Enrolling your lady into English study programs might be the most beneficial option, as she will have a chance to improve her language skills as well as marry you. Once married, you can file for adjustment of status (green card application). However, such programs last only a few months, she will still have to attend classes and return home once the study program is over.
Please, note: visas for students and exchange students are very different. You may not marry an exchange student.
Scenario # 2. You first meet outside of your country, then bring her on a fiancé visa to get married.
For this option, you can meet your bride in her country or on a neutral territory; after you’ve met, you can apply for a fiancé visa and marry her once she arrives to your country. In this case, you must be prepared to wait. It may take six months to a year from the time you meet and file a fiancé visa application until she receives a visa. Ukraine and Belarus may take longer.
Both of you must also be ready to deal with a lot of paperwork (proof of income, divorce papers, if applicable, medical records, history of your correspondence, and much more). Once you have submitted the packet of documents, your lady will receive a notification about the time for an interview at your country’s embassy. During the interview, the embassy employee will decide whether to grant the visa. Visas are granted in most cases, unless the embassy employee suspects something fishy or your fiancée can’t answer simple questions (i.e. how many times you were married, how many kids you have or where you work). It is mandatory for you and your future wife to have met in person before the application process.
With this visa option you have more chances to bring your woman to your country. The main thing you have to do is convince the embassy representative during the interview that your intentions are serious and that you genuinely plan to get married and live together. An immigration officer conducting the interview might ask for proof of your correspondence as well as discuss details of your relationship, including some personal matters. You can plan to attend the interview with your bride, however, most women handle interviews well on their own.
You will have to submit the following documents to the Immigration services in the USA:
I-129F form, signed and dated.
G-325A – 2 pages from you, 2 pages from your fiancé, and 2 pages from her children if she has any, signed and dated.
Original statements - a letter from you and your fiancée whom you plan to marry within 90 days of her admission along with copies of any evidence to prove your mutual intent (details of your engagement, for example).
A copy of your passport – include copies of every page with stamps.
A copy of your fiancé’s passport and her children, if any.
A copy of divorce certificates for you and your fiancé, if applicable, for every union (for example, if you’ve been married three times, you need to provide all three divorce certificates, not just the last one – this is critical).
Her divorce certificate must be notarized and translated by a certified translator.
Birth certificate of your lady and her children, if applicable, translated and notarized.
2 passport-style color photographs for you and your fiancé, taken within 30 days of the application date (lightly print your names on the back of each photo using a pencil or a felt pen).
Evidence of your previous meeting(s) within the last two years (photos of you together, tickets, letters).
A filing fee (currently $455, but the numbers are subject to change, so confirm the latest fees on the immigration website). The exact amount is payable by a check or money order made out to the Department of Homeland Security. If a check is made out for an account of a person other than yourself, write your name on the front of the check. If the check is not accepted, USCIS will charge a fee for the returned check.
Documents to confirm a name change, if any.
You can download all forms and instructions on filling them out at http://www.uscis.gov/forms .
Once you have collected all documents and mailed them to the immigration office, it should take about six months to get an approval letter from the immigration services. Once you’ve received the letter, documents will be mailed to the embassy of your country in your woman’s country or to the country indicated in your documents if your fiancée wants to have interview scheduled elsewhere; your Russian bride will receive further instructions from the embassy in the mail. Interview is generally scheduled by the embassy within a month of a woman receiving initial embassy instructions. A visa is issued within a week after the interview; once she has a passport with a valid visa, she can travel to your country. Her visa will be good for 6 months, meaning she can depart anytime during this term.
You will have 90 days to decide if you want to get married from the date of your lady’s arrival to the USA. If you decide to proceed, you will have to make all necessary arrangements and get married within this timeframe. If you are not married during these 90 days, she has to go back home.
You can prepare all paperwork and file the application yourself or hire an immigration lawyer. Hiring an immigration lawyer will mean additional costs, but you will have invaluable guidance and assistance at your disposal.
If you decide to handle the paperwork independently, at least invest in having an immigration consultant look through prepared documents to make sure everything is filled out correctly and all documents are in order. My fiancé filed documents for my visa independently, but forgot to submit a copy of my birth certificate; the documents were returned with a request for additional information. He saved a few hundred dollars, but we had to wait seven months longer before I could come to the USA.
The process might seem to you time consuming and complex, but do not despair – I can always direct you to a knowledgeable consultant for advice. And remember, there are no boundaries for true love.
