Dave N

I sponsored my girlfriend, her son, and most recently niece to the US. I had met them when I was living in Ukraine some of us just before the war started. I was able to get approved in 2 days, and my beneficiaries in another 1 to 2 days. I was surprised how fast and easy (I have strong financials). Land entry from Canada was slow and only got them 1 year parole for some reason. The border agent was not so friendly. We were a hassle to his day I think. The niece came by air and was quickly processed at the airport and got 2 year parole. We got the TB tests done just in time, then saw the web site does not require uploading results. Just self attested. Seems surprising. Of course we have results saved away. Work permits and SSNs can be applied for online for a $410 fee from the beneficiaries' account. A fee waiver request can be done but must be a paper application by mail. One of our family applied first online and it was 1 day for them to take money from my bank account, 3 weeks to get fingerprinted, 5 weeks work permit arrived in the mail today. Social Security Card is supposed to come no later than one week. It was easy to get them all joint accounts with me at Bank of America. As soon as they get social security numbers they will become their own private accounts. There is some financial and health insurance subsidies and we are trying to find out more about those. Information online is sparce, it directed us to call a refugee aid non-profit, which we did and are supposed to get a call back. Has anyone from Ukraine gotten any of the financial/housing/food/health assistance or have information on how that works?

Has anyone learned what is the process to get a visa for Ukrainians in the US under this parole program to be able to go to Europe to visit family and then return to the US? From what I read the parole stamp alone is not sufficient for leaving the US and then returning.

I am an American who was living in Kyiv until 5 days before the invasion. I Brought my girlfriend of one year, and her 19 year old son with me to what I hoped was a 3 week vacation to Portugal to let things cool down, but things blew up instead. Now my girlfriend and her son are effectively my new family. Not exactly what I had planned for. After 3 months of wandering through Europe I managed to get them to Canada. Just when they got Canada travel approval the Uniting for Ukraine program went online. For me, it was 2 days to be approved as a sponsor, 2 days for my beneficiaries to be approved. Since we were in Vancouver Canada and I am a legal residence of Washington State we crossed by land about 1 week after they were approved. It was 2 hours of processing but they let us through, but were only given parole for 1 year. The border agent was not very friendly at first, but once he saw everything was in order, that I had known my girlfriend for a year, and worked for a major employer in Washington State we got through. They recommend travel by air. My Ukrainian friends were not even questioned, I was the one who was heavily questioned. Not that pleasant a process but a pleasant outcome. If they had come from Europe by air I would not have even been with them for border crossing. I did not get email notifications from immigration like I was supposed to, and documents did not always show up in my account on the day they were approved. That was kind of confusing. Yet my beneficiaries got email notifications. I am high income, high net worth, and had known my beneficiaries in Ukraine, so that likely helped my situation. Now we are working through the I-765 forms, need to understand how to extend the parole date, and how to get permission to travel outside the US and return. Marrying my girlfriend is an option that could make things easier (my lawyer says it is best to wait at least 90 days to marry), although I am finding living with my Ukrainian girlfriend 7 days a week is actually not as pleasant as dating her was in Kyiv, we did not plan to be together until her son was independent and I did not expect to help raise another teenager. Fortunately her son is a nice, respectful, young man who speaks good English ... but he is still a big overgrown kid who plays video games and is glued to his phone all day. Of course this has been very stressful on all of us and my girlfriend misses her family, her friends, and her life in Kyiv. My life in Kyiv was actually better now than my life in Seattle, even though I am in a beautiful downtown apartment. But we are adjusting.