I wouldn't marry for companionship; very rare. Even if I did meet someone in another Country and they seemed interested in me, I would be on guard. I would suspect them of wanting to use me to obtain a marriage green card. I know SOOO many Europeans in the US who chose this route.
2 girls from Russia: not sure if they were honest about their intentions, but one is in the process of getting a divorce (we went out a few times), and another who is a friend from work who is divorced now at 24 and is in college with her green card and all.
A 30 year old Serbian guy doing the same thing
and rumors of others
I did know of one couple that joked about it all, actually fell in love, then 6-8 months after the birth of their baby (post partum depression?) started having problems. They are living in the same city at least, but divorce bound.
Truth be known, marriage statistics are grim. I would be hesitant to marry anyone now. I hate to be one of those lists people but here's mine for marriage:
1 - I am well entrenched in a job with upward mobility or opportunities. Decent money. (Money and mixing money is a big issue in marriages now)
2 - My wife to be is settled ready: has or very close to her career or life pursuit. A woman who is still "searching for herself" in any way is not ready for marriage. She has to know what she wants, wants to do, and be satisfied with hers/mine and our current income.
3 - The sex has to be great. We can't add it to a "to-do" list to fix later. Sex is very important and both partners should have similar appetites.
4 - More important than sex, a strong friendship and bond needs to be established. This probably needs to be tested to ensure that it isn't something that will change. I would actually rather meet a future wife from some past association: work, old friend, etc... there will be more non-sexual empathy, and you can rest assured that the bond is real and not a fleeting infatuation.
5 - Child bearing safe age and similar feelings about having children. This puts most women at 35 and under, or someone very youthful and in shape, who never did drugs who is 40 and under.
6 - No apologies here; just my preference. A girl who has mostly gal friends and very few male friends. I've had girlfriends who had more guy friends than girls and that worried me. Especially if they used to date a couple of the guys. I just always believe that most women who accept straight guy friends, have some sort of subconscious sexual attraction to them. That is unless the guys are totally out of type and not very physically attractive.
A girl who can't get along with many other females probably has some issue. This is negated, if the guy friends are gay, or married, or family.