Portman...didn't mean to single you out, just for the new guys to see through anothers eyes how a trip can have so much promise....and some realities sink in. Do wish you had nice time with the ex.....
Have plenty of $$$ for the River Palace....fun place!!!
You are from spain? ..... Buena suerte con niñas!!!
Gecko, go on. You know, if you want something you must work to get it. In fact, I wonder how guys find wives just chatting or calling into Ukraine and visiting the country only several times for short periods. Thus, I am sure that if there is the best plan to find a Ukrainian woman, then this is yours. But no doubt, your plan is not easy. I think you should do this if you are confident and believe in it.
I would like to give several tips for doing business in Ukraine. I suggest you to register yourself as a Natural Person Entrepreneur (NPE). This is not a legal entity so you do not need to have a charter capital and legal address but you will get a right to carry out your business. Another convenient form for business is a Private Enterprise (PE). This is a legal entity that has to have a legal address, charter capital and its Director. Though, the charter capital may be even 1 (one) Hryvnia. Besides these forms of business we also have LLC (TOV in Ukraine) and JSC (AT in Ukraine). Basically they are the same as in other states all over the world. LLC is also acceptable for you. When you became a millionaire it will be a high time to consider a JSC. Now a NPE or PE is quite enough (in general of course, the form of business must be considered in each particular case). Registration of LLC, PE or NPE takes 10 days and will cost you near 200 USD.
Regarding taxes. You may be registered as a payer of a unified tax. The rate of the unified tax (depending on the type of activity of the subject of entrepreneurial activity) shall not be less than 20 UAH and more than 200 UAH per month. In case a payer of a unified tax uses hired labors, the rate of the unified tax shall increase by 50% per each employee.
Peteb, I do not know how you get your remuneration but it would be very good if the tax authority just believe us about our incomes. I suggest you to find out this question because you may be penalized by the tax inspection, have problems with repatriation of your assets or have other inconveniences. Just obtain the NPE status, pay 200 UAH (near 30 USD) per month and be sure that everything is OK. If you would like more info you can write me a private message.
For everyone. Doing business in Ukraine has its features, but I see that you guys think that you may alive here only if you pay bribes and is a member of mafia. That is not truth. For good business you need just a good idea and to be a good management (legal support is a plus). The company where I work deals with foreigners mostly. There are international corporations and ordinary PEs. And these PE carry out so specific and unusual business that I would not ever say that this can be so profitable. But those guys came to Ukraine (including the USA as well) and prosper now, open new offices in Ukraine and the other post soviet countries. So if you are a bad businessman, then it does not matter where you get bankrupt.
By the way, you may work in Ukraine without starting your own business. You may find a job here and I can help you with it. Just send me your CV and I will post it on Ukrainian job websites.
you said , 'Looking forward to go back home and to close this book in my life.'
i know exactly how you feel. I just can't get excited about going to ukraine anymore.
Its gotten to a point where i don't trust anybody and that is no way to meet people.
good luck with the woman who lives near you! I think its always best to be with someone within your own culture. You should have the same sense of humor and values.
i'm working until end of august. i might try living in ukraine one more time after that. starting a business would take a 6 month commitment. I think kiev area would be the best place to start a business. It doesn't necessarily need to be in the exact center.
Hello all i will give my 2 cents worth here. I agree that a Ukranian wife is a much beter optioon to western gold digging lazy no culture housewives. Yes i dont have a high opinion of them at all, even here in my home country of Australia, our women are overweight and mostly have no class. I visited Russia in 2002 and after a month there liked what i saw, i just wish i never went in winter.
I think Geckos idea is brilliant, because that way you can blend into society and get to know potential partners at a slower pace and discover their inner persona rather than getting all the blood rush to your weaner. If you buy an expensive car you do research, read what other people say and learn from their mistakes.
I will add that men who have been divorced myself included should consider the use of a prenup is essential especially if you want to bring your bride to your country, we dont want to work to pay for some potential failure.
I was advised to go to places where real women worked like hospital's hair dressing salons etc and simply ask one of them out to dinner. You know they work and have a proffession that they can use in your country, instead of complaining they dont blend in etc.
Marriage agencies by and large make a fortune from gullible westerners, who genuinely believe a 25 year old bombshell would be interested in intimacy with an 80 year old man lol. Get real!!
I got 100's of emails like everyone did when registered with an agency, but ignore 99% of them.
I notice that accomodation in the Ukraine is very costly as well, in australia a cheap apartment is about $250 a week AUD.
