Wife's Ukrainian friend wants to visit us

[BTalley 0]

My wife's friend from Krivoy Rog wants to visit us in February.

She is married to a very well-to-do businessman, has two kids, but will be coming here alone for 2 weeks. She has traveled to many countries, but none in the West.

How does she get a visa here? And what needs to be done on my end (invitation?). Are there any forms I need to fill out? Or is everything handled between her and U.S. authorities in Ukraine?

[slim 1,523]

She will have to get a tourist visa through the embassy and she has to submit the documents herself.

However, you can fill out the form for her and list yourself as the "person preparing document" or whatever it is. I did this for my sister-in-law and I was sure to put things like "will visit sister and brother-in-law at their home for two weeks before returning to school and job" in the spaces where it asked "purpose for visit.' Basically, you don't do an invitation letter or anything but by preparing the whole package yourself you're saying to the embassy that you're "sponsoring" the tourist for the duration of her visit.

Follow the guides here for the B-2 tourist visa and don't be scared to "paint the picture" for them to see. I literally did all the paperwork and attached a "sign here" note to my SIL's packet. All she had to do was sign it, drop in $100, and mail it in.

[BTalley 0]

She will have to get a tourist visa through the embassy and she has to submit the documents herself.

However, you can fill out the form for her and list yourself as the "person preparing document" or whatever it is. I did this for my sister-in-law and I was sure to put things like "will visit sister and brother-in-law at their home for two weeks before returning to school and job" in the spaces where it asked "purpose for visit.' Basically, you don't do an invitation letter or anything but by preparing the whole package yourself you're saying to the embassy that you're "sponsoring" the tourist for the duration of her visit.

Follow the guides here for the B-2 tourist visa and don't be scared to "paint the picture" for them to see. I literally did all the paperwork and attached a "sign here" note to my SIL's packet. All she had to do was sign it, drop in $100, and mail it in.

Thanks.

Her friend is painting a different picture. She says we need to go to some "passport place", tell them we have someone visiting from Ukraine who is applying for a visa, and they will provide us with a code number. The friend then uses the code number on her electronic application, and the computer sees the matching numbers and processes the application.

I cannot find any evidence of this, however, and what she calls a "passport place" may be completely different here. If she is correct, I do not know where we need to go to get this code number.

But I suspect she is not correct, because according to government web site, tourist visas are for friends and family, too. I see nothing about an "invitation" visa on the govt. web site.

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

Thanks.

Her friend is painting a different picture. She says we need to go to some "passport place", tell them we have someone visiting from Ukraine who is applying for a visa, and they will provide us with a code number. The friend then uses the code number on her electronic application, and the computer sees the matching numbers and processes the application.

I cannot find any evidence of this, however, and what she calls a "passport place" may be completely different here. If she is correct, I do not know where we need to go to get this code number.

But I suspect she is not correct, because according to government web site, tourist visas are for friends and family, too. I see nothing about an "invitation" visa on the govt. web site.

You do not need a "passport place" When the application is filled out online (you can do it for her as Slim suggests) it will generate a barcode on the application form. she then calls the consulate call center and schedules an appointment. I would not be taking advice on US visas from Ukrainian sources. Go to the guides here or to the consualte instructions. You do not need any "passport place" or any other service to handle a visa application and they cannot do anything to imporove your chances of getting a visa, despite anything they may say.

Bring plenty of evidence that she will return to Ukraine, evidence of job, property, family etc. Each person must qualify on their own merits. You can provide an invitation letter, but it will not necessarily make any difference. I have known many Ukrainian citizens here that have had good luck with getting tourist visas for family members, not so sure about friends. But there is only one way to find out.

[visaveteran 1]

As long as we're on the subject of tourist visas (and, yes, I should and will look at the guides), my wife's son wants to come to visit us in the US next summer. The only question my wife has is will he need a lot of original documents. For instance, he lives in my wife's flat which she owns and she brought the original paperwork of ownership with her to the US to protect. Will he need these types of documents and must they be originals? Are notarized copies good enough?

Thanks.

[BTalley 0]

You do not need a "passport place" When the application is filled out online (you can do it for her as Slim suggests) it will generate a barcode on the application form. she then calls the consulate call center and schedules an appointment. I would not be taking advice on US visas from Ukrainian sources. Go to the guides here or to the consualte instructions. You do not need any "passport place" or any other service to handle a visa application and they cannot do anything to imporove your chances of getting a visa, despite anything they may say.

Bring plenty of evidence that she will return to Ukraine, evidence of job, property, family etc. Each person must qualify on their own merits. You can provide an invitation letter, but it will not necessarily make any difference. I have known many Ukrainian citizens here that have had good luck with getting tourist visas for family members, not so sure about friends. But there is only one way to find out.

I must not be looking in the right place, because I do not see any guides on here for B-2 visas. Only guides I see are for immigration purposes. I will try filling out the application for her friend and see how that goes.

[baron555 934]

My wife's friend from Krivoy Rog wants to visit us in February.

She is married to a very well-to-do businessman, has two kids, but will be coming here alone for 2 weeks. She has traveled to many countries, but none in the West.

How does she get a visa here?

