In love-Tourist visa or Fiance visa?

[Nate & Dina 1]

Hello,

I am a U.S citizen who is in love with a wonderful Russian lady. We've been dating for 3 years now. We are trying to figure out the best way for her to visit me. We want to bring her over on a tourist visa, but because she is young (23) and doesn't make a lot of money, i have my doubts that the consul will issue her this visa, even if it's just for one week. We have not seen each other for 8 whole months. We would just like to see each other for a week, or a few days, or anything! My question is, what is the best course of action for two people who just want to visit each other? I understand that the fiance visa requires that you marry in 3 months or return home, but even if we decide to hold off on marriage, we would have still been able to see each other. Is the tourist visa or fiance visa the best way to go for two fairly young individuals (i'm 26 and she's 23) who are in love, and just want to spend a little bit of time with each other?

Thank you all for any responses that i may receive.

[John and Camie 39]

Ooh wee, go for the tourist visa.

A lot, a lot, a lot (did I mention a lot? LOL) of time, money, energy and work goes into K-1, so it's not really the best option for a couple that "just wants to spend a little bit of time with each other." Plus K-1 is a one-way entry visa, so once she's here, it's marriage within 90 days, then filing to adjust her status (a whole other altogether). If she leaves before she adjusts, then you will be creating more problems for yourselves than you could ever in your life imagine.

Sounds like you have something nice with her, though, so I wish you happiness and I wish your girlfriend good luck in securing a tourist visa (perhaps if she could prove that she has obligations [work, personal] that would require her to return to Russia, she might have a chance?). Revisit the K-1 option when you two are really sure you want to take your relationship to the next level.

Just my two cents and pence.

Oh, and if you can visit her in Russia, that's another option (I hope).

[twowls 217]

Hello,

I am a U.S citizen who is in love with a wonderful Russian lady. We've been dating for 3 years now. We are trying to figure out the best way for her to visit me. We want to bring her over on a tourist visa, but because she is young (23) and doesn't make a lot of money, i have my doubts that the consul will issue her this visa, even if it's just for one week. We have not seen each other for 8 whole months. We would just like to see each other for a week, or a few days, or anything! My question is, what is the best course of action for two people who just want to visit each other? I understand that the fiance visa requires that you marry in 3 months or return home, but even if we decide to hold off on marriage, we would have still been able to see each other. Is the tourist visa or fiance visa the best way to go for two fairly young individuals (i'm 26 and she's 23) who are in love, and just want to spend a little bit of time with each other?

Thank you all for any responses that i may receive.

The fiance visa is inappropriate because as you state, you just want to spend a bit of time together. The K1 process is a months long marathon for a different purpose altogether. And if you do decide that you want to get married at some point and start the K1 process in earnest, it won't have helped at all to have misused that visa choice in the past. Choose the visa option that matches your actual intent.

[Waitinggent 2]

Why must she meet you in the USA? For example, neither of you needs a visa to meet in the Dominican Republic. Before we were married, I met my future wife twice in the Dominican Republic and we had a very nice time at a resort there. You can also meet without visas in Kiev, Ukraine which is a very nice city or Odessa, Ukraine if you want to have a vacation on the sea.

AI suggest meeting her there.eet in her country

The fiance visa is inappropriate because as you state, you just want to spend a bit of time together. The K1 process is a months long marathon for a different purpose altogether. And if you do decide that you want to get married at some point and start the K1 process in earnest, it won't have helped at all to have misused that visa choice in the past. Choose the visa option that matches your actual intent.

[Nate & Dina 1]

Ooh wee, go for the tourist visa.

A lot, a lot, a lot (did I mention a lot? LOL) of time, money, energy and work goes into K-1, so it's not really the best option for a couple that "just wants to spend a little bit of time with each other." Plus K-1 is a one-way entry visa, so once she's here, it's marriage within 90 days, then filing to adjust her status (a whole other altogether). If she leaves before she adjusts, then you will be creating more problems for yourselves than you could ever in your life imagine.

Sounds like you have something nice with her, though, so I wish you happiness and I wish your girlfriend good luck in securing a tourist visa (perhaps if she could prove that she has obligations [work, personal] that would require her to return to Russia, she might have a chance?). Revisit the K-1 option when you two are really sure you want to take your relationship to the next level.

