Passport Bros are Idiots Who Will Be Dumped. I Saw This Happen Many Times
Unless you're a rare exception, "importing" a wife will not end well.

The Internet is full of stories about "passport bros" who complain about Western women having high standards and that Eastern women are much better off as they are more conservative and traditional. These men seek women who would be interested in a trad-wife kind of lifestyle, staying home and taking care of the kids. So, the bros grab their passports (quite literally) and travel to other countries, particularly those in Eastern Europe, Thailand, the Philippines, and others, where they find wives among local women and bring them to the United States. By "bringing them to the US", I mean they legally sponsor them, which allows those women to arrive in the States on a 90-day fiance visa. If you watched the "90-Day Fiance" show, you know how that visa works, although the show doesn't necessarily have passport bros.
I don't have anything against passport bros in the sense that they don't see a woman such as myself as a proper life partner. Ironically, I was raised in Eastern Europe and couldn't wait to get away from any hint of closed-minded and old-fashioned views of family values. Side note: many Eastern European women are quite progressive nowadays. If those men choose to look for ladies elsewhere, then good for them, as it doesn't affect my life. After all, women like myself wouldn't date them anyway. However, there are two issues with this trend: human trafficking and the utter naiveness of the passport bros.
I have bad news for the passport bros. Unfortunately, there is a very low chance of this type of relationship and marriage working out in their favor. I'm speaking not just as someone who observes from a distance but as a Western-minded woman of Eastern European origin. I cannot talk for Northern Asian women, but as per my observations, the idea is the same. I can attest to the characters of women who seek foreign spouses, and since I sometimes encounter them through friends and acquaintances, I can tell you from experience that these relationships don't usually work out.
There are a lot of crucial truths the passport bros are missing, and since those men share certain personality traits, they are in for a huge surprise once those ladies arrive at the American airport with their freshly issued US visas. I'm not American, but Canada is quite similar, and we have several passport bros here, too.
While I cannot speak of every single woman or situation, and of course, some of these partnerships do work out, I'm convinced that passport bros are mostly idiots who will get dumped within a few years after marrying their mail-order brides. Apologies for being harsh, but I've seen many such situations unfold before my eyes. Strap in, and let me tell you why.
Prelude: Who are Passport Bros?
Who are passport bros? Let's ask the Urban Dictionary.
The “Passport Bros” are men who have chosen to seek out foreign women, typically from other countries, for relationships. They believe that western women have been influenced by cultural and societal pressures to behave in a certain way and that by seeking out foreign women, they can find a more authentic, fulfilling, and harmonious relationship. This is seen as a way to restore the natural balance between masculine and feminine energy and to avoid the “wickedness” of Western women.
There is a lot to unpack here. Not every person — a man or a woman — who seeks a relationship with a foreigner is a passport bro or passport sis. Those are very particular people who should be referred to in such a way. For example, there are countries with lower female than male populations, such as Japan. Sometimes, Japanese men have to resort to looking for foreign wives simply because there aren't enough partners for everyone. This is fair and isn't connected to passport-bro-ing.
However, these relationships involve men seeking mail-order brides. In my opinion, such arrangements aren't ethical because men essentially get women from much poorer countries and less fortunate families, meaning those women are at a disadvantage and are vulnerable as they move to the US. Often, such women come from poor villages and don't have a lot of opportunities in life. But even if they come from regular middle-class families, depending on the country, they still have fewer opportunities than in the United States. Or, at the very least, they think they have better opportunities in the US since they were raised watching American movies and TV shows and have been dreaming about being like Monica or Rachel from "Friends", living in New York and sipping coffee every day at "Central Perk". Do you know how many women I've heard of who watched "Sex and the City" and genuinely believed they would be like Carrie from "Sex and the City", living in Manhattan? A lot. It's unbelievable. Guys, I love New York, but there are many downsides to moving there or to another American city or town. I'm sorry, but every country has downsides.
