Visiting USA

[XMan]

Due to numerous problems and unexpected complexities that have arisen during a change in jobs and trying to coordinate a move to a new state, which is far from complete at this point, plans got delayed for meeting my girl, and now are in danger of not happening.  Thus this post.

I've read a few posts about women who were able to get tourist visas to USA. 

What, in general, does it take?

1) I assume the more reasons she has to return (in her case to Ukraine), the better her chance.  She has -- job, car, apartment, daughter. 

2) What is the process?  (The "tourist agency" has her convinced that it is not possible.  I want to try another agency.)

3) I assume also she would have to have proof of funds for travel.

4) Passport, of course.

5) Is there anything I can do on my end?  Does applying for a tourist visa impact fiancee visa down the road? 

Thanks.

[Faux Pas]

Due to numerous problems and unexpected complexities that have arisen during a change in jobs and trying to coordinate a move to a new state, which is far from complete at this point, plans got delayed for meeting my girl, and now are in danger of not happening.  Thus this post.

I've read a few posts about women who were able to get tourist visas to USA. 

What, in general, does it take?

1) I assume the more reasons she has to return (in her case to Ukraine), the better her chance.  She has -- job, car, apartment, daughter. 

I understand this is true. The more liability and assets does make them a better candidate for a tourist visa although I have no first hand knowledge.

2) What is the process?  (The "tourist agency" has her convinced that it is not possible.  I want to try another agency.)

If you are serious about helping her you can. Go to visajourney.com and start reading up

3) I assume also she would have to have proof of funds for travel.

Not as much as I have seen quoted on the boards over the years but, I have read some place that they only really require enough to return

4) Passport, of course.

Goes without saying

5) Is there anything I can do on my end?  Does applying for a tourist visa impact fiancee visa down the road? 

Yes, and you will be pleasantly surprised at the info at visaourney.com. It appears that tourist visas are very much on the rise and much easier to obtain than even just a few years ago. A tourist application now regardless of the outcome should not affect a K-1 later. If she has traveled out of Ukraine before and can prove it, her chances are greatly increased.

Thanks.

Your Welcome

[XMan]

Thanks FP.
I'm having a difficult time finding the correct info, though.
All I got in response to my post was "never happen," "pointless," etc.  Trying to find info for a tourist visa on the US Embassy site.  Not sure if it's I-160 or something else.  Not exactly intuitive.

[Faux Pas]

Xman you didn't list any qualifications other than generalizations about the woman. Ukranian, has a kid ect. Has she traveled before? Does she have assets? What is her age?


You were on visajourney and found nothing but negatives?

[Gylden]

http://travel.state.gov/visa/visa_1750.html

http://travel.state.gov/visa/temp/types/types_1262.html

Applying for a Visitor Visa

Applicants for visitor visas should generally apply the U.S. Embassy or Consulate with jurisdiction over their place of permanent residence. Although visa applicants may apply at any U.S. consular office abroad, it may be more difficult to qualify for the visa outside the country of permanent residence. Visa applications are now subject to a greater degree of review than in the past so it is important to apply for your visa well in advance of your travel departure date.

As part of the visa application process, an interview at the embassy consular section is required for visa applicants from age 14 through 79, with few exceptions. Persons age 13 and younger, and age 80 and older, generally do not require an interview, unless requested by embassy or consulate. Making your appointment for an interview is the first step in the visa application process. The waiting time for an interview appointment for applicants can vary, so early visa application is strongly encouraged. Visa wait times for interview appointments and visa processing time information for each U.S. Embassy or Consulate worldwide is available on our website at Visa Wait Times , and on most embassy websites. Learn how to schedule an appointment for an interview, pay the application processing fee, review embassy specific instructions, and much more by visiting the U.S. Embassy or Consulate website where you will apply.

During the visa application process, usually at the interview, an ink-free, digital fingerprint scan will be quickly taken. Some visa applications require further administrative processing , which takes additional time after the visa applicant’s interview by a Consular Officer.


