Way to Russia Community and Forum

Mark · Frequent Guest Joined: 25 Mar 2004 Posts: 53

Hi all,
I'm from the UK my girlfriend is Russian.
We are thinking about getting married soon in Russia then living here in the UK.
I would like to know would i still need a visa everytime i visit Russia when im married to a Russian girl..
Also on the site i see it cost 30$ for a visa for a month, does that apply for the UK .Everytime i've been to Russia the visa cost me £85 , i didnt need to get an invitation...

Randy · Posted: Thu Mar 25, 2004 6:23 pm Post subject:

Hello Mark,

I am an American living in Texas, and I am married to a Russian lady. I was interseted in your questions. I have received no special privilage to enter Russia just because I am married to a Russian national, and still need to get an invitation for a visa before going back there. I know there are different laws for different countries so I would be interested if you could return there without a visa. I think you would probably need the visa, but I am anxious to know for sure. The laws change so often in Russia, sometimes it is impossible to keep up.

Randy

Mark · Frequent Guest Joined: 25 Mar 2004 Posts: 53

Thanks for your quick reply.
I will let you know how things turn out.
By getting married would make things easy for my girlfriend to work here.
She has a 6 month tourist visa for now and was told by the home office here she would have to wait another 6 months to apply for another visa.

Randy · Posted: Fri Mar 26, 2004 5:41 pm Post subject:

My wife came here to the US on a K1 visa which took about 3 months to receive in Moscow. After she was approved I went to St.Pete where her brother married us, he is a Chaplin. It was not an official marriage though. After returning here to the US we were married again officially. After applying for her residency it took about 4 weeks for to receive her Green Card, which is also her permit to work, and travel back and fourth to Russia. The residency is good for two years, and now we have to return to immigration for the next process which will give her a permanent residency status for I believe another 7 years. Yes, let us know how things turn out for you, and your bride.
Randy

Gman · Just Starting Joined: 27 Mar 2004 Posts: 4

I was just wondering how your wife was able to adapt to the change from Russia to the USA. Was it an easy transition, or did it take her a while to get used to the way we do things in the USA.

Thanks for your anwser in advance

Gman

Guest · Posted: Sat Mar 27, 2004 7:24 am Post subject:

Gman...
Before my wife made the big jump from Russia to the US, I tried to think of things that would help her adapt. I went to my network of friends and learned of two Russian ladies that lived in my area. After some long searching I found them, and telephoned their American husbands to introduce myself. Both of the ladies were very excited to know another lady from their home country would be arriving soon. Then I did some local searching for Russian restuarants, markets, etc.
The first year was the most difficult for her, and also me. It just isn't that simple to leave your famil, home, friends, job, and the way of life that you are so accustomed to no matter how easy you can adapt. I have, on the other hand, been living, and traveling the globe since I was 17. But I knew she would have a difficult time adjusting since she had only been out of the St.Petersburg region once in her life, and that was to go receive her visa in Moscow to come here. She has a very strong family bond which could not, and should not be broken. So I made a promise to her family that she would return home at least once a year for vacation.
After the novelty of the US sort of wore off, the homesickness started to get worse. Two things that help in this situation is the ability to email her family, and a phone service that charges .05 a minute. Another thing is that we have two Russian channels on our satalite system so she can watch her favorite movies, and talk shows. She started working, which also helps a lot in many ways. It gives her something to do with her time, helps her self esteem, and provides financial funds to pay for her travel back home.
OK, she has learned a lot here, not just learning the English language, but also alot about our system. Examples would be our insurance (health, life, home, auto, etc), banking, government agencies, mortgage system, credit system, the list goes on. She learned about WalMart, and the Malls a little more quickly than I would like. She still doesn't have a complete knowledge of all these things, and I have learned from her that I don't know as much as I thought I did.
Being married to a foreign national is also a challange for me. I also had to adapt, and adjust to a new life, which is also not that simple. Before our marriage I was able to travel on a moments notice,and be gone for months at a time, set my own schedule, and live with only two pots, one frying pan, two forks in my house. Ah! The life as a single man. But we have worked at our marriage, and we now have a whole bunch of new things in the house I don't know how to operate yet. Our belief in God, our love, and our respect for each other, is the main reason our marriage is a success.
My advise to anyone contemplating marrying a foreign national is to really consider not only if the one they are marrying can adjust, but also to consider if they, themselves can make the adjustment, and remain happy. It is not as simple as one would think. It has been about two years, and six months since we were married, and we are both still adjusting. Think about it, and don't rush in.

