My first Russian girlfriend (Irina) I met in the US in 2000. She had actually arrived in late 1999 on a one year Tourist Visa from Lithuania. Remember this is pre-EU and pre-NATO Lithuania. Before the latter part of the year 2000 - she was able to renew her Tourist Visa, which she was quite anxious about as she applied for it and quite gleeful about when her apllication for renewal was accepted.
She is still in the US having converted her origianl Tourist Visa to a Student Visa (still nonimmigrant). She is now a full time student (undergraduate - though she already had a degree from Lithuania) and works as a live-in caretaker for an elderly woman.
She never gave me a real clear answer on how a young (28 years old), very beautiful Russian woman was able to get a one-year Tourist Visa at tha ttime when all I heard indicated that it was impossible. But she told me that there were three US Consolates that she had access to (within Lithuania or in the three Baltic countries?? I don't know) and that each had different policies set locally, as is the tendancy. She got to know these people and would make contact with them often (like weekly??) bringing cookies etc. Eventually one of them acted favorably upon her application.
Again, she was always vague about the details.
The family did have money, as well as some political clout in Lithuania. I don't know if that was a factor - but I imagine it was.
Interestingly - her mother who is (obviously) older, married to a Lithuanian man, half owner of a house in Lithuania and who had been to the US three times previously - qualified for a TEN YEAR VISA.
I was told that that was the longest visa of that type available - and research I have done since that time verified that.
Jet,
this is just too damn tempting and juicy , lol...I can't pass it up..:)
Ever occured to you that what she offered the consul staff was pie not cookies?...(and you know the kind of pie I'm referring to)
Actually toad - she never really baked pies. I remember cookies and chocolate eclaires - so maybe she made those.....
(Just me pretending to be innocent....)
That is all very interesting.
The stuff I put in my post was absolutely correct at the time and that was some time ago. The last time I entered the USA on a tourist visa was 1992. They had reduced the tourist visa to 3 months from 6 months. That was the maximimum you could get. Nobody could get a year. I travelled around using youth hostels and generally mixing in with the packpacking crowd from Toronto to Guatemala and back again. Nobody could get a 1 year visa completely impossible. Now if a Brit, German, Swiss, Japanese or Australian with money couldn't get a 1 year visa I find it unlikely that any beautiful young woman from any, at that time Soviet, country could. Obviously the rules must have changed and a 1 year visa now exists. I am a little confused though. Everything we are told is that this is impossible for a woman from the FSU and yet you give a story that supports the idea. I think that as I have found with almost everything else in the USA a tourist visa can be bought in some way and they can frig the time factor.
I think this whole thing is very interesting and I am going to try and research and find just what can and cannot be done. If I find someone that I would like to get to know better and this avenue is open why not use it. She comes over on a 1 year tourist visa and we find out if we like one another. Easier than going over there for 2 weeks and compressing a years relationship into 10 days at best. Very interesting if possible.
I agree with Toad on this one but if the woman I am talking to is telling the truth and is as sweet as she seems then I think it is unlikely. So how did she do it? Watch this space. As I collect the details I will post them.
Whie I admit that men being men.... and she was very attractive... and one thing could lead to another - whether by cookies or "pie", it is possible that something "funny" happened....
But still there had to be some provision within the law to allow for a one year Tourist Visa. I mean... the Consulate can't just write his own law no matter how persuastive she was.
And I shutter to think of what her MOM would have had to do to warrant an invented TEN YEAR Visa. (Trust me - I know her mother, and with all due respect... I don't think she could have pulled it off - based on the criteria we are talking about here!! If you know what I mean....)
I have often thought that a Tourist Visa would be bette as well, if only one could be obtained. I will watch this space for any updates. I will also looki into it myself.
I should mention that this girl had been in the US for over a year when her mother (who was still in Lithuania) received word that she had been granted the Ten Year Visa. So its not possible that she was acting in a role as "encouragement" to assist her mother.
Yes I "shutter" to think because...... I can only do it when the room is dark and the windows are protected from outside weather as in a storm(?)
And I "shudder" to think of what her MOM would have had to do and of her being persuasive enough to get a Ten Year Visa out of it (unless he promised it only if she would stop!).
That is funny.
This warrants some serious research. If it is still possible it is great news for all of us. I would LOVE to host a FSU woman here it would tremendous fun and who knows....
Think the US is a bit strict expecting you to marry within 3 months on a fiance visa, at least in the UK you get 6 months, also at the British Embassy, there is no discretion or personal judgement on whether you get a visa or not, you either qualify or you don't
An FSU woman can pass her interviews and be convincing (either that she really intends to marry in the case of a K-1 or that she intends to return home in the case of a Tourist Visa) and ALL of the paperwork can pass muster, along with her physical examination and her background check.
All of these things can occur without a hitch she can even get on a plane and fly to the US - only to be turned down for admittance into the country. That's right folks. Cjeck it out. Even if all the paperwork is in order and she meets all the criteria - she still has to convince the boarder guard at any point of entry. If the boarder guard is not convinced of the legitimacy of the situation (perhaps for an arbitrary reason) she cannot enter the country. She must go home on the next flight back.
This is a result of the new Homeland Security laws enacted after 9/11.
Want verification? Get in touch with an immigration attorney or consult US Government web page.
Pretty pissed off if they turned my girl back at the airport on wednesday, thank God I know that they won't.. Am more concerned with whether she will turn up, must be getting those last minute nerves again
I had a thought about these long visas.
I remember the way it was now. It was 1984 after all and I'm getting old. I had to have a visa STAMPED in my passport. In the case of British people it was a permanent visa. You didn't even need another stamp when your passport ran out you just took the old one with you as well. It was for life. Now when your plane was approaching the airport they would start handing out little forms that you would fill in. They wanted to know where you were going to stay etc. This was then stamped with a date of arrival as you passed through immigration and humiliation. Immigration & Humiliation would say how long you could stay. In the case of Brits automatic 6 months later 3 months god knows what it is now. Anybody know?
Maybe the ladies that Jet was refering to were talking about the permanent visa stamp??? It used to be the first hurdle to cross. For Brits it is totally done away with now. You just get on a plane and they give you a tourist visa as you enter as I have already described.
Stage-fright surely, and only in case you did not prepare your home (no, just kidding) it would be justified.
Now think bad, really mean, disgusting even: IF she would be as dishonest as the worst creep you can think of, and would have all kinds of alternate agenda-points the web is full of - you think she would have gone through all this trouble NOT to arrive there punctually?
Now add that she is what you know she is - don't forget the flowers eh? ;-))
Enjoy, success, and don't waste your time on this forum - you will be excused by anyone here, no exceptions.
Best of luck!
Yeah complete stage fright Thunder, and even if she did decide not to come, she would not be any of the above...She is such a good and moral person. If she did not come it would because of genuine fears and worries, enormous step to uproot yourself, your child and move to a country where you don't even speak the language(she speak a bit of English that I have taught her, we communicate well but she has never spoken English to anyone else) so yes it is stage fright, but I will be so relieved when she steps out into the airport
Yes, Trad...
you should definitely stop worrying about border guards admitting her or not....but you should worry that maybe, just maybe she's been reading my posts here and has fallen terminally and madly in love with your favorite amphibian...moi.