ML and Ukrainian Women.

[ML]

For those of you involved with or about to be involved with women from Kharkiv:

A small bit of good news is that the Turkish airline named Pegasus (kind of like Southwest Air) now has direct flights from Kharkiv to Istanbul.

www.flypgs.com

This means you can get your gal  to Turkey without her having to change planes in Kyiv, and sometimes even again in Vienna, etc.  This is really a godsend for the gals in terms of total travel time for them and reduction of their anxiety, etc.

The costs and hassle for you, the man, will be a tradeoff.

The ticket cost on Pegasus will be half or less what it costs on the other carriers to get from Kharkiv to Istanbul.

But, you (if American) will land at IST on European side and the gal will land at SAW on Asian side.
So you, the man, must travel between airports.  A big hassle for you and about $100 each way by limousine service (no it will not be a limousine, but rather a comfortable van).

However, once both of you are at SAW, Pegasus has great flights and prices (about half the price of Turkish Air) to the southern Turkish resort cities.

So a pretty good option for the guy who wants to take care of his Kharkiv gal.

Further, for those of you living in Europe, Pegasus has flights between SAW and several European cities.

So you have a very cheap way to get yourself to Kharkiv also by connecting through Istanbul.

[ML]

She was one of the three that I mentioned as not continuing with.  We still correspond and she wants to meet up with me in London or some such later this spring.  Probably I won't, but not sure right now.  She can and will pay all her own expenses.

I am now in Turkey with the 1 woman I chose to continue with of the 4 I visited in October/November.  All going great.

The 3 women I mentioned in my last post:  The one with me in Turkey now, the one wanting to come to grad school, and the one who got the business visa and visited me . . . are each in completely different situations and stages with me.  How it will all play out;  I haven't he foggiest idea !!  Time will tell

Just heard today that the one gal got accepted into grad school here in USA.
She still has to pass the visa hurdle though, so not a done deal yet.

She would arrive in late July, early August.

The gal who was just with me in Turkey wants to come visit me for month of July.  A long shot if she could get a visa, but if she did . . . it could get a little dicy on the home front.

[ML]

Anyone  know of any stats on the student visa approval rate for Ukrainians who have been admitted (and gotten the I-20 form) to universities in USA?

[ML]

Not directly about Kharkiv . . . but another connection.

Wizz air has now moved operations from Borispol (KBP) to Zhuliany (IEV)
in Kyiv.

Wizz air is a discount airline that I have flown on 4 times from/to KBP.
They have modern well maintained planes.  Headquartered in Hungary.

Big advantage over Borispol due to location just southwest of the center and not too far from the train station.

I have driven past there while  in Kyiv, but have not yet flown in or out.
First reports have it that the passport control is very slow, so some tradeoffs perhaps.
An upgrade is in the works, but probably several years down the road.

At this time, Wizz air has flights to and from IEV and:

Antalya, Turkey
Cologne
Dortmund
Hamburg
Katowice
London Luton
Munich
Oslo
Simferopol
Stockholm
Venice

[ML]

Just got SMS telling  that the one gal got her Student Visa approved today.

Will  talk on Skype later today to get details as to how the interview went, questions asked, length of visa, etc.

[ML]

I worked with this Gal quite a bit in preparing her for interview.
This paid off, because all of the questions she was asked, I had anticipated; and she was ready with good answers.
The interview officer even remarked that she seemed to really know what she was going to do, the ins and outs of university in USA, etc.

The only tricky part was that she had to avoid any mention of me as a friend in USA.
Any mention of a male friend in  USA will doom the tourist or student visa applicant.
This made it necessary to have a very good story as to why she had only applied to one university in USA, and why it was this particular university.
So we had to really work hard on digging into the program at this university to find its strong points, who the faculty were, what their research interests were, how many graduate students in the program, what the success rate of them finding jobs after graduation, etc.

Crappy part was the Embassy schedules visa applicant interviews like our physicians schedule patients.  That is to say; they tell you  to come at 9:15 AM.  You think you are the only one; but when  she arrived, she found that about 50 people had been scheduled for 9:15.  So she didn't really get to the interview window until 11:30 AM.
They won't let you bring mobile phones into the compound, so she wasn't able to call to warn those who were waiting for her of the substantial delay.

Said there were around 300 people there for interviews scheduled at various times.

From the looks on faces, etc., it appeared that around 75% of the applicants were denied the visa.  Most were probably tourist visa applicants.  Many, many crying babushkas upon exit.

[Gator]

  Many, many crying babushkas upon exit.