XMan,
Your GF will have to go to the embassy to apply. they can provide her with the information she needs. They take phone calls at a designated time daily. She can look on their website and find the information in Russian.

[Gylden]

http://ukraine.usembassy.gov/     Ukrainian embassy website

She will need a nonimmigrant visa......    http://ukraine.usembassy.gov/nonimmigrant-visas.html

She will need to fill out a DS-160 application....   http://ukraine.usembassy.gov/visa-forms.html

If you follow the instruction's on these links, it should be an easy process and if she is denied and has not lied or been misleading, they will tell her what she needs to do to be accepted and even if after all of that she is still denied, it will have no bearing on future applications. It's all in these links.

[SFandEE]

I recently read an article on a dating $ite that RW/UW can travel to EU.  This of course is true, but it was framed as easier than USA.  Any knowledge on this representation.

My understanding is that visas are required by EU for travel by RW/UW and that it is just as difficult to obtain, but perhaps less expensive plane tickets and such.

The only close US options I have heard of are Jamaica and Dominican Republic.

[Turboguy]

Your GF will have to go to the embassy to apply. they can provide her with the information she needs. They take phone calls at a designated time daily. She can look on their website and find the information in Russian.

That may not be correct.  I have no experience with Kiev but for Moscow you fill out the application online.   You only need to go to the embassy for the interview.  The Kiev embassy website should have all the info.

A few years ago I would have said you were wasting your time and money but they have gotten much easier on tourist visas.   You mention she has a daughter.  I would say that if she has a daughter who is not an adult, a good job, a little cash and an apartment you have a really good chance of getting it.  It is not that expensive and it won't hurt you if she is turned down.  My suggestion would be to go for it.

[Durk]

     Xman be sure she mentions NOTHING about your relationship!! I am working on
a simular visit to the US. Xman if you want to compare notes just pm me.

                                                                                               D

[Jumper]

passport , -
i know you mentioned it ,but it should be clarified.

she has a Ukrainian passport (internal/domestic) everyone does.

 
To travel here, she needs an international passport.
(she has traveled outside Ukraine before, if i remember correctly, so i am sure she has one,but many Ukrainians do not )

[XMan]

Hi FP,

These were the responses I got at Visajourney:

<Her chances of getting a tourist visa to the US are pretty slim. Steps in the process can be found on the website for the US embassy in Ukraine. She will need an invitation letter from you. Good luck. >

<my boyfriend got denied, having same age range, good job contract, apartment, invitation, sponsor etc. >

<slim (chance)>

<do not get your hopes up! K1 visa is easy there, but visitors visa very difficult. >

<It never hurts to try at least once aside from being time consuming. Try getting a congressional letter of interest from one of your state's congressmen. While officially nothing on the American side can influence the decision, the letter shows that you're willing to give it the extra effort and attention. >

<I got a visitor visa for my mother-in-law but it was difficult. She is employed as an engineer, owns her own home, takes care of her elderly mother, is active in the church, had a bank account active for several years. We applied for a visa and I went with her to the embassy. 2 minutes, denied! Not enough ties to the Ukraine. I complained to the consulate with no response. I had my US Senator and US Rep send emails to the embassy and we paid the 131.00 plus 12.00 for the phone call fee and tried again. This time success for a single entry visa. They looked at only the application and nothing else. It is entirely up to the consulate official you get that day. My mother in-law brought a stack of documents from bank accounts to letter from the Church, etc. and they looked at none of it. They said it was a total judgment call on the part of the interviewer. Oh by the way one of the excuses they used initially was that she had no husband to come back to in the Ukraine so being single hurt her. >

As far as assets, yes -- car, apartment that I mentioned.  Age, early 30's.
Still, looking at the responses above, seems close to pointless to try. 

Thanks Gylden, I appreciate your assistance with the links, etc.  Not sure I'll pursue it at this point, though.

[SANDRO43]

I recently read an article on a dating $ite that RW/UW can travel to EU...