Randy

Gman · Just Starting Joined: 27 Mar 2004 Posts: 4

Thanks for the VERY informative anwser. I have heard that Russian women are great women. It is great to hear information from someone first hand. I have read than there are high family values in Russia , which is great and was wondering what kind of stress it would put on a relationship of a Russian woman coming to this country. I am very glad to hear things are still going good for you two.

I have been e-mailing with a gal for about 3 months. She really seems like a good person. She really wants to come to visit here. I am smart enough to know that she could be a con-artist. She says she is a little short on flight money. So............................ the though has to cross my mind it is a scam. she says she can get about half of it for the flight. She says it would take about six months to save the money for the rest, I know Russian wages arent the greatest. She isnt really pressuring me for the money just asking if I would help. I am not going to play any cards quickly. I agree with your advice dont rush into anything. Any input you may have would be appreciated!

Thanks again for your reply

Greg

Gman · Just Starting Joined: 27 Mar 2004 Posts: 4

Just wanted to pinpoint a few things I would like input on. I know that there are good and bad people , but is it common for women in Russia to find a sucker to send them money? Or are most of them true.

On Visa's , do you have to have a plane ticket to get a Visa, or can you get a visa then get a plane ticket.

Thanks

Greg

Randy · Posted: Mon Mar 29, 2004 4:53 pm Post subject:

Greg,

Yep, there good, and bad people everywhere. I prefer to think there are more good people in Russia than bad. I am pretty street wise from experience, and can see a scam coming rather quickly especially if I see it happening in person. A lot of people are very trusting, with me, trust has to be earned. When you mentioned that your lady friend said she was short on cash for a plane ticket a red flag sort of popped up. I have thought about it and come to this conclusion. Remember this is only a suggestion, and you can make your on decision. Yes, there are scams like women finding suckers to send them money for a plane ticket then never show, how common it is, I don't know. If I were you, I would deffinitly go there to meet her first, and like I said before, I would get a hotel room instead of excepting an invitation to stay in her flat. That will help you determine if she is trying to scam you, but I would not, in no way send her money. If after meeting her in person, and you hit it off as friends, then maybe you could take her money, and some of your own and buy her a ticket to visit you. You could also make the ticket non-refundable. If it was a scam then you would only loose a little, and learn a lot. That is if she has a visa. On the other hand, she may be an honest person, and telling you the truth, but I would still be cautious.
About the visa, it would be very wise to have your visa before you buy the plane ticket. On two occasions, I bought my tickets for Russia before I had a visa, but I was lucky. If your lady friend in Russia is the one your speaking of, she should deffinitly have a visa before the plane ticket. If she didn't have a visa, and was asking for money to visit you that would be another sign of a scam. In Russia I don't know if you HAVE to have a ticket before the visa, my wife didn't have to have a ticket first to get her visa. That would be a good question for the staff of this web site to answer.

caz · Posted: Mon Jul 18, 2005 6:19 pm Post subject:

Hi Marc,

I am a UK citizen married to a Russian for almost 3 years. You didn't specify in your post whether you intend to live in UK or USA. I noticed everyone was advising you of USA visas. If you are intending to stay in UK then you will need to get her a new visa. They won't allow her to apply until near the date the visa expires, but once you put the application in the current visa remains valid until you have a decision. There are a couple of ways of doing this. First you could pay for her to do another term of study or, alternatively you could declare her to Home Office as your fiancee. Be warned, young Russian girls suffer from the prejudices in this country, many of which are cliches. The Home Office can be quite sceptical of having Russian wifes/girlfriends, and you will need to stand up to them. I could go on forever about the difficulties me and my wife have had(and still do). At present it costs about £150 for a visa but the process is a lot quicker than it used to be. My wife and I got another student visa first and then got married after that. If I can be of any help just email me or pm me and I'll try to help you with the pitfalls. My most recent clash with the Home Office was last Sept when they refused my wife another visa. Luckily I have been studying Legal Method and with the aid of my tutor managed to fight this and win.