I wonder if the State Department has a policy to deny most babushkas because:
 
1.  Babushkas are spending the American husband's money instead of adding money to the American economy.
2.  Many Babushkas are widows and have no other children (thus, they do not have strong reason to return).
3.  Other (health care, not working) ?
 
Nevertheless, I know Simoni's and GreginGeorgia's MIL have made lengthy visits.
 

[vwrw]

Maybe they were crying with happiness.    I do not remember even one babushka who was denied US visa or even application for green card to visit her daughter here.

[ML]

Just heard today that the one gal got accepted into grad school here in USA.
She still has to pass the visa hurdle though, so not a done deal yet.

She would arrive in late July, early August.

The gal who was just with me in Turkey wants to come visit me for month of July.  A long shot if she could get a visa, but if she did . . . it could get a little dicy on the home front.

The gal who spent time with me in Turkey (March/April) is pushing ahead with plans to try to get a Tourist Visa to come visit me in July.

She keeps wanting me to write an invitation letter for her.
I told her that would insure a visa rejection.
She is not yet believing it, since many other countries require such an invitation, as did the Soviet Union in the old days.

I have just now given her  the reference sites that tell her the existence of a  boyfriend in USA will doom a Tourist Visa application, so now she will spend time reading them . . . I hope.

[Patagonie]

The gal who spent time with me in Turkey (March/April) is pushing ahead with plans to try to get a Tourist Visa to come visit me in July.

She keeps wanting me to write an invitation letter for her.
I told her that would insure a visa rejection.
She is not yet believing it, since many other countries require such an invitation, as did the Soviet Union in the old days.

I have just now given her  the reference sites that tell her the existence of a  boyfriend in USA will doom a Tourist Visa application, so now she will spend time reading them . . . I hope.

Of course you are right, if she continues, it will be a disaster. Cross my finger for you.

[LAman]

The gal who spent time with me in Turkey (March/April) is pushing ahead with plans to try to get a Tourist Visa to come visit me in July.

She keeps wanting me to write an invitation letter for her.
I told her that would insure a visa rejection.
She is not yet believing it, since many other countries require such an invitation, as did the Soviet Union in the old days.

I have just now given her  the reference sites that tell her the existence of a  boyfriend in USA will doom a Tourist Visa application, so now she will spend time reading them . . . I hope.

Man, last summer I sent a girl an invitation letter to get her a tourist visa. I knew her already and I put on letter that I visited her and asked for her to visit me. Letter was to show I was providing her support while she was here.....she got a 10 year multiple entry visa and at customs the officer stamped her form with a 6 month stay with opportunity to extend for an additional 6 months......at the time of letter I told girl I did not think she would be approved BUT as I found out, there is a lot more to this story (  ).
 
Of course...I was NOT her boyfriend....  ...and I'm sticking to that story!!!!

[ML]

LA, what country was this gal a citizen of? 

And what were the extenuating circumstances you alluded to?

Plus, are you sure about the 10 year?  I thought the max was 5-6 years; but I am not certain about that.

[wicheese]

I have just now given her  the reference sites that tell her the existence of a  boyfriend in USA will doom a Tourist Visa application, so now she will spend time reading them . . . I hope.

On th positive side I have had had three RW I dated get a tourist visa to see me and knew of a fourth young RW get a tourist visa previously.  On the negative, they were all Russian (approval rate for Russians getting a tourist visa is around 95% while for Ukrainians its about 66%), they all had good jobs with known international companies, and none said they were coming to visit me and instead said they wanted to see the country and do a little shopping which was true.


On the negative side, I know a man locally who went to great lengths to get is UW a tourist visa as he thought it would be better to sign her up for a conference and make it look like an educational experience (problem was, it was a lie and the embassy smoked her out and declined the request as she did not bring any documentation from her work to support the inquiry).  So then he thought he would have her apply again and just say she was visiting friends and got letters from his senator and two congressman, but this only lead to his UW getting a lecture and yelled at by the embassy staffer.   Since then I heard he has ended the relationship as he thought my advice to go see her a number of times in her country and interact with her family and friends was too much work (in this case it's probably a good thing as I saw it as a doomed relationship based on his personality which lacked a lot of patience). 

[Gator]

Since then I heard he has ended the relationship as he thought my advice to go see her a number of times in her country and interact with her family and friends was too much work (in this case it's probably a good thing as I saw it as a doomed relationship based on his personality which lacked a lot of patience).

1.  Visiting her is "...too much work." 
2.  "Lacked a lot of patience." 
 
Each of these suggest a personality flaw for marrying a RW.   Together, it would be impossible for a marriage to get started on sound footing (little respect, no time to help her adjust, etc.). 
 
