Advice for Polish girlfriend getting tourist visa to visit America?

Hi,

I would like to bring my girlfriend here to the US to visit for several months. We've been dating for a long while now, and I just recently went to see her in Poland for an amazing week earlier this year. :o)

Now, I'm worried about her ability to get a tourist visa. She only has a small part-time job, lives with her grandmother, doesn't own property, etc., and is coming to see her boyfriend. Seems to me like there are a lot of reasons for an Embassy officer to think that she doesn't have enough ties to Poland and refuse the visa.

We plan to marry later this year, but we don't want to wait the 4-9 months for the fiancee visa, and we would both like this time together before we wed anyway.

So, any advice? I've seen several threads about this issue while searching this topic on this forum with some good info here and there, but thought I'd ask my direct question.

Much, much thanks... she is the most important thing in the world to me, so any help is very much appreciated.

Cheers.

I through, poland has joined as EU country and she just need to get the EU passport and then she can stay in US for few months.

If she's pretty she might get lucky and get a tourist visa. It would be best if she was studying in Poland then they would know she's coming back.
But, but, but. I hate to tell you this but the surest and best way is to get a fiance visa. I had my Polish fiance come from Poland on a fiance visa. The whole process till the interview and issuance of the visa took 5 months. I know it seems like a long time but once the fiance comes into the US you have no problems with adjusting the status, with issuance of a social security number and with permit to work. You are coming on an immigration visa and everything is legal and you will have bo problems with getting the green card. You only have to get married within 90 days of arriving into the US.
On the other hand if the person would enter the US on a tourist visa, the USCIS is very unhappy about this because you betrayed their trust in you, telling them you're coming as a tourist but instead decide to stay. Once you get married, you will be summoned for an interview with the INS to see if indeed you married her for love or for just the green card. You will have more paperwork to file and more meetings
with the INS. The good thing is that you will be together and you will get to know her better in the US, because many people go through a culture shock and have a hard time adjusting to the American ways. But it all depends on the person also.
My advice. Try for the tourist visa. It costs $100. If she is denied, she can reaply in 6 months. But instead of waiting, start filing for fiance visa. The cost is $170. But it will go up to about $480 on July 31.

No, She needs a tourist Visa to visit the US. Poland isn't in the VWP yet.

Krysia is correct. It would be easer to be approved if she was a student. My GF was denied prior to receiving her student ID then once she was a student they approved her right away.

Good luck!!

Listen to Krysia! If your relationship is meant to be, then no amount of time you might have to wait will change that. You might have to wait several months, but you know the old saying, "Good things come to those who wait!" Good luck. :)

Ranj honey will you need a fiance visa when you come to England :)

Good question, but I don't think so. BW didn't need one to come see me, so I doubt that I need one to come see him. Of course, if I decide to stay, well, your guess is as good as mine! ;) Don't think I really have to worry about it at this time, though. :)

I wish you two all the best you're both nice people :) And as for if you decided to come live in the UK, trust that wont be a problem, it isnt for anyone else :)

Thanks....he really is special....I'm a lucky girl! :)

You never know Trinner everyone offers good advice But Krysia's is very realistic, and if she's pretty and can speak english that helps. The consul told me, that my girlfriend had little chance of getting a tourist visa and she got one. I waited in the Embassy while she was at the interview. She was 6 months pregnant at the time too!

Oral communication with the consultant always helps.

I really appreciate all of the good advice. Krysia - your direct experience is super valuable to me.

First - I wouldn't want to get her in on a Tourist Visa and then get married. I don't want to get in trouble - or worse, get *her* in trouble and cause more headaches for ourselves.

In an ideal world, she would get her Tourist Visa in the next month or so, go ahead and start the Fiancee Visa process at the same time, come stay here for 3 months or so, then she go back to Poland for a couple of months to take care of business - a total of 5 months or so would have gone by so Fiancee Visa would be ready. Whew. :o)

Do you know if it is possible to apply for a Tourist Visa and a Fiancee Visa at the same time? Would one help the chances of the other?

Also - do you have any advice for what to say or avoid saying in the Tourist Visa interview? She is absolutely gorgeous (not just a proud boyfriend talking ;-) and she speaks English. Should she avoid mentioning she is going to visit her boyfriend? Should someone from my family write her an invitation? Again, I don't really want to be dishonest, I just want to maximize our chances by avoiding saying pointless things that will get her rejected.

