Hello from a neighbor south of the border! (USA/Canada border, that is!)
My girlfriend is Russian and I am an American living in Pennsylvania. She could not get a USA tourist visa last year, so we meet in different places around the world every few months. She's divorced and 35, no children. She owns her own business (nail/beauty salon) including the office it is in, has money in the bank and a car. She has been doing a lot of property improvements to her business in the past year and can document that She also has very extensive worldwide travel. Before we met she had been to China, Turkey, Bulgaria, Dubhai, Thailand, and Egypt. In the past year she has had three Schengen visas and has been to Italy, Germany, the Czech Republic, Spain, France, and Mexico. Only Italy, Germany and France show the stamps though.
It seems that in the USA, with rare exceptions if you are an unmarried Russian woman applying for a visa they don't even look at your file and deny you for "lack of ties." We thought she would get a visa because of the things in her favor, and she was going to stay with a mutual friend while she was in the states so I was not even listed on the application. They did not ask her about an American boyfriend... three quick questions and a denial at her interview, which lasted about 2 minutes. They just asked who was paying, why she was coming and if she had children. We are not going to try again until we are ready for a fiancee' visa.
I understand that the Canadian process is also very tough for unmarried Russian women, but there are some differences in the Canadian process that make me think she may be able to get a Canada visa so we can take our next trip together there. The process seems easier. VFS handles the paperwork and there is no interview. Canada also allows you to make more of a case for yourself. In the USA, you can't submit an itinerary, accommodation bookings or a ticket with a return flight for their consideration. In Canada, you can. She also doesn't know a soul in Canada and it would purely be tourism, not to visit to any Canadian or anyone living in Canada. She does not know anyone there. She's just going to meet another foreigner in Canada, be a tourist for a week, then fly home. I can drive to Toronto from my home in about five hours. She could fly into Toronto, I pick her up at the airport and we can see Niagara Falls, Toronto, and Montreal in the week we are there, then she would fly home.
So, as you can see, rather than meet in Europe again I am thinking about her trying for the Canadian visa. We will submit purchased (refundable) round-trip tickets and a detailed itinerary for our trip including confirmed hotel bookings in Toronto and Montreal. I used to date someone from North York, ON so I know pretty well what we will do while we are there and can submit a very good itinerary. I am hoping that with such a strong show of previous foreign travel and always returning home, the business ties to her home, the itinerary/bookings, and complete lack of ties to Canada, etc will be enough to convince the VO she is just a tourist and issue her a visa.
Given her passport full of foreign travel visas and stamps and her business, I really would hope she would have a chance! Am I crazy, is it worth even trying or do this, or do they just blanket-deny Russian women?
Any advice or comments would be welcome.
My girlfriend is Russian and I am an American living in Pennsylvania. She could not get a USA tourist visa last year, so we meet in different places around the world every few months. She's divorced and 35, no children. She owns her own business (nail/beauty salon) including the office it is in, has money in the bank and a car. She has been doing a lot of property improvements to her business in the past year and can document that She also has very extensive worldwide travel. Before we met she had been to China, Turkey, Bulgaria, Dubhai, Thailand, and Egypt. In the past year she has had three Schengen visas and has been to Italy, Germany, the Czech Republic, Spain, France, and Mexico. Only Italy, Germany and France show the stamps though.
It seems that in the USA, with rare exceptions if you are an unmarried Russian woman applying for a visa they don't even look at your file and deny you for "lack of ties." We thought she would get a visa because of the things in her favor, and she was going to stay with a mutual friend while she was in the states so I was not even listed on the application. They did not ask her about an American boyfriend... three quick questions and a denial at her interview, which lasted about 2 minutes. They just asked who was paying, why she was coming and if she had children. We are not going to try again until we are ready for a fiancee' visa.
I understand that the Canadian process is also very tough for unmarried Russian women, but there are some differences in the Canadian process that make me think she may be able to get a Canada visa so we can take our next trip together there. The process seems easier. VFS handles the paperwork and there is no interview. Canada also allows you to make more of a case for yourself. In the USA, you can't submit an itinerary, accommodation bookings or a ticket with a return flight for their consideration. In Canada, you can. She also doesn't know a soul in Canada and it would purely be tourism, not to visit to any Canadian or anyone living in Canada. She does not know anyone there. She's just going to meet another foreigner in Canada, be a tourist for a week, then fly home. I can drive to Toronto from my home in about five hours. She could fly into Toronto, I pick her up at the airport and we can see Niagara Falls, Toronto, and Montreal in the week we are there, then she would fly home.
So, as you can see, rather than meet in Europe again I am thinking about her trying for the Canadian visa. We will submit purchased (refundable) round-trip tickets and a detailed itinerary for our trip including confirmed hotel bookings in Toronto and Montreal. I used to date someone from North York, ON so I know pretty well what we will do while we are there and can submit a very good itinerary. I am hoping that with such a strong show of previous foreign travel and always returning home, the business ties to her home, the itinerary/bookings, and complete lack of ties to Canada, etc will be enough to convince the VO she is just a tourist and issue her a visa.
Given her passport full of foreign travel visas and stamps and her business, I really would hope she would have a chance! Am I crazy, is it worth even trying or do this, or do they just blanket-deny Russian women?
Any advice or comments would be welcome.