Scenario # 3. She comes on a tourist visa; you get married while she is in the country.
Receiving a tourist visa (also called a visitor’s visa) is the least recommended option, especially if your lady is trying to visit the United States of America or Europe. In order to receive a tourist visa, an applicant (your woman) has to convince the embassy that she has no reasons to become an illegal immigrant and prove that she has strong ties to her home country. This can be done by showing that she has:
- a large bank account;
- real estate investments;
- other expensive property;
- husband/children left in the country;
- high-profit job (with proof of income) which she would be unlikely to leave.
The embassy will most likely want to see a combination of these things. Since your lady is not married, she will have to provide other types of evidence. Even if your woman has all the documents in order, there is no guarantee that the embassy will grant her a visa – immigration officers have been known to refuse issuing a visa for no obvious reasons, and statistically women under 30 are least likely to be granted a tourist visa.
It is a lot easier for your woman to receive a visa if she has an invitation letter to visit someone in the US (a friend or a family member). It is not advisable for you to arrange this invitation letter because immigration officials will treat it as a potential situation for the two of you to get married or become involved in a relationship, resulting in suspicion and visa denial for your woman. It is best if your potential bride is invited by a married couple in which the husband is an American and the wife is a woman from your bride’s city.
Citizens of certain countries are more likely to get a tourist or a student visa. Russians living in Moscow or St. Petersburg almost always receive such visas. Women living in large cities of Kazakhstan have very high chances of getting tourist visas. It is next to impossible for citizens of Belarus and Ukraine to receive tourist visas. This information is accurate for 2014; there might be changes in future.
Your woman can stay in the country for six months on a tourist visa – as with other vi
sas, the term is calculated from the date she has entered the country so check the arrival stamp in her passport. You can get married during this time, provided you fell in love and felt a strong connection. Once you are married, you must submit an application for adjustment of status to the immigration department asking to change her visa from tourist to wife. The documents must be submitted before the term for her legal stay expires – before the end of six months. Once the documents are approved, she will be interviewed by an immigration officer who will grant her temporary residency status (green card).
Scenario # 4. She is already in your country on a valid visa when you decide to marry her.
Many FSU women are already living, studying, and working in the US. Most such women would have come as exchange students or on valid work or study visas. In the past, many of them chose to look for partners independently, but now most of them turn to introduction agencies for assistance. If you have met a woman who is already in your country on a valid visa and would like to marry her, this is what you can expect.
VISA TYPE
PERCENTAGE IN OKSANALOVE DATABASE
WILL YOU NEED TO FILE FOR ADJUSTMENT OF STATUS?
Tourist visa holders
15%
Yes
Business visa holders
15%
Yes
Student visa holders
10%
Yes
Residents and citizens (refugees)
20%
No
Arrived on fiancée visas (divorced)
20%
No
Hold expired visas, status unknown
20%
Yes
All these women want to create a family as soon as possible, given that they really like the man they meet. Some of them give men little time to figure out where the relationship is going; most of them will accept marriage as the only outcome. Often they will not talk about it because their Russian roots are very strong – they camouflage their emotions well and pretend not to be in a hurry to get married because they don’t want to get hurt in case of rejection or freak men out.
–––– Resource! ––––
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Important INS keepsakes
When applying for a fiancée visa or for a change of status, you will have to present proof that your relationship is ongoing and genuine. To do so, you need to keep a number of things throughout your relationship to submit with K-1 visa (fiancée visa) or residency paperwork. The list below is rather basic; government officials may request additional items.
1) All airplane ticket stubs and luggage tags from your travel to meet your bride;
2) Receipts from your overseas purchases;
3) Credit card statements showing your expenses during the trip;
4) As many photos of you together during your meeting as possible;
5) An engagement ring (it doesn’t have to be expensive, you can always get something better later on), a receipt from your purchase, a photo of the ring in the box, a photo of it on your woman’s finger;
6) An original copy of your birth certificate;
7) Your phone bill with her phone number highlighted for the times you called her;
8) Tax returns for the last 2 years or W2;
9) Your letters, copies of emails, chat screens, etc.
I would recommend buying a paper file box with 15 – 20 compartments which you will use to keep all INS paperwork. Start collecting receipts, letters, and bills, make copies of all relevant (and irrelevant) documents, make copies of the document package you submit to the immigration – INS CAN LOSE YOUR DOCUMENTS. When my fiancé submitted the paperwork, he didn’t spend money on an immigration lawyer, but he did make copies of all documents we sent to the immigration. Homeland security lost my file and sent me a letter of deportation – luckily, we were able to resuscitate the process quickly thanks to the copies of all documents.
