I had an FSU lady ask me if I preferred to meet a lady in the Ukraine, or would I prefer that she travels to me. Is it the standard that the man travels over there, or do the ladies generally make their way over here to meet him? Which is usually cheaper?
The most favourite scam, but mainly in the Kazan area of Russia, is they say all the right things they believe a man wants to hear then claim they have a back door method of obtaining, or already have, a visa to come and visit him ..... and it will only cost him a few thousand dollars which he needs to send to her via Western Union!
To enter Canada she will require a passport, visa, sufficient funds to support herself etc, now go figure if she is really likely to get a visa and where those sufficient funds, to show to immigration upon arrival in Canada, are going to come from?
Yup, a scam. a real Ukrainian girl cannot easily get a visa unless she can show strong ties such as having bank account, a car and own her home or have long term lease that shows she will return to Ukraine. Many girls have made trips to EU countries and generally once you have made 5 round trips to an EU country and back you can get a tourist visa for USA. There are airlines that offer round trip from Kiev to London, Paris, etc for less than a couple hundred bucks.
Very few FSU "single" ladies can ever get a tourist visa on their own to visit Europe, Canada, or the USA. Never believe the story about the travel agency that can easily get visas for these girls at the "right price."
Very common scam for newbies who are lazy or afraid to travel to the FSU.
I have met a few women in Russia and Ukraine that have traveled to the USA for various reasons. Sometimes dating site profiles will list countries she has visited, or you will see pictures of her that were obviously taken in the US.
Such women either already have a visa that enables them to travel to the US (there are now 5-year multi-entry visitor visas), or can readily get a new visa.
But for those who haven't already been, getting a USA visa is a difficult and very uncertain process -- many people who seem well-qualified are rejected.
I don't know the situation in Canada; my impression is that immigration rules are not as restrictive as those in the US, but perhaps it is not so different. Usually, Russians have a tough time getting visas even for nearby countries in western Europe.
For me, I would prefer to meet a woman in her home country even if she really could travel, and even if it would be cheaper for me to pay for her travel. It could be a scam for "travel money," as described. Or she could really want to travel to your country ... for some purpose other than seeing you, and be looking for a free ticket.
And in any case, for American men looking to marry, the US will not grant a fiance visa unless the couple can document having met OUTSIDE the United States. If I thought a women might be "the one," I would want to get started right away establishing the paper trail (maybe not relevant to Canada).
As far as UK is concerned we do get FSU 'visitors' over here but the authorities learn to recognise they traits, at the time of visa issue they need to demonstrate they are a genuine tourist, confirmed accommodation etc, and their trait is to normally book less that 3 star hotels near to central London.
Whilst no non EU national can marry in UK without the appropriate visa the authorities here are on the lookout for any non EU national that may have a boy/girlfriend here, if they may overstay their visa etc. and, whilst that boy/girlfriend can attempt to sponsor that visa application, if the visitor makes a tourist application by themselves they need to prove confirmed accommodation, they they have funds to support themselves, but if the authorities even get a sniff that the tourist applicant is coming here for boy/girlfriend purposes then they will refuse the visa application.
the US will not grant a fiance visa unless the couple can document having met OUTSIDE the United States.
This is not true; the only requirement is that you met in person within two years prior to filing the petition. Many folks meet in the US (US-Canadian couples for example do that all the time).
I have one Ukrainian girl who is paying her own airfare to go to Dominican Republic to see me in February. Of course I will pay for things when she arrives but still it proves Danny's point that if girl is really serious about you she will find a way to do lots of things to spend time with you.
It is fact that there are a limited number of countries where FSU citizems can easily travel to, two such countries where they can easily travel to are Thailand and Turkey.
Having never entered Thailand I cannot comment however, in recent years, I have had several business trips to Antalya in Turkey. One lunchtime I was having a business lunch out with an airline Chief Pilot, not too far from the airport, and we were joking "Here comes another Russian" just by the noise levels the aircraft were emitting, Turkey gets saturated with, particularly, Russian citizens each summer simply because than can pay a few dollars per visa upon arrival.