It depends. Most EU countries - except UK and Norway, for instance - adhere to the Schengen Agreement of free internal circulation (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schengen_Agreement). 

My understanding is that visas are required by EU for travel by RW/UW

Obviously, since Russia and Ukraine are not Schengen countries, their citizens need a 'Schengen' visa of some sort to be allowed entrance, for instance a Tourist's visa, which requires plausible proof from the applicant of not intending immigration rather than tourism.

and that it is just as difficult to obtain, but perhaps less expensive plane tickets and such.

FSUW travel agencies will usually handle the visa application directly and successfully, their travel packages satisfying most of a Tourist's visa requirements: pre-paid return ticket, accomodation/subsistence, medical insurance, etc.

[Gylden]

     Xman be sure she mentions NOTHING about your relationship!! I am working on
a simular visit to the US. Xman if you want to compare notes just pm me.

                                                                                               D

Not good advice IMO, if asked about relationship or friends in the US she would have to tell them or run the risk of attemting to misslead the interviewer and in such a case, if the interviewer discovers or suspects otherwise the visa will not only be denied, but because of the willfull misleading will effect her future visa's.

[jb]

'Schengen' visas may be easier to get lately. My new daughter-in-law has been issued 7 visas in the past 4 years for travel to various countries in the EU.  She is in her 20's, good looking, pi$$ poor paying job, (school teacher), no apartment ownership, only child, no children of her own, had a boyfriend when strong ties to the USA, IOWs, not too much to say she wouldn't jump bail and overstay a visa. Yet she was approved every time.  In fact, the kids went on a honeymoon trip to Paris for a month right after the wedding with 'Schengen' visas.

If and when there's an addition to the family I am confidant we will be able get a visitors visa for her and the wee one.

[jb]

Regarding visitors visas to the USA, I wrote something about that a long time ago, I'm pretty sure it is still applicable...

http://www.russianwomendiscussion.com/index.php?pid=11

[SANDRO43]

'Schengen' visas may be easier to get lately. My new daughter-in-law has been issued 7 visas in the past 4 years for travel to various countries in the EU.  She is in her 20's, good looking, pi$$ poor paying job, (school teacher), no apartment ownership, only child, no children of her own, had a boyfriend when strong ties to the USA, IOWs, not too much to say she wouldn't jump bail and overstay a visa. Yet she was approved every time.  In fact, the kids went on a honeymoon trip to Paris for a month right after the wedding with 'Schengen' visas.

If all those visas were obtained through pre-paid travel packages, things haven't changed significantly either way.

Proof of stable job, real-estate ownership, etc. etc. may have to be produced for tourist's visas requested directly by an applicant, along with personal cash availability (about €30/day of stay, IINM) or a bank draft by a sponsor for the same amount.

The whole system is basically designed to encourage real tourism, and discourage illegal immigration. Not 100% effective, of course, but most illegal immigrants use other, more clandestine ways to enter the EU and disappear - until found eventually.

[jb]

Yeah, I guess she was a real tourist,,, but how would they know that?  She was just a young Russian girl who wanted to see the world.
   
I'm glad she was granted the visas, and that she played by the rules. In that regard she was not special, she just did what about a million other tourists did,,, went on her vacation, and then went home.  That's why the visas are easier to get now.  Maybe the EU is starting to understand,,, Russians are like anybody else who likes to go on a trip, see the sights, and then go home.

Granting a visa is no big deal.

[Seeker]

Yeah, I guess she was a real tourist,,, but how would they know that?  She was just a young Russian girl who wanted to see the world.
   
I'm glad she was granted the visas, and that she played by the rules. In that regard she was not special, she just did what about a million other tourists did,,, went on her vacation, and then went home.  That's why the visas are easier to get now.  Maybe the EU is starting to understand,,, Russians are like anybody else who likes to go on a trip, see the sights, and then go home.

Granting a visa is no big deal.

