Hello again from Gary.

It’s been awhile since I wrote a post for our blog category “Finding A Russian Bride”. But I’m going to swing back into writing about that topic area because as a person who’s “been there and done that”, I’ve learned a few things. And by my sharing what I’ve learned, hopefully you will be able to avoid some problems in getting a fiancee visa for your Russian bride.

I’m not going to write about every “nitty-gritty” detail of the fiancee visa process. There’s a huge amount of info available about that process on hundreds of places on the Internet. But there are a few things to be aware of that I’ve never seen written about.

To get started with the first topic, let me ask you a couple of questions - - First, are you the only man on the planet that would want to marry the woman you want a visa for? Answer = of course not. The woman you’ve chosen is desirable in many ways and lots of men would want her.

That was an easy question. This next question is a little more difficult - - Are you the only man on the planet that this woman would be willing to marry? Again, answer = of course not. No matter how great you are, your chosen woman could find other men of interest to her for marriage. It’s just that timing, circumstances, and life’s lottery have brought you two together at this point in time. So congratulations for you both.

But consider this. It’s very likely that you met this foreign woman because, through some method, she made herself available for marriage to a foreign man. Therefore, you probably met each other through personal referrals or the Internet. Accordingly, before you came into her life, it’s possible that she had met other foreign men.

So here’s the deal. During the early stage of visa process planning with your Princess, you MUST check with her to ascertain if another man has previously filed a visa request for her. (Hint - - be careful how you do this. If you ask her in the wrong way about the men she’s been involved with in her past, you’re likely to end up being one of those men in her past. Russian women are very private about the intimate details of their lives. Also, they have zero tolerance for anything that even hints at jealousy or possessiveness.)

If she says that no other man has filed a visa request for her then it’s a non-issue. Go on to the next topic of your planning process.

If however, she states that some other man has previously requested a visa for her, AND IF that man has not officially rescinded his request then the embassy computer locks up. Your visa approval process comes to a screeching halt and a couple of things happen. First, your fiancee will be requested by the embassy to provide proof** that she is no longer part of this other man’s plans; and second, you will get a phone call from the embassy (during their working hours without regard to time differences of several hours) asking you if you are aware that another man has requested a visa for your Beloved.

And that’s why I suggest that you cover this issue in the planning process with your fiancee so that if the embassy calls, you won’t be caught “flat-footed”. The answer they expect to their question is “yes, I’m aware of that”. An answer along the lines of “huh?” or “well, gee, ummm” will score negative points toward her visa approval.

** The ideal proof is for the other man to file appropriate documents with USCIS to cancel his visa request. Short of that, the embassy will accept copies of letters or e-mails between the man and your fiancee wherein they both release any claim on each other and agree to move on with their lives separately. NOTE that attaining this proof can prove to be challenging. For example, what if your fiancee can’t locate his e-mail address, or what if he changed his address, or what if, or, or, and in the worse case, what if he wants to be a “jerkaholic” and not provide the visa request release the embassy requires?

See? This can be a show stopper. So find out (tactfully) if there is an issue up front so you can figure out how to deal with it appropriately and thus avoid any quagmire during the visa approval process.

O.K. Hopefully This is a useful tip for you. I have a couple other “goodies” to write about along the same vein, and promise to do so in the near future.

Until next time, My best wishes to you and yours.

Gary

Technorati: