of the most difficult tasks here because if you have never used mail order bride sites before, you’ll probably be confused with all those shiny and beautiful platforms.

Unfortunately, a lot of them are fake, and a lot of them have bots/scammers. Here’s how to choose a site without fake profiles and scammers:

Choose the right country. Each of the best mail order bride platforms is focused on one country or region, so before you sign up, you need to understand which country you prefer. If you are still unsure, read our guide on choosing the best place to get a mail order bride—we talked about each popular mail bride country there.
Once you choose the country, read the reviews of the best dating platforms. You can start with our expert reviews; by the way—we analyze all the factors, from the reputation of a website to the quality of female profiles, so you can be 100% sure you won’t miss anything there. We also recommend you pay special attention to the top lists of the best websites: our lists, for instance, are based on the comprehensive analysis of multiple factors so our ratings are as close to reality as possible. We do not say you should limit yourself, of course: reading other expert and user reviews might be useful, too. At least that’s how you’ll spot 100% scam dating sites.
Pay attention to the reputation of a dating site. When we write our reviews, we always check the reputation of the website and the owner’s company to make sure everything is 100% legit. We highly encourage you to do the same thing.
Do not pay right away. Yes, most mail order bride sites are not free to use, but that doesn’t mean you need to buy credits/coins/a monthly subscription right away. We’ll cover this in the next paragraph.

So, when it’s finally done, and you have a great, reputable, and legit dating platform with real mail order brides, it’s time to move on.

Typically, registration on mail order bride websites is free, and the registration process is usually quite fast and simple. Well, at least that’s what we can say about the best websites like SofiaDate—here’s a screenshot of the registration form, and as you can see, you will only need 1 minute to sign up here.

But it’s not over when your account is created. The thing is, mail order bride websites usually have more male users than female users, which is not surprising, of course: all the dating platforms have more men than women. However, this means you’ll have to stand out from the competitors, and your profile is the #1 thing that can help you.

After the registration, your profile will be empty. The best mail order bride sites like SofiaDate offer a lot of options for you to customize it—there are more than 20 fields you can fill here, both the ones about yourself and the ones about your perfect match.

We highly recommend you fill them all: this might take some time, yes, but that’s what you need to make your profile attractive, to get more profile views, and obviously, to get a higher response rate. The same is true for your profile picture: just choose the best, the most beautiful, and the most recent photo you have because your profile photo makes a woman click on your profile. Choose a picture where you’re looking at the camera, a picture where you’re smiling, and a picture where it’s only you (you don’t want a group profile picture, obviously). The photos with pets, the ones displaying your interests, and the photos from your trips will work great, too.

3. Browse mail order wives’ profiles

That’s how a search box works on mail order bride sites (we took SofiaDate as an example because it’s one of the best websites in this industry right now). There are 15 search filters, all of which are free, and you can use them to get the most effective search results. Not all the sites offer so many filters, but SofiaDate is superior in any aspect.

So, with all those search tools, you can search for the best match, and once you find your perfect woman, you can browse her profile. Typically, their profiles look like this:

But you don’t want to start chatting with a girl right away. Even the best mail order bride sites are not 100% fake-free, and you need to be sure the woman is real before you send her a message. We recommend using Google Reverse Image Search to make sure that her photos are not used on multiple dating sites because if they are, it’s surely a red flag. Obviously, the profile should not be empty—empty profiles are very common among scammers (they just don’t want to waste their time writing profile descriptions).

P.S. Most mail order bride websites are not free to use. However, most of them offer welcome bonuses for new users, which means you can not only browse profiles but also chat with the ladies there for free after the registration. On SofiaDate, for example, you’ll get 20 free credits after creating an account, which means you’ll be able to chat with a woman for 10 minutes without paying anything.

4. Choose one of them and start chatting

How to start it? Here are the top 3 tips:

Write a personal message, and don’t use generic ice-breakers. Pay attention to her profile, her pictures, her hobbies and interests, and to other things mentioned in her profile bio. Use this information to write a personalized message that will attract a woman and make her interested in this communication from the very first minute of it!
Ask open-ended questions. Be specific, add context, and make it feel natural, and remember that open-ended questions work much better than “yes-or-no” questions.
Give her a compliment. In most “mail order bride countries,” compliments are not considered sexist, and what’s more, most of these women really love and appreciate compliments. Obviously, these compliments should be specific and not generic!