Maybe next the US will adopt a more humanitarian policy.  This is not meant as dig towards the US.  But I have seen visas easily gained from MANY countries (Columbia, Indonesia, Honduras) for single women coming as tourists.  Eastern Europe visas to the US are still much harder to get from what I read here.

In case any one forgot, this is just an opinion based on what I have seen in my experience.  Not trying to start an argument.

[jb]

Not trying to start an argument.

Then, may I ask, why bother to make a reply to a comment for which you have nothing constructive to add?  Seems an effort to add unneeded controversy to a thread.  Perhaps you have a comment about Arizona you'd like to add?

[jb]

Seeker,

You come across as very inexperienced, maybe you have been to the FSU only a few times and don't know much about anything,,, I'll take that into consideration...

[ML]

  But I have seen visas easily gained from MANY countries (Columbia, Indonesia, Honduras) for single women coming as tourists. 

Note:  I am not an expert on this.

But, I think you and JB just before you are missing a major point.

Your example countries are nothing  like the USA or a similar developed country.
It is unlikely that a significant number, if any, women from FSU are desiring to be immigrants to those countries, whether legally or illegally.

Correct me if I am wrong, but countries that have stringent requirements for tourist visa are countries that have a serious problem with people coming on tourist visas; and then STAYING in the country illegally.

Also, I don't have the URLs but others here can provide such that show that FSU countries have some of the highest rates of people overstaying their visas to USA.

So all this talk of big bad countries treating FSU citizens poorly re visa approval is missing the point that the rules and difficulty are a direct reflection of past experience with persons in those countries.

[Seeker]

Seeker,

You come across as very inexperienced, maybe you have been to the FSU only a few times and don't know much about anything,,, I'll take that into consideration...

I have been many places, but to the FSU only once.  My experience is with people, relationships and feelings.  Both in the past, and present, and over many political boundaries.

I think some people here forget, it is as much life experience as it is FSU experience.

And to make this easier for you... I admit to holding back on my thoughts and therefore my posts.

And my reasons are not open to discussion.

[ML]

Russians are like anybody else who likes to go on a trip, see the sights, and then go home.

Granting a visa is no big deal.

JB, when I referred to you in my prior post quoting Seeker, this is what I was referring to.

Now, not too sure what you meant, but in my post I attempt to make case that Russians and other FSU persons are not 'like anybody else who goes on trip . . . an then go home.  I think you are very knowledgeable in this area, so you can probably point us to the URLs that show the historical 'overstay visa' rates for the various countries.

[Seeker]

Note:  I am not an expert on this.

But, I think you and JB just before you are missing a major point.

Your example countries are nothing  like the USA or a similar developed country.
It is unlikely that a significant number, if any, women from FSU are desiring to be immigrants to those countries, whether legally or illegally.

Correct me if I am wrong, but countries that have stringent requirements for tourist visa are countries that have a serious problem with people coming on tourist visas; and then STAYING in the country illegally.

Also, I don't have the URLs but others here can provide such that show that FSU countries have some of the highest rates of people overstaying their visas to USA.

So all this talk of big bad countries treating FSU citizens poorly re visa approval is missing the point that the rules and difficulty are a direct reflection of past experience with persons in those countries.

I agree with you.  It is the people that make the rules, and that have abused them, that are the problem.  The rules may have been valid (or at least a topic that was relevant before) but the world is a much different place now.  I see it as a political, more than a social problem.  I admit I am not an expert, but the rules seem skewed.  I think the same laws should apply to everyone.

Look at the visa policies around the world... and how they have changed over the years.  It is political... with little bearing on reality now that we are in 2010....

[jb]

ManLooking,

I can't speak for all Russians who travel, but I can speak for my own extended Russian-in-law family, they travel to and from Russia to the USA and Canada as they wish, and as they want,,, always returning home to Russia, on time.   My cousin-in-law, Stas, owns houses in Vancouver BC and travels without hindrances, his brother, Vasily, is an executive of Hilton Hotels International and is in and out of the US and Canada regularly.  

We don't worry too much about visas.  Visas are easy.