According to the Service of Immigration and Naturalization, from 100 to 150 thousand women of various countries, including USA, Canada, Europe and Australia, annually turn to marriage agencies in search of a foreign husband. An overwhelming majority of these women are natives of Southeast Asia, especially of Philippines, Russia and other republics of the former Soviet Union. The majority of Asian brides are Philippine women, in spite of the fact that the "brides by mail" service was considered to be illegal there for many years and was forbidden. Recently international marriage agencies have switched their attention to women from Russia and republics of the former Union. Last year's data suggests that 69 of the 153 registered marriage services focus on them (two months after the research was carried out the number soared to 202). A significant percentage of brides in their lists are Ukrainian.
In general, the marriage agencies that specialize in selection of brides from abroad could be subdivided into two categories. The first includes "Mail order brides services" (representatives of them prefer to be called "services of international correspondence"), offering their clients names, photos and addresses of women in printed catalogues or on the Internet. Agencies do not take money from the women who provide their data. The men who wish to contact women from the list pay from $2 to $5 for each address.
The second way for an American to meet a potential "overseas" wife is through e-mail or clubs of pen-friends. These services are usually free-of-charge. Men and women send in their profiles and emails, stating which qualities they want to see in their future partners. Some large correspondence clubs are: AnastasiaWeb.com, RussianBrides.com. It is possible to find data there about more than 10,000 women, which are looking for a husband or a long-term partner. As such services are carried out through the Internet, their participants are usually older and more educated than those who are "ordered" by mail, and they live in more advanced countries, such as Japan or Russia.