Is there anyone on this forum with positive first hand experience at obtaining a tourist visa to USA for a Russian citizen? Is there anyone who can give me concrete information on the income, property holding and familial obligation minimums required for getting a visa? Can anyone refer me to a reputable travel agency in Russia that can assist in obtaining a visa without ripping off me or anyone else involved?

I have been communicating with Masha for several months and we would like to make arrangements for her to visit me in USA.

I think we covered this pretty well in the other thread, but here we go again.

Every Russian I know that was issued a US Tourist visa had:

1) Over USD 2,000 in monthly income
2) Was married
3) Had already been outside of Russia on many occasions
4) Was over 30 years old.

Satisfy these conditions and you will probably be okay. Otherwise, meeting in Jamaica, Egypt, or possibly Greece (this is an EU visa that is not impossible to get - also allows for travel in the rest of Westen Europe).

There are no concrete numbers, it is up to the judgement of the CO at the embassy. By law, he must assume the applicant has immigrant intent until they (alone) can prove otherwise to his satisfaction. If you don't believe me, here it is from the horse's mouth: http://moscow.usembassy.gov/consular/consu...ecord_id=nivfaq

It is in English and Russian.

Why are you starting a new thread with exactly the same question? You're going to get the same answers.

FWIW, my answers in the previous thread:






Still would like to know what your aversion is to visiting your lady in her home country.

See the answer to your question here:
http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=95043

Anyone assisting you with a US tourist visa from Russia is ripping you off, by definition. It is one of the easier visa types to apply for, fill out application, pay $100 at the embassy. Reputable Russian travel agents can help with Russian buerocracy, not the other way around. The vast majority of young, single women from Russia end up overstaying visas in the US, which is why they are almost never approved.

As I mentioned before, I would be happy to arrange for a former Moscow CO to speak with you about why this is not possible. Russians who have been married and living with Americans for YEARS in Moscow routinely can not get tourist visas.

One more point - how many people have you ever corresponded with on the Internet that would travel internationally to your home? Does that strike anyone else as strange?

How did you meet "Masha?" Where does she live? What does she do? Do you speak on the phone?

I've spoken with lots of Russians on the phone that I've met online, Russian practice in exchange for English practice. Not once have I ever been asked about visas or travel to the US. That information is readily available in Russia, on the internet, in Russian.

Oh I've been asked about Visas. Usually it works like "I know this guy who can get me a Visa to visit you, I just need you to send me $500 to cover it." That will be followed closely by "I got the Visa, just need you to send $1,500 for the plane ticket. They have to be purchased here because the airline has to personally view my Visa." It's usually the same girl whose mother will die unless she receives $200 for an operation, and oh, she just lost her job at the factory and will lose her apartment and be kicked out on the street unless I send her $200. I think I've killed about 5 mothers and gotten 7 different girls kicked out of their apartment over the last couple of years. Also, I've left a couple of widows of deposed Nigerian Finance Ministers with absolutely no way to reclaim their $10 million in personal assets that she was going to give me a $2 million cut of, and all I had to do was give her a couple grand in "processing fees." I really am a heartless bastard.

I bet your penis is smaller than it should be and you could have more hair too I hate spam.

Hahahahaha!!! Pretty funny. Though, it does sound like you might have been shopping for Russian love for a long time.

Actually I got pretty lucky and met my girl relatively quickly. I wasn't so much looking for a Russian girl, but I'm glad that's who I found. But you don't have to be in the online dating space that long to start getting bombarded with emails from "girls" (most are men) who profess their undying love and adoration for you on the second email. These were fun to string along with fake Western Union numbers and bank account numbers. It's funny because good 'ol mom never seemed to quite succumb to her disease. She was able to hold on just a little bit longer until we could get that pesky little Western Union number de-scrambled. Heh. Of course at some point they would catch on, usually after about their 5th trip to the local WU office. At that point there was no mention of poor mom, but there were a lot of profanities.

Are you the only two jack offs on this site? All you did was debate each other and feed me the most negative counter productive crap I could have imagined. Step aside and make room for someone who may actually be able to help me.