Just my two cents and pence.

Oh, and if you can visit her in Russia, that's another option (I hope).

Thank you all for your responses. Actually, i did visit her in Russia in 2008. I spent 3 weeks there with her. A few months later, she came into the US to visit me on an exchange visa (i'm not totally sure the type) and we got to spend a little time together in the summer. It's been 8 months since she left the US, and we're missing each other like crazy. We're pretty sure that we would like to get married one day, but for the time being, just spending some time together is priority number 1. After reading so much about the tourist visa and needing to show ties to your country, i have my doubts about her obtaining it. She lives with her parents, doesn't earn a lot with her job, and doesn't own any property, etc. I'm afraid that having her apply for this visa will just waste time and money if the odds of her getting it are so slim.

[Nate & Dina 1]

The fiance visa is inappropriate because as you state, you just want to spend a bit of time together. The K1 process is a months long marathon for a different purpose altogether. And if you do decide that you want to get married at some point and start the K1 process in earnest, it won't have helped at all to have misused that visa choice in the past. Choose the visa option that matches your actual intent.

I thought the K-1 gives you the option to marry or decide against it, without consequence. It's definitely a possibility that we could end up marrying after 3 months, because like i said, we are definitely in love. It's also a possibility that we'll need a little more time to decide to marry. Having her stay with me for 90 days and then determine our next course of action seems like a reasonable thing to do.

[Nate & Dina 1]

Why must she meet you in the USA? For example, neither of you needs a visa to meet in the Dominican Republic. Before we were married, I met my future wife twice in the Dominican Republic and we had a very nice time at a resort there. You can also meet without visas in Kiev, Ukraine which is a very nice city or Odessa, Ukraine if you want to have a vacation on the sea.

AI suggest meeting her there.eet in her country

I like this idea. Maybe we could apply for the tourist visa, and if she gets denied we can spend a few days together in a country that doesn't require any visas. Maybe we could apply for the K-1 visa, and do this while we wait.

[twowls 217]

I thought the K-1 gives you the option to marry or decide against it, without consequence. It's definitely a possibility that we could end up marrying after 3 months, because like i said, we are definitely in love. It's also a possibility that we'll need a little more time to decide to marry. Having her stay with me for 90 days and then determine our next course of action seems like a reasonable thing to do.

Well, beyond the six month+ waiting time and all the rest, you also have to sign documents concerning your absolute intent to get married to the petitioner within the 90 days. It's actually not meant for finding out if you are ready to marry.

And misrepresentation is a big issue with immigration. Why don't you read through all the K1 guides and requirements. I just don't think it's a good idea to play fast and loose with the people that may one day be in control of your actually being able to live here with your future wife. Maybe people do it all the time, but so do people frequently have difficult K1 processes, made more difficult by things that could have been done differently had they planned and understood the consequences better.

[Waitinggent 2]

I think you do not understand all that is involved in getting a K-1. A 6 month wait, interview and fees for this, gathering police certificates and fees for these, translations of all her documents and fees for those, filing the petition and fees for this, a medical exam and fees for that, and if your girlfriend does not live in Moscow, travel expenses for the medical exam and interview, as well as possible travel to gather police certificates. Additionally, you will spend a lot of time researching and gathering information for the many documents that you must file. It is not a cheap or easy process. I would never want to go through this unless you are ready to be married. Even then, maybe it is not worth it :-) The money and time would be better spent meeting her somewhere else.

I thought the K-1 gives you the option to marry or decide against it, without consequence. It's definitely a possibility that we could end up marrying after 3 months, because like i said, we are definitely in love. It's also a possibility that we'll need a little more time to decide to marry. Having her stay with me for 90 days and then determine our next course of action seems like a reasonable thing to do.

[Nate & Dina 1]

Again, thank you all for the replies. So is it a consensus then that, in order for us to visit each other, we have to visit each other in some country other than the US? It doesn't seem like the US makes it even remotely possible for two people to have a relationship while living in two separate countries. It's either get married, or the highway it seems. I think we will ultimately decide to marry, but we don't want to force anything, and want to be absolutely sure. It certainly seems like our options are very limited.

