Russian Women FAQ
Can a single young Russian woman receive a visa to visit me?
What is a safe way to find my Russian woman?
How to avoid or identify scams.
How to write your first (introduction) letter.
Your first personal meeting with her.
What documents does your fiancée needs to marry in your country?
Unfortunately there are women (and men) and suspicious organizations who are trying to get money from you. However, these people are a minority in compare to the total offer of dating agencies and all other related RW web sites. But especially in the beginning of your contact, be careful! I could give you thousands of examples how to check if everything is ok, but I suggest to visit and read a great chapter about dating scams and of course the 'tips' we published there. If our information page is not answering your questions, I only can recommend the Anti-Scam-Guide to you. If you read the Anti-Scam-Guide then no person will be able to scam you.
If you are scammed then always report this. The authorities can only do official things when dating scams are officially reported. You can report this at a very good anti scam website: http://www.antiscam.net/
You always can ask scam-related questions to the owners of this site, they are really good and experts in the anti-scam-world.
And do not forget the number one Anti Scam Rule:
Never send money to a, for you personal unknown, female member, listed in any Agency or individual, if she is asking for it. Report any suspicious cases related to this rule.
This answer is one of the most frequent questions men are
asking us.
The answer for most (Western) countries is simple: 'NO'
Although this is not a legal statement, you will find on many official Government sites the rules and procedures to receive a visa to enter a western country. (also visit our visa & immigration chapter)
For example, to enter the US as a single young Russian woman, she only can do this using a K1-fiancee visa. To obtain a 'tourist' visa is in principal impossible for her to enter the US or Canada and many more Western countries.
However, many Russian women tell their western 'friend' that they know a local travel agency who can help her to obtain a visa for a few hundred of dollars. Never believe this, because there are no such things as 'magic visa's'. If you hear something like this, then you probably are involved in an attempt to scam you. Fiancée and tourist visa's can only be obtained according to the rules and procedures of the specific Embassy. And if some local travel agency indeed can arrange visa's without dealing according to these strict rules, they are probably breaking the law and if an Embassy finally finds out, your Russian girlfriend could be refused for ever. So, don't take any risk by using suspicious agencies and confirm yourself that they indeed are working according to your Embassy rules and procedures.
Always ask the latest visa news, rules and procedures at your Embassy located in Russia. They are the only one who can legally advise you about visa for your Russian girlfriend. Visit our visa & immigration chapter for more information and Embassy links.
Safe places to find your Russian women are agencies who use strict rules and policies to publish a woman's profile. Always read or ask the specific agency how they 'check' their Russian women before publishing them. It is also important to do some checking of the agency itself. It is necessary that a real honest agency has published their normal postal address, including phone and fax numbers. Also check their domain-name using the WHOIS.net database and see which address is published (owner) to this domain-name Also read the 'about us' (or similar) page to read more about an agency. If you have any questions to convince yourself if a specific agency is reliable, then always ask your questions to this agency before using any of their paid services, for example you can ask them what their anti-scam policy is. It is unnecessary to say that we only work with serious and reliable agencies.
My advice is to use only agencies without recurring payment services. There are many agencies who offer their women for 'free', but to correspond with them you have to use their paid email forward/translation service and they never will give you the personal contact information of these women. If you don't mind that, then be my guest, it's your money, but for many reasons a waist of money.
The usual unsafe places are the place-your-ad-for-free
places or free dating sites. These free dating sites never will
or can check
their visitors, so anyone (including the weirdo's and
scammers) can post their profile anonymous
at own risk. From all dating scam reports I receive,
90% are coming from these post-free dating sites and from
this 90% it is always the 'woman' who took the initiative to
write the man first. And believe me or not, most of these
'women' are not even women, but just men who pretend they
are women and use photos from unknown women or use photo's
from real dating agencies.
So be careful when using free dating services, 'free' in
this case does not mean 'cheap'. If you really are serious
to find a Russian partner for marriage, then it will always
cost you money, so don't try to safe money in the wrong way.
And if you already have contact with a Russian woman and
wants to be sure she is honest and really existing, you
always can perform a
background
check, just to be certain.
This is the most important issue when trying to find a woman in this crazy 'cyber space'. Your first letter will give your preferred woman her first impression of what kind of man you are. This letter will make her decide if she wants to respond to you or not. So here are some tips.
Write about your personal situation:
your personal information (kids, age etc.)
about your work (not too comprehensive in the first letter)
where you live (country, city, house, apartment, etc.)
about your hobbies
what you like but also what you dislike
detailed description of yourself (character, qualities, hobbies)
and
above all:
the
reason why you are writing 'her' (and not only because she has a
nice face) and also try to describe the kind of woman you are
looking for. Don't give her the impression that she is number
20 of your 'women's list'.
Don't forget to send (attach) some clear photo's (2 or 3) of you, it's always nice to see a 'face' when reading about a person. Especially women can 'read' a man's face more than you and I ever will understand.
After
you finish your first letter, let one of your best friends or members of your family
read it and ask if they recognize 'you' in this letter.
