Posts Tagged ‘fiance’

First Hand Experience, Arriving at Ukraine Boryspil Airport

If you are traveling to Kiev, Ukraine for the very first time, it will be an experience. Break through the clouds and you will notice a land of abundance nature and beauty. A landscape of trees covers the countryside. The abundance of rainfall and annual snow makes Kiev a wonder of forests, lakes, rivers and pristine landscapes.

The main international airport hub is Boryspil. It services all domestic and international flights in and out of the Ukraine. Boryspil has a very large runway for all types of aircraft. During soviet times, Boryspil International Airport was used only for military aircraft. Later when the Ukraine claimed independence, it was renamed and converted into a civilian airport.

There are only a few carriers that are allowed to use the tarmacs. All other planes must park away from the terminals. Buses are provide to take passengers from their plane to the main international terminal B.

Upon arriving to the terminal, you are greeted with an old still Soviet Era passport control center. Ensure your paperwork is correct and ready. During peak hours wait times can be up to two hours. Lines are long and customer service is not a priority. Not being prepared will cost you added time, so have all relevant documents filled out and legible. In the seven times I have been to the Ukraine, I have only waited two hours one time. After that bad experience I always booked my flight to arrive very early in the morning or late at night. 9 am to 2 pm are peak hours at Boryspil Airport.

When in the passport control line be polite and patient. Joke around with the Ukrainian passport officers is not appreciated. Be respectful and answer all questions fully. Officers will speak to you in English if you do not speak Ukrainian or Russian.

Baggage claim is immediately in front of you once you leave passport control. Digital readouts that tell you where your baggage is located are posted above all luggage belts. Readouts show flight information for all flights landed. Boryspil is like all airports. There is not much difference in their baggage claim area.

If the airline loses your baggage, there is a lost baggage office that will assist you in tracking down your bags. I have traveled seven times to the Ukraine and only had to use the service once. It was a surprise to me, but the people that worked there were very helpful and spoke very good English. They were immediately able to track down my luggage. The representative called New York for me and found my baggage still there. Apparently my luggage never made the flight.

The next day I was able to retrieve my luggage after being lost the day before. The only interesting thing about it is I had to pay a tip to the attendant to go retrieve it for me. A side note to remember is everything in the Ukraine moves by tips. Give too small of a tip and Ukrainians have no problem in letting you know your mistake. Normal tip fair for getting your baggage reclaimed $6.00. Taxi trip to get back to the airport to retrieve your baggage $55.00. Knowing that you paid the right tip and avoiding the embarrassment of getting screamed at for failing to understand the tip policy, priceless.

Out of baggage claim and ready for the next adventure? Ok great, now let us take a walk up a small incline in the busy heart of the Boryspil Airport! The only thing between you and a hundred or so impatiently waiting family members, friends and taxi drivers is a set of automatic sliding doors. As the swoosh of doors slide open you are immediately impacted with the excitement of the waiting crowd in front of you. Make your way past them and you reach the second level of excitement. Yes, you guessed it, the Ukrainian Taxi Car Drivers! Stay calm and just shake your head back n forth with every question of “Taxi?” No need to say “No” just shake your head back n forth.

Stay clear of the taxi drivers and find your way to one of the many kiosks in the airport that will help you find a taxi. The price is fair and shown to you up front. Taxi kiosks are easy to find and the word “TAXI” is written across them.

There are four different money exchange booths in the international terminal. The airport has the worst rates, so only exchange a small amount of money. Wait until you get to the center of the city to do your large exchange transactions. I tend to only exchange two hundred dollars at the airport. This covers my taxi, food and any other little thing I would like to buy while in the airport. Just as easy as it is to find an exchange booth in the airport, you will have the same luck in the center of the city. These exchange booths are everywhere. The US Dollar, Euro and Russian Ruble are accepted everywhere.

Take only new money with you. Exchange booths will not accept old or money that has been wet. Since it is impossible to know if a dollar bill has ever been wet, it is important to only take new bills. All exchange booths will put your money under an ultraviolet light. Money that shows wet spots will not be accepted.

Going to another part of the country? Then it only takes minutes to walk to Terminal A. This terminal is reponsible for all domestic air travel. Two booths in this airport sell plane tickets to anywhere with an airport in the Ukraine. Modern digital screens show all activity and gates of departure in English. Now once you are at your gate, pay close attention. Boarding calls are only done in Ukrainian and Russian. If in doubt ask an attendant and they will be happy to point you to the right boarding line.

Want to avoid all the rush? Then the VIP service is for you. Terminal C will hand deliver you to terminal for all arriving guests or assist you in departing Kiev. What do you get with this service? Your own shuttle from or to your plane, 15 minute passport control service and personal baggage claim service. Available in comfortable environmentally controlled lounge is fax, phone and wireless internet service. All this great service starting at $150.00 USD. If you are interested in the service, Google Boryspil Airport and contact the VIP office. They all speak very good English.

