What’s the Chinese mail-order bride cost? Contrary to common belief, it’s not just a price a man pays for marrying a girl from a catalog.
It’s the total cost of all the services a man will need to use to find a wife in China, and there are dozens of them. All, however, fall under four main categories.
Here, you’ll find detailed information on each, as well as some tips and explanations as to why some guys can get a wife for just $5,000 and some pay $30,000 and more.
Best Chinese dating sites with good price
Chinese brides websites with fair prices
Chinese bride price will also depend on the cost of dating services, so our experts have picked the sites where one can meet Asian mail-order brides and just single women from China at a quite reasonable price.
- SakuraDate — From $2.99 for 35 credits
- EasternHoneys — From $2.99 for 20 credits
- NaomiDate — From $0.08 per credit
- GoldenBride — From $4.99 for 20 coins
- TheLuckyDate Asia — From $0.22 for 100 credits
What factors go into the Chinese wife price?
All in all, the Chinese wife price includes the cost of online dating services, the costs of trips a man takes to meet his girlfriend offline, the cost of a visa, and spending on romance.
The minimum costs for all those different types of services are as follows.
Expenses | Approximate cost |
Membership/credits on a top niche site | $600 for 6 months |
One 3-week trip to China (country’s average travel costs) | $1,600 (hotel, meals, entertainment, transportation) + $1,200 |
Visa | $1,000 |
Spending on romance | From $500 |
Total minimum cost | Around $5,000 |
So, these were the minimum costs. Sometimes, however, they can be even a bit lower. Sometimes, they can be 10 times higher. What affects that? How to cut costs? What should you consider when building a good strategy? We share all the answers and some key insights in the world of modern mail-order brides below.
Cost of premium membership on a dating site
Most men meet their Chinese wives online but not on mainstream dating apps. Singles who are intentionally looking for foreign spouses prefer niche websites. They do have multiple advantages, including high-quality services, strict moderation, and better profiles. However, they are never free. Moreover, over 90% of top platforms sell credits and coins instead of premium plans.
We’ve already shared some costs above, and as you can see, they vary from website to website. Sometimes, the gap is just huge.
For example, on SakuraDate, you can get 35 credits for $2.99, while on TheLuckyDate, 100 credits will cost $0.22. However, you’ll spend much more credits on messaging on TheLuckyDate than on SakuraDate. Basically, in the end, you’ll pay more or less the same amount of money because the site with more expensive
In fact, they both are considered mid-range platforms, and on both, members spend $100 a month on average. If it takes 6 months for you to find a girlfriend and start a long-distance relationship online, you may spend $600 on online dating services in total.
Still, if you are going to use one of the niche websites, the total price you’ll pay will depend on the following:
- The policy of the site—the costs of credits and the cost of using premium features that you can spend credits on.
- The time that you need to find a perfect match and start a relationship—a month, 6 months, a year, etc.
- Your specific choices—favorite features, decisions to send or not to send gifts, etc.
So, if you want to spend less, you’ll need to choose a site with reasonable prices and good value for money, focus on your best matches, not waste your credits on the wrong people, and develop and improve your strategy of using the site.
A trip to China
You’ll need to meet your bride in real life, and though China isn’t the cheapest Asian country, visiting it is still cheaper than inviting your Chinese bride (and safer, by the way, as you don’t need to buy a ticket for a person you’ve never met in real life) to your home country if you’re a Western or paying for two trips for a third country, for example, Thailand.
So, what affects this cost? A lot of things, including the exact location of your girlfriend. The difference is significant even if we compare two megacities. Just take a look at the table below to make sure it’s real.
Expenses for 3 weeks, mid-range | Beijing | Shanghai |
Flight (round trip, from New York) | $1,200 | $1,100 |
Hotel | $1600 | $3,300 |
Food | $400 | $450 |
Local transportation | $150 | $100 |
Entertainment | $500 | $150 |
Total | Around $4,000 | Around $5,000 |
Note that the prices for trips to comparatively small Chinese cities may be twice as cheap, but the costs of plane tickets will still be high. As we’ve mentioned previously, the country’s average travel cost is now around $2,800, and $1,200 is the cost of round-trip tickets.
All in all, your travel expenses will depend on the following:
- The number of trips to China you’re going to take (in 90% of cases, it’s not just one trip)
- The city where you’re going to meet your bride
- The season (that will affect the cost of flights)
- Duration of your trip
- Your preferences — class of hotels, restaurants where you have dinners, etc.
So, consider all that when you plan your budget. Also, the cost of trips is the highest compared to other expenses, which is why we recommend focusing on your most compatible match on the dating site, considering all the red flags, and booking tickets and hotels only if you’re sure you’ve met the right person.
The legal part
In this case, everything is less complex. For example, if you’re an American and you want to marry your Chinese girlfriend in the US, the K-1 visa is likely to cost you $1,000. If she already has children, normally, the cost will be $300 higher for every kid. Costs of visas in other countries vary. For example, in the UK, a groom is likely to spend around $2,000 on a visa.
Romance costs
That’s the only category of expenses that can’t be estimated or calculated just because they are absolutely optional. This is your spending on gifts, flowers, surprises, weddings, etc.
Of course, the gap between the expenses for different people with different tastes is huge. You may spend just $500 or even less on a few bouquets or flowers during a year and a wedding license (and that will be okay, mail-order brides aren’t seeking a sugar daddy) or $30,000+. Just note that gifts are more expensive if you buy them through your dating site, and even if you don’t, international delivery costs money. So, plan your budget according to your specific plans and preferences and try to cut costs if a more affordable romance is acceptable for you.
Bottom line
Yang LiAuthor and ExpertDating a Chinese woman won’t cost you a fortune if you develop a strategy instead of making random emotional choices. Spend time on research but make informed decisions at every stage, from the phase of choosing a dating site to the stage of planning a wedding, and you won’t pay more than you were expecting to pay.