Right away, I need to point out that I know of happy "foreign fiance" marriages. The first one I encountered after moving to Canada was a very nice Russian lady in her 40s who came here on a fiance visa when she was almost 30. Her husband was a man in his early 60s and didn't seek a wife because he disliked Canadian women. He was a lonely widower who wanted a companion and a friend. The guy was also getting older and needed someone to help him around the house. Is it a good idea to marry someone for their time, attention, and help with chores instead of love and happiness? I don't think so. But was he honest about his intentions of seeking more of a business transaction? Yes. He didn't despise local women; it was just hard for him to meet anyone locally. Also, most women his age wouldn't be able to care for him, and he wasn't a creep who would seek ladies in their 30s or 40s, who were almost half his age.
Now, I'm not saying the man did a good and honorable thing by "ordering" a friend and (essentially) a maid in exchange for her receiving a Canadian visa and a passport. However, the lady didn't have many opportunities back in Russia, and she was disenchanted by her experience with Russian men. So, she gladly moved to Canada, and they became friends and partners. They have lived a happy marriage for many decades. She stayed with him after getting her passport and then started working instead of being dependent on him.
You can say women like that are passport-diggers, but they aren't necessarily gold-diggers. Some genuinely want a better life in a decent country and a partner who will respect and value them.
Now, take the story above. That is something a passport bro would NOT do. They have very particular grievances related to Western dating experiences and an equally specific behavioral pattern.
Why are Passport Bros Unhappy and Choose to Go Overseas?
This deserves a book, but I will try to distill it down to a few key points.
#1: They are Against the Idea of Modern Western Women
You know what I mean by "modern Western women", right? A modern, confident, independent woman who doesn't need a man to survive, like it was in the last century when women were not allowed to have banking accounts, got turned down from most high-paying jobs, and were overall treated like furniture, not as actual humans. Thankfully, the times have changed.
I have always believed that no one, regardless if you're a man, woman, or other-gendered person, doesn't need anyone. Instead, we want someone. Another person who will love us and whom we'll love as well. It's truly horrendous that back in the day, men were chosen because they were a source of survival, not because women loved them. I mean, of course, I'd like to think many ladies loved their partners! But, since I was accustomed to getting married extremely fast, I had difficulty believing people truly loved each other. They surely grew to care for and develop feelings afterward, similar to how arranged marriages are still being formed in certain countries. But would you genuinely be okay marrying someone who met you recently and doesn't love you? I wouldn't.
Would you be okay with a person primarily choosing to marry you to not end up homeless and hungry on the street? I wouldn't. And there were amazing partnerships formed back then as well! However, was it many?
This is why, in modern times, people do their best to choose partners wisely and only create families with those whom they truly love and care for. If you ask me, that's the way to go.
But some modern men don't subscribe to the idea of a modern woman. Similarly, I know women who won't like that either. Some folks say:
“I’m all for traditional family values.”
Now, if you ask me if a woman says that, there's a decent chance she's looking for a fellow to take care of her financially while she stays home and doesn't work. And sure, once kids come into the picture, childcare becomes an important labor, greater than the regular job hours. But kids start going to kindergarten and school and can eventually take care of themselves, while the wife can potentially stay home and not work her entire life, which can easily be 40 to 50 years. My main issue with it is the potential of being trapped in a marriage that's not going well, becoming a victim of abuse, or simply being unhappy but not having the means to leave.
While men build well-paying careers, the stay-at-home-wives keep their work history blank. However, I also don't like that these women aren't being their partners' support system if they were to lose their jobs or get sick. I've been vocal about men not always getting the support and being overwhelmed by the expectations that derive from toxic masculinity my entire life.
But passport bros don't want a modern woman. They prefer the old-fashioned type of ladies who would stay home, take care of the house, raise kids, and take care of them. Sadly, this isn't the way many – if not most women – in North America are. I'm mostly referring to Canada and the United States, but let's be real: many other countries, particularly European ones, share the same philosophy.
Passport bros want different women, different wives. And since they may not be able to find those in North America, they opt to go overseas.
#2: They Hate the Idea of Women Being Independent
I need to preface the below with the stipulation: not every man who wants a traditional wife is against her development and independence. I know several women whose spouses are incredibly supportive of their progress and getting ahead in life.
