sad story (long)

[Apk1]

Today my wife had to translate to a police officer the sad story of a very young and naive 19 y.o. Ukraine girl,I will not mention names so I will refer to her as Olga..here is her story:

Olga came here to California 2 weeks ago on a fiance visa, speaking very little english to a man she did not know very well at all. She is 19 and he is 42 y.o.(lets not discuss the age difference right now)
The man tells her he is an engineer, with a good income and contacted her through an agency in Sebastopol. Apparently this man has been married before to a Ukraine girl(she ran away also) and was able to get another k-1 visa for Olga. He arrived in Warsaw to escort her back to California, handling all the paperwork and plane tickets
through New York city port of entry.
After one week, Olga was not happy and wanted to return back home..she is not a runner, just unhappy with the living conditions and the fact the man was not employed and had hardly any money.
She asked for him to take her back to the airport...he tells her he has not any money to give her for return tickets.

Olga runs away, wanders the streets and finds a good samaratin who takes her to the local police station. There she finds a sympathetic female officer who takes her home and giver her refuge. The next day the female officer contacts the fiance and questions him, he gives the police all of Olga's luggage and tells them he wants nothing more to do with her.
The officer then takes her to the local INS office and they refer her to the Border Patrol for questioning,and due to a misunderstanding they handcuff her and lock her up in a cell with criminals. There is no one there to translate for Olga and the female officer learns that if they deport her, she will have it stamped in her passport and never be allowed back here in the States...so she takes Olga back home to sort things out.

Now this is where my wife and I get involved:

The female police officer contacts a travel agent to discuss the cost of the return flight, the travel agent (the one I use) remembers that my wife is Russian and calls me if we can help with translation...and of course we came as quickly as we could. After a three way translation....the police officer to me....me to my wife(for some reason she understands me better than others)....my wife to Olga...we were able to unravel the whole story. The expense of the return flight was too much for local help, so I am not sure how the money will be raised.

Now we need the advise from this board...

1. Is there a INS requirement that to obtain the fiance visa, the man must provide a return ticket within the 90 day window?

2. Is there a Ukraine Embassy in California to contact?

Rags..any help?

The final discussion was about what rights does Olga have? Not even the police have a clue, not sure if they need to contact the district attorney to file a charge against the fiance(he did not hurt her), or if INS needs to go after him for falsification of his petition....

apk

[Richard]

... in response to sad story (long), posted by Apk1 on May 29, 2002

I'm feeling generous tonight, maybe I can contribute towards the cost of a plane ticket home. Anybody else feel generous ...

[Robert D]

... in response to Apk1: email me, posted by Richard on May 30, 2002

I can help as well.

RobertD.

[Apk1]

... in response to Apk1: email me, posted by Richard on May 30, 2002

Thanks for the offer, I think the logistics would be a nightmare to organize such a humanitarian deed.
I did not want to solicit money, just find out what else can be done legally.
Right now she is in good hands, with a very good family and I am not worried she will get back home safely.
The police will probably right the wrong with this guy, hopefully he will come to his senses.

I appreciate the gesture!

[Dan]

... in response to sad story (long), posted by Apk1 on May 29, 2002

The straight-forward answers to your questions are:

1) No, there is no legal obligation for the guy to buy her a return ticket. Moral and ethical obligations - yes, but not legal. The Affadavit of Support he prepared (or should have prepared) for submittal with the I-129, is probably of almost no value for this particular instance - though it would be something I'd suggest having the police officer discuss with the guy in a VERY stern tone.
2) The closest Ukrainian Consulate is in Chicago. The other Consulate is in New York and the Embassy is in Washington, DC.

BTW - I see no falsification of the I-129 petition by the guy. Only the fact that it didn't work out. If her were smart - and I hope he is - he'll find some way to scrape up the grand or so to get her home.

Now, I also see another factor that merits some discussion.

* Why did the girl not know about this guy having a previous wife/fiance from the FSU? The information is required for her to submit in Warsaw and she had only to read the documents (his divorce records) to see this fact. BTW - I guarantee you that this guy did not, in fact, handle all the paperwork for Warsaw. It isn't possible - not even if he were fluent in Russian AND Ukrainian - which is highly-unlikely.

You see, while I don't mean to be casting suspicion on someone that is perhaps innocent of any overt wrong-doing, I do think it is worthwhile to inquire as to what the two people's motives were - both of them. It seems clear there was either; a) a serious lack of communication, or b) out-and-out lies. In my experience, lies of that magnitude are not too difficult to ferret out - so I tend to look elsewhere.

My guess is - based on what little information is presented - that there definitely was some serious misrepresentation - probably on both sides of the ledger. I also suspect that this young lady was not paying attention to important indicators - and she was probably not paying heed to the advice being given her by her friends in the FSU - that (at least partially) led to her finding herself in her current dilemna.

Seriously now - why would anyone move half-way around the world to be totally dependent on another human being with no back-up plan whatsoever - unless she was absolutely head-over-heels in love - which did NOT appear in your representation of the situation.

Just food for thought - nothing more. I truly hope it works out OK for all concerned.

- Dan

[Apk1]

... in response to Sad Indeed . . ., posted by Dan on May 30, 2002

I agree, parts of her story do not seem plausible. After meeting her and having my wife speak to her we came to the conclusion she was just disenchanted with the whole love affair...but we did not press her on her motives to come here either.