Pray a lot.

And what needs to be done on my end (invitation?).

Pray a lot.

Are there any forms I need to fill out?

Prayer cards at church so others will pray for her also.

Or is everything handled between her and U.S. authorities in Ukraine?

US Embassy and her. Most odds are that she will not prevail.

[Neonred 3,553]

This year we were two for two with tourist visas for friends and relatives.

First it was a 37 year old single woman friend of my wife. Average job and living in her mothers apartment. We did write an invitation letter detailing why she would be visiting us and that we would be sure she would return, etc. She received a two year tourist visa without problems.

Second was my wife's 21 year old daughter who had just finished university and was looking for a job. She had been denied a J-1 visa two years ago based on the fact that her mother was here and it was presumed she would not return to Russia. After the J-1 denial I applied for an immigration visa for her and it is still in progress and we are now waiting for a visa number for her. Looks like it will be another year or two for the immigration visa approval. We decided to try for the tourist visa anyway. I wrote another detailed invitation and made note of the fact that my step daughter had a pending immigration visa and that I would be sure she would return to Russia so as not to risk the immigration visa. There was no problem this time with the tourist visa and she was given the option for a two year tourist visa. My step daughter did say that two or three other girls she met at the embassy were denied tourist visas, so it is never a sure thing.

My step daughter had received a Schengen visa last year when we all traveled to France and Italy and it seems that any visa and travel outside of Russia with a timely return is a big plus when trying for a US tourist visa.

[clueless_in_usa 8]

As long as we're on the subject of tourist visas (and, yes, I should and will look at the guides), my wife's son wants to come to visit us in the US next summer. The only question my wife has is will he need a lot of original documents. For instance, he lives in my wife's flat which she owns and she brought the original paperwork of ownership with her to the US to protect. Will he need these types of documents and must they be originals? Are notarized copies good enough?

Thanks.

In my opinion, based on previous experiences, the friend with the wealthy husband has a better chance of getting a tourist visa than the boy with a mother in the US. It will be more difficult for him to establish strong ties to his home country that will guarantee his return.

Once again, this is only my opinion based on previous experiences, but getting a tourist visa is kind of a lottery some times, so almost anyone could potentially get it. However, good letters of support explaining every detail of the proposed trip does help.

Edited December 27, 2009 by clueless_in_usa

[slim 1,523]

he lives in my wife's flat which she owns and she brought the original paperwork of ownership with her to the US to protect. Will he need these types of documents and must they be originals? Are notarized copies good enough?

It should say on the govt. website. If he does need them, you can FedEx them to the embassy directly, thereby skipping the "middle man" of the Russian postal system.

I must not be looking in the right place, because I do not see any guides on here for B-2 visas. Only guides I see are for immigration purposes. I will try filling out the application for her friend and see how that goes.

I just looked around there and couldn't find it either. I don't remember exactly where I found the guide when I did my SIL's visa, maybe I just followed the embassy's directions?

I remember looking at an Indian website after a google search and it was pretty descriptive. Very simple "how to" steps to get a B visa. I don't remember that one either but there are litearlly thousands of sites out there and it's a fairly simple process. Find a good one that's in line with the embassy's and you should be all set.

[clueless_in_usa 8]

It should say on the govt. website. If he does need them, you can FedEx them to the embassy directly, thereby skipping the "middle man" of the Russian postal system.

I just looked around there and couldn't find it either. I don't remember exactly where I found the guide when I did my SIL's visa, maybe I just followed the embassy's directions?

I remember looking at an Indian website after a google search and it was pretty descriptive. Very simple "how to" steps to get a B visa. I don't remember that one either but there are litearlly thousands of sites out there and it's a fairly simple process. Find a good one that's in line with the embassy's and you should be all set.

It is possible that THIS is such website.

[slim 1,523]

I don't think that was it. I checked a free one and it basically just had a list of stuff to do for the B-2 visa - complete with an example form.

A quick google search yielded this- http://www.***removed***/visas/visitor/sponsordocs.html

You can link from there to all the forms for you and your guest. I went ahead and filled out all forms for my guest too and sent them to her in a packet. This site looks like it has everything you'll need. Fill out all her info and everything but leave the signature lines blank and be sure to include yourself as "person preparing documents."

Good luck!

Edited December 7, 2011 by Kathryn41

[1HappyGuy 45]

As far as I've heard, the conditions for issuance of a visitor visa haven't changed. The most difficult situation is a single person with no ties remaining to obtain a visa. Obviously a married woman with a home and children is not the same conditions. I would caution against using the "passport place" as this is probably just someone looking to make money on the process your friend can do on their own. She should be wary of scams.

The state department is still withholding visas to persons that can not demonstrate strong reasons for them to return to their country. I don't expect this position to change.

[mox 298]

I would caution against using the "passport place" as this is probably just someone looking to make money on the process your friend can do on their own. She should be wary of scams.

Quoted for truth. I have a friend in Ukraine who is going through a "visa service" for a nanny visa to Canada. They just scammed her out of a ton of money by charging her for fees they were also charging the Canadian host family for.

There's no reason she needs to use a service. The forms are available online, and there's nothing a service can do that she can't.