I sent the link to this page to Masha and she was offended. Do not respond to anymore of my posts. I have heard your opinions already. I do not need top hear them again.

The information provided here has been complete and factually accurate. Getting a US Tourist visa involves:
Filling out this form online https://evisaforms.state.gov/ds156.asp
Going to an interview 14-21 days later.
Paying $100.
Answering a handfull of questions.

That is it. If the visa isn't approved, you can:

Apply again.
Apply for another visa type (F-1, J-1, L-1 are all very good candidates)
If you just want to meet, go someplace else (Several countries have been pointed out.)

You could try to PM BluesFairy who was once upon a time issued a tourist visa or Kazan' Tiger who has a little inside information about "visa service companies" inside Russia. The two of them have first-hand knowledge.

The rest of us simply have thousands and thousands of man-hours wrapped up in research, applications, completing paperwork, posting our lives away on VJ, and one last thing.... oh what was it..... it's on the tip of my tongue.... shoot.

Oh, COMPLETING THE VJ PROCESS AND ACTUALLY GETTING OUR LOVED ONES HERE!!!!!

If that's not first-hand enough for you I don't know where you're going to find anything more reliable. Please share when you do because even though we all love VJ and love wasting our time here posting "first-hand knowledge" to help others through the process as well, I'm sure the VJ Russia forum would shut down if we could simply pay $250 and get our current e-mail interest over here. After all, I didn't do much research when it came to paying my $250 to get my Russian visa. There was no forum for that one. Just a quick Google search and voila! I was on my way.

Once again, I'll say it. I sincerely hope you've found a good girl and are involved in a legitimate relationship. If you are, that's awesome and we'd all love to help. But, there's only one person on your threads being counterproductive........

I believe BluesFairy's advice was the same, have ownership of something in Russia (new car in her case), letter from your employer showing income of 50,000+ rubles a month, a healthy bank statement, and talk a lot about your job. Otherwise, she paid the $100 and did exactly what was described above. No agency involved.

Wow, I'm going to ignore the insult because clearly there are more than 2 jack offs on this site. At last count there were dozens of jack offs on this site. We're very proud of that fact, so please have some respect. We try hard to be the primary source of Visa-related jack offs on the internet. Two indeed. Pfuh.

Anyway, if you can bring yourself to stop wearing your heart on your sleeve, help us to help you. You never answered many of the very pertinent questions you were asked, namely why you are unwilling to travel to her country. And why do you consider the advice given so far to be unhelpful? What question was left un-addressed?


I don't know why she would be offended. The question you asked sounds a lot like the Visa scam that is played out over and over on unsuspecting men. You should be happy that we brought it up. Your girl may not be a scammer, but nobody here knows that because you won't answer questions about your situation, leaving us to speculate.


Well at the very least then, stop creating new threads asking the same question. Your question has been answered to the extent possible, given the very limited information you have provided. I'm sorry it isn't of use to you.

I have first hand experience with obtaining visitors visa and J-1 visas from Russia, but unfortunately it is NOT positive experience. Everything you have read here so far is correct.

The visitors visa disaster ended a relationship I had with a Russian woman I had visited once. Looking back it was not really a bad thing, but...... When she was denied the visa and the denial stamp placed in her passport she was...very unhappy with the US government, and everything related to the US including me. Oh well. No loss there. (Of note here, this woman had 2 jobs and was making decent money, had her own apartment and a 15 year old son that she would return to)

Now that I am married, I had my step daughter come over with her mother on the K-2 visa. She stayed a few months but returned to Russia to attend the university. This summer she wanted to come over to visit and work and we thought the J-1 student work and travel visa would be perfect. We even used a company in Moscow that specialized in setting these up for students including air transportation and a health insurance package for the duration of the stay. They thought the fact she had been here before and returned to Russia would work in her favor, but they were wrong. She was denied the visa because she could not show close enough ties to Russia, mostly I think because her mother was now here and married to me. I had several conversations with the embassy and they assured me she could apply again (for $100), but no guarantees.

Of course it is not impossible, but unless she can show exceptional reasons for returning to Russia I would not expect to get the visa.

