My second wife was Ukrainian, a really beautiful women very loving and she give me a lovely son.
Unfortunately she died from cancer. I got in touch whit my wife by using a dating site.
I never use an agency, I wanted a direct contact with the person. Basically the lady should manage with English.
After about one year of loneliness I decided to try it again and meet a lady from Riga, very distant at the beginning even if we chat daily many hours before meeting, beautiful, well educated, smart. She just wanted to “test” me ….
The last day of my stay in the city she probably understood that I could not bring her flowers and singing under her window like Romeo every week for 3 months like she expected and the ice was broken.
Since then we have a real love story and will get married soon.
Latvian girls can leave the country easily flights can be got for any part of Europe cheaply Ryanair low cost airline flies there , I would defo write Latvia off.
In Latvia, indeed Lithuania and Estonia also, there are nationals with national (EU) passports that enjoy the same privelidges of travel as you and I but there are also, present in those countries, the Russian nationals who became 'stranded' there upon the fall of USSR.
Those 'Russian' individuals have a permanent residence visa in tha respective Baltic country and can travel within Schengen states quite freely, I'm not sure if lengths of stay restrictions may apply, but they remain Russian passport holders thus do not enjoy full EU privelidges.
Population of Latvia is made up of a large percentage of Russians yes they may have a Latvian passport
but they still considir themselves Russian in Riga alone the population is 46 percent Russian they have Eu passports now and maybe have lived there for many generations. Many fled serfdom in Russia many years ago and some fled the Stalin era,I know I lived with one for a few months. And yes they are in the Eu. In Lithuania its the same situation.
Come on .. let's get real ... all this FSUW dating is about women in poor countries wanting to move to a richer country.
Latvians, whether of Russian origin or not, have now EU passports, and can travel and work freely in any other European Union country, such as England, Germany, France or Italy. That is, girls no longer need to meet someone from a rich country to take them out of poverty, as they can do it by themselves.
Russia is not a rich country. Yes, there are many people with money there.. yes ... but most of them are poor .. quite poor, in fact, compared to western standards. As in most underdeveloped countries, there is a huge gap between the rich and the poor.
And even if you think pretty girls can find men with money in their own country (that is not always the case)... the whole point is that, being money the reason or not, if they want to move to the developed world, Latvians no longer need someone to take them out of the country, as they can do it themselves just with their passport and a cheap flight costing $100, while for russians or ukranians, that is not the case.
A Latvian girl wanting to move abroad and marry a foreigner, would be better off moving to England, France or Germany herself, getting a job like many do, and serching for the right man once she is there, rather than wasting time corresponding with men who 95% of the times would never come to visit, 95% of the other 5% would only come to visit for a shag, and if they are lucky to find someone amongst the 0.25% leftover, they will have to move with them even before having had enough time to get to know them properly, which is definetely not the best scenario.
Get real guys ... once FSU developes and these girls are no longer locked up in their countries, the FSUW game will be over. Luckly for us ... it is sill very far in the future :-) at least for Russia, and there are still a few years to go until Ukraine can join the UE.
Not all residents of Latvia are entitled to EU passports and, indeed, 95% of EU residents are entitled to EU passports but it doesn't mean that, just because they are entitled to an EU passport, they can afford to go travelling nor, indeed, that they actually hold an international passport to go travelling with!
I've been to Riga 3 times during the past 2 and a bit years, it is a prospering country but there remains a significant amount of poverty.
Maybe not all residents of Latvia are entitled to a Latvian passport, of course, if they are from another country they will not have a Latvian passport, as in any other country, but, most residents of Latvia have in fact Latvian citizenship even if they are ethnical russians or polish or whatever, and anyone who has lived there for a long time could be naturalized if they wanted to. So no .. sorry ... saying that many Latvians have Russian passport doesn't work, as they are a minority, and most of them could have a Latvian passport if they wanted to, and surely many would now choose to do so, since Latvia is now part of EU and a Latvian passport is now as good as a UK, French or German passport when it comes to international travelling, visa appplication, etc.
