Hi, My wife (Russian) recently got a US visa for a year - this may help you although you're in a more difficult situation.
* Will she really need her own bank account? She does not have one right now, but they are easy enough to open. Yes they asked her about this and required evidence that she could support herself in the US (even though she was traveling with me) * Will it help or hurt if I write an invitation letter for her? Not applicable to us - we both live in Russia permanently although I'm a UK ex-pat. * Will it help or hurt if I go with her to the Embassy on the day of her interview? Maybe it's different if you're American but the Embassy staff could not have been less interested in me - even as her husband. They look at the applicant as an individual - you can't come into the interview. After hearing this, I didn't go along to the embassy. I can't see it helping you being there. Like most of the embassies, they are really only concerned with one thing. Will she try and stay in the US. They asked my wife *many* questions along these lines. So evidence of her job/career is key. Letters from her employer etc. Property doesn't really mean all that much these days, you can arrange to sell it once abroad and have the money transferred. It also helps if she has been out of the country before. We took a few trips to the Netherlands and Croatia (easier visas) before doing the UK and then US (hardest). You don't ever want to get turned down for a visa so it's worth building up to the tougher ones. They are going to be hard on her though - my wife saw many people getting turned away. One woman even had a child here in Russia so it was fairly obvious she planned on returning! She may want to employ an agency to help her with the documentation and process, that would be more useful than you attempting to help her. One last thing - tell her not to speak more than she needs to. Just answer the questions. Emphasize the shopping aspect ;) My wife's visa was for 1 year - that seems pretty standard. HTH Nick > > > > ------------------------------ > Date: Sun, 11 May 2008 22:56:41 -0700 > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > To: [email protected] > Subject: Expat List US Tourist Visa > > Hi, > Does anyone have recent experience or advise the can offer on the best way > to get a Tourist Visa for my girlfriend. She is in her late twenties, > attractive, has a good job, and owns a flat in Moscow. I would think it > would be easy to see that she has ties and plans to return, but I have read > many posts from people claiming that it can still be difficult to get a > visa. Has anyone recently gone through this process? Most of the > information I have found is quite old. After reading the information on > http://www.usembassy.ru, I still have some questions: > > * Will she really need her own bank account? She does not have one right > now, but they are easy enough to open. > * Will it help or hurt if I write an invitation letter for her? > * Will it help or hurt if I go with her to the Embassy on the day of her > interview? > > Also, does anyone know how long the Visas are normally good for? While > the trip we have planned is only for a couple of weeks, it would be nice to > be able > to bring her back to the US from time to time without having to apply for > a second visa. > > Thanks, > > >
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