My high school friend is a stay-at-home wife, but she also has a few certifications and licenses and has a small business on the side. Her husband has always supported her in learning something new, trying new things, and working if she wanted to. Unfortunately, passport bros are usually very different as they expect women to invest all their time into servicing them.
I spent some time reading Reddit threads and Facebook groups, where passport bros complain about women wanting to work instead of taking care of them. You can Google it and check it out yourself. Those guys are upset when they don't get a fresh breakfast; there's no hot lunch being brought to their work during the day, and an extensive dinner isn't waiting for them at home every day. They are unhappy when women have other hobbies, especially those that can bring them income, on top of home choirs, cooking duties, and childcare.
Passport bros believe their wives' main and only goal should be serving them and raising their kids. The passport bros don't like raising those kids, though; they like playing with children when they are fell-fed and cared for. But childcare? Nooo. Changing a diaper? Never heard of it. Staying with their kids on Saturday so that their wives could sleep in, go out with friends for a coffee, and do a yoga class? Are you nuts? That's not why they married those women.
Passport bros not only dislike the possibility of their women getting jobs, building careers, or even having small money-generating side hustles. They are worried that will make their wives independent, meaning women may leave them. If a woman is unhappy and has the means to take care of herself, it means she's not trapped in an unhappy union with a passport bro. Education and work history can turn into income sources, which can turn into being able to escape the entrapment.
Passport bros don't want that. This is why it's crucial to seek a foreign wife, not a local one, because a foreign wife would usually not speak English, as well as a local woman. A foreign wife may not have a career, especially if she comes from a poor community. But even if she does, not all skills are transferable to the local job market. Trust me, I saw my Eastern European parents with Bachelor's and Master's degrees not being able to transfer those into the Canadian job market.
What's the hope for a low-income girl from a village in Thailand? Or even an educated Moldavian woman with a Bachelor's and Master's but a desperate language barrier? Very little. It takes time for those ladies to assimilate, improve their language skills, and become an equal in their marriages.
Sadly, the passport bros' goal is to ensure their wives don't do so fast or at all. Equality, or even the idea of a woman becoming morally, intellectually, and spiritually equal to them — forget the financial aspect — is terrifying to a passport bro. Because that exact woman can see who the bro is, realize he's not a great person, and walk away.
It's hard to control people who love themselves, know their value, have independence and education, as well as work experience and solid income. Those partners are equals, not servants. They aren't going to stick around if you don't show them emotional support, love, and appreciation and don't build them up.
#3: They Want the Benefits of a Marriage, But Not the Responsibility
If there's a word to describe these types of unions, it would be "one-sided". Passport bros want the benefits of a marriage without providing any benefits back to their wives. They believe that they "saved" their wives from poverty in another country; therefore, those women should be eternally grateful. As a gratitude, they must take care of them for the rest of their lives.
That's the philosophy. It's also a lot of BS. Because if they "save" a woman from poverty and block her from advancing in a new country, that woman is going to be a servant for a very long time. She will be a cook, a maid, a sex slave, an emotional support human, and so on. However, passport bros aren't very interested in providing the same benefits for their wives. They genuinely think that if they go to work for 8 hours a day, five days a week, and bring in income, then there's nothing else required to do. Side note: many passport bros don't even earn that much money to begin with. The main reason passport bros have the upper hand is that they were born in the United States, where the salary levels are much higher compared to most of the world, while their victims – sorry, their wives – happened to be born in less fortunate places.
The income-earning potential of the passport bros isn't usually their accomplishment; it's purely because some of us are born in richer countries and states. That's all it is.
Long story short, passport bros have no intention of caring for their wives emotionally. No Western woman would accept such a one-sided, selfish, and exploitative relationship. I can attest that I would drop a bro so fast if he showed me no emotional maturity, love, and care. I wouldn't be with a man who isn't interested in me and my character and just wants hot food, a clean home, and sex. I've met a few men like that before, which, by the way, is a rare thing for Toronto – thank God – and there was no second date.
