Any Brits with experience of UK Immigration?

[Streetwise]

Are there any British guys out there who have come up against UK Immigration yet? Any advice on procedures for getting visas for Ukrainian nationals to visit would be most welcome. My understanding is, the visitor often has to go through interviews etc to check out their authenticity, even if they have invitation, guarantee of support etc. Does it help if she shows up at the British Embassy together with the guy, or is it better they don't know she's coming over to visit him?

One thing I have discovered is that young single women from countries like Ukraine have the toughest time of all getting into the UK. If she doesn't have a good job, or children, or some other compelling reason to return, they seem to assume that she is automatically planning to stay for good (or at least well beyond the visa duration).

[Pordzhik]

... in response to Any Brits with experience of UK Immigrat..., posted by Streetwise on Sep 9, 2002

are you taking the piss or what?

[Streetwise]

... in response to just read the up-dated profile, you've v..., posted by Pordzhik on Sep 9, 2002

I kid you not! (Working in the airline business helped a bit though.)

Number of visits:

Bucharest 10
Brasov 1
Ploiesti 1
Sofia 2
Rousse 2
Kiev 8
Kharkov 2
Odessa 2
Simferopol 1 (and 1 transit)
Yalta 1
St Petersburg 2
Samara 1
Riga 4 or 5 (I forget)

GUESS WHAT - I forgot about Minsk (Belarus) - silly me. And that was the only place where I had a problem with the authorities. I also forgot about Borovets in Bulgaria (do ski resorts count?)So make that 15!

But seriously, if anyone wants a first-hand impression of these places please let me know    

Cheers,
Streetwise

[johnnydudeman]

... in response to Re: just read the up-dated profile, you'..., posted by Streetwise on Sep 9, 2002

I'll be in Bucharest and Sofia later this month.  You say you have been to these cities.  I would appreciate any info you have about these cities.  Is Plovdiv worth a visit?

[AronM II]

... in response to Bucharest and Sofia, posted by johnnydudeman on Sep 9, 2002

Married a woman from Pazardjik a few months ago and have been to Sofia and Plovdiv 4 times in the past 8
months (gosh!  Has it been 8 months already???  wow).   Plovdiv is a good way to spend a day but I wouldn't schedule more time than that though.

I'm not sure what kinda info you're looking for but I'll give you some help if you give me a direction.

Just email or post a question....

[Streetwise]

... in response to Bucharest and Sofia, posted by johnnydudeman on Sep 9, 2002

Sorry I just realised you said Plovdiv (Bulgaria) not Ploiesti (Romania). I haven't been to Plovdiv other than passing through the airport on a ski trip, but I heard it's quite a historic old city and the atmosphere is probably more relaxed than in Sofia.

[Streetwise]

... in response to Bucharest and Sofia, posted by johnnydudeman on Sep 9, 2002

As a city to visit, I would say Bucharest is better than Sofia; there seems to be more going on there. The city is laid out as a series of big wide open "piazzas" (squares) linked by the main streets and gives a feeling of open spaces, with plenty of green parks and trees.  It feels nice walking around there especially in summer, and also quite safe. Just watch out for the gipsies (mostly kids) begging and picking pockets in certain areas. I found the area of Dorobantii a good place to get my head together, it's got tree-lined streets, a reasonable supermarket for most supplies, and even a British Pub (the White Lion) down one side street which is just like home. Nightlife is good too, there are plenty of restaurants bars and clubs where the trendies go but that is not the place for quality meetings. The Romanians themselves are quite an exuberant and high spirited people with a sense of humour (maybe its their Latin heritage). Certainly not intimidating in any way.  

I have less experience of Sofia but I recall that the centre was a little more run-down than Bucharest, not as impressive a city and with less going on in general. I also found the people in Bulgaria to me slightly more dour and aggressive than those in Romania, but I had no problems. There didn't seem to be quite as much western influence in Sofia, and I did feel rather more "exposed" in the city, but nothing of concern (just usual precautions).  

Having said all that, there seem to be more Bulgarian than Romanian girls listed with agencies, so opportunities may be better there. Also I found the Romanian girls (at least in Bucharest) to be rather complex and temperamental, but that may have just been my luck. In Bulgaria they seemed more straightforward. One point about Romania, it is probably worth looking beyond Bucharest; most of the profiles I've seen were from outside the city, and they have a nicer mentality further out.