Thanks. This is a very cool place. :o)

Ranj, on April 1st, you've made many of us here fools about the BW romance...Hey it was NOT April fools, was it?. What gives? Anyway, it sounds like the two of you hit it off.

I HOPE IT IS TRUE AND WONDERFUL! :)

definately they may not even look at them but they might.
I wrote a letter which my wife(girlfriend at the time) showed to the Consul about how much i loved her how long we knew each other etc. and it worked. I may be way off line or on another planet but the love seemed to insure her turist Visa.
By the way we got married in the U.S. when she just had a tourist Visa. But we live in Poland. It was easier than getting married in Poland.

ask the embassys

Well, Eurola, we are not engaged but we are getting along very well. :)

No, don't ever do that. Conflict of interests. You can do one if the other fails. Sometimes they don't look into who sponsors you, so I don't think it really matters. In some instances it might be better if it's a realtive rather than a boyfriend, but it all depends. Also it is easier to get a tourist visa at the beginning of the year because they haven't filled their quota for the year yet, and if it's later in the year they will pick through everything to prove that you don't qualify because they can't give out too many more visas anymore.

Hey,

It seems you all here are quite well acustomed with immigration issues .
That's why I have a question : Is it possible for a Polish citizen to apply for a visa from England ???
I'm going there for summer but in a meantime I would like to get a visa and fly from there to US , just for two weeks. Can I do it while being in England ???

Thanks for any kinds of information.

You can apply at the Polish Embassy in England for a visa, but it would be as a Polish Citizen.....I think that's what you are asking? I also don't know how quickly you would be able to get one, considering it's already summer. Good luck, though. :)


***edited***thanks Krysia for pointing out that she needs to go to Polish and not American embassy***:)

Right, it's best to go to the Polish Embassy and ask because you are a Polish citizen and you have a Polish passport, so you need permission for a visa from Poland not England.

In answer to Pallula's question, the US Embassy is the only place in the UK that can issue visas for visits to the US as it is now a requirement, with limited exceptions, to apply in person and be interviewed (even for a visitor's visa). Full details are on the US Embassy in London website.
The Polish Embassy in London only deals with visas for non-EU/EEA Citizens that require one to visit/live in Poland. Cheers, Vas.

Well... today they denied her the tourist visa. We showed *so* much information detailing her ties to Poland, I do not understand this stupid system.

I've never been more depressed in my entire life.

Krysia, if I may ask - did you use a lawyer in obtaining the fiancee visa, or did you both fill out the paperwork yourselves?

thanks.

What were their reasons? Ties to PL? Is your GF a student? Have a job and bank account? My GF was denied her first try, but got a 10 yr on her second attempt.

I filled it out myself. No lawyer if you know what you're doing. He got approved for the visa after 2 months, then had an interview in the US Embassy 3 months later and got the visa without any problems.
And now, my husband since April has received a green card, or permament status in the US. It took him only 3 months to get it, while it normally takes almost two years if you marry someone on a tourist visa. But with the fiance visa, all the documents are already on file and that's why it takes so fast.
But starting today, the fiance visa price increases.

PLEASE, DON'T OVERSTAY YOUR FREAKING VISA. IF YOU WANT TO STAY APPLY LEAGALLY.

Why are you yelling?
Read... she has to get one frst :)

The only reasons given were that she didn't have a husband or children in Poland.

This really feels like such an arbitrary decision. She is not currently a student, but yes to job, and yes to bank account with good money in it. She is otherwise well traveled with business interests and a large family in Poland. Really - it feels like they spin a wheel to decide. But these are people's lives, not a game.

I knew the refusal rate was high, but i can not describe the frustrating and helpless feeling to this... perhaps these are good rules that protect our country, I don't know. But she honestly wouldn't overstay a visa, so in this case, it protects the country from nothing.

Sigh.

Thank you for the information. I will start going through this now, as well as what is actually needed for the marriage.

Much thanks.

This is the main problem. Once my GF had a student ID she was approved.

Listen to Krysia.
She knows what she talking about.
I don't want to write the same once again.