This is purely anecdotal, but I have heard it from somewhat reliable sources. Apply several times often works out, on the 3rd or 4th time they sometimes realize that you are serious and not lying to them. It is worth trying at least a few times ( $100 is a bar tab or dinner here, not much lost).

Worst thing they can say is no, nothing else happens.

It's a good plan only if you live relatively close to one of the four consulates in Russia. Russia is huge, right, spanning something like 11 timezones. Having to make a 3+ day trip by train, plus food, plus accommodations per interview, can be a much more costly endeavor then a $100 bar tab. Plus they have to go through Pony Express the courier that delivers the documents and those prices can reach $50+ depending on where you are sending from.
http://moscow.usembassy.gov/consular/consu..._id=nivapplying

Still too many words from the same people and nothing pertaining to the information I am seeking. Unless you have a referral to an agency in Russia that can help then do not post to this thread. All I get are warnings and preachings from the 3 so called experts that have filled up 2 of my posts with useless information.

As I have already said once. Leave room for someone who may actually have relevant and useful information. I don't really care if you are offended. You took the thread that I posted and used for your own rantings.

Slim, Moxcamel and russ, I have already seen your opinions on the matter. I have asked for a simple referral. None of you have been able to supply that. I am not interested in hearing anything else so from now on please do not reply to my posts on this site.

Sat, I hope you are not offended that you were not included! (Sat is probably the most qualified to offer opinions here)

Being serious for a moment. The regulars here (Sat, Russ, Slim, etc) all have been to Russia many times, we all speak and read Russian on some level, we didn't meet our spouses on marriage websites, and we try to offer information without judgement.

Why are you asking questions and complaining about the answers?

There is no "secret handshake" with the embassy in Moscow. You already know what is necessary for them to approve a tourist visa there.

My wife had a visa already (we met in the US), and our fourth date was in France (she got a visa there too, on her own).

Think about this for a momet. Honesty. If there were a way to get anyone off the street a visa to enter the US for less than a few hundred bucks, don't you think there would be about 2 billion more people here now? It is pretty clear what you want, but it doesn't exist.

Give us some more information - like who Masha is, where she lives, what she does, and we can help you. I'll even call her with some advice if you want - my Russian isn't that bad. Neither is Sat's

By the way, how did you like my poem? It really is one of my favorites - green eggs and ham is the other...

Some guys come here w/preconceived notions about stuff they desperately want to believe is true. I see it in poor saps who believe the marriage agency BS about long queues of "traditional" Russian girls who prefer guys twice their age and want nothing so much as to cook him dinner, wash his smelly socks, and please him sexually without a thought to her own needs.

This is pretty much the same situation. The guy who started this thread has been told repeatedly that no such agency exists in Russia, at least none that won't simply fleece him for as much as they can without producing tangible results, yet he continues to cling to false hopes Best to let him throw away a few hundred $ and learn the hard way that Russia just ain't Kansas.

Since you are determined to try this why not have your girl find the agency that will help? Since your girl is in Russia I am sure if she asks and checks around someone in Russia can give her a referral. Then you can give it a try and let everyone else know how it worked out.

Look at this one:)
http://www.dumbentia.com/gallery_scammers.html

Your question: Are there agencies that can get my girl a Visa to visit the US.
The answer: NO. There are agencies that will tell you they can do it, but you will be fleeced. There is ONE way to get a Visa to the US, and you only need to look at the answers other "jack offs" took their time to provide you with to see how to go about doing it. (You know, the jack offs who've spent months at a time in Russia, speak Russian, and have been doing the Visa process for years? Yeah, those uninformed "jack offs.")


I'll continue to participate in this discussion thank you very much, because hopefully someone else who might have the same question but is less close minded might find it helpful.


I love the scam-the-scammer sites!

You sure cared when your Masha was offended. Now, if you're going to care about her but not us, you need to go back to Kindergarten and ask the teacher what the Golden Rule is all about. And a little bit of "useful" information, they have the "Golden Rule" in Russia as well, so if you're going to "court" a Russian girl, you might want to keep that in mind.

