Hello all:
So I met a russian girl on an online dating site. I am Canadian. We talked almost each day for about 3 months and decided to meet for a week in England in the beginning of this month. Luckily she was able to get a tourist visa for herself and we met there and really hit it off. After the week, we both decided we wanted to continue this, but not by having these short 1 week meetings which don't really let us see if we will get along in everyday real life. On top of this, due to work and other issues, I simply can't go off to Russia now to see her there.
So we both decided that we might try to get her a visitor visa to Canada. Both her and I have researched a lot of forums on obtaining Canadian visas and found that many people have been successful in getting a temporary visit visa to Canada if they can prove they will indeed return back home after the visa period has expired. Even cases with Canadian men inviting their single russian girlfriend have apparently worked!
For her part, she's almost 28 now, she has been at a stable job for the past 3 years earning a little over $1000/month. She lives on her own in a flat that is owned by her parents that will in a couple of years, become hers. She doesn't have a lot of money in the bank right now, but her mother is able to write a sponsor letter that can help cover her expenses if necessary (same letter she used to get the UK visa - a lot of the documents will be similar for the Canadian visa that she used for UK). For me I'm 42, and have a good stable job in Canada and have the resources to take care of her if she stayed with me. Given that we both understand that there is not a great chance for a single russian girl to get a visitor visa, we are nonetheless trying to decide whether she should come as a tourist or through an invitation letter from me.
For a tourist visa, as I said she can have her mother sponsor her for the money required to visit as a tourist (Plus any money she has in her bank account) including hotel, food, flight, etc for about a 2-week stay. She can show that she needs to return to her job by a certain date and that the flat she lives in by herself will eventually become hers, so she has good reason to return (probably this isn't enough I know, but it's all we have). She can also justify her desire to see Canada for its nature, etc, etc BS, and give a very detailed itinerary for her planned tourism. She would of course not mention one iota about me. I have seen that when you for example apply for a 2 week visa, they generally give you a 6 month visa by default. So the plan here would be for her to get a tourist visa and then stay as long as possible with me to see how it went between us.
However, having looked at several other forums, the overwhelming advice we are getting is that we should be completely honest about our relationship. Instead of applying for a tourist visa, I have been told I should invite her through a letter saying that we have already met, that she is my girlfriend, showing pictures of us together and our time in England. That I will support all of her needs while she is here, that I will show her my country and that I will ensure her return to russia by the end of the allotted visa time. In this case she might ask for a 3 week stay (since I will be taking care of her expenses here and she wouldn't need a lot of her own cash except for airfare) and then hopefully she can get the usual 6 month visa so we can stay together longer as a couple. Apparently a lot of people have testified that this approach has worked for them. But I am still skeptical about it.
So given this, what approach do you guys suggest?
So I met a russian girl on an online dating site. I am Canadian. We talked almost each day for about 3 months and decided to meet for a week in England in the beginning of this month. Luckily she was able to get a tourist visa for herself and we met there and really hit it off. After the week, we both decided we wanted to continue this, but not by having these short 1 week meetings which don't really let us see if we will get along in everyday real life. On top of this, due to work and other issues, I simply can't go off to Russia now to see her there.
So we both decided that we might try to get her a visitor visa to Canada. Both her and I have researched a lot of forums on obtaining Canadian visas and found that many people have been successful in getting a temporary visit visa to Canada if they can prove they will indeed return back home after the visa period has expired. Even cases with Canadian men inviting their single russian girlfriend have apparently worked!
For her part, she's almost 28 now, she has been at a stable job for the past 3 years earning a little over $1000/month. She lives on her own in a flat that is owned by her parents that will in a couple of years, become hers. She doesn't have a lot of money in the bank right now, but her mother is able to write a sponsor letter that can help cover her expenses if necessary (same letter she used to get the UK visa - a lot of the documents will be similar for the Canadian visa that she used for UK). For me I'm 42, and have a good stable job in Canada and have the resources to take care of her if she stayed with me. Given that we both understand that there is not a great chance for a single russian girl to get a visitor visa, we are nonetheless trying to decide whether she should come as a tourist or through an invitation letter from me.
For a tourist visa, as I said she can have her mother sponsor her for the money required to visit as a tourist (Plus any money she has in her bank account) including hotel, food, flight, etc for about a 2-week stay. She can show that she needs to return to her job by a certain date and that the flat she lives in by herself will eventually become hers, so she has good reason to return (probably this isn't enough I know, but it's all we have). She can also justify her desire to see Canada for its nature, etc, etc BS, and give a very detailed itinerary for her planned tourism. She would of course not mention one iota about me. I have seen that when you for example apply for a 2 week visa, they generally give you a 6 month visa by default. So the plan here would be for her to get a tourist visa and then stay as long as possible with me to see how it went between us.
However, having looked at several other forums, the overwhelming advice we are getting is that we should be completely honest about our relationship. Instead of applying for a tourist visa, I have been told I should invite her through a letter saying that we have already met, that she is my girlfriend, showing pictures of us together and our time in England. That I will support all of her needs while she is here, that I will show her my country and that I will ensure her return to russia by the end of the allotted visa time. In this case she might ask for a 3 week stay (since I will be taking care of her expenses here and she wouldn't need a lot of her own cash except for airfare) and then hopefully she can get the usual 6 month visa so we can stay together longer as a couple. Apparently a lot of people have testified that this approach has worked for them. But I am still skeptical about it.
So given this, what approach do you guys suggest?