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Author: Sam (---.dsl.irvnca.pacbell.net)
Date: 05-08-06 18:04
Although I have traveled to Russia many times and even lived there almost all last year & some of the year before, I am now applying for the first time for a fiancé visa for a lady I know. What I am being told in the process contradicts most of what I had heard from friends who have done so in the past few years. I thought it may be worthwhile to post my findings and see if it coincides with what others have been told or know from recent attempts at K1.
First are the new laws congress has enacted as of January of this year; it seems our government, which so far has been unable to stop the flow of millions of illegal aliens from crossing our borders in the south, has been very effective in dashing already small hopes for educated women of the FSU who want to come here at the invitation of citizens who want to marry them! These new laws are as follows:
Only one K1 Visa may be issued per two years: if you invite someone with whom you do not end up getting married or who decides not to come after visa is granted, you will have to wait two more years before you can apply for someone else!
The fiancé must indicate how she met you; there needs to be documentation as to how you acquired her contact info. If the initial contact was facilitated by a web-site mostly dedicated to introductions or dating or if by a marriage agency, then the fiancé must show that the web site or agency first performed a background check to verify that you the American client had no past convictions, abuses, restraining orders, or reports of sexual abuse prior to the release of her contact info to you. Although I applaud the new law and see it as a good safeguard, the fact remains if she cannot prove such background information was given to her PRIOR to the release of her contact info to you, then visa can be denied!! So in essence, a good law is being enforced in such a way as to create a technicality to refuse visas, because even if you have no criminal record and can prove it after the initial contact, the fact that it was not proven prior to contacing her as reason to deny the application.
Lastly, as before there needs to be proof that the invitation was made by an American who can support the lady; except she now must have a copy of your last income tax return when she appears for the interview. A lawyer is telling me that I will have a problem in this regard: I spent most of last year in Russia because I was able to forego having an income last year. My tax return for last year shows virtually no income because I have had cash deposits for a few years and I was able use some of my savings while I looked into prospects of business in Russia. I am being told there may be problems because the government does not care about my cash deposits or non-liquid assets; they simply want to see steady income because only then can they be convinced I have the means to support someone else!! I don’t know if this is my lawyer’s way of trying to make my case seem more complicated to get more money, but I like to hear otherwise from those of you who may know differently.
There are a number of other requirements, including the one for her to show she has a clean police record. The girl I know does not even know how to begin and go about getting a background check on herself. All this speaks to me of needing to hire a good lawyer with connections in Russia who can actually guide her, and all I have found are two-bit lawyers tied to marriage agencies who require about $2,000 to file and walk us through what they promise to be a process harder than it ever was before. Again, this could be the lawyer digging in; but then there are new laws and things may in fact be much harder.
Needless to say, on the heels of the demonstrations last week of hundreds of thousands of people asking for softer treatment of illegal aliens who sneaked into this country, I am amazed to see the formidable array of impediments put into place to prevent educated, serious-minded women from coming here at our invitation with the hope to start a family. I like to hear from those of you Americans who may have had recent dealings with the K1 issue. I look forward to your emails and posts.
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