The Full Guide to Asian Brides: Cost, Tips, Meeting
Asia is by far the most popular mail order bride region right now. In 2023, for example, more than 7,000 K-1 fiancé(e) visas were issued to Asian nationalities, while Europe and South America combined had only 5,000 K-1 visas, and only one Asian country, the Philippines, had more K-1 visas than any other continent!
Asian mail order brides are popular for 3 reasons: they have more traditional views than Western women, are interested in a serious relationship and Western men, and make great wives.
But what does it actually mean? What are the main character traits of Asian ladies for marriage? How to meet them and how much does it cost? Continue reading to find out!
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Why do Asian women become mail order brides?
There are tens of thousands of Asian girls for marriage on international dating sites right now. Most of them are looking for a husband abroad, and most are ready to leave their country if they find the right man. But what makes them become mail order brides, actually?
There are 3 main reasons:
- A lot of Asian women for marriage think that Western men make better husbands. In general, it’s about respect and loyalty—men in Southeast Asia, for example, are well-known for their specific views on marital fidelity (male cheating is often socially acceptable there). In many Asian countries, men are pretty misogynistic and have very conservative views on gender equality, which leads to domestic abuse and other similar problems. That’s why tens of thousands of ladies want to leave these countries and meet men who would treat them with more respect.
- Many of them simply can’t find what they want in their countries. Say, in Korea and Japan, too many young men just aren’t interested in marriage and family, so young women who want a relationship can’t find a partner there. In some Southeast Asian countries, for example, young women want to find a husband who will treat them respectfully—unfortunately, it’s not the most common concept there. The details may vary, but the situation is always the same: when an Asian woman can’t get what she wants in her country, she starts thinking about dating a foreign man.
- And it’s also about the economic reasons, and what’s interesting here is that these reasons are completely different for East Asia and Southeast Asia. Thus, Asian wives who live in poor Southeast Asian countries often dream of going to the United States because the quality of life is higher there and because they would have more opportunities in the US. In turn, women from Korea and Japan think of moving to another country because their society is too competitive, they spend too much time at work, and they believe they would feel freer in Western countries.
So yeah, it’s about love — but it’s also about finding a better life, more respect, and real partnership. For a lot of these women, dating a foreign guy just feels like a chance to finally get what they’ve been missing at home.
What are the main characteristics of Asian brides?
- Asian women are different. The region can be divided into 3 very different sub-regions. To put it very simply, women from East Asia are more Westernized, women from Southeast Asia typically have more traditional values, and there’s also West Asia (the Middle East, Muslim countries, very conservative views, only a few mail order brides).
- Women from Southeast Asia are closer to that image of a “perfect trad wife.” Filipino and Thai women, for example, are incredibly family-centered, and they often live with extended families. In Eastern Asia (Japan, South Korea), they still have strong family bonds, but not to the extent where family loyalty can limit personal freedom.
- East Asian women are generally more Westernized, but that’s not the only difference. They are also older—the average age at first marriage in Japan and Korea is around 33–34 years old, so mail order brides from these countries are typically in their 30s, while brides from the Philippines, Vietnam, or Thailand are younger (25–29 years old).
- But they all have certain similarities: a lot of them live in countries with Confucian values, which include the importance of being respectful to the husband, being calm, polite, and showing respect towards elders. In most Asian countries, women are focused on a serious relationship (at least those who use mail order bride websites). And they are also loyal to their husbands because loyalty is one of the main virtues of a good wife in most Asian cultures.
- Another interesting similarity is the concept of “saving face.” In China, for example, it’s called mianzi, in Japan, it’s mentsu, and in the Philippines, it’s kahihiyan—the names are different, but the idea is the same. It’s about suppressing emotions in order not to look bad to other people, and it works in romantic relationships, too—Asian women often hide their emotions and even their true feelings (especially the negative ones).
- There are differences between women from different parts of Asia regarding their views on the number of children they want. Korea, for example, has one of the lowest fertility rates in the world (0.8 children per woman), and Japan has only 1.2. At the same time, in such countries as Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam, and Laos, it’s between 1.9 and 2.4 children per woman.
- Not all of them are fluent English speakers. It may sound surprising, but countries like Thailand or Japan have a low or even very low English proficiency, while the Philippines, for example, has a much higher English proficiency index. But when we’re talking about mail order brides, those differences are not that major because even brides from Japan and Thailand can speak English quite well.
How to find an Asian bride online
So, how to find an Asian wife? Let’s assume you’re going to do it online—online dating is much more convenient than going to Asia and trying to approach them on the streets of Tokyo or Bangkok. Here’s a short guide for you:
Well, that’s all—you know how to find an Asian wife, and it’s not that difficult, as you can see. Now, let’s talk about whether it’s actually legal to marry them.
Are Asian mail order brides legal?
Yes, they are legal.
You can’t “buy” an Asian wife, of course, but you can meet Asian brides online, marry a woman from any Asian country, and bring her to the United States. There are 2 options here: a K-1 and a CR-1 visa. The first one is for those who are going to marry in the US after getting the visa, and the second one is for those who are already married and want to bring their spouse to the country. It’s not only about the US, of course—most Western countries have 2 types of visas for brides and wives.
How much does it cost to marry an Asian mail order bride?
Now, let’s answer another popular question: how much are Asian brides?
First of all, let’s see what you will need to pay for:
- Dating website
- Travel expenses
- Gifts and dates
- Visa fees
- Wedding
Now, let’s be more detailed.
Dating website cost
The dating website will cost you around $200 per month. The best dating sites today have a credit-based system, which means there’s no fixed monthly price and it only depends on how much time you spend chatting, how many messages you send, and so on. It depends on many factors, and you can easily increase the price if you want to (or cut it down if you want to save), but in most cases, it’s around $200/month. For $200, you can chat for 15–20 minutes every day for 30 days and send a few photos.
Travel expenses
As for the travel expenses, a 1-week trip to Asia will cost you. Here’s a detailed cost breakdown:
- Flight – from $500 to $700
- Hotel room – from $40 per day in Southeast Asia to $100 per day in Japan or Korea ($300-$700 for 7 days)
- Transportation – around $100 for 7 days
- Food – $30-$50 per day ($200-$350)
- Total – from $1,100 to $1,850
There are lots of factors that can affect the price here, too. Like, if you book the flight in advance, you’ll be able to save around 20-30%. Some hotels cost $10 per night, and there are hotels that cost $200 per night. There are high and low seasons (everything is much more expensive during the high season).
Gifts and dates
As for the gifts and dates, this isn’t the largest part of the total cost. A casual coffee date would cost you $20, a date in a fancy restaurant would be 3–4 times more expensive. When it comes to gifts, Asian women usually don’t expect too expensive presents right away, so let’s say $50 would be enough (perfume, flowers, teddy bear, etc.). So the total cost should be around $300-$500 (if you have 7 dates during your trip).
Visa fees
You’ll also need to pay for a visa. The K-1 visa fee is $940 (Form I-129F and Form DS-160). After getting the visa, your bride can arrive in the US, where you’ll marry her. After the marriage, she’ll need to transfer from the visa to a marriage green card—it’s called “Adjustment of Status” and costs $1,440.
So the total cost should be around $2,500 (you’ll need to pay $50-$100 for a medical examination, too).
Wedding
Let’s put it this way: the wedding cost is from $100 to $10,000. If you really want to save money, you can just have a civil wedding ceremony, which will cost you $100 or something like that (maybe $200 because you’ll also need to pay for the translation services). If you want something more fancy but still modest, there are a lot of wedding packages in Southeast Asia that would cost you $3,000-$5,000. For this amount of money, you’ll get a small wedding party for 20–40 guests in one of those romantic and beautiful places. The median wedding cost in the US is higher—it’s around $10,000 for a small party with 20–30 guests. But if you feel like you want to spend more, there are plenty of options, of course.
So, the total cost could be anything from $3,500 (no wedding party, a cheap hotel, booking a flight in advance, low season) to $15,000 (a small wedding party in the US, a nice hotel, high season).
Quick tips
- If you really want to find an Asian bride, spend some time setting up your dating profile. It may feel boring, but if your profile is empty or has only a little information, your reply rate will be around 20-30% even on the top dating sites. But with a detailed profile, you’ll increase it up to 60%.
- Read about the etiquette rules before you go to a certain country. In most Southeast Asian countries, for example, public kissing is considered excessive. In Japan, eating or speaking loudly on trains and buses is considered extremely rude (and it is, let’s be honest). If your bride is from China, it would be better to present her a gift with two hands (and if her parents refuse your gift, you must present it one more time). Each country has such small details that can screw up your date, so reading about these rules in advance would be a great idea.
- Be romantic and slightly old-fashioned. Gifts, compliments, romantic gestures, paying for the date—all those things are expected from you.
I found the video quite informative. Thanks for sharing such good and detailed content. I hope you’ll share more about ladies from other regions.
Are Asian weddings quite different from weddings in Canada? I’m quite interested in discovering new cultures and places, and I can have a chance to travel to Asian countries. Which top 5 countries would you recommend?