And sorry ... but any Latvian passport can be used for international travelling, at least within the EU !! For your information, EU residents don't even need a passport to travel within the EU. Just an official identity card is enough to go to France, England, Germany, Italy or Spain. Sorry, but if you are saying getting a passport or official photo ID is a big issue in Latvia ... I much doubt it, as this is probably against EU law.
But yes .. it is true not everyone can afford to go travelling .. that is true ... but I didn't mean going travelling as if you are going on vacation. What I mean is that if a Latvian girl want to move to another country, they can do so by themselves. It is quite easy to get a cheap flight and find a job in another country .. in fact, countries such as the UK have been flooded with Eastern Europe migrants since these countries joined the EU in 2004, and now in London is quite normal to find girls from Poland, Czech Rep or Baltic countries doing hospitality jobs such as hotel, restaurants, etc. All it takes is a flight and a bit of money to support yourself until you find work, or sometimes not even that considering many migrants, at the time they arrive, are supported by friends or familiy already settled in the country where they move.
These girls are definetely not trapped in their countries any more ... unlike russians or ukrainians, now Latvians have a choice to stay or to go, and that makes distance dating unnecessary for that purpose.
Really ... if Ukraine was part of the EU .. do you really think all those pretty girls would be willing to marry a stranger in order to move to the West ? No way.
So that is the reason why I think Latvia is no longer attractive in the FSUW dating scene.
Sorry but travel within the EU, without a passport, is not so straightforward as you may think!
Yes, I've previously driven across borders with no border control present but one should have a passport, as an example, for entering UK.
There was a time when I was flying from Ireland, via UK, to Luxembourg and decided to enter Luxembourg on my Luxembourg ID card, even though I hadn't even got off the aircraft between Ireland and Luxembourg because I was arriving from UK they insisted upon a passport!
I necer suggested they were trapped but your previous post gave indication that all they need to do, any of them, is pack their bag and go! The UK, just as an example, one can't even rent a property unless a 5 year (UK) credit check can be performed, unless they have a (employed) UK guarantor, Italy they need to be already registered in a commune, and that can take a while, before able to rent anywhere and hotels and/or guest houses, eating out etc. can certainly prove expensive by their economy.
Traveling within the EU without a passport, with only a national ID card, is allowed without any hassle. I have done it many times to enter the UK and other countries, and no problem at all.
Anyway, getting a passport is not big deal. The problem is not if you need a passport or not. The problem for girls in Ukraine or Russia is not if they can have a passport or not, but that even with a passport they are not allowed to go anywhere unless they meet strict VISA requirements, end even if they do, it would only be a temporary tourist visa without employment or residence rights (useless unless you are genuine tourist). Girls in Latvia no longer have this problem and they can freely move, work, live and relocate within the EU.
What you say about the UK is not correct either ... first .. it is not true you need five year credit history to rent a property. My UK home is currently let to a polish couple, and they had only been in the country for a few months when both my letting agency and rent guarantee insurance approved them as suitable tenants. I know lots of foreigners living in the UK (I include myself) and we don't have much problem to rent properties, even if recently arrived.
Moreover .. a young person who have just arrived, would not usually rent a property, but more likely would go for a cheaper option, that is, to rent a room in a shared flat, or a bedsit, or something like that, and that is quite easy to do for as long as you can pay the rent. You can even stay in a hostel for the first few weeks, and the cost is not higher than renting a room or a bedsit.
In fact, there have been a few hundred thousands of people from the East moving to the UK since they joined the EU in 2004, and lots more moving to other EU countries too.
So yes ... sorry ... but for Latvians, nowadays, it is almost as simple as packing their bags and go !! All they need is a bit of money to support themselves while they find work in the country they move to, or maybe a friend or family member already there who would give them a hand while they find a job. Thousands of people from the East have done it since in 2004 they joined the EU and full rights to residence and work were granted.