Pros and Cons of Marrying Someone from Another Country

February 8, 2024

9 min read

Many people face the problem of not feeling connected and comfortable with their surroundings, especially when it comes to finding a soulmate. They may want to have a romantic partner with whom they can share their worldview, but the local dating pool is full of depressed faces who have no interests.

It’s a time when marrying someone from a different country seems not only bad but “life-saving.” It brings excitement and hope yet follows a series of obstacles and sometimes danger. This guide will provide the pros and cons of marrying someone from another country to help you make a better decision. Additionally, you will learn the virtual and conventional methods of foreign dating. So, let’s read it!

What are the pros of marrying a foreigner?

Of course, marrying someone from another country has a lot of positive sides, which can change your worldview and life for the better.

✅ A new surrounding like an ability to start anew

The biggest advantage of partnering with a foreigner is that moving to their country or any other country, in general, simply gives you more chances of becoming the person you really want to be. Usually, when we have friends or people of the same mentality and background around us, it’s hard to be a better version of yourself because everything will trigger you. In a totally new place and society, it’s easier to find the space for “sculpting your soul.”

✅ Always something to discuss with your partner

Numerous (almost endless) cultural nuances to learn from each other every day, different languages between you and your partner—so many topics will be here to discuss and things to compare that you and your soulmate will never feel bored!

✅ Traveling is a little nice perk

It’s obvious that when you decide to partner with an overseas person, you will often travel from your home country to their homeland. Moreover, in such romantic unions, traveling around the world is a common practice because “internationals need international.”

✅ Discovering a new culture

With traveling comes another perk—immersing into a new culture. If you are a person who likes discovering the traditions of other nations, you will be able to make your little dream of becoming like Fernão de Magalhães in the Age of Exploration come true.

✅ A way to look at your own culture and country from another angle

Oftentimes, when people decide to date and marry someone from another country, they organize so-called tours for their loved ones to show where they come from. Showing your partner marvelous landscapes and sightseeing places and inviting them to join local fests or friends/family gatherings can be an eye-opening experience not only for them but for you as well. Maybe you will begin noticing things in people and your surroundings you have never seen before, which will shape your worldview.

✅ Mmm, tasty!

Trying new food and discovering new tastes is, although not the most important, yet a pretty nice advantage of marrying a foreigner. Also, some delicacies you like may be hard to find in your country, but in the homeland of your boyfriend/girlfriend, it can be a “routine” dish.

✅ The network is expanding, bringing new opportunities

When moving to another country, you discover new career opportunities, especially when your new home is more developed than your homeland. For example, your skills can be more demanding in a foreign country than at home, which will provide you with more space for professional and personal development.

✅ A culturally rich family

Although the traditions of the country you and your partner are going to live in will be dominant, still, the practice shows that in mixed marriages, couples follow the customs of both sides.

✅ Mixed heritage children

Your children will have an excellent opportunity to grow in a diverse society and have a progressive mind because they absorb the way of living of two countries/cultures. Also, such children often grow up bilingual, which will be beneficial for them in the future.

✅ Stepping out of the comfort zone

To progress in life, we need to get out of our comfort zone, and a marriage with a foreign person can help with it. For example, you may be afraid of meeting new people, but the foreign dating path will all be about it and make you a more social-awkwardness resilient person.

What are the cons of marrying a foreigner?

Sometimes the difficulties and dangers of marrying a foreigner are not very obvious, and without knowing the potential risks such a union might lead to, you can get in trouble.