But sending your first message is obviously not all. You’ll have to maintain your relationship, which can be much more difficult than starting it.

5. Build a long-distance relationship

Here are the three tips for you:

Send media files. Chatting is nice, but when you’re in a long-distance relationship, it’s all about sharing pictures and videos—that’s how you stay in touch and keep your relationship healthy.
Send gifts. On SofiaDate, you can send flowers, a bracelet, or a laptop to your mail order bride, and it’s just perfect. These gifts don’t need to be extremely expensive; it’s more about expressing your feelings.
Chat every day. Ghosting is never a good thing, and it’s especially bad when it comes to long-distance relationships. Remember that even if you don’t have time, sending a good morning or a good night message won’t take more than 1 minute.

6. Meet in real life or invite her to the US

So, can you still get a mail order bride without meeting her in person? The answer is no. First, such a relationship can hardly be called healthy, let’s be honest. The second reason is more serious: if you marry your bride and bring her to the US on a K-1 visa, you need to meet her in person at least once. So sooner or later, you’ll have to meet her in her country—it’s up to you, but we highly recommend spending at least 7 days with her and having as many dates as possible. And don’t forget to take pictures because you’ll need them for the next step.

7. Help your fiancée get a K-1 visa

The K-1 visa, or a fiancé(e) visa, allows the partner of an American citizen to enter the US to get married. In short, here’s how it works: your bride gets her visa (this might take up to 18 months), then she enters the US, and after that, you marry her. After the marriage, your wife will become a US permanent resident, and after 3 years, she’ll be able to become a US citizen. K-1 visas are very popular in international relationships: in 2023, for example, more than 21,000 K-1 visas were issued to foreigners who then married American citizens.

The requirements are pretty standard: you must be able to support your partner financially, your previous marriages must be terminated, and, of course, your relationship must be real and genuine.

Conclusion

Mail order bride websites are still the best option for those interested in foreign brides. Getting a mail order bride online is extremely convenient if we compare it with the alternative options: you don’t need to go anywhere right away, and you don’t need to approach women on the streets—you just need a laptop or a mobile phone and an account on one of those websites.

There are several flaws, such as fake profiles and scammers, but you don’t need to worry about them if you choose a high-quality, trusted, and legit dating platform like SofiaDate. The sites like SofiaDate or LatiDate have literally thousands of real mail order brides who want to meet a foreign man!

Frequently asked questions

How easy is it to get a mail order bride?

It’s not the easiest task, to be honest—you can’t just visit a site and “order” a bride. You’ll have to create an attractive profile, you’ll have to impress a woman, and you’ll need to show you’re a responsible and loyal person, etc. But still, getting a foreign bride today is easier than ever due to a large number of high-quality mail order bride websites.

What salary do you need to get a mail order bride?

Getting a mail order bride might cost you $2,000 or $20,000; it depends on your preferences and requirements only. However, there’s no financial requirement for getting a bride aside from the Affidavit of Support (your income must be at least 125% of the US poverty level for your household size). You can learn more about the foreign bride price here.

Why should you get a mail order bride? What are the main advantages of marrying a foreign bride?

Foreign women are generally considered to be more “traditional” when it comes to their views on family values and gender roles than Western ladies, and this is especially true when we’re talking about the top “mail order bride” countries like Ukraine or the Philippines. Mail order brides are often more loyal, loving, and family-centered than women from the United States.

How to get a mail order bride legally?

You can meet a mail order bride online, bring her to the United States, and marry her legally. The process is not difficult if your papers are in order and your relationship is bona fide (genuine). It’s also highly recommended to collect all the evidence, like letters, photographs, or tickets (you’ll need to include the evidence in the visa application).

Written byJohn Millerstone, Author

We decided to create this project because we’re tired of the situation in the industry. 10 years ago, there were like 40% good sites and 60% bad ones. Today, the ratio is more like 10% to 90%, and that’s not how I want it to be. I mean, it kills me that when an American man types “mail order brides” on Google, there is a 90% possibility that he won’t even find a good dating site, let alone find a bride. I want to change that.

Edited byMargarita Zhigalova, Contributing Editor

Two friends of mine wanted to find a husband abroad. They were scammed, lost money, and never got back to that idea. That’s just not right; the situation with these sites needs to change. I believe that we can change that together, and I’m sure that we can help more people find love abroad, exactly like I did!

Learn more about our Editorial Team