Don't
exaggerate, just be yourself, never write things to impress the woman in
a way you can never accomplish.
First of all, don't wait too long before meeting her in person. Too long writing or phoning each other could give both of you a wrong image about the persons you both are in 'real life'. Compare this effect by reading a book and after reading, watch the movie about this book, you will agree that there will be a big difference between the 'image' you created from the book and the 'image' they present in the movie.
Suggest her to visit each other in her country. Just for the following reasons:
For you it's much easier to get a visa (within 2 weeks). For her it can take sometimes days of traveling to visit the nearest Embassy or Consulate of your country. And forget the impossibility the get a US tourist visa for your Russian girlfriend, she never will get this.
For the first meeting she will feel more comfortable in her own environment.
She will be proud to show you her country and introduce you to her family.
You also can choose to meet each other in a (for her) visa friendly country or to visit each other in one of the main cities of her country like Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kiev, or Almaty (wherever she lives).
Showing to her that you are interesting in her and her culture will give her the impression that you are really serious in meeting her. Never forget, the first meeting is not like meeting each other in some restaurant or coffee shop.
The European, US and other western countries formal immigration rules and procedures can differ from each other, but below is a list of documents your fiancée at least needs to marry you (or enter your country) in your country:
Birth certificate.
Proof of authenticity of her birth certificate.
Proof
of being unmarried (or never married before).
or
Official divorcement documents.
Official guardianship documents concerning her children if the biological father is known on the birth certificate of her children. Official permission of the biological father that he allows his child(ren) to live abroad.
Birth certificate of any children.
Proof of authenticity of her children(s) birth certificate(s).
Certificate of residence
Proof of authenticity of certificate of residence.
Russian passport (with the stamp of her residence, "propiska")
Official translation (into your language) of all official documents.
A visa to enter your country
This is one of the most frequently asked questions. My answer is yes!
In any kind of 'business" there are some organizations or individuals who are trying to fraud you. So please always be careful before you start to transport money to some woman or local Agency or other related organization who is 'willing' to help you in finding your woman of your dreams.
The main reason that there are so many Russian (and other CIS-countries) women available, in comparison with the women of your own country, is often a matter of supply and demand. The main reason that Russian women are seeking men in another country is for very sad, but unfortunately real statistic facts. For example the Russian male life expectancy, in years, is only 59.9 and for women, in years, 74.8. Especially for women over 35 years old, it's very difficult to find a (healthy) man in her own country. You can find many resources on the web about these Russian statistic population facts. The future for Russian women, to live long and happy with their Russian men is not very promising. Alcohol, serious decease's and the large unemployment problems for Russian men are the main reason for this problem. Beside that, there are more women in Russia then men.
Another statistical fact is that the average Russian woman marries 2.2 times in her lifetime; the average Russian man marries 3.5 times in a lifetime. Many Russian women will stay single. Also the young Russian women know these facts and starts early to find their future with foreign men.
Perhaps now you understand a little bit why Russian women (already starting in their early years) are seeking men in other (western) countries.
Are Russian women looking for older men?
Can I contact a woman who is 20 years younger than me?
These questions are number 2 on the general list of "Most frequently asked questions"
I interviewed 5 different kind of Russian women (including my own Russian wife) from different kind of country origin, like Russia, Kazakhstan and Ukraine. My answers and explanations are coming directly from them and are not personal opinions of myself.
In general Russian women prefer to have a man of their own age or within reasonable age difference. Just like in western countries. There is no special reason that the age difference between Russian couples and couples from other countries are different from each other. Of course there are always exceptions, but those exceptions are certainly not a typical wish of a Russian woman. Like we explained in our previous FAQ (are these women real).
But why can you read often in these women ad's (presented through Dating agencies) a maximum preferable age with differences of sometimes 10, 15 and even 20 years?
There are many reasons for this, one of the reason you can read in our FAQ "Are These Women Real?" or visit a great chapter about dating scams, concerning available men in their own country. Other reasons are that women, those who already have passed their 30th's, prefer to have an older man (but not too old) just because they think that especially these category of men are really serious in trying to find a new relationship with a Russian woman. Also because of the fact that these age-category men probably have passed their "wild years". In other words they consider these men as more mature and think they have more consciousness of their responsibilities. These facts gives the woman more self confidence in finding the right man for her.
And another reason is that Russian women, who already have passed their 30th's or 35th's, hardly can find a (single/free) man in Russia and know they will have more success with men from other countries. But of course there are also women who think they can increase their chances (in finding a man) by being not so critical about age. But please don't think that young women of 24 years old are desperately seeking for men over their 40th's or 50th's.
I admit it would look very interesting for an over 45 y.o. man to have a 23 y.o. model looking knock-out beside him, but do you really think this relationship will last forever?
The most important issue for Russian women, who are seeking men, is; if the spiritual, intellectual and emotional qualities of the man are at the same level of the woman and the man has a nice character, is in good shape, good health and has a regular job, age will not be a critical success factor.
For your information, my age difference with my Russian wife is 9 years.