In today’s modern world meeting someone from another country is as easy as going to a supermarket. You will definitely meet some foreigners, if you live in a metropolitan area. People travel a lot, and move around the globe freely.
However, as you may know, salaries in the USA, UK, Canada, or Australia are different than in Ukraine, Belarus, or Russia. If you think $8/hour is not a very good pay, consider this: after the recent collapse of Russian rouble and Ukrainian hryvnia, many people there are lucky to earn $2/hour.
Inviting a Russian or Ukrainian woman to visit you
If you want to invite a lady you are dating to visit you in your country, the cost of the tickets may be more than her monthly pay. In addition, she would need to apply for a visa to Europe, U.S. or Australia, which also costs around $100.
These costs are not too prohibitive when you earn $800/week, but if you earn $800/month or less (which some women do), it doesn’t look that simple. Surely, many Russian and Ukrainian women would love to come over to see you, but if they were to choose a vacation spot for themselves, they would not be going there, and would not be able to afford it.
The message we get from ladies on Elena’s Models is that men think a girl should simply purchase tickets and visit them. If this is what you think, then it should be you who needs to buy tickets and jump on the plane. Ask the lady if she is free to spend a weekend with you, and go ahead!
Courting customs in Russia and Ukraine
Remember the customs of courting in Russia and Ukraine dictate that the man should be the one who initiates everything. It’s unlikely she will invite you to visit; she is waiting for you to suggest how you want to meet.
Most girls commenting on my Russian dating blog are completely against of any tips or suggestions that a woman must help the relationship move forward: in their opinion, is a lady shows initiative, the guy will think that she is too eager, and wouldn’t value her.
(Read more here: 7 core beliefs of Russian and Ukrainian women in love and dating)
Safety concerns
Safety and security are more important to females than they are to males. Ladies are naturally more vulnerable.
If you want a Russian or Ukrainian woman to visit you or meet in a third country, make her feel safe and secure by providing her with copies of your documents, address and phone number, maybe some photos and videos of your home, and an official invitation in your name.
If this all sounds like too much work, then how can she feel secure going to another country to visit a man who doesn’t even want to move a finger for her?
Paying women’s travel expenses
The easiest way to assist with ladies’ travel expenses is to book tickets in her name online, and pay for them yourself. Tell her you will reimburse her for the costs of the visa, once she is in your country.
She can also have a local travel agent to book her tickets, and you can talk to the agency directly and pay to them. Sending money via Western Union is not advisable, better transfer funds to a bank account.
In you still feel a woman ought to pay her own travel expenses, then you should definitely visit her yourself first.
All pictures on this page are of our successful couples, who took the plunge and arranged to meet in person. See more success stories on our site
Read also:
- What love means to Russian and Ukrainian women?
- How likely are women to relocate?
- Why Ukrainian women want to leave Ukraine
- Genuine relationships without scams
- What to do if a Ukrainian woman asks you to go shopping?
>> All articles (in English)
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Elena, I really like your site. The women I have met are very sociable and often reply to me within a day. I have established a very good communication and I feel that your site is safe and secure for both parties involved. I was not aware of the courting culture/customs in Russia/Ukraine. I guess it is a good thing that I am a strong communicator. And as an American who is not familiar with the social customs of your country(s) I feel like I am walking on eggshells at times trying to decide what is appropriate to ask and… Read more »
I think it is reasonable to meet in a large city such as Kiev, there is convenient train and air service that makes meeting less stressful for both people, and many cultural places to visit together, you will know if relationship has chemistry to move forward 😀
Great post Elena! Any guy who wants a lady to visit his country and expect a lady to pay for the ticket especially in the current situation in the Ukraine and Russia, is not worth knowing about! I know a Ukrainian lady who told me that she had an American guy ask her to visit him but he wasn’t prepared to pay or help with the airline ticket and needless to say she wasn’t impressed and ditched him. Wake up guys and be more thoughtful!
Of course the more wealthy man should pay for the meeting with all these lovely Russian and Ukrainian woman.