Sorry to take up room on your thread, but if you go over to the Off Topic forum, you'll see threads there with like 346 pages, so believe me, there's no shortage of space for us or anyone else to rant. If you'd like to conserve space, try to not post two threads with the exact same topic. We're pretty good about answering stuff within the first page (usually the first couple of posts) here in the Russia Forum.

And lastly, thanks for getting us all fired up! It's been a while since we've had some popcorn thrown around in our forum. It usually takes a Canadian woman with an American fiance or an American woman with a British fiance to really raise a ruckus. But, a trolling troll is a nice diversion sometimes when we need to take a comedic break from helping people with first-hand information.



Me too! And, I'll support the fact that Sat is our resident "expert" in visa matters. It's OK to disagree with him in principal and in theory and things of that nature, but it's hard to argue with the facts. And when it comes to Russia VJ process facts, Sat is like the Schwab... you're not going to stump him!



You're giving me way too much credit, Russ. My Russian only works on drunk women.



Mine stinks! Notice he didn't include me in that one? (See above)



Can you send me a link to that website? I missed that one and it sure sounds nice!



Now that's how to give me credit!



Your posts about the fake Western Union numbers and motherless Nigerians had me in tears! I never even thought about taking the time to "pay back" those guys. That's really cool!

Here's a little something along the same lines from Andy Rooney:

Three Little Words That Work !!

(1) The three little words are: 'Hold On, Please...'

Saying this, while putting down your phone and walking off
(instead of hanging-up immediately) would make each
telemarketing call so much more time-consuming
that boiler room sales would grind to a halt.

Then when you eventually hear the phone company's 'beep-beep-beep' tone, you know it's time to go back and hang up your handset, which has efficiently completed its task.

These three little words will help eliminate telephone soliciting.

(2) Do you ever get those annoying phone calls with no one on the other end?

This is a telemarketing technique where a machine makes phone calls and records the time of day when a person answers the phone.

This technique is used to determine the best time of day for a 'real' sales person to call back and get someone at home.
What you can do after answering, if you notice there is no one there, is to immediately start hitting your # button on the phone, 6 or 7 times, as quickly as possible. This confuses the machine that dialed the call and it kicks your number out of their system. Gosh, what a shame not to have your name in their system any longer!

(3) Junk Mail Help:
When you get 'ads' enclosed with your phone or utility bill, return these 'ads' with your payment. Let the sending companies throw their own junk mail away.

When you get those 'pre-approved' letters in the mail for everything from credit cards to 2nd mortgages and similar type junk, do not throw away the return envelope.

Most of these come with postage-paid return envelopes, right?
It costs them more than the regular 41 cents postage
'IF' and when they receive them back.

It costs them nothing if you throw them away! The postage was around 50 cents before the last increase and it is according to the weight. In that case, why not get rid of some of your other junk mail and put it in these cool little, postage-paid return envelopes.

One of Andy Rooney's (60 minutes) ideas.

Send an ad for your local chimney cleaner to American Express.
Send a pizza coupon to Citibank.
If you didn't get anything else that day, then just send them their blank application back! If you want to remain anonymous, just make sure your name isn't on anything you send them.

You can even send the envelope back empty if you want to just to keep them guessing! It still costs them 41 cents.

The banks and credit card companies are currently getting a lot of their own junk back in the mail, but folks, we need to OVERWHELM them. Let's let them know what it's like to get lots of junk mail, and best of all they're paying for it...Twice!

Let's help keep our postal service busy since they are saying that e-mail is cutting into their business profits, and that's why they need to increase postage costs again. You get the idea !

If enough people follow these tips, it will work ---- I have been doing this for years, and I get very little junk mail anymore.

Even better, my telephone has a button that says "HOLD." When I'm feeling mean, I guess I could just say "Hold Please" and hit that button. They get to hear some crappy music, with periodic interruptions of "Your call is very important to us, please continue to hold..." Yeah, right, if the call was important, I'd be talking to you, wouldn't I...

I'm a softy though, usually I just hit the "straigt to voicemail button", where they hangup.

