Every Ukrainian girl I've ever met has been totally unrealistic in their expectations of men... Maybe there are better girls out there but I just never seem to meet them. :-)
I have been having a wonderful relationship with a UW, even unto fiancee visa and her visiting England. Alas, at the final step, she has decided that she doesn't want to leave Ukraine. Yes, I'm gutted, and still considering whether to carry on the relationship, as she wishes.
I have read a discussion on another forum, in which it is suggested that, as economic (and in UA, political/social) conditions improve, less women are keen to leave. ie life is not bad or hopeless.
The good ones don't need to leave in the first place !
Many may be better off finically but it still seems difficult for many of the women to find a decent guy. A woman that is 30 will not want to wait 5 or 10 years for the men in their country to catch up.
True. But note that in the west, (and why not the east), many women are happy to be single if they're secure in job and home (as my 'fiancee' is). An additional item mentioned is that retirement in Ukraine comes for her at 55. In England, it will be 67 by the time she gets there. She's aged 46.
My former fiance in Moldova was the glad beneficiary of a $4 per month pension that she received som years ago because her father passed away when she was eight years old.
More recently her mother started drawing a pension as SHE had reached retirement age. Its much higher than her father's was. Its all of $30 per month.
I bet a 67 year old does a little better all-in-all in England than $30 per month. Try not to be too envious of your fiance.
My Ukrainian mother in law is on a pension of approx UAH375 (USD75) per month, from that she needs to pay all her bills and feed herself, the dog and buy all her clothes etc.
Shop prices in Ukraine are not so drastically different to the shop prices in UK, indeed some things are cheaper in UK, thus I would suggest that a UK pension of significantly more than USD75 per month will be, by far, more money in the pocket to the individual concerned.
She has other connections and attributes. She is an English teacher, who only has to work 3 hours a day for an average wage. She gets gigs interpreting on package holidays, and it is said, and I agree, beyond a certain age, one is less likely to give up that which have you have accumulated for the unknown. She particularly does not see suitable working life in England, and she may have a point given that she has no office experience. Supermarket checkout does not appeal.
What she doesn't appreciate is that shortly, her teaching skills will be redundant as her English is entirely 'Soviet'. Younger friends in non-teaching spheres are far more fluent and colloquial as they have been taught, or had access to native speakers and media.
A big deciding factor for woman, is children. For a 30 year old woman without children the clock is runnng fast. If there is no decent guys available locallyand she found the right guy over seas, I think she would move.
For a woman with children, she will be thinking of their future. In the west a woman would often see a man as possibly being more of a problem than a help for for children and so they are content not to have a man. In the east they may see moving to the west would offer oportunities for her kids and except the risk in the the relationship.
If your fiance has grown up children, would she be leaving them in Ukraine? Many woman would not want to do that. They may not live with her, but she would still see them as a major part of her life.
Average monthly income in Ukraine was $400 last year, but has dropped to the $300+ range this January. If their economy is improving, it's happening quite slowly. I think this is the main reason these women will accept leaving their country for a western man. On the other hand, popular women on these internet dating services are seeing a significant upgrade in their lifestyles, given the flowers, dinners, money and gifts coming their way from western men. The popular (beautiful) girls can be even more difficult to impress than than western women! Good reason to avoid the well traveled cities like kiev, odessa, and even kharkov.