Just make sure to know the woman well before inviting. A background check is sometimes necessary. Nasty surprises can await you if you’re too naive or gullible. Some girls might have a hidden agenda why they choose a particular country (family there, already have someone else they want to meet etc..). In their country men has to pay for everything but at the same time most men stay at home & drink & women have to support them. This gets me quite confused. Anyways there is nothing wrong being a gentlemen but at the same time keep your eyes peeled… Read more »
It seems your “knowledge” stems from online dating forums, and not from personal experience 😉
How many women have you met in real life? 🙂 🙂
“Background check”?
Just show each other your documents on Skype.
Don’t read too much this forum nonsense, guys giving “tips” like this have been single forever.
I do not buy it, “Why so serious?”. I have been to Russia several time both with work and for fun, and I think Russian women are just like any other women. Treat her with respect and kindness, and that is what you get back, there is no need to make things more complex then they are.
Background check really? Is that a good way to start a new relationship? Time always show who people are. A little bit of confidence it is also good I think.
Thank you for this post. From my experience I can tell that the best way to meet for the first time is to visit some place in Ukraine or Russia. It is cheaper than travel abroad (for her and partially for him). When I and my friend Jonathan decided to meet in real life, I suggested to visit Lvov (he was in Prague). It was reasonable and safe for me (nevertheless he payed for my train tickets) and acceptable for him. He proposed me to go to Vienna, but I was afraid with all these visas problems. I understood that… Read more »
I wanted to add my 5 cents about level of life in Ukraine. As you might know we hav a war and economical crisis. Due to the raise of dollar the average income for today is 42$ a month. Also I found couple useful links for you guys to know I am not making it up and this is reality http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_European_countries_by_average_wage http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-03-02/the-15-most-miserable-economies-in-the-world As a girl I frequently get opinions from guys that they think a girl should pay her trip to Kiev for example, or think that we all have europian or american visas. Or driver license. According to our… Read more »
Sasha, some women in Russia and Ukraine still earn $800/month and more. They usually are either managers in good companies, or work online as freelancers or contractors. My 20-year-old nephew in Russia earns 50,000 Roubles working a normal day job for a mobile communications company, as a retail floor superwiser. Our administrators in Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine earn that much ($35-40/day) and more. If you have Internet access, try sites like fiverr, elance, odesk, 99designs, and other freelance jobs sites. See what other people offer and what you can do. I know people living in Ukraine and working online earning… Read more »
I did not mean myself, I am a very good photographer. Still our income reduced at least 6 times because of raise of a dollar. People in big cities hav jobs like that, but in small times regular income is like 2000 – 3000 hryvnas, It is like 100$ for now. I am saying this because I live here and I get annoyed when a man suggests that we girls should pay for train tickets or hotel if we are meeting. I think its not very cute.
My dear Elena, I believe you must have read my profile or could be ladies have commented about my profile,again ,possibly,there are men having the same issue like mine. I personally have very high desire to marry a Russian woman(women from former USSR) because of their traditional home coziness;seeing their man as a husband and not boyfriend and belief in marriage as one love.The problem I have now is that I am independent accountant always in demand by CPA firms that subcontract jobs to me.I cannot travel for ten days.Ukraine and Russia will take me two days to get there… Read more »
Nelson, most ladies would travel for a meeting. But getting a US visa may be hard for them. You could, for example, suggest a meeting in Caribbean or Dominican republic for a long weekend, which is close to the US.
Usually it’s about trust. If a woman really likes you and trusts you, she will travel to meet you.
I’ve met a lof of foreign men who are not acquainted with Russian customs. To me it felt like that this lack of knowledge was on purpose. I’m talking about paying for your lady. How convinient it was not to pay! I even had european men asking me to pay for dinner for the two of us even though they seemed having well-paid jobs. At that time I was a young student who wasn’t working or working as a model earning 10-30$ few times a month. My mom was keeping me. And to my dissapointment majority of the foreign men… Read more »
Elena, I would like to notice, that people with a degree are unappreciated and undervalued in ex- USSR countries. Personally me, I often was not hired because of my two diplomas and because I speak English. The owners of business prefer to hire their relatives or less qualified workers trying to be sure that staff of their company will be more dependable. In my case, on the interview I was asked about my plans to move to US or EU. The owners did not believe that I am really planning work for them. This make a difference between ex- USSR… Read more »
You will never know until you try, I was earning $400/month working for a couple of hours a day on a Russian copywriting website (etxt), last year (2014), just to try it, so it’s possible even locally. The reason I did it was to see how it works, is it really possible to earn real money online on Russian Internet. It is possible to anyone, you, me, others. People have all these excuses but do not try.
