South America remains one of the most popular mail bride regions in the world, and it has become even more popular since 2010. In 2010, only 10% of all K-1 visas were issued to South Americans, while in 2023, they got around 13% of them (2,447 visas in 2023). This is not surprising. These women are optimistic and very attractive, they have very strong family ties, they make great wives, they’re expressive, and they’re very feminine and romantic—and these are only a few reasons why tens of thousands of men start dating Latin brides online every single year.
We’ll tell you everything about them here—from the top facts and numbers to the legal aspects of marrying women from South America, we’ll present you the top mail bride apps, and we’ll also talk about the Latin mail order brides prices. Let’s begin.
3 best Latin mail order bride & dating sites for singles
These are the best dating platforms with Latin brides. We tested each of them for at least 7 days, and we can guarantee that these websites have the most detailed profiles, the highest reply rates, and the largest dating pools in the industry.
- LatiDate – best for meeting Latin women for marriage or a serious relationship, the site has a generous bonus
- ColombiaLady – best for those who need the most advanced communication tools, from video chat to gift delivery
- GoChatty – best for those who want ID-verified profiles and a high reply rate
Latin mail-order brides – Modern concept
The history of mail order brides began in the 17th century when the first European women traveled to America and married local men from the Jamestown colony and New France. In the 19th century, when thousands of Asian men found employment in mining and railroad construction on the American Frontier, Asian mail order brides traveled from Japan and China to find a husband there.
At that time, the mail bride agencies worked like this: foreign women sent their pictures to the agencies, men in America chose and contacted the ladies they liked, and after a short exchange of letters, those “picture brides” moved to America and got married. There were also thousands of European brides in the 19th century—there was a spike in the number of brides from Europe during the California Gold Rush. In the 20th century, Asia and Europe were the leading regions in the mail-order bride industry. South America came to the party later, in the second half of the 20th century.
Today, a typical Latin brides agency works like this: it offers a catalog with women’s profiles to a man and shows video introductions. Then, a man chooses one or several women and communicates with them. After that, a man is introduced to these women in person—typically, these agencies offer so-called “romance tours”. The main problem here is the price: a 1-week tour might cost you up to $5,000, and that’s probably the main reason why these agencies fell out of favor in the 2010s and in the 2020s. That’s why today, most American men find their foreign wives via mail order bride websites—they’re affordable, convenient, and they have large dating pools.
Statistics you didn’t know about Latin women
- Latin women are known for their expressiveness, and it’s not just a stereotype—it’s actually one of the main aspects of their culture.
- Colombian and Brazilian brides are the most popular mail brides in South America (850 and 657 K-1 visas in 2023).
- They’re very optimistic, and again, it’s not just a stereotype. According to studies, Latin Americans in the United States have higher levels of happiness than other ethnicities, and they tend to be even less sensitive to economic and socio-cultural factors.
- They have larger families, and they typically have more children than women from the US—the average fertility rate in South America is around 2 children per woman, while in the US, it’s 1.6. However, the number of total births in South America is drifting downwards, just like in the US.
- They have very strong family ties, so you should expect very deep family involvement when dating them. And you’ll probably be introduced to the family members very soon.
Are Latin brides legal in the world?
You can date beautiful Latin brides, you can marry a woman from South America, and you can bring her to the US on a K-1 or a CR-1 visa. If you live in another Western country, it’s legal for you, too—the UK, Canada, and Australia have similar types of visas for the foreign spouses and brides of their citizens.
Of course, it’s all legal only if your relationship is real. No form of exploitation is allowed, as well as sham marriages—the USCIS officers always conduct investigations to identify potential exploitation/human trafficking cases, and you’ll have to provide a lot of evidence to prove that your relationship is legitimate and real.
And that’s not the only requirement, of course. Your income must be higher than 125% of the federal poverty guideline; you and your bride will have to bring all the required documentation, passports, divorce certificates, medical examination and police certificates, and so on.
You can get married in the US after getting a visa for your bride—this is the K-1 visa path—or you can get married and apply for the visa after that, it’s the CR-1 visa. The K-1 visa costs around $2,500, and you’ll have to wait around 10 months. The CR-1 visa costs $1,500, and the processing time is around 9 months as of 2025.
How much are Latin wives?
You can’t buy a bride, clearly. But you also can’t find a bride and bring her to the US for free—dating sites are not free, a trip to South America is not free, and the visas are not free either. Here’s how much you’ll need to pay (approximately):
| Dating site | $200-$250 |
| A trip to Latin America | $1,700-$2,000 |
| Visa fees | $1,500-$2,500 |
| Total | $3,400-$4,750 |
Dating sites costs
All the best Latin brides dating apps are paid. You can test free sites, of course, but the chances of finding a real bride there are near zero, and there’s a very high probability of losing your money to scammers and bots there. Paid dating sites, at least the ones like LatiDate and ColombiaGirl, do their best to protect the users from scammers, and they also offer to meet thousands of brides; that’s why we strongly suggest you focus on paid apps instead of free ones.
These sites don’t have a monthly membership system anymore. Today, they have credits, and the system is very simple: you buy some, you exchange them for chatting and sending pictures, and then, you buy some more.
In most cases, men spend around 15 minutes per day chatting and send/receive around 10 pictures per month. Here’s how much you’ll pay for it on 2 top dating apps, LatiDate and ColombiaGirl:
| Website | LatiDate | ColombiaGirl |
| 1 minute of live chat | $0.4 | $0.4 |
| 15 minutes of live chat | $6 | $6 |
| Monthly cost: 450 minutes of live chat and 10 pictures | $180+$20 | $180+$60 |
A 2-week trip to South America
You must meet your mail order bride in person in order to marry her or to apply for a K-1 visa. Here’s how much you would pay for a 2-week trip to South America:
- A round trip—$500-$800 ($500 to Mexico, around $800 to Brazil)
- Hotel room—$40-$60 per night, around $700 for 2 weeks
- Dates and presents—$500
- Total—$1,700-$2,000
K-1/CR-1 visa
You can bring your Latin wife to the US on a CR-1 visa. You’ll need to pay around $1,500 for the CR-1 visa, and the K-1 visa costs around $1,200. However, there is one difference: if your bride applies for a K-1 visa, she’ll also have to pay for the I-485, application for lawful permanent resident status (it currently costs $1,440).
Success stories who found Latin love through marriage services
Joe and Camila, Mexico
I met Camia in 2024 on a dating site. She wasn’t the first girl I talked to on that site, but she was different—we had similar hobbies, she spoke English perfectly, and she said in the very beginning that she was looking for a serious relationship (that’s exactly what I wanted, too). I’m a sales representative in Texas. This role requires travel to meet with partners, and most of them are in Mexico City and Tijuana, so we didn’t have to wait for too long to finally meet each other. We had our first date 3 weeks after I contacted her online, and I wasn’t disappointed, to be fair.
She was even more beautiful than her profile picture, and we felt an extremely strong connection on the very first date in a coffee shop in Tijuana. 5 more dates, 5 more days and nights together, and I decided that I don’t want to separate, even for a few months, so… I proposed to her right away. And she said yes.
