Finding a Russian bride online can come with a cost, especially when you are looking for a woman from another culture. Most dating websites offer you to purchase a subscription, so you can fully use the platform’s services. The costs may vary from one venue to another. Depending on the prestige level of the organization, you may be asked to invest more than usual.
According to the most popular dating venues that host Russian mail order brides, your love journey may cost you from $300 to $500 per year. Besides, those sites have different approaches towards the payment and subscription plans. Some have permanent membership deals, others work with a credit system. With permanent membership you pay once and use the services as much as you want. Credits can be trickier, you purchase them and then use them to pay for the tools. So if you are a constant, heavy user, and want to spend as much time on the platform as possible, credit system ones may cost you more.
| Minimal cost on dating platforms | $250-$300 |
| Average age of marriage | 24 |
| Average price | $8,000 |
| Best dating platform | SofiaDate |
Russia may not be the most popular country for tourism or business on the international scene, but Russian brides have always attracted a lot of attention from men. And even though getting a Russian bride does cost money and takes time, it doesn’t stop Western men from wanting one. Here is why you should consider Russian mail order brides:
“How much does a Russian mail order bride cost?” is one of the most common questions asked by Western men who want to meet a Russian girlfriend or wife. However, if you’ve only met local girls before, you probably didn’t need to have a separate budget for that. So why is there such a thing as Russian mail order bride prices? And can you really buy a Russian bride?
As you probably know, finding a Russian woman for marriage takes a little more effort than finding a girlfriend or spouse from your own city or country. You either need to resort to online dating or attempt to meet single Russian women on a trip to Russia. Both of these options cost money. However, when we ask: “How much is a Russian bride?”, we don’t really mean that you can buy yourself a wife.
The important thing to remember here is that there are no Russian brides for sale because that would be both illegal and against basic human morals. Whenever you hear someone talking about the Russian mail order wife price, it means the cumulative expenses of meeting a Russian woman for marriage.
This is why there is no standard answer to the question: “How much does a Russian mail order bride cost?” Each love story is different, and so is the budget you’ll need. Below, we will try to break down the typical Russian wife cost, including the cost of using dating sites and traveling to Russia.
How much is a Russian mail order bride? There are numerous aspects that may affect the total Russian brides price. So, if you are going to tie the knot with a lady from this country, you will learn the factors that may influence the overall cost to the tiniest detail.
There are many reasons why being an active user of international dating sites is a great alternative to looking for a future wife as a tourist in Russia. Most importantly, you get access to the most eligible Russian brides who are highly motivated to find a Western husband. So how much does a Russian bride cost when you’re looking for her online?
The key takeaway here is that different dating sites have different business models. Some of them have Premium membership options that include advanced features, others make you pay for each individual communication feature without purchasing a membership, and some use a combination of both. Here is the detailed breakdown of the costs.
A Premium membership is not always required on a dating service, but it can unlock some cool features for you. For example, one of the sites from our top selection, UkraineBrides4You, offers a paid membership option that costs $9.99 per month. It allows you to view private photos in women’s profiles and get quicker replies from customer care. You can also get 1 month of membership for free if you purchase a certain number of credits.
Other websites from our selection — such as BravoDate — don’t make you buy a membership. Instead, they charge you for each individual feature you use. Each feature has a price in credits, and you can get credits in several packages, which include:
You can then spend money on features like chat, mail, exchanging photos and videos, sending chat stickers and virtual gifts, making phone calls, enjoying video chat, and so on. UkraineBride4You also has credits available, and these are the packages you can choose from:
Moreover, both BravoDate and UkraineBrides4You have special offers for their new members. On BravoDate, you can get 20 credits for free simply for creating your profile. And UkraineBrides4You gives you 2 free chat vouchers that you can spend on talking to the women you like.
Most dating services provide a variety of additional features, such as translation services, that can help you have an even more satisfying dating experience. However, the extra feature you will probably use the most is the gift delivery service.
This service allows you to choose any gift offered by the site, ranging from flowers and sweets to perfumes and gadgets, add a note, and get it delivered right to your bride’s home. This can be a lovely surprise for the woman on the anniversary of your relationship, on her birthday, or for no reason at all. Gift prices range from $50 to over $1,000.
Now that you know about the Russian mail order bride cost when doing your search online, let’s find out exactly how to find yourself a Russian bride on the internet. Here are the steps you need to take to easily meet your dream girl:
There are countless men who have this old-fashioned idea about dating. They believe that you can only build a strong connection to a woman and hope to go all the way to marriage only when you are meeting and dating this woman offline.
