Arab Mail Order Brides: Statistics, Costs & Legality

The Arab World consists of 22 countries and is pretty homogeneous—in many of them, women can’t marry foreign men or men from non-Muslim countries, and in some, the law denies citizenship to spouses and children. So, does it mean the term ‘Arabian mail order brides‘ is nothing but an oxymoron? Yes and no.

In this guide, we’ll talk about the counties of the Arab World, the local laws, Arabian brides who can marry a foreign husband and those who can’t — all the information on the existing opportunities and restrictions, as well as on the costs of dating Arabian women can be found here.

❤️ Success rate	81%
🌍 Popular Arabian countries with brides	Egypt, Sudan, Algeria, Iraq, Morocco
💰 Average cost of an Arabian bride	$3,600 – $8,025
⌛ Average age of Arabian brides	25 y.o.
💔 Divorce rate	~19%

3 Best Arab mail order brides & Dating websites to meet love in 2024

Rating prepared by David Wygant

4.9

In which countries Arab girls can marry foreigners?

In fact, in most Arab countries, interethnic and interracial marriages to non-citizens are permitted, but once you analyze the laws, you realize there are lots of restrictions and requirements. Let’s take a look at the lists of countries with relatively similar laws.

Countries where an Arabian bride can marry a foreigner:

Djibouti
Tunisia
Egypt
Qatar
Saudi Arabia
Somalia

Countries where an Arab bride can marry a foreigner, but will lose her citizenship and/or pass her nationality and citizenship to her husband and children:

Bahrain
the Comoros Island
Jordan
Kuwait
Lebanon
Mauritania
Syria

Finally, here are the countries where foreign men can marry Arab women, but with specific requirements—they must be Muslim/provide proof of conversion to Islam, need a letter of consent from a father of an Arab bride, must obtain approval of a special committee, etc.:

Algeria
Iraq
Libya
Morocco
Oman
The United Arab Emirates
Yemen

Also, Sudan is an Arab country where women can’t marry foreigners.

Explore all Arab countries with mail order brides

Source: Number of brides (applicants for K-1 visas) in 2019

arabian girl for marriage — Bride from Syria
Source: TheLuckyDate

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Things you should know about Arab mail order brides: Figures & Statistics

Again, Arabian ladies, even those who marry foreigners, are not always Arabian mail order brides—only some of the men who marry Arab girls meet their future Arab wives online.

Still, even such a scenario is real and even pretty common, and we’re going to talk about it in more detail below. But if you’re going to meet Arab brides, you need to learn more about them first, and here are some facts that can help you better understand them.

The countries with the largest number of immigrants to the US are Morocco, Egypt, and Iraq. In 2019, there were 224 Moroccan K-1 visa applicants, 264 Egyptian foreign fiancés, and 331 Iraqi citizens immigrating to the US to get married.
The average age of getting married in most Arab countries is 25. For example, in Saudi Arabia, there are some of the youngest Arabian wives—local girls usually get married at the age of 20.5, while in Lebanon, they usually marry at the age of 28.8.
The number of children wanted varies greatly from country to country, but it’s always pretty large. In particular, it’s 4.9 in Morocco, 5.4 in Yemen, 6.1 in Sudan, 6.3 in Jordan and Syria, and 8.7 in Mauritania. By comparison, most Israeli brides (Israel itself can’t be considered an Arab country, though) usually have 3.72 children on average.

arab woman for marriage — Arabian woman from Morocco
Source: BravoDate

So, Arabian countries are different, and so are Arabian women. There are countries where you can meet an Arab bride, start a relationship with her, and there are countries where it turns into a very complex task. In some countries, Arab mail order brides are younger, and in some, older, but the size of families always remains large.

So, what if you want to find a middle Eastern bride? Should you learn more about Arab culture? Yes, that’s definitely a great idea, but you also should know how to meet Arabian brides and how much getting a hot Arab wife actually costs.

2 Success stories of Arab wives’ husbands

Troy and Farah

via TheLuckyDate

“Hey, I was on a business trip to Yemen once, and there, I met my future wife. I was completely accidental, and I’m just happy her parents were pretty open-minded—they met me before we even started dating and were okay with our relationship.

We married after 2 years of a long-distance relationship, and now I can say it was absolutely worth it—she’s the most respectful, caring, smart, and kind woman I’ve ever met.”

