Hello again from Gary. Here’s the promised “tidbit” installment to my last post.

I wrote in my January 28 post that convenient travel arrangements are critical when it comes to bringing your Russian bride to America. The reason why this is critical is because of visa requirements and the need for you to bring her into America at a city as close to your home as possible. This is because the first city she lands in is where she will go through American immigration processing. I wrote about this more fully in my November 15, 2006 post.

So without good travel connections, you may not be able to achieve the ideal place for her to make first entry into the country.

And the other issue about visa requirements - -  If you fly with her, which I suggest you do, you will have two different nation’s passports to plan for when it comes to entering different countries to make airline connections. If you stick with major international airlines and arrange to stop only in major western European countries on your way back to America, your U.S. passport will probably free you of any visa requirements.** But for your Russian bride the story is different and you need to check what any country you stop in requires in the way of an entry visa for her even if your’re just in transit for flight connections. This whole situation can get to be very complicated depending on which countries are involved in your trip.

But if you accept my suggestion to search for your Russian bride in the Russian Federation or Ukraine, you can solve the travel issues of visas and ideal first entry. Here’s how.

First, get to Moscow or Kiev. If your Russian bride is in Ukraine, you’re already in Kiev because that’s where the embassy is that issues her fiancee visa. If you’re in Russia, you may already be in Moscow. But Russia is a big, as in VERY BIG, country and there are several cities from which the U.S. embassy can issue fiancee visas. Regardless, to bring her home, get to Moscow.

From Moscow or Kiev, it’s easy to book non-stop flights to Heathrow airport in England. (Of course, if you’re bringing her to New York, you can get non-stop service from either city to New York without going to England.) And from Heathrow, it’s easy to book non-stop flights to most major American cities including as far away (from the U.K. that is) as Seattle and Los Angeles. Once you land at Heathrow, you can be “at the discretion of a UK Immigration Officer” approved for a TWOV ** which means “travel without visa”.(If you’re not approved, you can’t leave the airport). To be approved you’ll be required to have appropriate papers (passport with visa for country of destination plus airline tickets) and must travel within 24 hours to your destination country. But you can go through passport control, catch a shuttle or taxi, and check into a hotel as long as it’s within a couple of miles or less from the airport (there are many to choose from). You can check for them here at Hotels.com . This site will let you locate hotels by landmark area within London so you can zero in on the most appropriate for you close to Heathrow. The hotel stay is a good thing to consider since to fly straight through is a lo-o-o-ong trip.

** I’ve spent a lot of time poking around to verify what I wrote here. And I can assure you that this is exactly how Alla and I made the trip from Ukraine to San Francisco. But I can’t guarantee that it will work the same for you. Countries change their rules. Do your own research so you know exactly how to deal with these issues. 

Until next time, may your travels be safe and simple.

Gary.

P.S. Since we’re now officially in the “chocolate season”, and with all the talk in this post about Heathrow and the United Kingdom, I’ve located a Monty Python video clip for your entertainment. I would call it “Know Your Chocolatier”. To watch go to our “Misc. Video Page”. Enjoy!!

 

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