No one, regardless of gender, deserves to have a partner who will invest 100% of their effort while they are giving back 10%. And since Western women usually figure out passport bros' tactic, it's no wonder those men have to seek wives elsewhere. Because marrying someone you barely know is a sure way for a passport bro to hide his personality for as long as possible.
The Sad Truth: Passport Bros Will Get Dumped
Now, on to the reality check.
Like I said, I'm Eastern European. I don't have close friends who are or were the wives of passport bros, but since I interact with people from my own culture, I hear a lot of stories about such marriages. And let me tell you: passport bros are in for a huge surprise.
It's one thing when a passport bro gets a wife from a very poor country who has no education and is barely literate. While it's a possibility, women like that don't usually have access to the Internet, meaning it's difficult for them to look for foreign husbands. To look for a husband overseas, that wife should at least have access to a computer or a smartphone, have the Internet, be somewhat proficient in it, and speak a little bit of English. That usually goes hand in hand with a certain level of education and family resources. Even if those women grew up in low-income families, their parents probably had the means to afford basic things, such as housing and the Internet.
I am from a large city. Everyone in urban areas probably got a computer by 2003, and it became a regular item for rural areas around 2010 or even before. Everyone got a cell phone with the Internet by 2005 in the cities and around 2012, if not sooner, in small towns and villages. Older people are the only ones who were left behind as they were old school.
What I'm getting at is as passport bros seek wives in Eastern Europe, they aren't getting an ultra-poor, uneducated woman who doesn't have any life skills. She has an education, and most of the time, she also has a decent work history – even if she comes from a poor village. Not to mention, if a woman speaks basic English, she is incredibly resilient. She has been seeking a better future for herself, or she's been fortunate to get extra education since English is taught horribly in Eastern European schools.
Not everyone is privileged, like myself, to have a tutor since I was 5 years old. But I can pinpoint several of my friends and acquaintances who come from poor towns yet speak very decent English because they were adamant about learning it.
An Eastern European wife is not an obedient, submissive, uneducated, and lost creature who arrives in America and has no prospects. She has many. And she will have a ton more once the language barrier goes away, which usually requires a few years.
And Then, There's Chaikovsky, Beethoven and Hamlet
I used to be able to distinguish between Mozart's compositions by listening to the first 10 seconds. A lot of time has passed, and I can't do that anymore, but give me a week, and I'll remember all the music written by all the greatest compositors. There was a time when I knew them all.
I read a lot of classic literature, and despite having an unfair advantage over my Western friends for being able to read Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, and others in the original language, Russian, that is. Still, I wouldn't say I liked Crime and Punishment. But I read it and can start a discussion, if not a confrontation, about the idea behind the plot. Some of Kafka's stories still give me nightmares, but at least O'Henry's stories helped shape my sense of humor.
I have been to more classic theatre plays in one year than most Americans or Canadians in their lifetime. I can sing the Marlesiese in French despite not fully learning the language, and if you push me, I can say basic things in German even though I haven't been to a single German class in my life. You can wake me up in the middle of the night, and I can recite the events of WWII pretty well, too.
I am not saying I'm smart. You don't even need to be smart to know that. By the end of the day, memorizing Beethoven's sonatas doesn't make you smart or intelligent. You also don't need to distinguish between baroque, Victorian, and Gothic styles to travel the world. Come on; anyone can point out Gothic architecture!
What I'm getting at is Europeans are extremely cultured. Yeah, some are not, but overall, most of us were raised in a highly cultural environment. After moving to Canada, I may not have attended a single organ concert, but some of my Eastern European friends consider such an event a fun and normal way to spend a Saturday. Yes, we can be snobby. And yes, I hide my snobby. After all, I'm a Canadian rumored to live in an igloo (and if I were, that would have been a very baroque-styled igloo).
Now, why am I saying all this? Because trust me: almost no passport bro measures to that level of culture. It's great if a passport bro even knows what a sonata is, what the use of a binocular is, and how many lines a limerick has. And while being cultured doesn't constitute useful life skills, it speaks to one's level of development and curiosity. If a passport bro doesn't want to explore the world, or more like barely does anything but sip beers with his buddies and watch baseball, trust me, your Eastern European wife will be bored with you in less than a year.