[twowls 217]

Again, thank you all for the replies. So is it a consensus then that, in order for us to visit each other, we have to visit each other in some country other than the US? It doesn't seem like the US makes it even remotely possible for two people to have a relationship while living in two separate countries. It's either get married, or the highway it seems. I think we will ultimately decide to marry, but we don't want to force anything, and want to be absolutely sure. It certainly seems like our options are very limited.

Well you can meet somewhere else or you can apply for a tourist visa or you can go visit her. Visiting her might help in terms of preparedness for an eventual K1, as you can hang with her family and get photos with them etc.

Maybe someone can counsel you on how hard it might actually be to get a tourist visa. People do get them, and the wait time is quite short. Perhaps your girlfriend could enroll in a class that she can show she has to be back for, etc.

[Bernie C 24]

I thought the K-1 gives you the option to marry or decide against it, without consequence. It's definitely a possibility that we could end up marrying after 3 months, because like i said, we are definitely in love. It's also a possibility that we'll need a little more time to decide to marry. Having her stay with me for 90 days and then determine our next course of action seems like a reasonable thing to do.

Not sure if this got picked or not.

While you always have the option of not marrying on a K-1 - the INTENT of a K-1 is for the purpose of marriage. After all, one of the requirements is for each to complete a Letter of Intent to Marry! If it were ever disclosed at an interview, or if a CO suspected that there was not INTENT to marry, a visa would surely not be issued.

You should also definately find out what type of visa she was previously in the US on and if there were any overstays and for how long. These are all hurdles that would have to be overcome if there was any past issues.

[Nate & Dina 1]

Well you can meet somewhere else or you can apply for a tourist visa or you can go visit her. Visiting her might help in terms of preparedness for an eventual K1, as you can hang with her family and get photos with them etc.

Maybe someone can counsel you on how hard it might actually be to get a tourist visa. People do get them, and the wait time is quite short. Perhaps your girlfriend could enroll in a class that she can show she has to be back for, etc.

Actually, i was able to visit her in 2008. I met all of her friends and family in Russia and had a great time. I did however, get very sick. It was a bad viral infection, which i'm assuming had something to do with the water. I'm not too thrilled about going back for fear of becoming so sick again.

Who would be a good counsel on how hard it might be to get the tourist visa? Having her enroll in a class in her country seems like a good idea. Are there any other things that she could do to help her case and help prove to them that she will return home? She's been to the US 3 times, and has always returned home, and has never overstayed. All of them were on student visas or exchange visas though. Never tourist visa.

[Nate & Dina 1]

Not sure if this got picked or not.

While you always have the option of not marrying on a K-1 - the INTENT of a K-1 is for the purpose of marriage. After all, one of the requirements is for each to complete a Letter of Intent to Marry! If it were ever disclosed at an interview, or if a CO suspected that there was not INTENT to marry, a visa would surely not be issued.

You should also definately find out what type of visa she was previously in the US on and if there were any overstays and for how long. These are all hurdles that would have to be overcome if there was any past issues.

I agree with everyone who says it's not right to go for K-1 if our intent is not to marry. Our preference is to just continue to date, and then figure out when marriage will be suitable for the both of us, but i guess K-1 is not the right thing to do in this instance. She was previously in the US last summer on the J-1 visa. She left on time, and did not break any laws.

Can anyone tell me if sponsoring her tourist visa (is it possible to be a sponsor for a tourist visa?) will help her case?

[Bernie C 24]

I agree with everyone who says it's not right to go for K-1 if our intent is not to marry. Our preference is to just continue to date, and then figure out when marriage will be suitable for the both of us, but i guess K-1 is not the right thing to do in this instance. She was previously in the US last summer on the J-1 visa. She left on time, and did not break any laws.

Can anyone tell me if sponsoring her tourist visa (is it possible to be a sponsor for a tourist visa?) will help her case?

Check out this link to the DoS website for business and visitor visas.

B1/B2 visas

Visitor sponser ship is misleading. In most cases what the sponsership is actually related to a USC providing proof of income that shows they are able to support the "visitor" during their time in the US.

The biggest burden is to overcome the assumed immigrant intent. All visitors entering the US are assumed to have immigrant intent. That is just the way ot works. So it it the burden of the visa applicant to provide proof of significant ties to their home contry to remove the assumption.