Nevertheless, if he were seeking GFE sex and she a shopping trip, why not (other than the $$$ spent would be more than finding a local woman for the same)? 

[ML]

  I do not remember even one babushka who was denied US visa or even application for green card to visit her daughter here.

What is this about 'application for green card to visit . . . here?'

Never heard of it before.  Anyone else have comments on this?

[LAman]

LA, what country was this gal a citizen of? 

And what were the extenuating circumstances you alluded to?

Plus, are you sure about the 10 year?  I thought the max was 5-6 years; but I am not certain about that.

She was from Moldova and it is extremely difficult to get anything out of that country( or in). She had already been denied visa's several times before in previous years.
Man, I only brought up the fact that sending the invitation letter is NOT reason for denying visa
she HAS to have one from someone!!! And better yet from someone she knows personally.
The circumstances.....well lets just say it is difficult to convince the US embassy that girl will come back to her country when visa expires and girls can go to great lengths to exaggerate
their situation....did I say lie??
 
Yes, it was a 10 year.......it expires in late 2019.
By the way, I have also heard that it is easier for a russian to get tourist visa, not sure about the 95%. A girl I met on elenas used to tell me that no one she has sent an invitation for has been enied a visa.

[wicheese]

1.  Visiting her is "...too much work." 
2.  "Lacked a lot of patience." 
 
Each of these suggest a personality flaw for marrying a RW.   Together, it would be impossible for a marriage to get started on sound footing (little respect, no time to help her adjust, etc.). 
 
Nevertheless, if he were seeking GFE sex and she a shopping trip, why not (other than the $$$ spent would be more than finding a local woman for the same)?

 

Yep, he was a classic example of a man who should not look for someone overseas.  The reason he said he was looking was "all women in the US are bitches", which explains a lot of why he could not find anyone here. 

[Gator]

The reason he said he was looking was "all women in the US are bitches"
 

Any woman would complain/bitch if she worked at building a relationship and the man cared less and had little time for her.  You local friend reminds me of a golfing buddy who always proclaimed that there  were only two rules for women:
 
RULE 1.  All women are bitches (except he used the c-word).
 
RULE 2.  There are no exceptions.
 
Of course, he amused his golfing buddies, yet he seemed lonely.

[ML]

The gal who spent time with me in Turkey (March/April) is pushing ahead with plans to try to get a Tourist Visa to come visit me in July.

This gal was rejected for the tourist visa.

Probably a good thing, as the other gal who got the student visa plans to arrive sometime the third week in July.  She is checking out flight schedules now.
It would have gotten a little dicy!

[Gator]

ML,
 
Are you down to just one?   If so, how are you taking it?  Palpitations? 

[ML]

ML,
 
Are you down to just one?   If so, how are you taking it?  Palpitations? 

No, I am not ruling anyone out at this point.

The gal who got turned down for the tourist visa is really top notch.  She was the one I spent a month with in Turkey back in March/April.

Another gal came here on business visa and spent several weeks with me before my trip to Turkey.  We also had a great time together.

This gal coming on student visa was the wife of a business associate of mine who died a couple of years back.  I have known her for several years but we only became intimate last year.  Who knows how it will pan out when we spend a lot of time together.

Anyway, she has several hundred thousand dollars from her husband's life insurance (he was executive of a Belgium owned firm), so I am not serving the role of mule!!

[ML]

The Student Visa Gal purchased her airplane ticket.
She will arrive in five weeks.
They can arrive 30 days before first day of University classes as shown on I-20 form, and she made it exactly 30 days.

$972 bucks for a one way ticket Ukraine to USA.
Plus $50 bucks for second checked bag and $200 for third checked bag.

[LAman]

Man.... are student visas different from other visas in that no booked return flight needed?

[Saltheart]

Man.... are student visas different from other visas in that no booked return flight needed?

The information I have seen on this is that a return flight is not recommended (and not needed) due to the fact that you never know how long the I94 will be stamped for.  When my RW sent a letter to the embassy asking if she should have a return flight scheduled from the US back to FSU, they emphatically told her she should not have a return flight booked.  Something to think about anyway.

[Gylden]

The information I have seen on this is that a return flight is not recommended (and not needed) due to the fact that you never know how long the I94 will be stamped for.  When my RW sent a letter to the embassy asking if she should have a return flight scheduled from the US back to FSU, they emphatically told her she should not have a return flight booked.  Something to think about anyway.

This is a little hard to believe, because most and I mean most people who are vacationing have already planned their stay and buy round trip tickets.