We are not going to talk about the legitimacy of this idea right now. It certainly does work for some guys. Plus, a few decades ago, it was basically the only way to meet Russian women, especially from a different country. These are the main components of a Russian mail order wife cost when offline dating.
Russia is famously located on the other side of the planet from the US. Moreover, Russia is a huge country, and the cost of getting to your destination highly depends on the location. It also depends on the season, the airline, and even your outbound city.
You can get your airplane tickets for less if you buy them well in advance. However, there is a caveat. You don’t know exactly how long your trip is going to take. This is why most men start with a one-way ticket and buy the return ticket once there is already some clarity in their new relationship. A one-way ticket to Russia can cost you from $500 to $1,000.
Russia is not a homogenous country, and the amount of money you pay for your stay highly depends on where your Russian mail bride lives and where you are going. For example, Moscow and St. Petersburg are two of the most expensive cities in Russia for foreign tourists, which is understandable — both have been or currently are capital cities. At the same time, Sochi can sometimes be even more expensive than those two cities without any official state status.
Moreover, you can choose from several accommodation options when traveling to Russia. If you are only staying for a week or two, a hotel or an Airbnb is the most sensible option. However, renting a hotel room for several months is going to significantly increase your travel budget. This is why some men opt for renting an apartment for those few months.
You can expect to spend from $500 a month if it’s an apartment to $1,200 and more per month for a room at a medium-class hotel. Needless to say, you shouldn’t hope to crash at a woman’s place — this is not how things are done in Russia.
When traveling to some Asian or Latin American countries, you can easily survive on cheap and delicious street food. Russia is not a country where street food is highly popular. This means you will need to eat at restaurants, cafeterias, buy takeaways, or cook yourself.
Another thing to consider is that if things go well with a Russian lady, soon you are going to spend a lot of time together. And that includes eating together at restaurants and you footing the bill, as is the custom in Russia. Of course, your Russian bride can invite you over and cook for you once or twice, but you shouldn’t view it as a permanent source of sustenance.
The food part of your budget for traveling to Russia can be around $500 for one. If you are going to frequently visit different eateries with your partner, your food budget can easily double. Also, if you prefer high-end dining to cafeterias, you are going to spend way more than $500.
The transportation budget for a foreign tourist in Russia depends on a couple of factors. Most importantly, you need to decide whether you are going to stay put in one Russian city or you are going to be traveling around the country, either with your woman or on your own.
In the first case, you can easily get away with using public transportation, which is relatively cheap in Russia, and the occasional taxi ride once a day. This setup can cost you around $300 for 1 month. However, if you plan to explore Russia, together with your lady or on your own, your budget can increase significantly.
The most sensible option, in this case, is to rent right at the airport. This can cost you around $50 per day. But we’ve already mentioned that Russia is a vast country, and you cannot go long distances by car. You may need to take a plane to go from one part of Russia to another, and that can add another $100 per flight.
The ultimate goal of your journey is to find your future Russian wife. Once you find someone you can see as your spouse, you need to date her for a while and convince her that you will make the best partner for her. And this is impossible to achieve without some memorable, romantic dates.
There are plenty of ways to have a great time together in Russia. From nightclubs and bars to museums, art galleries, and parks — you’ll have plenty of date options to choose from. Keep in mind that you are going to be paying for two, since women in Russia are not used to covering their own bills or entrance tickets. You can expect to spend around $400 on dates per month.
Foreigners from Western countries can only visit Russia on a visa, which costs $160 at the moment. If you don’t want to undergo the visa application process on your own, you may need to get help from an immigration lawyer, who can charge you up to $1,000 for their services. If your Russian bride is not exactly fluent in English and you don’t know Russian, you may also need the services of an interpreter, which can cost you around $20 per hour.
Even when taking an organized tour to a foreign country that lasts for two weeks, you always need to be prepared for unexpected expenses. This is even more true for the time when you are staying in a foreign country for an indefinite amount of time. This includes a medical emergency or the need to buy gifts for your bride’s family if you happen to visit them. It’s a good idea to leave aside $1,000-2,000 for these purposes.
When searching for a Russian wife, many men want to know not only the answer to the question: “How much does a Russian bride cost?”, but also how to get a lower price. After all, you intend to spend a lifetime with your bride, so you cannot just spend all the money at once. Here are three tips for enjoying a lower Russian mail order cost:
Now that we’ve mostly covered the question of the cost of a Russian mail order bride, let’s move on to the question of whether it’s legal at all. Sure, when you hear the phrase “buy a Russian bride”, you may naturally question the legality of the whole thing.