I was trying to convince a few mates to come with me and spend some time in the Ukraine and get a vibe for the place and share the love and see what eventuates.
Great plan, gecko. I know a bit easier one. Stay where you are now, live your normal life and use a dating site to find that only one. At least I managed to do that. I cannot say that I am married and happy but I went to Ukraie to one girl and spent some time with her. i liked that. Now I am looking for another girl as this one had found her husband (and that is not me:)) try. datebride, charmingdate etc
I guess one good thing of spending weeks or months at a time is you do tend to
meet more normal people but then its not much different than home if you work
and dont have time to meet anyone:)
I have an apartment near Darnitsa Station on left side and the odds of meeting a good girl "around the neighborhood" are only slightly better than at home. You still have to spend the time and
do some work to find them.
You'd be amazed at how much instant 'street cred' aka 'respect' you get from ANYONE you meet when you tell them this.
Fortunately I make good money with my software business there.
I could live in Ukraine just based on the business, but its self-managed through another consulting firm.
Having your own business and not falling into the 'agency biz' is really eye-opening. You are no longer the stupid foreigner with open wallet, as many Ukrainians think about us. You are big boss who might have a job for them. BIG DIFFERENCE!!!
Oh and when I was in Kharkiv setting up my business, my secretary told me how often these 70+ year old men would go there to find a young beautiful sexy wife. I was the youngest foreigner most of them had ever heard or met. But that doesn't help when most of them were just insincere gold-digger agency girls in the first place! ;)
I didn't believe the story of how many old guys fall for the story that they can just get a Ukraine beauty if they show up...
I met one elderly gentleman 78 years old, who wanted to date this blonde bombshell I had been seeing. Of course she made up every excuse to not meet him.
It's unfortunate that the agency system for the most part is very insincere, but that is their business. Yes, lots of scams. If you have money? My advice? Set up your own agency and hire a trustworthy secretary to recruit local girls. It doesn't take much money.
Just computers, office, secretary and some software to hook into the big agency websites. You will save a lot more money that way. But you have to shell out at least $10,000. Not a problem for the serious guy. Because it will cost a lot more to actually marry a Ukraine girl. A fact most of you guys forget when your just paying $49 a month to be a member of some website. ;0
apal1 --I have been reading a lot of your posts-- very knowledgable and realistic good advice.I can relate to many situations you describe.
Funny you mention setting up your own agency-- for various reasons I have considered trying to do some business in Ukraine-- I expect to have reasons in future years to spend time there-- and business would help make that easier.
JapH-- Everything I say is first-hand knowledge. I seen the scammers, met the players, met the gold-diggers, met the insincere man-eaters and run into the worst foulest agencies this side of Hell. But I know the realities of life on the ground in Ukraine. I do intimidate a lot of people, but I don't mean to. I do know a lot of the inside scoop of the agency FSU scene. It cost a lot of money to learn things the hard way.
Advice is sound. Business is tough in Ukraine. There will be people who WILL take advantage. I have a good Ukrainian friend who owns his own businesses in Ukraine and even he gets taken advantage of by people he knew for years. Life is hard there. Trust is even harder to find than love.
I'll be returning to Odessa and starting a small agency. But my current fiance's girlfriends are extremely young. 18-20. They will all be agency girls of the new agency. I do it as a favor to them, but with their looks and sex appeal, they would be the top girls on any sites in Ukraine without photoshop or scams. I'm just hoping to recoup the original investment and pay for operating expenses. Lots of agency managers wring as much money out of agency men as possible. Yes, I know for a fact that (some) agency girls get paid to chat to men, get paid for each letter read and written, or a small fee to remain in the agencies. I also know that some agencies have employees writing, chatting to the men and the girl doesn't even bother unless the man is coming. I also know some girls that make money from the hours that are translated for the man, apartment rented, etc.
But you know what I also found out? There are quite a few honest and sincere girls in the agencies too.
What type of business are you thinking to start in Ukraine JayH?
It is really funny to me to see so much I agree with-- virtually everything you say could come out of my mouth!!I have only visited Ukraine at this stage-- I expect to stay longer on future visits.As you said-- I have paid for my education !! I do not speak Russian or Ukrainian -- I can understand very little-- even that has been to my advantage.
At first I was surprised to the degree of lack of sincerity-- but like everything-- I came to understand more about life in Ukraine and the difficulties-- then it is in context.I have made many friends-- which was not what I set out to do!! I just wanted one !! I mean friends in the context of a friend-- that in turn has lead me many directions-- and as a result I have learnt a lot.I also have some very good inside information about agencies (basically confirmed what I already thought). I have got on well with almost everyone I have met-- I am what I say,I do what i say,my photos are me !!All that basic obvious stuff.