❌ Cultural barrier. Although it’s an enriching experience to be in a relationship with a person of another culture, some of the foreign customs might not be to your liking. For example, Western men marrying Eastern European women don’t understand the custom of taking off shoes in the house (and women get angry when you don’t do it 😏).
❌ Language barrier. Surely, people trying international dating know English or other popular languages, which can make communication with foreigners easier. However, sometimes it’s hard to express certain feelings in a foreign language (especially when it’s a difficult language like Chinese), and your partner won’t understand your mother tongue.
❌ Distance. Usually, before marrying a foreign partner, you go through long-distance relationships. Some people are perfectly fine with it, but even they can feel lonely without their favorite person being with them physically.
❌ Homesickness. A lot of people who married an international partner and stayed in their country report about the little “abyss of sadness” that appears in their hearts after they leave home. If you are not ready to not see your parents and friends for a long time, international dating is not for you.
❌ Missing home events. Also, when staying in a foreign land, you may not be financially able to visit all the occasions at your home. Christmas, birthdays—often, you will “celebrate” these events via FaceTime only.
❌ Cost. Sometimes, international couples decide to move to a totally different country together, which can cost a lot. In addition, when you decide to marry and go through the visa process, you will have to invest more than $2,000. This process is also time-consuming.
❌ No acceptance. Sometimes, parents of international spouses may not like their dating choice, which can create tension in the family and even lead to serious arguments. Moreover, even if your relatives support you, the society you live in may not approve it based on stereotypes about the origin of your spouse.
❌ No career opportunities. In some cases, living with a foreign spouse in their country can bring new career opportunities. However, it can also take away all possibilities to find a job, especially for women. For example, some countries provide decent assistance for women on maternal leave, while others don’t support mothers at all, which can cause women either to lose their jobs and have a hard time coming back to work or not having children at all, which can create tension with family members.
❌ Dual identity conflict. When you marry a person of another culture, you try to adjust to their customs. But you can’t just erase the traditions of your homeland from your memory, right? That’s why you try to combine both, and it creates inner pressure and the feeling you no longer belong anywhere.
❌ The last but one of the most important disadvantages of marrying someone from a different culture—you may not know what hides under the surface until it’s too late. Long-distance relationships are dangerous because you can’t “study” your person enough to see if they are really safe for you. You meet several times and decide to marry, but when you marry, everything changes. That’s why you should be careful who you choose to marry as a foreigner.

Where to find a wife from another country?

Knowing the advantages and disadvantages of marrying a foreigner is not enough if you really want to meet an overseas love because you should know WHERE to look for them. The dating pool exists in two forms—online and offline.

Online dating

To find and marry someone from another country, you can use online methods, too. The most popular is social media, which is pretty simple in usage, doesn’t require any payments, but provides no effective tools for a girl’s search, and online dating sites—a paid option that can offer the profiles of girls who only seek dating, professional search engine, and variety of interaction perks. We checked the potential websites and defined 10 most reliable services for finding an overseas soulmate:

10.0

Offline dating

Conventional out-of-the-site dating usually means traveling to the desired country and encountering a girl there. The most popular places for encountering a pretty foreign girl for your taste are:

Bars
Restaurants
Parks
Local festivals and social gatherings

If you don’t have much money for trips, you can participate in projects that can cover your stay in the country, for example, a cultural exchange, courses, volunteering, etc.

FAQ

Is that true that interracial marriages fail more often than marriages within one race?

Unfortunately, mixed marriages have a higher tendency to divorce—the Pew Research Center says that the number of failed mixed marriages is 41% compared to 31% among couples of the same race. To prevent divorce, understanding and compromise should be your priority.

What groups of people are more likely to enter international marriages?

Usually, international marriages happen between Western men in their 30s-40s and women from less developed countries in their 20s. However, because of globalization, such marriage decisions are becoming more popular among young people of both sexes.

Are international marriages even legal?

No country bans international or interracial marriages. However, there may be prejudices toward such unions in specific societies, which may include racist implications, for example.

Walter Tevis

Dating Expert

Walter Tevis is one of the most experienced writers at mail-bride.org and boasts an impressive number of books and articles that made it to rankings in such magazines as The New York Times and The Financial Times. How writing is of remarkable quality, and Walter always strives to deliver researched-based articles to our readers.