You make good points in your post about the tourist visa, and I have heard similar thoughts before. I did try to help a girl that I had visited acquire a tourist visa, and she was turned down. She had two good jobs, her own apartment, and family including a 15 year old boy that she would return to. No reason given at the embassy other than she didn't qualify. Not sure what we could have done differently. She just wanted to come over for a visit and see the US and Disney World. The ordeal gave her a very negative feeling toward the US.
It is very very difficult for a FSU citizen to secure a USA tourist visa without having a successful prior visa record with the USA Immigration Service. It usually requires a person to be very wealthy indeed, as well as having a large dependent family still living within the home country, or having an existing family legally living within the USA. The USA tourist visa will always be the most difficult visa to obtain.
Except for the rare student exchange visa, by far the easiest first visa to obtain is the fiancé visa. And to obtain that visa, both parties must be willing to swear that a marriage has already been agreed upon completely. And the "bride" must also be able to support this relationship claim with proof of the groom's prior visits to see her, histories of phone, mail, or email correspondence, and/or photos, if requested by the embassy officials during the visa interview.
The main thing is that the FSU citizen fulfills the obligation to voluntarily return to their home country within the agreed upon time schedule. Once these conditions of the first visa are satisfied, future visas become much easier.
Also, let me add, that once a FSU citizen has been denied any kind of USA visa. greater scrutiny will be given to any and all future visa applications. My advice is for a FSU citizen to not apply for any kind of USA visa unless they have researched all of this visa's requirements, and they feel very confident on the visa's approval.
When I was getting some of my filler background in international law, I worked in Kiev for law firm that occasionally provided help with USA visas. It is certainly not my specialty, and I am NOT wanting to provide any individual counseling.
Hey guys, i did not think that an FSU girl could get a tourist visa to come here.
Anyone ever try to get one issued so you could have your girl flown here so you could meet for the first time ?
ya i know all that, but after reading this thread i got the impression from some that maybee you could bring one over on a tourist visa for a meeting. I very seriously doubt it though. Never hurts to ask ...
I have never actually tried to get a tourist visa for an FSU lady to visit the US but I have been told it is nearly impossible. The procedure is easy enough. With reference to Moldova (the country that this thread is about) all she has to do is fill out the proper paperwork on Monday or Wednesday (I think those are the days) at teh US Embassy in Chisinau, pay $100 (again, I think that was what the fee was) and wait for an answer supposedly at 4:00. But my understanding is that for the typical unattached young woman the answer will invariably be NO.
Hammer is wrong about the need to meet her in her own country first. This might seem to be a technicallity but it is important. It is only neccessary that you MEET in person and show evidence. WHERE it happened that you met is not important. It might have been while she was on an unrelated trip to the US for instance, or in a third country altogether (say Egypt for instance) that is not home to either of you.
If your plan is to find a woman with so called "traditional faily values", "old school" "or "non-feministic marital traditions" doesn't it look to you a little bit over progressive, selfish and lazy on the man's part to expect her to come to your country not knowing whether you're worthy man or not?
I'm sure you're not the type of man who collects human bosy parts in the frezzer as a weekend hobby...but she, and what's most importantly, her family do not know that.
Go see her at her home turf first.
The woman I will be marrying in February visited me on a tourist visa this past summer. She was issued a 5 year multiple entry visa in July. This was her first trip to the US.
Things that I assume worked in her favor: Very good job, had the money to support herself during the trip, owns property in Ukraine, had traveled extensivly in Western Europe, 42 years of age. In other words the person who interviewed believed her believed she would return to Ukraine.
Contrary to popular wisdom, it is not impossible for a single woman to get a tourist visa to vist the US. I know of several others who have visited the US in this way. I won't say it is easy, but it is far from impossible.