Enjoy your trip to the Ukraine!

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Critical Information About Seeing Your Foreign Fiance

If you were going to complete your K1 Fiance Visa without an attorney, there are few things you must know before submitting.

An important requirement that you must comply with before submitting. You must have met your fiance within two years of submitting the application. If you met your fiance say three years ago and wanted to file, it is not a good idea. You will need to take another trip to see her and update your current travel documents before submitting.

There are a number of things that these trips prove to the USCIS officers reviewing your application. For one it ensures your relationship is current. They tend to not trust a long distance relationship that does not show face to face contact within two years. As they see it, most normal relationships have personal contact. If you have not seen your fiance in two years, then something is not right. This will definitely keep your application from being approved.

See your fiance within the last two years. Once is not enough if you really want to show a trend. Meeting once does not show true intent. This is my personal opinion but there are things that can happen over three years of not seeing each other. A bond becomes weak without face to face contact. It is best to see each other every 6 months or at the least once a year. But that decision lies with the both of you.

There are K1 Fiance couples that I have been in contact with that were really not compatible. They found this out after they were finally together in the USA. They were so uncomfortable with each other that even sleeping in the same bed was not an option.

I made it a point to meet my fiance every 4 – 6 months and I would normally visit for three weeks. The first was a little uncomfortable. The second time I met her it was better. The third time I realized that she was the one for me. The trips were hard and long, but they are well worth it once your fiance comes to live with you in the USA.

Book a flight to see your fiance regularly and spend some quality time with her. Keep these simple things when returning from all your travels. You will want to keep your plane ticket stubs, hotel receipts, currency and exchange receipts.

These are the items I collected from my travels. I kept plane ticket stubs, hotel receipts, currency exchange receipts, and retail shop receipts. I would buy her things while I was with her, so the retail receipts worked great. These receipts would usually have the name of the store, date and its address.

I always took a lot of pictures of all our travels together. I would always take a few pictures of us together with a date and time stamp. I had two pictures of both of us from every trip and I submitted all those pictures as proof.

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What You Should Never Do Before Meeting Your Foreign Fiance

Let us jump right into this. Never send money to someone you have not met and always meet your fiance a number of times before trusting her with your personal information.

If you are going to marry this girl, she will need to see your entire life including bank accounts, tax returns etc. She will need to carry and present these kinds of documents to the embassy officer during her interview. So do not trust until you are 100% sure.

There are a lot of stories of people trusting too much when dating someone from another country. If you do a Google search on Blacklisted Russian Women or Blacklisted Ukrainian Women, you will find over a million sites on just this topic.

A “Blacklisted Russian Woman or a Blacklisted Ukrainian Woman” is when a woman from a country other than the USA scams a man out of money or help to get an American Visa.

What you can expect from someone scamming you?

A scammer will have an immediate attraction to you. She will often immediately start using words like, I love you or lead you to believe she is ready to marry you. Women that do this are great at making you feel like you are the only man for them. Yet in reality they are speaking to others.

The more men they can talk to at one time the more potential for making a lot of money.

Now I am sure that the woman you are talking to is beautiful beyond measure. Yet, ask yourself this question. If you were to meet someone from your hometown and she would immediately start to tell you that she loved you, would you feel so comfortable? Most will answer no to this question. It gives you the feeling that something is wrong. So if that is the case, then why trust someone you never met telling the same things? These words should immediately raise the red flag. If you have not met, you have no idea of her intentions.

A major red flag is the girl wanting to come visit you in the USA. These girls are not dumb. They know the laws better than you do. They know that it is impossible for them to come to the USA for just a visit. All she wants is for you to send her the money to pay for a visa that does not exist. She gets the money and you get scammed. If you are not sure of this, then just pick up the phone and call the USCIS 1-800-375-5283. They will be happy to explain the laws to you.

Just for informational value: When I was dating my Ukrainian Fiance, I tried this myself. But this was after I met her five times. I tried to secure a B-2 tourist visa for her. Although I supplied all the necessary documents, she was still denied this visa. Do not waste your time or money on it.

If there is any mention of money after meeting or within the first two months, it is time to walk away. A high percentage of these women that ask for money are scammers. If she starts to talk to you like this, just tell her you dont want to talk about money until after you meet her. Most of the time the girl will go away on her own and stop communication with you. You are no longer the right kind of prey. So she starts to focus her words on other opportunities.

Pictures often times do not tell the truth. The pictures could be of anyone. It is not unheard of for the person behind the picture to be a man.

These people have a very limited time to get as much money out of you as possible before you find out about them or before someone else reports them.

After you send them money, they completely disappear. There will be no more communication and your money will disappear with them. No investigation will ever be done. No one will care except for you. The typical method of sending money is through Western Union. All these scammers know the ins and outs of Western Union.

This is not the USA and the name of the game is corruption. Corruption is a way of life.

Now these girls are really good at what they do. They will have a story for all your questions. Dont think it will be easy to catch them at their game. Some will even call you multiple times a week to convince you they are real.

