I have been eamil this girl for 2 months everyday, She is collecting money from her family and friends to pay a contract through an agency to come to me in the US. She refuses to tkae money from me to help. What advice can I give her to get a B2 visa. We have not yet met. Thanks for your experience and help.
Is this a Russian or a Ukraine girl? And she has a passport already? If she accepts your money from her agency website she can get blacklisted. watch out if she goes to a different free service and suddenly drops the dime on you and asks for money less than a week out from the arrival/departure date. And she's asking YOU about the visa?
what site did you find her on and how old is she? Something not at all right about this. It's definately not standard agency procedure... be very careful.
Sounds like a scam to me, but if you really want to meet her, you should take a trip to St. Petersburg. It's a lot easier for you to get a visa to go to Russia than it is for her to get a visa to U.S.
Not one sound girl in FSU would offer to fly to meet you (and pay for it themselves) anywhere before you meet in person. Unless they're running for their life from something or someone. Sounds like this is a first-time meeting for you Tim... just live and learn from it and move on or try to meet her in person with some of the dozen other penpals you should be lining up if you do actually go to SPB to satisfy your curiousity and she doesn't even show up.
It does sound odd. There are exceptions though. Ag workers, religious volunteers, aupairs and maybe some others can get a visa rather quickly to the US. I believe they have to put up the expenses usually through an agency that specializes in this. The Ag workers and aupairs expect to make enough money to see the US after work obligations, pay back expenses, and maybe take a little money back with them. Religious volunteers are usually funded by a mission.
So if you have the time to wait and if she is not legitimate it will not be long do not get your hopes up, continue writing her, until she asks you to foot the bill after relatives come up short then the chances of legitimacy and you seeing her are very very slim. Do not send money. If she comes on her own great then you will see her and she is real. Keep positive but realize the odds are not good because most women who start talking visiting the US first are setting the field to take your money. In this case when she asks for money it will be an I need it now and require a reflex reaction not a thought out plan. So your time to think is now.
"Not one sound girl in FSU would offer to fly to meet you (and pay for it themselves) anywhere before you meet in person"
Maybe not right Apal, my friend had a girl from Estonia (I think that was FSU) come to US to meet him, in fact she came twice before he actually made it to Tallin to meet her. It is possible but girl has to have good finances, she got tourist visas.
Heres an update, This girl from a small town outside St Petersburg has collected all the money for the Visa and airfare and living expenses, She completed her interview with the Embassy and received her B2 Visa for 6 months. I had spoken with the travel agency and the tickets have been purchased, non-refundable of course. I call the airlines and confirmed the paid reservation. The travelagency send me a copy of the passport and visa authorizaton. This looks like the real deal. I sent no money and did not have to do anything. This gal has the dreive and determination to come and be with me. Now the question is will we really like each other. We'll only time will tell. More to come later as things progress.
Tim: Did you check the visa number with your countries immigration department. You have the right to if she has listed you as one of her contact points. It would be extremely strange if she had not. Her travel agency has no legal right to send you copies of her documentation. Russian agents are more than well aware of this. Airlines cannot devulge booking receipt information legally to general enquirers. Russian carriers know this also. Who is the airline exactly? And who did you speak to there?
I hope I prove to be wrong and you don't finish disappointed, but I'm seeing a last minute call or email, I'm stuck in the airport and need xyz to demonstrate I can support myself outside the country or something similar. If you are so serious about your intentions and you believe what she is feeding you, go hire an immigration lawyer for 30 minutes, it will cost you about $100 and he/she can check all the details officially in about 1/2 a day. If I was you, I would bet that few dollars rather than waste more time.
apal1 Yet again you have it wrong. In general it is not done, But............Mrs Dunromin flew half way around the world to formally meet me.........on my patch. Then here mum came also later, then her mum and dad came and then and then....why don't you get some real experience before making your silly remarks instead of grabbing snippets of what you think is saleable from other websites and spruking it as if it is the last word.