steve7871 · Posted: Fri Jul 22, 2005 4:07 pm Post subject:

Mark

I just got married in April to a Russian girl. We are intending to settle in the UK.

The answer to your question is yes, you still do need a visa to visit Russia, your circumstances have not changed.

I would like to point out that my wife received a UK visa without any trouble at all (full spouse's visa with entitlement to work). As long as you are honest with them, and can prove you have somewhere to live, enough funds etc, they are OK.

In fact, the only problems she has had have been trying to enter the UK at Heathrow Airport!

You are welcome to PM me if you need any help.

Cheers,

Steve

Beatle · Just Starting Joined: 09 Sep 2005 Posts: 2

Like you Mark, i am from UK and wish to marry my Russian girlfriend soon either in Russia or UK. We both want to settle in the UK, but i need to make sure that she gets permission to work in the UK upon entry. What is the difference of getting married here or there? can a marriage in Russia be legally registered in the UK??? any help appreciated.

caz · Posted: Mon Oct 10, 2005 10:33 am Post subject:

Steve,

I know what you mean about Heathrow. Did you know that as your spouse she can go through the EEC channel. I didn't realise this until recently.
Does anyone know anything about the legitimacy of getting married again in Russia. Do we need to divorce first etc? My wife and I got married in England but it was a poor ceremony (by Russian standards) and we'd like to get married in Russia, where all the family can attend. Any advice would be appreciated.

swp4lfe · Posted: Thu Nov 10, 2005 3:55 am Post subject:

Hello Everyone i like the way this post is going, how everyone is helping and getting help and i have some questions of myself. I am only 20 years young and have fell in love with a Russian girl who i met last year. I lived with her for 2 months last year and when she left it was terrible. So for New years i went and visited her for 3 weeks and then had to come home again. This summer she has came back and lived with me for 4 months but had to return back to finish her Studys in Moscow State University. I am going back there for New Years again and we are very serious about making big decisions in our lives (like getting married, her moving here in USA and starting our real lifes) She has to stay in Moscow until she graduates which will be this June but after that she wants to come to USA to further her education and then sometime get married. She does not want to do anything illegal (like not returning back to moscow or stay past visa time limits) But we see its very hard to get another visa that will allow her to study here or work here. She got her past 2 visas through IEC (international exchange center) but now she is not eligible for the visa she has gotten in the past. So we are not sure how good of a chance we got of her getting a graduates visa that will allow her to study in USA or getting some type of visa that gives her work here in her graduates major. What are some other types of visas or what else can we do? ALSO when i go back to Moscow (December 27th) Is there anything we can do there? Like talk to some marriage people who can set us up or talk to somebody. You see im not sure what to do know so i need some suggestions. Please Write back or PM ME. I need somebody who has been through something like this to help me out.

gstrohsc · Posted: Thu Nov 10, 2005 6:44 am Post subject:

To Caz,

I am a Canadian who got married in Russia and the marriage is totally legit...If you do it in the marriage office. We had two weddings, a legal one and a church one. But the Russian legal marriage is binding, at least in Canada. We had to translate the marriage license and send it to immigration and they then gave my wife the permenant resident visa, so they recognize it here. I would think the Uk would be very much the same, since a lot of our immigration laws are similar.

By the way, we have been married 3 years now and it keeps getting better. Just like Randy, it was a big adjustment, but like Randy, I took steps to soften the culture shock. As time goes on, she becomes more adjusted to Canada, but thank goodness, never loses her Russian personality.

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