And once they get to such 'easy' countries they infamously spend very little money, I stayed at a couple of hotels in Antalya, at one hotel they were sitting in the bar/pool area but not ordering anything and in the other hotel, over a few nights, I was the only guest in the hotel bar, it was just the barman and me, something that I have NEVER experienced in any other country!
But it is a distortion of facts to compare such country statistics as Thailand and Turkey to countries less easy for the individual(s) to travel to, if even 10% of the Russian/FSU population could afford such travel such 'easy' countries would not be able to accommodate the numbers travelling!
I think Wizz air goes RT Kiev-Antalya from UAH 780($100) so thats really cheap. then an all inclusive is usually another $100-150 per night/per couple depending upon where you stay and quality.
Watching the various aircraft arriving/departing Antalya, some of the museum pieces, I'm of the impression that many of these were operated by Russian regional (tin pot) airlines on charter, not schedule, flights, literally each summer they would drag these aircraft from their storage, kick the tyres, put some fuel in and, hey ho, we have an aircraft for the summer, I'm sure that such flights are cheaper than $600 per person!
But it's not so straightforward as just the air fare travelling seperately, they'll need confirmed accommodation, OK the guy can book it in her name and forward the confirmation to her, but she is required to demonstrate to immigration sufficient funds to support herself, whilst people do take the chance on this those same people take the chance on deportation.
A favoured scam is to ask the guy to send that 'sufficient funds' to her, she stays at home and he occupies the holiday by himself!
In theory, and one can check with the airline before booking, if an air ticket is refundable then it should only be refundable to the person, the card, that paid for it, of course a ticket needs to be cancelled before the time of travel rather than when it's too late.
However dishonesty does exist so this is not set in stone.
oops! forgot to add comment. I met a Russian lady who traveled to meet me. Surely it was a budget trip. But all the same we met in a neutral location. It took her longer to travel to meet me (train ride) than it took for my flight from USA. She is staining our deck steps as I am typing.
Although rare, there are women from Russia who will travel to meet a man. This is assuming she is a genuinely interested woman. Of course there are also those who will travel to meet someone just for the FREE VACATION. Your task is to be able to discern the difference between the two. If it is someone you just started correspondence with and she sucks you into paying for a trip to Turkey to meet, then she is a traveler. But after getting to know the person - that is a variant unique to the situation - and you decide to meet 'somewhere else', then you are more likely to have met a genuine person interested in you than someone who just wants a free week away from home. It is a game of chance.
Gamblers rarely win. But those who invest time and research into a project usually are successful.
Well...I'm pretty sure this lady isn't trying to scam me; she hasn't mentioned or even hinted that I should send her anything. She did mention that it may be difficult for her to obtain a visa though, which reflects everything I've read in this thread. I suppose I'm stuck planning a little trip to Ukraine if I'm serious about meeting her...
Yep, you've got it Canuck, I wonder which country a guy calling himself 'Cunuck' could be from :) however, I believe, Aerosvit Airlines operate between Toronto and most airports in Ukraine.
As I previously posted most 'visit you' scams emerge from the Kazan area of Russia, just Google for 'Russia Blacklist' to read about scams, your lady talking about difficulties is good and I wish you good luck with whatever may develop.
It is generally quite easy for a single girl to get a visa fo european destinations (shengen accord). Typically they require accomodation prepaid and a bank account showing $1000. My wife prior to marraige did this for both Hungary and Paris.
She went to Dubai with a hotel booking and credit card guarantee.
No problems at all. Only place she has been rejected is good ol USA. Seems they only take destitute Latin Americans.
When my lady mentioned of the difficulty obtaining a visa, I casually mentioned that I may have to plan a trip to the Ukraine. In the interim, I wanted to send this lady a little token of my affection (perhaps a food or fruit basket with some flowers). She likes the idea of the gift, but has avoided providing an address to send it to. I just ASSUMED that gifts were delivered directly to the ladies' residences??
Oh well, so now she's excited and wants me to fly over THIS fall and deliver it in person! lol As much as I'd like to, I'm in no way ready to commit to such an edevour...well, not yet anyway.