I live in Ukraine, for close to four years already. I didn't move here to find a wife, not really interested in marriage. The opportunity to re-locate came my way and I took it, and I enjoy my life here.
I did. but that was before they implemented the rule that you can't stay more than 90 days in a 180 day period. Now I don't know how people do it. timmy21, do you ever leave? I'm guessing you are retired or have a telecommute job. I'm very envious.
Yes, the 90 out of 180 day rule is for the Russian Federation. I haven't studied deeply the rules for Ukraine, but it appears to be MUCH more friendly than Russia, especially for Americans. As far as I can see, staying for one year, or even several years, is perhaps not very difficult.
Anyone who has been through the process (even up to permanent residence), please post your experiences here... curious to learn about how these things work.
I learned of the new 90 day rule last May, at which time, I went into total panic mode, what am I going to do, my apartment, my 2 dogs, my furniture, I am not going to leave and return every 90 days, that's no way to live (maybe for some people, not me). On top top of that, I had been in the country for just over 100 days.
I called the embassy and explained my situation, they said I should be fine, as the new rule took place prior to me last stamp. But, I had to be out of the country by August 2, which was my 180th day. It was explained the only way I could stay was three fold, obtain residency, I'm not married nor did I have 100,000 dollars to invest/lose in the Ukraine economy. The next solution was obtain a work visa, I looked into this as an option, and it turned out not viable, who wants to work went you don't need to anyway. The 3rd option was obtain a student visa, I thought this would be a great choice, I could take Russian classes, and finally master the lanugage. I visited the local pedagogical university, about a 20 minute walk from my flat. Told them I would like to be a student at this fine univeristy, they said we'd be glad to have you, my first year which starts Sept. 1, I will take a Russian class designed for foreign students, the class lasts all year, my second year I will enter the masters program in my major, I can do this because I have a BS degree from a university in he US.
I paid the university 30 percent of the tutition (higher than I thought for foreign students) and they gave me a Letter of Invitation, In mid July I left Ukraine for the US, at KBP passport controll I was a bit nervous, I had been in the coutry about 140 days, but nothing at all was said, while in the US, I obtained my student visa and all my documents I needed, birth certif. diplomas, college records, medical certif, I came back two weeks ago and it was no problem at all going through passport controll. My documents are now being translated and soon I ll be a student.
So, I'm on the very, very bad side of 40, (but no one at the university seems to care), and I am going back to university, I m sure it'll be fun.
personally, if i had the money, i would alternate between ukraine and thailand. but i guess that would be difficult with the dogs.
timmy, i still can't figure out how you can live there. I mean, don't you miss the conveniences of america at all? by the way, can i ask how much do you spend a month? and how much of that is on dating the locals?
Another option is to get a working visa that doesn't obligatory mean you need to work. Just recover to your employer his expanses for your salary. This week i got a work permit for my CEO who has outstanding expirience in financial business and speaks 4 languages. So we claimed that his salary would be 5000 UAH in Kyiv. However 3500 UAH is completely fine with the State Employment Centre that issues these work permits. The advantage of this type of visa is that you can enter and exit as many times as you wish during a year. And then you can renew your work permit for another one year and so on and so on.