My phone has another option where the caller must state who they are if they call without caller id, or it hangs up on them. Perhaps I should turn that on too.

Staying on topic here - use some common sense. If there were a way for anyone to get a US visa for a few hundred bucks, without proving anything, don't you think everyone would have one by now? Would that really stay secret?

Even better, with the current Homeland Security situation, I'll give you several thousand bucks to let me know what Russian tour agency has a back door into the US State Department. I'm sure any newspaper will pay me a small fortune for breaking that story (wife is a journalism student, it would make her career). Terrorists could use that to get in!

For any Russian that wants to come to the US, it is pretty easy. Just to visit, have a good job. That's it - you need it anyway to afford to visit the states anyway.

Other ways are: Get a diplomatic passport (no interviews required), put USD 1,000,000 in a bank here and hire 100 Americans, become a doctor, become an engineer and wait for an H1 or L1 visa, marry an American or European (preferably one who is at least willing to visit you once..), get a job with Aeroflot or Delta, study in the US (J-1 or F-1).

But lets be realistic... I'd follow Peyton Manning's advice and buy bigger shirts, and give some cash to an obvious scammer.

That was the best commercial on Sunday! I laughed my @$$ off when that one came on. There are several good ones he's doing with the MasterCard ads. The bigger shirts one is best so far though.

As good as Peyton is, I think he should spend a bit more time with his receivers and a bit less time making commercials.

I had money on the Chargers, worked out pretty well for me.

Fortunately for me, my Patriots have a cake schedule - Miami (0-9), Jets (1-8), Buffalo...

The Steelers game in Foxboro will be the only one worth watching. (Steelers are pretty lucky too, their next 3 games are against teams with a TOTAL of 4 wins). The will make the playoffs and get knocked out by San Diego or the Colts...

You know, perhaps the OP is looking for an agency that specializes in making US visas, passports. green cards, and I-551 stamps? Or even in human smuggling. Kind of like in the movie BRAT2. Unfortunately, even I do not know where to go to find these places, although I imagine they still exist and many clients do manage to make it one way or another.

Bengals are going to win-out as well (including beating the Steelers) and will be in the playoffs too. WHO DEY!!! (The Pats seem like they've had a pretty cake schedule the whole year!)



I've heard there's one in Tijuana and maybe a few in Mexicali or other places along our Southern border.

Well, they did have to play the Colts and the Charges, not exactly easy games. And the Bengals (sorry)

Who would have guessed that the AFC East would just be so horrible this year...

Hate to break it to you though, the Browns have a better shot at the wild card. Steelers will lose in New England, but win the next 3 first.

Just kidding... But, seriously


Don't know


No, this is left to the CO's judgement.


Not likely, an agency would have no impact on CO's decision.


Realistically, not possible (based on what you've mentioned) but what the heck, you only live once, go for it and then come back and tell us how it went!

Cheers!

I have requested quite directly that the same people stop clogging up my thread with personal debates and opinions. These same people continue to rant. Do not take over my thread with your personal rantings. Feel free to start your own but leave mine unless you have a direct referral to an agency in Russia that can help get a B series tourist visa.

DO NOT POST TO MY THREAD UNLESS YOU HAVE THE REQUESTED INFORMATION.

(I had the REQUESTED INFORMATION, so I get to post.)

To the left of your posts, your screen name appears every time you post something and underneath it there are these little boxes with a word or two above them.

I was looking at yours, and there was a (singular) little box there, and right above it, it said: newbie

So, as much as I admire you for laying claim to "your thread" it's going to take a few thousand more posts from you before I'm going to respect you enough to stay out of "your thread". But hey, welcome back. And if you want, you can post the same exact question (and get the same exact answers) in another thread. As you can see, the popcorn is already out and the Boy Scouts already got me this year. $36 for the 24 pack. I've got a lot left. Trail's End is good, but it's not so good that I can't save a little for "your thread."

The Visa Journey Russian Forum Presents: Those Unfamiliar With The Concept Theater.

It's My Party And I'll Cry If I Want To: A Tragic Comedy.