Long distance dating survival guide
As I’ve already said, long distance relationships are not for everyone. They often present entirely different challenges than when you are dating someone living close to you. Of course, there is no reason to panic as true feelings can overcome anything. Keeping a few simple things in mind will help you strengthen your connection with your Russian bride and make your relationship stronger thanks to the distance.
Talking on the phone or communicating every day when you are in a long distance relationship can actually do more harm than good. Keeping in touch daily (especially over phone) can create undue expectations and tension if you find that the conversation does not flow as easily some days. Of course, one can argue that being in a regular relationship people talk every day, but that is a bit different – it is much easier to have that kind of bond when you are a part of each other’s daily activities. Long distance relationships – regardless of the amount and type of communication – do not give you a full picture of what your partner’s daily routine is. So, when you face a situation when your partner is not as outspoken, it can make you wonder what is wrong, and since you have no way to communicate in person, your mind can run wild with guesses. That is why it is better to give each other a few days to breathe between conversations – that way when you talk, you can be sure that there will be plenty of things to discuss.
In order to keep your relationship vibrant and dynamic, do your best to plan regular trips to see each other in person while you are waiting for your documents to get approved. It doesn’t matter what it is – whether you visit each other, meet on a neutral territory, or a combination of both. The main thing is that you have one-on-one time and get to see what both of you are like in regular, routine situations. Planning such visits will give both of you something to look forward to, and actual meetings will be one more way to make your bond stronger and more intimate.
Modern technology makes contacting someone overseas quick and convenient, but sometimes it is good to take advantage of the old-fashioned communication means. Sending a handwritten letter (even a note) will add a special touch to your communication. Aside from showing your lady that you take time to do something special for her, it will also give her a physical something that connects the two of you. I guarantee that your sweetheart will touch, smell, and re-read your message numerous times to feel closer to the man she cares for.
The means of communication may be many, but the essence of what is being said should not. Since most of the time you will not be able to see each other as you speak, here are a few simple tips to keep in mind to make your communication successful and expressive.
- If you have the ability to show her around – do it. Show her your house, the way you spend your days, your stores, parks, work, your daily routine, show her as much as possible (you can do that via Skype, iPhone or smartphone). This will help her feel closer to you as well as adjust to her future life with you.
- When you are telling your sweetheart about an event, a place, or a person, try to be as descriptive as possible, so she could have a good chance of imagining what it is you saw. She might not be able to read your thoughts completely, but at least she will be able to create a picture of what your day was like. The same rule goes for your feelings – in the absence of body language (seeing each other’s face, eyes, etc.), put an extra effort to really explaining and sharing what you feel: if your sweetheart made you laugh, make a point of telling her that she put a smile on your face; when she says something sweet, tell her what emotions her words brought about in you. Sharing such moments will make your bond stronger.
- In addition, make sure that you exchange and share photographs and videos frequently. Seeing your face, pictures of you with your fri
ends/family, places where you live and visit will help your lady feel more like a part of your life. It will help her know what you talk about when you describe your life and daily activities and give her an idea of who you are.
Honesty is something to keep in mind as well. Although it is a given in any type of a relationship, being apart can be an easy way to give into temptation and make yourself sound better than you really are or someone you are not. When she finally gets to your country and some incoherencies or white lies come to light, it will be hard to regain that person’s trust, and you will risk blowing a great relationship. Be honest from the beginning – it will give you an opportunity to remain true to yourself and find a partner who appreciates and loves you for who you really are.
Building a long-distance relationship and making it stronger takes work, but it is possible to make it an enjoyable experience. When you are miles apart, every word, phone call, or letter make a difference; try to always end them on a good note, and your communication will grow and become a precious gift for both of you.
Get your girl to speak English, now!
Previously we spoke about language issues – rather, the fun aspects of the matter. Up until you and your Russian bride become committed to each other, she will have the excuse of not knowing or learning the language. However, once you have made long-term plans as a couple, it becomes a whole different ball game – she no longer has excuses for not learning the language and should have all the motivation to make it her number one priority. As I’ve already mentioned, she will require your support, patience, and understanding, but you also must pay close attention to her progress. If you find that your lady is not devoting enough time to learning English, there can be two explanations.
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