Interesting that you are starting agency-- that was one thing I contemplated.The other- which is extention-- is to do checks for guys on girls.I have developed quite a few contacts-- and knowledge of how to check.
It is interesting on this forum-- and many others-- how the questions are basically the same-- and as I have seen in your answers-- difficult to be certain from the info supplied. Guys actually need real advice-which without knowing a lot more-- is impossible to give the "right" answer.
The obsession with what is wrong with a girl -- can be misleading -- and it may create situation where a guy jumps to the wrong conclusion.
Hey apal your back!!! ;-)
It does sound like you learn things the hard way!!!
Back in odessa...isn't that where your physco girl was from?
Sounds interesting for you to start an agency.... is this for the girls or to make money?
Only one way to do that!!!! With all the dishonest ones......seems to me that many may start out
honest but to make money, bend the rules.....
Just curious how you are going to market 18-20 year olds!!!!!
re: Psycho girl from 2007 - Yup! You know I stayed in touch with her (pshycho girl) through the years (via emails). I even met her during the January holidays, just to say hello in person. She had told me she was making money from the letters and gifts from the agency. But when I asked her if she was sincere when I thought she turned from girl who had not met me, to girl who met me and girl who was spurned, she agreed. The whole time, she kept telling me to stay away from the agencies because "its just a business" and most girls were not sincere, but there just to make spare money. I told her about my fiance, and she got really upset (very jealous) when I described my girl and that yes I did indeed meet her from the agencies... We haven't spoken or written since. It's just as well. She went on to marry a rich Ukraine guy, who recently had died of cancer.
re: Marketing - Oh if your meaning if I will put up my own agency website? Not needed, just plug into HRB's agency system and its all setup. No need to do my own marketing. ;) I tried that failed path in Colombia South America, had 380 women in my agency website, and didn't make much money to cover the expenses (and employees robbing the agency at every opportunity!).
It would be a very small boutique agency. My current translator and fiance know of the plan and agree with its merits. Translator would be agency manager and translator, making profit by being part 5% ownership stake, and eventually take over the agency and all operations. But main revenue would be as I said, plug into big agency website and generate income the standard way. No reason to create an entire agency website.. too expensive and too risky.
apal1 -- A practical question: you've been spending a lot of time in Ukraine, how have you dealt with the (reported) crackdown on aliens living in Ukraine?
Do you follow the 90/180 rule, or have you been able to get around that (I've read that enforcement depends on the port of entry)?
Have you ever attempted to register in Ukraine?
Information on these matters will be very useful to foreigners who want to live there for a while. Thanks!
I usually leave before the 90 days. I once timed it so closely that departing Kiev they delayed me so long at immigration I almost missed the flight. Figure they were trying everything to get me to pay the fine. 45 minutes just for them to count the days, and hours. Then I usually come back in 3 months. I suppose if I wanted to stay more than 3 months at a time, then I'd get a business started and sponsor myself.
In South America, I once overstayed by an extra month, and had to pay a small $200 fine and that was that. Another time I overstayed by two days and just paid the Immigration guys $150 and got on the next flight the following morning. ;)
I figure I can stay longer 2 easy ways (being from the US) #1 Get a Ukraine LLC business started (sponsor myself with extensions). #2 Get married to a Ukraine girl.
It's not very difficult, but of course you could do the border cross, but I wouldn't do that due to how closely immigration at Kiev checks the dates (as they did for me). Unless of course I'm flying out of Kharkiv or Odessa where they don't check so closely for the dates. ;0
@apal
Re marketing...I WAS speaking about feeding into the large websites...but you only make money when girls in your agency are contacted through the website by guys, correct? So you would market your 18-20 year olds for older men( well over 3/4 are over 40)....to make your 'profits'? And of course these girls would be sincere and have LARGE age gaps!!!!!!! LMAO!!!!!
You know that sounds funny..." small boutique agency " ........
And i do remember your agency in Colombia!!!!
You do come across as cocky and arrogant.....but at least your upfront about it!!! :-))
Same old beemer, a bit pretentious and jealous as always...
I would let the girls decide who they write and reply to. I'm not into making money from the site, its a personal favor to my fiance's friends actually. And since you've never run a single agency before, don't give me advice or commentary on how to market girls in an agency. It doesn't come across as a sincere question, it just comes across as more jealous jibes.