A new breed of men dubbed 'passport bros' are traveling to Asia, Latin America and beyond in search of love, many of them disillusioned with the US dating scene and attitudes of American women.
Some are looking for more traditional and submissive partners in poorer countries, where the prospect of a better life can prove an enticing offer for women.
The idea of men marrying women they meet overseas is hardly new – US servicemen have been doing it for decades. For example, hundreds of thousands of American soldiers married 'war brides' after World War II from Europe and Asia.
But now the grown children of such relationships are speaking out about what it was like to grow up within them – and some warn of the risks as the passport bro trend gathers pace.
Many describe homes not shaped by romance but by immigration status, money and control.
Agustina, 36, a government worker in Tacoma, Washington, was conceived in Panama in 1989, when her father Darren was stationed there with the US Air Force.
Her parents were both in their late 20s, but Agustina says the relationship was never between equals.
She says her mother, whom she describes as far more attractive than her father, treated relationships as a way to get money and spent time in bars meeting US servicemen.
Katya's memoir traces a childhood spent in the wake of her mother's search for a US sponsor
Agustina: 'Passport bros are pieces of s**t and they will raise their sons to be pieces of s**t'
She believes the pull of power, immigration and cash dooms such relationships.
'Each of them were like, "this would be like the easiest route to success and financial security" and it was a trap,' Agustina told the Daily Mail.
She says it shaped her childhood. She was neglected by her mother in her early years in Panama and from the age of about eight was caught in custody fights in which money was used as leverage.
At 12 she moved into her father's house in California so she could attend middle school and stayed five years.
She said her father was verbally abusive, emotionally explosive and occasionally physical, behavior she links in part to the imbalance of power in her parents' relationship. She described him as a 'manipulator' who was prone to anger.
The Daily Mail was not able to contact him.
'Passport bros are all pieces of s**t and they will raise their sons to be pieces of s**t and raise their daughters to put up with pieces of s**t,' Agustina said.
She now has no contact with either parent and said therapy and distance have let her rebuild.
She is in a relationship and, at 36, feels ready to consider a child of her own. 'My worst nightmare would be being anything close to my parents,' she said.
Several children born to American and European men who married foreign brides abroad have taken to social media to warn against the relationships, saying they are ripe for manipulation.
Agustina described a childhood of hardship and neglect with her mother in Panama
Self-described passport bro Austin Abeyta, a 32-year-old from Colorado Springs, Colorado, and his Filipina girlfriend Jewel Clyte
Katya, 33, grew up in a different situation, though one she says rested on the same power imbalance.
Her mother left Moscow in 1997 for Mexico with three-year-old Katya and listed herself in a mail-order bride catalog.
Katya's memoir, Ungrateful Immigrant Daughter, published on September 29, traces a childhood spent in the wake of her mother's search for a US sponsor.
Her mother's first American prospect was a man called Joe, who Katya says arranged to smuggle them across the border and promised to apply for a marriage visa.
Katya suspects he never intended to file the papers. Next came Jerry in Nevada, who she says was abusive and locked her in cupboards as a small child.
The family stayed, she says, because they needed his sponsorship.
When the green cards never came, they left. In Houston, her mother advertised again and married Chris, who Katya said also withheld the paperwork. The marriage lasted about two years.
Katya said that across these marriages she suffered physical abuse and sexual molestation at the hands of stepfathers and endured her mother's neglect and alcoholism. She no longer speaks to her mother.
A later husband, Adam, finally applied for the green cards and ended their years in the shadows.
She recalls being a 'young, undocumented girl fearing my family being split apart further than it already was,' she wrote in a statement sent to the Daily Mail.
'When I read stories about children being deported to lands they've never known or parents being deported, leaving their children alone in this country, these are the nightmares I woke up from night after night as a child coming to life.'
Mike the Maverick, a California passport bro living in Thailand with his fiancee
Marrying an American is one of the easiest and fastest ways to secure US citizenship
Austin Abeyta says that becoming a passport bro is the 'ultimate life-hack in 2026'
Read More
EXCLUSIVE America's 'passport bros' are fleeing to these countries to find more feminine wives: Men sick of dating apps and craving 'tradition' call it the ultimate life hack... some say what they really do abroad is disgusting
Others in similar situations have taken to social media to air their grievances.
One anonymous poster in his 20s who calls himself the 'son of a mail-order bride,' said his American father, then 49, met his Filipina mother, then 25, through CherryBlossoms.com in the early 2000s.
He was conceived after his father's first visit to the Philippines, followed by a 'shotgun wedding during the pregnancy,' the poster wrote. The marriage lasted until he reached first grade, by which time his mother had her green card.
He blamed his father's 'verbally, emotionally, and occasionally physically abusive' behavior, and said his mother treated the union 'like a contract.' His father, he wrote, saw younger Filipinas as a safe bet to care for him in old age.
'If you're a sex-pat or a passport bro and you know it, you deeply disgust me,' he wrote.
Not everyone sees a pattern of coercion.
Dr Monica Liu, a sociology professor at the University of St Thomas in Minnesota and author of Seeking Western Men: Email-Order Brides Under China's Global Rise, argues the stereotype is overdone.
The 'young woman, older wealthy man' pattern may be typical of Thailand, the Philippines, Ukraine and Colombia, she said, but the Chinese brides she interviewed tend to be mature, savvy self-starters.
'I don't honestly see a really big difference between these types of marriages versus a so-called regular romantic marriage, because I think transaction is always going to be a part of any relationship, regardless of whether it's cross-border or not,' Liu told the Daily Mail.
She said the main strains are money, sex and language barriers, and that some wives expect to be homemakers, then find their husbands control the money, and take jobs.
Divorce was uncommon in the cases she studied, she said, which she attributes to these being 'second chance' marriages for people with limited options.
She also found domestic violence rare, in part, she said, because of the background checks required of the online agencies she worked with.
Moreover, the passport bros themselves are confident in their lifestyle choices.
The fast-growing online movement, powered by TikTok, YouTube and Instagram, is centered around American and European men abandoning Western dating culture for romance overseas.
Austin Abeyta, a 32-year-old from Colorado Springs, Colorado, posts about a typical day in the fun-filled life of a passport bro in Southeast Asia.
He and his Filipina girlfriend, Jewel Clyte, are currently creating social media content together in a Vietnamese beach city. Being a passport bro, he said, is the 'ultimate life-hack in 2026.' He has yet to post about any plans to have children.
Source link
