Law Office of John F. Roth
210 Main Street
Nanuet, NY 10954
(845) 623-1100
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The Visitor's Visa
Introduction:
If you've found a foreign national you wish to marry, the biggest question in your life will be "how do I get her/him to America?". You may initially hope that you can simply invite your fiancé(e) on a visitor’s visa. Well, you can invite him/ her, but, unfortunately, your chance of receiving a visa for a Russian (or other former Soviet bloc) person, especially for a women aged 40 or younger is extremely small - the typical estimate is less than 5%. The reason is simple: too many visitors from impoverished countries never return home after experiencing life in America. Given the current political climate, the U.S. Embassy will continue to use its broad discretion to turn down the vast majority of such visa requests.
Conditions for Receiving a Tourist Visa
To succeed in receiving a tourist visa, a Russian citizen must demonstrate sufficiently strong "ties to the home community" so as to convince the U.S. Embassy or Consulate that the applicant is highly unlikely to abandon his/her homeland by remaining in the U.S.. Most or all of the following factors must be present: - Employment The applicant has a permanent job in their home country that is high paying by local standards and provides a standard of living that is comparable to the U.S. standard
- Financial Assets The applicant has illiquid financial assets (ownership of an apartment, automobile, etc.) that are sufficiently valuable that the applicant is unlikely to forfeit them by failing to return home
- Previous Travel Experience The applicant has previously traveled to the U.S. or Western Europe and has returned home in every instance within the allotted visa time period
- Family Ties The applicant has strong family ties to their home country. Note well that this factor is only slightly helpful, and is never sufficient in itself to form the basis for a tourist visa. The I.N.S. and State Department have declared in published documents that even leaving children behind is not to be given great weight, since many women from poorer countries leave children behind (with the child’s grandparent, most commonly), and overstay their tourist visa with the hope of arranging to have the child follow once the mother has adjusted status in the U.S.
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