Which brings me to Ploiesti; it was a long time ago, and just the one visit to meet a specific girl, but I recall a train journey of about 2 hours from Bucharest Nord station, and the place itself was rather grim (it's a city of oil refineries etc). The residential areas were pretty run-down. Of course that doesn't matter if you are "on a mission" but I wouldn't go there unless you have a pre-arranged reason for doing so. It has its share of nice ladies but there is little chance of a spontaneous meeting (no cafes or bars worth talking about), so you'd need to fix things up in a advance.

Have a great trip, I believe you will enjoy it
(I must have done, I went back enough times!)

[johnnydudeman]

... in response to Re: Bucharest and Sofia, posted by Streetwise on Sep 10, 2002

Do you have any recommenadations for agencies in Romania and/or Bulgaria?  What was the first name of the girl you met in Ploiesti?

[Streetwise]

... in response to hey Streetwise, posted by johnnydudeman on Sep 12, 2002

I used to go over to Bucharest to visit a German buddy and we had a few successful missions around town but that's not the best way to meet serious girls. The only agency I used was being run by a the Romanian wife of a guy from Liverpool (it never really got off the ground, but that's where I got the details of the girl I met in Ploiesti, her name was Daniela Dumitru).

The only agencies I have come across since are the large agencies like Foreign Affair (www.loveme.com) which have some Romanian and Bulgarian profiles on their listings (via search engine.)

"Amazing Women" used to specialise in Bulgarian ladies but I don't know if they are still going.

If you find better results than this please let us know!

[Pordzhik]

... in response to Any Brits with experience of UK Immigrat..., posted by Streetwise on Sep 9, 2002

The applicant always has to go through the interview whatever the reason for the visa.

It won't help at all to be present at the interview as you'll be ignored or at best called to clarify some point.

If they suspect that there is any romantic involvment or mention of internet dating they definately will not give a visitor visa. (if you choose to lie about this, then consider what effect this will have on any later application for a marriage visa and remember that the marriage visa is just what they say it is, they won't take it lightly if you try to sponsor multiple marriage visas.

If you need anything else just post it on P-L, I don't post here all the time, usually just lurk once or twice a week.

BTW she could always try the lorry route

[Streetwise]

... in response to Re: Any Brits with experience of UK Immi..., posted by Pordzhik on Sep 9, 2002

So if you tell them the truth, the visitors' visa gets refused; and if you don't, and they rumble you, the marriage visa also gets refused.

About this lorry route...

[Pordzhik]

... in response to Between a rock and a hard place, posted by Streetwise on Sep 9, 2002

What I mean is; If you spin some tale and try for the visitors visa and later decide to go for a marriage visa you then have the added problem of deciding when the romance began as you will need lots of evidence (phone bills, photos, copies of visas, letters and emails etc) of the proof of length and depth of the relationship. So if the visitors visa is refused it will set back an application for a marriage visa by some time.

It is possible to marry in England and Wales (don't know about Scotland or Northern Ireland)with any visa or without a visa at all, but you'll be asking for trouble and it could be some considerable time before the lady gets her Further Leave to Remain let alone Permanant Leave to Remain.

As for the lorry route; Any R/U lady who puts herself in the hands of the people traffickers stands a high chance of finding herself sold to a brothel in the Balkans.

http://www.ind.homeoffice.gov.uk/default.asp?PageId=106

[Cold Warrior]

... in response to Between a rock and a hard place, posted by Streetwise on Sep 9, 2002

Seems to me that most of the waitresses in London are Eastern European girls. If you hang around Covent garden or Leicester Square you might meet someone. I bet they came by the lorry route and would like to get married to stay.

[Pordzhik]

... in response to RW in London, posted by Cold Warrior on Sep 9, 2002

A lot of them came in the years after '91 claiming Asylum. But in the last five or so years it's becoming more difficult for them (FSUers)to do this.

[Pordzhik]

... in response to RW in London, posted by Cold Warrior on Sep 9, 2002

Polish, Czech, Slovakia, Slovenia and the Baltics mainly, not so many from Russia/Ukraine. Most RW/UW live in the run down areas of East London.

A good place to start is Russianlondon.com will list Russian nights at the Aquarium (nightclub)or Loot.co.uk personals (heartsearch international) which will include the ladies home addresses as loot won't take listings from abroad without addresses.

I was joking about the lorry route, it's mostly used by Afghans, Iraqis, Chinese and some from the Balkans.