You're not getting an illiterate, uncultured, uneducated girl who has never tasted anything better than a bergamot tea. You're getting into a marriage with a highly educated woman who is ready to discuss the theatre with you. While you're at it, she may also educate you on the importance of quantum physics in our lives. And to finish the night off, she may invite you to dance a waltz for a hot second. I'm not a great dancer, but I even learned waltz when I was 15.
The point is, while the United States and a few other countries may be where a foreign spouse is happy to arrive because of better opportunities, you ain't getting a village pumpkin. You now have a well-read, educated lady who expects to have interesting conversations with you, albeit she'd have to improve her English first.
I have heard of so, sooooo many stories when Canadian and American men got themselves European wives, who would then leave them after a few years. Those women were making countless attempts to discuss anything else but beer, sports, and house chores, but they failed. I'm not saying that all the passport bros are uneducated. But highly intelligent men don't usually criticize 50% of the population, as in local women, for rejecting them or ranting about how women should only clean and cook. Social skills come together with intelligence if you ask me.
Is It Fair for Women to Dump Passport Bros?
Now, please don't get me wrong. I think it's quite unfair for a woman to find herself a man overseas, come here on a fiancé visa, get married, obtain the immigration papers, and leave a few years later. After all, a guy chose her as a wife, he sponsored her, and his expectation wasn't to become divorced so soon.
But it's all about the bro's personality. Either he's a good partner who genuinely cares for his wife, wants her to be happy, wants her to progress and get ahead in life, and most importantly, doesn't see her as a maid, cook, and childbearing womb. In this case, he is not a passport bro to begin with. He's a good man who was not very lucky at finding a partner and decided to explore other options.
One thing passport bros seem to forget is they are bringing their new wives to the land of the free. Or the land of moose if we're talking about Canada. Everyone enjoys freedom in Canada, including moose, you know? The foreign wife is free to leave her awful husband if she realizes she married a deadbeat who sees her as a live vacuum, stove, and flashlight. Thankfully, there are usually ways to separate from an awful spouse. This is why many people wish to live in countries where human rights are upheld.
A foreign wife doesn't owe anything to a passport bro. This is why some bros resort to getting their wives pregnant early on, hence baby-trapping them. I have always seen baby trapping as something men do to women, usually not the other way around. But I digress. If a wife is smart enough, though, she will be very careful with contraception. No one in their right mind wants a child with a passport bro.
Conclusion
Everyone deserves to be happy, loved, and cared for, or at least that's the idea. However, no one is entitled to it. I have always thought that a good partnership is something you have to work for. And sadly, or more like thankfully, if you meet a horrible human, you can and should drop them as soon as possible.
People who go overseas to find a foreign spouse aren't necessarily passport bros (or a passport sis, although I'm yet to meet one). They can be regular individuals who have been unlucky with local dating, or maybe they've been obsessed with a particular culture, or perhaps there's a different reason. I know a girl whose Russian mom met a French man obsessed with Russian art. The mom was an art teacher. Can you guess how fast he invited her to move to France? Yes, very quickly. He's certainly not a passport bro.
But the men who fit the description aren't usually the ones with good personalities. They don't typically respect women. Instead, they see women as an item, almost a product, which they can ship from elsewhere because the local "products" aren't suitable for their needs. Getting an actual human from another part of the world and taking them away from their hometown, friends, and family, and then treating her as a free sex object, free chef, and a free housekeeper, doesn't constitute respect.
In my opinion, that's modern life human trafficking that was somehow legalized. I believe that passport bros see women as beneath them and only good for house chores and bedroom fun.
I had heard of a plethora of cases when mail-order brides tried to make the marriage work but quickly realized who they married and left. I'm very happy for everyone who gets out of an unhappy relationship with a horrendous human. While theoretically, everyone deserves love, it doesn't make awful people entitled to kind-hearted, caring, loving partners.