However, we are happy to assure you that it’s completely legal to marry a Russian bride you’ve met on the Internet because, in reality, you are not buying anyone. It’s just an outdated figure of speech referring to the way men used to look for wives in printed catalogs. In modern days, when you get to fully develop a relationship online and only then marry your sweetheart, there is nothing illegal about those unions.
At the same time, there is some important information to know about marrying a Russian bride from a legal standpoint. In order to get married in the US, your bride will need a K-1 visa. You’ll need to add the cost of the visa to the cost of a Russian bride and be prepared to wait for up to a year to get the visa and meet your bride in your home country.
So how much does a Russian mail order bride cost? Ultimately, the answer to this question depends on several factors, but most importantly, on whether you do your search online or offline. In our own experience, as well as the experience of many of our readers and strangers on the Internet, looking for a Russian bride online is a much more cost-effective way to find a life partner compared to real-life dating. Here is a quick comparison of the two methods in terms of the cost.
| Feature | Online dating | Offline dating |
| Search | $0 — you don’t have to pay anything to browse the site and use search | $0–$1,000 — you may meet someone in the street, but usually have to join hobbies and visit events to find a woman |
| Communication | $50–$200 per month — you’ll mostly spend money on credits for chatting | $100–$300 per date — restaurants, bars, nightclubs, and other date spots aren’t free |
| Gifts | $0–$200 per month — gifts are not mandatory or even always expected | $500–$1,500 per month — you’ll have to bring at least flowers to each date |
| Grooming and style | $0+ — you don’t have to dress up to date online | $300+ per month — women expect stylish, well-groomed men |
| Success rate | High | Medium |
So, you met each other, had a great time, and finally, you decided to take the next step — marry a Russian girl.
In order to marry a Russian bride, you need to pay attention to two things:
| Fiancé visa | $1,200–$2,500 |
| Flight tickets | $1,000–$1,500 |
| Accommodation | $60 per night in a 3-star hotel |
If you want to buy Russian bride, you will need to consider such aspects as taking your significant other to your home country. However, if you want to legally bring your lady to the US, you will need to help her apply for a fiancé visa.
| K1 visa | CR1 visa | |
| USCIS fees | $535 for the Form I-129F | $535 for the Form I-130 |
| Visa application fee | $325 | $325 |
| Medical exams | $600 | $350 |
| NVC | $120 | $120 |
| Adjustment of status/Lawyer fees | $1,140 | $1,000 |
Now that you know the answer to the question: “How much does it cost to get a Russian bride?”, you probably realize that online dating is a very lucrative industry. And, like many lucrative industries, it regularly attracts scammers and other dishonest individuals. Here is how to recognize and avoid romance scams:
If you’ve always had a thing for beautiful Russian women but have never attempted to meet them online, you may think that it costs a lot of money to get a Russian wife. However, when you do everything properly and don’t overspend, the average cost of a Russian mail order bride is significantly lower than dating someone in person. So if the question of cost is the only thing that’s been keeping you from making your dream come true, now is the perfect time to start the journey of a lifetime.
The final price comes down to the prices for the services on the dating site you use and their amount. Each platform has its prices, so it’s hard to name a specific number. Besides, there are platforms that operate via different systems, like credits, paid subscriptions, or on the basis of advertisement. The average sum a man spends on a Russian mail order bride dating site is around $30–$150 per month.
If you want a caring, gorgeous, and affectionate woman who will light up your mood every day and make your heart beat faster — she’s worth every cent you spend. It’s like an investment because buying a Russian bride is a forward-looking decision that will positively affect your life both now and in the future.
This usually implies dealing with all the bureaucracy processes, like visas, permissions, and other regulations. You’d want to make sure you have all the necessary documents and officially get married. So, mind the costs you’ll need to pay for the wedding and all the related activities. Also, consider the price for tickets because Russia is quite far away.
This term is used to describe the process of paying mail order bride agencies for their services. You can’t actually buy a Russian bride like something in the shop because it’s illegal. However, what’s definitely legal is using specialized websites that help you find Russian women who match your preferences and dream about meeting their soulmates.
Yes, usually, the Russian bride cost is significantly affected by marriage. Count yourself: wedding ceremony, restaurant, guests, decorations, and other stuff. Of course, the price depends on your and your lover’s preferences, but still, marriage has its impact.