Act I

Newby: I need the phone number for Santa Claus.
Chorus: There is no Santa Claus.
Newby: I need the phone number for Santa Claus.
Chorus: Um...Santa Claus doesn't exist. There is no phone number.
Newby: DO NOT REPLY UNLESS YOU CAN TELL ME SANTA CLAUS'S PHONE NUMBER!
Chorus: Look, we're sorry to break the news to you but--
Newby: NOT LISTENING! STOP HIJACKING MY THREAD UNLESS YOU CAN TELL SANTA'S PHONE NUMBER!
Chorus: Do a search, you'll find lots of supporting evidence against the existence of Sa--
Newby: STOP TALKING! IT'S MY THREAD! YOU ARE BANZ0R3D FROM MY THREAD!
Chorus: ORLLY?!

Intermission.

All these jack-offs who are posting in your thread are just bitter because they had to do all kinds of legal stuff to get their sweethearts over here. They hired attorneys, filed K-1/K-3 petitions, had to wait for approvals, show financial responsibility and all kinds of other things. It's just a shame that none of these guys were smart enough to pay a few $$ to a good agency in Russia to get their sweethearts here on a tourist visa. Heck, some of them even had to go visit Russia several times and learn some Russian. I can't really blame them for scoffing at the idea of your sweetie that you never met coming here on a tourist visa. They are just jealous because they had to do so much work to be with their loved ones.

Some Russian cities have travel/marriage agencies that are experts at obtaining tourist visas and purchasing tickets. The best agencies are in Yoshkar-Ola, Cheboksary, and Lugansk. Since the agency is getting the visa, they will certainly require that the tickets be bought before applying for the visa. You should be prepared to send the entire sum which on average is about $1800. Fat Yuri Masha will need the entire amount in order for the agency to process her visa.

The best way to send the money for visa and tickets is by Western Union. It's easy and you can process the transaction online. Since the recipient is in Russia, you will have to call Western Union after the online process to release the funds to Yuri Masha. One of the first questions the friendly Western Union customer service agent will ask you is if you have ever met the recipient in person. Be prepared and say "YES." If you say no, you will be asked a bunch of other questions and in extreme cases, they may deny transfer. Western Union has been known to be a source of broken hearts. Don't make the mistake. Some say Western Union asks these questions so they can cover themselves for liability and have the ability to refuse refunding money to guys who got scammed. Don't play their game! Tell them that Yuri Masha is your mother-in-law and they should mind their own business. Unfortunately, Western Union is the best way to send money to people in Russia; especially since almost nobody outside of Moscow has a personal phone number.

Agency issued tourist visas usually have another condition: At the airport, the customs officials will require that the passenger have at least $1000 cash to travel with. This is to insure that she has enough money to support herself during her trip to America. This poses another problem because a person with so much cash is susceptible to theft. Be prepared to send the $1000 more than once.

Another little known fact is that the US embassy also sells airline tickets in conjunction with tourist visas. I didn't know this until a smoking hot 19 year old blonde girl from Kazan told me. She offered to arrive to me and even said that she would sell her grandmother's ring to help me out with the cost of the package offered by the embassy.

I hope all of this helps. Ignore all of the crusty naysayers. They are just bitter and want to see you fail.

Good luck and welcome to Visajourney

I apologize for clogging up the thread. It's about time someone got on here with some real information. Thanks, rentvent.



(Can't wait for Act II mox!)

Good point. Russians can easily fly to Cuba, then get on a boat and try to dodge the Coast Guard to get to Florida. I live in FL, and know many cubans that made it here exactly that way.

No visas - how easy is that? Good luck, let me know how it turns out.

My wife, who is from russia, hadher unmarried daughter visit her twice so far. She is in her 20's, single but living with a man, emply]oyed. She had no problerm

Agreed. All of the necessary information has been posted here. There are only two possible outcomes from the interview:

1) You get a visa.
2) You apply again.

Dangit, looks like the rest of the show might be canceled. The star of the show seems to have left the building.

Just hijacking the newbie thread to say I love your sig.... *meow*

Heh thanks! I've got a few more I did that I'll be rotating every couple days.

And Happy Thanksgiving everyone!