Oscar and Lyla

via EasternHoneys

“I’m now dating a girl from Tunisia, and I really think she’s my soulmate, so I just want to give advice to men who’re going to start a relationship with Arab girls. Yes, an Arab bride’s parents’ opinion is important. No, you can’t treat her like your servant.

It’s a patriarchal society, but the truth is that I’ve never seen my potential father-in-law yelling at his wife, they go on dates, and have the most harmonious relationship. My girlfriend expects me to do the same, and I’m happy to be respectful and romantic with her.”

Try to calculate the cost of Arab mail order bride

❗ Note, to calculate the cost of an Arab bride, select the Asian region

How much does it cost to meet, date & marry an Arab woman?

If you want to meet a girl from the Middle East staying in the US or another Western country, there’ll be certain expenses you should be aware of. You can’t buy an Arab mail order bride (as well as a bride from any other region), but you’ll still need to pay for using dating sites and trips to an Arab bride’s country.

Cost of online dating services

There are not so many niche dating sites for Arabian girls. After all, there are not so many countries where Arabian women can easily start looking for a foreign husband on purpose. If you join one of such rare dating platforms, you’re likely to spend around $100 a month on online dating services.

So, if you stay on the site for a year, you’ll spend around $1,200 in total. Can you use free apps like Tinder? Of course, it’s possible; just consider that it will take more time and effort because most Arab brides registered on such websites are looking for local matches.

arabian mail order bride cost — Source: The prices are based on BudgetYourTrip and SkyScanner data

Cost of trips to Arabian countries

Trips are not optional for men who meet Arabian girls online—you just won’t be able to marry a Middle Eastern bride without meeting her in real life. Of course, the costs of trips vary greatly depending on the country.

Moreover, although many Arabian brides from Iraq or Morocco marry Americans, it’s not safe to go to such countries because of terrorism, so maybe, you will consider meeting your bride in a third country you both can easily go to, for example, Turkey. Egypt is also pretty safe to visit, and the costs for travelers are nearly at the same level as in Turkey, so let’s estimate the costs of going to this country.

Round trip tickets

1000

Food

150

Hotel

300

Local transportation

100

Entertainment

150

These are the costs for one traveler, so if you’re going to pay for your girlfriend, the total price will be around $2,400. Also, most men take at least two trips to meet their Arab brides before proposing to them, so consider this, too.

The total cost of marrying an Arab woman

So, if we assume that a man pays for a premium membership on one of the paid sites, goes to Egypt twice, and also pays for a visa, it will be ($1,200 + $4,800 + $2,025) $5,600 in total. This is just an approximate cost—everything will depend on your decisions and strategy. For example, if you meet in a third country, like Turkey, you’ll probably pay for your girlfriend’s trip, too.

arabian mail order bride — Arabian woman
Source: AmourFactory

Can you buy an Arab wife?

No, it’s illegal.

You can just meet an Arabian bride online, communicate with her, meet her in real life, and then marry her. There’s no other way for foreign citizens, including Arabian brides, to marry a foreigner in the US—they need to apply for a K-1 visa that can be issued only if a couple has an authentic romantic relationship and has met in real life within two previous years.

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Legal considerations and challenges faced by Arab brides marrying foreign husbands

Marrying an Arab bride is obviously not easy. And clearly, it’s not the US that provides the obstacles here—it’s the Arabic cultural, religious, and social norms. Let’s be honest: the Middle East is probably the most conservative part of the world, and it’s evident that their conservative views and values affect international marriages.

This especially concerns Arabic women who want to marry foreign men. Here are the 4 challenges and legal considerations you need to be aware of:

Here’s the #1 rule: if you are not a Muslim, don’t even waste your time on Sunni Islam countries. The countries with the majority of Sunnis are Egypt, Jordan, Gaza, Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Indonesia—and Sunni Islam prohibits Muslim women from marrying men of other religions. If you want to find a Muslim (not Arabic!) country where women have the same rights as men and can get married to non-Muslim foreigners, Tunisia is your #1 choice, and Turkey is your #2 option. These are one of the only Muslim countries where it’s allowed.
The #2 thing you need to understand is that if you’re going to convert to Islam, it will be easier for you. Under Egyptian law, for example, a non-Muslim man can marry a local woman only if he converts to Islam, and the same rule is present in some other Arab countries.
But even if you’re a Muslim from the United States, this doesn’t mean it’s going to be easy. Yes, such marriages are not forbidden, but there are a lot of legal challenges for Arabic women who want to marry foreign men. In Saudi Arabia, as well as in most countries of the region, local women who get married to foreign men are subject to legal discrimination. Moreover, Arab women who get married to foreign men experience social discrimination and stigma, and the same can be said about their children.
So, even if it’s not an interfaith marriage, it’s not that simple. For example, a Saudi woman must be 30-55 years old to be able to marry a foreigner while a foreign man must possess an “appropriate family residence” and must not be a member of the military, etc.

In 2022, there were 11 K-1 “fiance(e)” visas issued to the citizens of Yemen, 7 K-1 visas issued to the citizens of Saudi Arabia, and 0 K-1 visas issued to Qatari citizens. Arab brides are the least popular brides in the world because of all those limitations and restrictions.

So, unless you’re a Muslim or going to convert, you should be ready that having an Arab or a Muslim bride comes with challenges.

Tips for those interested in dating or marrying a Muslim bride

First of all, forget about “dating” a Muslim bride because, in the absolute majority of Muslim countries, you don’t “date”—you meet with the intention to marry a person.

If that sounds like you, continue reading—here, you’ll find the top 3 tips that will help you succeed with a Muslim woman:

Be patient.
It’s obvious that you should not expect to have sex before marriage—it’s called “zina” in the Arabic language, and it’s actually a crime. In Sunni countries, for example, they get 100 lashes in public for that. Obviously, you shouldn’t expect sex talk and making out, too—we are not 100% sure, but these activities are most likely punishable by lashes, too.
Do your best to impress her family.
Muslim girls are exceptionally family-centered. You cannot expect your girlfriend/bride to go against her parents, so you have to make them like you. Show them you can support her, show them you love her, and do everything to convince them because their decision can literally end your relationship.
Focus on more liberal countries.
Let’s be honest: your chances are not that high, but you can improve them by focusing on Tunisia, Turkey, or Lebanon. By the way, countries like Kazakhstan and Bosnia and Herzegovina are Muslim, too, and they are almost as good for dating as other European/Asian countries.

Final thoughts

David Wygant

Dating Expert

Of course, the number of Arab girls for marriage on international dating sites is lower, and there are fewer niche sites that accept Middle Eastern brides only, but if you want to date an Arab girl, you can still meet her online.

In Arab countries, some women looking for older men online, and some want to meet a younger partner, but everyone has a chance. We just recommend learning more about laws and customs in a particular country before you start a relationship to make sure it actually can end up with marriage.

FAQ

Can Arabian girls marry foreigners?

In most countries, yes, they can. In particular, foreign men can marry women from Djibouti, Tunisia, Egypt, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Somalia. Note that in some of these and most other countries of the Arab World, there are specific requirements for cross-cultural couples. In particular, an Arab bride may lose her citizenship, not be able to pass it to children and a husband, get a father’s approval, and in a lot of countries, a woman can marry a non-citizen only if he’s Muslim.

Can I find an Arab mail order bride?

You can meet single Arab brides online, but there’s no way just to pay the price and marry a girl. Moreover, the number of Arab women using dating sites is still lower than the number of women looking for foreign husbands from other regions like Asia and Latin America. Still, there are niche websites with Arabian brides, as well as global apps and sites where you can possibly meet a Middle Eastern wife.

What are the Arab wedding customs, and should I know them to marry an Arabian bride?

They vary greatly from country to country—it would just be wrong to generalize them all. We recommend learning more about specific traditions in the country where your Arabian mail order bride is from. Usually, there are plenty of things to consider, from the wedding ceremony to the dowry.

Are Arabian brides different from Western women, and if yes, how?

They are very different just because they’re raised in completely different cultures and societies. In most cases, Arab women for marriage are more family-minded, kind, and respectful, and they usually have exceptional organizational skills. Western girls are more open-minded, spontaneous, and focused on their self-development and career goals.

David Wygant

Expert-Writer

One of the leading dating experts and a professional coach with more than 20 years of experience. David tells his clients how to become successful and how to find love, and is just great at it. David already helped millions of men and women achieve success in relationships — and with this blog, you'll completely change the way you date.