Ok so how do you make sure you are not being scammed? Make sure you meet your fiance more than once. Do not give any personal information out or send money without being sure about the person you are talking to or want to marry. Even though she might be exhibiting some of the traits of a scammer, she might be legitimate. In my next report I will show you how to know for sure if she is real or not.

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Documenting Your Life With Your Foreign Fiance

A huge decision to make in your life is to meet your foreign fiance. It means that you have made a big decision to not only pursue a relationship with her, but have also made the decision to commit yourself fully to her. Now document everything and anything that can provide proof of the relationship. The documentation process will help prove the relationship is on-going. Being able to prove your relationship means providing written documented evidence of the relationship’s timeline.

Are there certain visa documents you need to keep? Important ones to keep are all your boarding passes from your plane trips, phone logs, and Internet emails, receipts while in the Ukraine or Russia. Make yourself a folder with different sections to hold the documents from all your trips. Categorize your trips by making a naming convention that easily describes the trip. I named my trips by date and location. Ensure it is easy for you to store and locate your visa documents. Relationship progression and timeline is very important to the USCIS.

Taking pictures is very important and the best way to provide proof that your relationship is active. It is almost impossible to try and send in your K1 Visa application without these kind of pictures. So take your camera along and snap as many pictures as possible.

Don’t forget your camera, because you are going to need to capture a few places of interest that really show where you were. When I was visiting my fiance/wife, I would find government buildings or parks that we could take a picture in front of together. And since my camera had a date and time feature built in, I would turn it on to really solidify the moment.

If you get to meet her family, take a picture with them. The best kind of picture is one with your fiance, mother and father. This is very strong proof that your relationship is valid.

You may hear that it is best to document everything from the first time you meet a girl. I personally think this is a waste of time and does nothing to help you get a Visa. Why would you document everything you did with a girl that you had not intentions of meeting? I believe the best way to document a relationship, is when you make the commitment to visit her for the first time. If you are visiting more than one girl, then don’t start the documentation until you have narrowed your search down to one special lady.

Is there any particular documentation you should keep? The answer to this question is “YES”. Keep documents like emails, boarding passes, Ukrainian/Russian retail receipts, receipts from site seeing tours, phone logs, receipts from money sent to her, receipt for the engagement ring and anything else that has to do with showing proof of a relationship. When it comes to showing proof, the more the better. You want the officer not to doubt your love for your foreign fiance. From the first moments of opening the application, the officer should be overwhelmed with your proof of the on-going relationship.

Romance is not the objective of the K1 Fiance Visa Process. The process will only focus on the proof of the relationship and homeland security. Any doubts in this area will delay or deny your K1 Fiance Visa application. It is very important to address these two areas of the process fully.

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If The K1 Visa Process Is So Easy, Why Is Brad With Angelina?

The title says Brad and Angelina, but this is not really about them. But who is to say that if Brad knew how easy it was to submit a K1 Fiance Visa Application be might be bringing a beautiful fiance home with him as well? Now let us put the joking aside and get into what this article is all about.

It is important to know about the documents that go along with the K1 Fiance Visa Application. All required K1 Visa Documents have to be submitted with the application. To omit just one of the documents could lead to being denied or if lucky, just being held up for weeks or months.

This article will give you a high level overview of what you will need to submit with your K1 Fiance Visa Application. You should not be scared to go about this alone. Yet, it is wise to follow someone that has gone through the process and has helped others successfully go through the process.

Browse through the article and you will get a really good idea about the K1 Fiance Visa Application Process .

Ok here is the entire submittal process in a nutshell. Remember this is high level.

I-129F Petition for Alien Fiance: Fill this document out completely. A document used to petition to bring your fiance and children to the USA for the intention of marriage. Meeting your fiance within the last two years before submitting your application is required. The instructions can be a bit tricky, but read them fully and comply with all requested information.

G-325 Biographic Information Form: Fill this document out in full. It will ask you to complete all biographical information. Read the instructions with care and submit any requested media.

I-134 Affidavit of Support: This is the most important document of the bunch. This will tell the USCIS officers who is supporting the fiance when she arrives. The instructions for this document can get a bit confusing. Read everything very carefully.

You will have to submit birth certificates. These certificates need to come from you and your fiance. If you or your fiance was ever married, she will need to show proof of the divorce.

The last of it concerns the proof of the relationship. Keep all travel documents and any other proof of your travels. Submit that with your application. Try to submit as much proof as possible with your application, the more the better. Make copies of everything.

Now it is time to bundle it all up and send it off to the USCIS for approval. Don’t forget to make a copy of everything for yourself and your fiance. Send a complete application with all documents to your fiance as well. She will need it for the interview process.

Embassy officers may request all or none of the documents from your fiance. If they do request the documents, your fiance will be ready. Talk to your fiance and make sure she has a complete understanding of all the documentation in your packet. It is better for her to be prepared than not.

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