Marriage is an event that most people look forward to in their lives. You meet people, fall in love with one of them, then you get married and live happily ever after. Unfortunately, many people don’t have the luxury of this process. Sometimes, you prefer to skip the steps and get right to the marriage and happily ever after part.
In this case, a mail order bride is just what you need. But, the question of how much Filipino mail order brides cost comes to mind. The specific cost depends on several factors, including the services you enlist, as well as your personal preferences. But, you can expect to spend between $15,000 and $30,000 when pursuing a mail order bride.
In this guide, we’ll break down all the things you can expect to spend money on, and show you how to be flexible on some of these costs. This way, you can have a marriage that fits your budget.
How do you pay for a mail order bride?
The first thing you have to understand is that you’re not really paying for the bride. Many people have this idea, but, it’s not like a sale where you can just put up some money and buy a woman to call your wife. In fact, you’ll find a lot of similarities between getting a mail order bride and courting a woman in real life.
The money you’ll pay goes into things like agency fees and travel expenses.
Here’s a list of the things you will probably spend money on during your search for a bride:
- Agency Fees
- Expenses for travel
- Personnel services, such as translators and drivers
- Visas and passport
- Settlement expense
Let’s look at these expenses one after the other and see how much you can expect to spend on each of them.
Agency fees
If you’re looking for any kind of flexibility on cost, the agency is the first place to search. If you’re not already aware, there are hundreds, if not thousands, of agency online. And they all offer an opportunity to make a choice from a large pool of beautiful women.
But, you shouldn’t just sign up to sites that has a beautiful Filipino woman on the home page. For one thing, that’s a terrible strategy for finding someone with whom you can fall in love. But more importantly, agencies have different strategies for charging, and the more alluring ones usually have steep prices.
Agency sites are free to sign up, but you’ll pay for the opportunity to communicate with the women of your choice. Communication channels like email, chat, and even video chats will cost you credit points. The amount these credits cost in dollars vary, depending on the site, and how you buy them. Buying in bulk will always be cheaper than buying in pieces.
You also have to consider that it’ll take a lot of communication between you and your prospective mail order bride before you decide that marriage is the next step. All of these communications will cost you. Generally, you can expect to spend about $1,000 to $1,500 before you know her well enough to move to the next step. This estimate is dependent on several factors, and you may end up spending much more or much less.
Expenses for Travel
Travel expenses are going to take up a significant chunk of your budget. Under this category, you have air travel, food, accommodations, and in-country travel. Luckily, you can use the internet to find the best prices for all these expenses. Travel agencies and review sites can give you the inside scoop on the best prices in all of these categories.
Air travel
You can check popular airlines’ sites to find the best ticket prices. You can also use resources like google flights to tally your results and make sure that you’re getting the best deals. A way to cut your prices even lower is to fly with smaller airlines. They may not be as luxurious, but they are certainly cheaper. If you’re a frequent flyer, you might also be able to get great prices by using frequent flyer miles, also known as airline credits.
Accommodations
Finding cheap accommodations is just as easy as finding low budget flights; it might even be easier. You will have so many options to choose from, and they range from regular hotel rooms to beds in hostels, apartments, and even guest houses. And you can find all of this information on readily available sites.
The cost and standard of living in the Philippines are lower than that of the U.S. and many other countries so that you can get a top-rated Philippine hotel room for the same price as a low-budget motel room in the U.S.
Food
Many people are selective about the food they eat, and so, this may not be so flexible for you. Just like you could get by with a ramen noodle diet in the United States, there are many low-cost meals in the Philippines. But, as you can expect, they don’t offer much in terms of flavor and nutrition.
On the other hand, if you want to dine like a king, you’ll find restaurants that offer cuisines. You can also get western food. But it’ll cost you. Again, the internet, especially restaurant rating sites, will give you all the information you’ll ever need to have.
In-country travel
Moving around in the Philippines can be as simple as catching a train, or getting a local flight for longer distances. Uber was shut down in 2018 due to some regulatory issues, so, unfortunately, ride-hailing is not an option. But, the region’s internal transportation system is so good that you might not notice anything.
Personnel services
In most scenarios, the prices of these personnel services are non-negotiable. But that doesn’t mean you will need them. For translators, you will most likely get by without, since English is a native language in the Philippines.
The driver may not be optional in your case, depending on where your Filipino mail order bride stays. Some areas are best navigated using private cars, and you’ll need a driver to get by. The driver is also the go-to option if you want to impress your wife to be.
Visas and passports
If you’re traveling for the first time, you’ll need to get a passport. Otherwise, you can simply skip this expense and move on to getting a visa. You may not even need to get a Visa at all, since you’re going to the Philippines. Countries that get a lot of mail order bride marriages usually allow westerners in without a Visa, and the Philippines just happens to be one of them.
The more significant expense is bringing your mail order bride back to your country. That is, unless you intend to settle in the Philippines, in which case, we’ll need to discuss a different set of expenses altogether. To get a Visa for your mail order bride, you can expect to spend between $1,200 and $5,000. This amount accounts for things like medical examinations and government fees.
You can reduce the cost if you conduct the marriage before returning to your country with your wife. This approach will cost you less in terms of getting a visa. But, you may then have to hire an immigration attorney, which comes with its expenses.
Settlement expenses
By the time you get to this phase, you’re pretty much done. You’ve brought your mail order bride to your country, and you’ve had your marriage. Because it’s at the very end of the process, most people don’t think to include this expense in their overall budget.
But think about it for a minute. You have just uprooted this beautiful woman from her home country and continent and brought her to a strange land. You need to do everything you can to make her comfortable. And, you need to give her as much autonomy as you can. After all, she is now your wife.
The settlement expenses vary widely, according to taste and personal preferences. The great thing about it is that you don’t have to do everything at once. You can begin by purchasing some kitchen appliances and then moving to furniture, home decorations, and whatever else your wife might choose.
Is a mail order bride worth it?
Now that you know how much Filipino mail order brides cost, you might be asking yourself whether or not marrying a Filipino bride is worth the trouble. Now The answer to this question varies, depending on individual preferences. But, for the most part, the answer is a resounding yes! Filipino women are some of the most beautiful and intelligent women on the planet, and any man will be lucky to have them as wives.