It may be very difficult for a woman to visit an unknown man in an unknown country. If a man is thoughtful and caring enough can he afford himself troubling her like that? I believe no.
Every woman, especially in Russia expects her man to take initiative and inspire trust.
Safety comes first, it is true. Women are the most cautious and conservative people, and Russian and Ukrainian women too, so the first that men should do is to make her feel safety. More than that women in Russia usually do not have big wage, so paying for women’s travel is the men’s problem and duty.
Wr all know that the way of thinking of foreigners is different from the one of Russian or Ukrainian people. We are used to think that the man always pays for a woman he invites anywhere. And that is normal for our countries. The things are different in the USA, Britain, Germany, etc. But in my case I was lucky enough meeting foreigners. I often met them a couple of years ago as I worked with them as a translator. And I should say that in the majority of cases they paid for me in cafes, restaurants, museums, etc. without… Read more »
Who pays for the meeting? Of course, men. For Russian and Ukrainian cultures it is obvious. Men earn money, men provide their families with all the necessary. So it is the man who should travel firstly. Otherwise he could spoil positive relations.
Love in the distance is widespread today. It compels lovers visit each other in different countries. I’m from Ukraine and I absolutely agree that at the beginning of relationships men should pay for meetings. But when relationships are close enough, lovers may plan their total budget and it’s not humiliating for lady if she’ll pay for the ticket.
I can not imagine how brave are women who go in to the other country to spend some days with a person who they really don’t know. I think it is quite dangerous for a woman to travel so far all alone. If you are willing to risk your life and safety to meet your love , I truly admire you.
So I just had to comment on these comments. I am Canadian with British parents living in the USA. I was taught that the man ALWAYS pays when inviting a lady out on a date, a visit or anything else. I even do this with my friends at home when they can afford to pay for themselves. I was taught that it is being polite, just like opening the door or saying please and thank you. So now take into consideration the income difference and it just blows my mind that ANY man on here wouldn’t pay for the trip,… Read more »
Елена, добрый день! Спасибо большое за ваши комментарии и интересные статьи в вашем блоге. Я хотела бы задать Вам один вопрос, который у меня возник в результате общения с мужчиной на вашем сайте. Мы переписывались в течении месяца, и несколько раз разговаривали по телефону. У нас сложились теплые взаимоотношения и он пригласил меня на ” романтический уикенд” в другую страну, это должна была быть наша первая встреча. Из нашей переписки было понятно, что я достаточно финансово независима, и у меня есть все необходимые визы для путешествий по миру. Честно говоря, я была немного шокирована его предложением мне самой оплатить мои… Read more »
Christina, “мужчина должен”, “женщина должна” — это прошлый век. Никто никому ничего не должен. Каждый делает то, что им хочется и на что они согласны. Когда о чем-то договариваетесь, обговаривайте все моменты, если вас что-то не устраивает — скажите про это. Романтические отношения — это партнерство, каждый вкладывает, что хочет и что может. Я бы лично не стала платить за билеты на встречу с мужчиной в другой стране: если он меня хочет увидеть и не хочет оплачивать мне билеты — пусть прилетает сам. Я еще не знаю, понравится ли он мне при личном общении, да и мне, чтобы ехать куда-то,… Read more »
For me this question is really the most difficult one when I am thinking to find man of my dream through the special dating site. Not only for women it is dangerous to go to another country in order to have a date. Also men are afraid to pay for the girl who does not want to have serious relations, but like to travel abroad for someone’s expense. One of my former colleagues had not very good experience meeting with guys in foreign countries getting know them before via dating sites. She spent more than one year, a lot of… Read more »