Alexey told why in the States not to survive without a car and how the attitude of Russians and Americans to credit cards is different
However, winning the lottery is only the first step towards moving to the States. Alexey says that first it was necessary to fill out the form, telling about his whole life over the past 10 years: where he studied, who parents work and so on. The faster the document will be filled, the faster you can get to the embassy, where employees can also refuse to visa.
– I was afraid that initially I filled the questionnaire incorrectly, because you have no chance to view it. I advise those who fill the questionnaire on the Green Card to take a screenshot, then to be sure that the passport number, for example, did not confuse. And in America, dates and months are turned in places, ”says Alexey.
All paperwork was completed in November, after the interview was to be held at the embassy. In 2023, Russians were accepted in Warsaw. The situation was complicated by Covid and a large accumulation of people: in Poland, visas were given to Russians, Belarusians and, of course, Poles. The 4000th number was issued to Alexei, and its queue was suitable only in May 2022.
Prior to the interview, a medical examination was to be underwent, which includes tuberculosis tests and HIV. Analyzes can be handed over in a specialized clinic for about $ 300. It is more convenient for Russians to do this in Moscow, Minsk or Krakow. Alexey decided to take an inspection in Moscow so as not to fly to Europe once again, in which, after the beginning, Russian bank cards stopped working.
The results were ready the very next day, and the young man issued all the necessary certificates that need to be provided at the border.
For a visa through Minsk and Vilnius
Moving to America – a big adventure and journey. Before receiving a visa in the United States, Alexei had to issue a “Schengen” to get to Poland for an interview. The easiest option to enter Europe was to receive a Schengen visa through the Italian embassy.
– I turned to an agency in Krasnoyarsk, because I do not think in this at all. I decided that it was better to pay $ 150 so that they would do everything beautifully. I was appointed an interview at the consulate in Novosibirsk, everything went well. Paid the consular fee, he is about 50 € there. Two weeks later, I was sent a passport with a visa by mail. Initially, you do not know whether you approved you or not. And they gave me a multivisa for six months. Although before that I have never been to Europe. Italians, thank you many times, says Alexey.
The route was not the easiest: by plane to Moscow and from Moscow to Minsk, from Minsk by bus to Vilnius, from Vilnius to Warsaw, too, by bus. Alexei got to the capital of Belarus without any problems, there he spent the night, and the next morning the bus was planned to Vilnius.
– We drove up to the border of Belarus with Lithuania. Someone said that they were there for six to eight hours, but I was lucky. I spent several hours at the station in Vilnius and then moved to the next bus. I met people, mainly Ukrainians rode. They in Ukrainian say: “Yes, I left, my house was bombed”. They talked among themselves in Russian, some in Ukrainian. Nobody told me anything bad for this trip, given that I talked with many, ”says Alexey.
In Poland, according to the Russian passport, Alexei calmly settled in the hotel. The interview was scheduled the next day.
– There is a military guard, a huge turn, you see different passports, mainly Ukrainian, Russian, American. You turn off the phone, hand it over, they will scan you under the frame. Give a number of such as in Sberbank. Give documents and they offer you a translator, if necessary. After you need to pay for the consular fee – $ 330. And you wait until you are called.
– And now I, having arrived at 9:00, only at 14:00 I was freed. I saw how people were refused, although with me a few Russians were refused. In general, there was nothing bad from the Poles or the Americans. I don’t remember, frankly, what questions they asked me, but clarified my mother’s maiden name, who I work, ”says Alexey.
“He was ready for interrogation”
Having received a visa, Alexei returned to Krasnoyarsk to get together before moving. However, the problem arose again: due to blocked cards, it was impossible to buy tickets, but here Krasnoyarsk found a way out.
-Our brothers-SERBES Selling tickets. It was impossible to pay on the site there, but they give you a link and draw up it as if for a cache. In short, everything is fine. I bought a ticket Moscow-Belgrade-New York. In Belgrade, I had to undergo additional control, exposed specifically for those flying to America, ”says Alexei.
In New York, border control was to go again, people with passports quickly passed through a separate queue, while Alexei had to spend several hours at the airport. During the passage of customs, the border guards checked all previously received documents and without problems let the guy into the country.
-I was told that people who flew at the end of spring-early summer at Newark Airport in New Jersey were taken to a separate room. There they were interrogated by the police, they said: “We have nothing against you, but you flew from the aggressor country”. Nobody had never said anything to me, although I was ready to start interrogating me, ”recalls Alexei.
Having passed all the stages of control, Alexei finally ended up in America. But the guy admits that he did not experience euphoria.
– Honestly, I thought America is cool, but as soon as I left the airport to the street, I sharply wanted to go home. I thought: I will fly right now. In short, it was sad, jetlag and stress. A week somewhere there was a feeling that I would buy tickets soon and fly back. But then, when mobilization began in Russia, everything went away, says Krasnoyar.
Rooms for a thousand dollars
For six months, Alexei has been living in New York, in South Brooklyn, near the Emigrant district Brighton Beach. Alexei admits that he chose this place for life for the first time, while there is no car, because of developed public transport.
– There are acquaintances here, and the car is not needed. In any other city they have practically no public transport, no metro, buses go as they want. When you come to Texas, to Florida, you immediately need a car, without it, just in any way, ”Alexei had already understood.
In New York, as in all the big cities, it is difficult to rent housing. Now the guy is renting a room in the apartment.
-The rooms then cost somewhere $ 600 per month. This is a room, not an apartment, not a studio. With a common toilet, bathroom and kitchen. Now they are already worth $ 1000, because many Ukrainians have arrived, a lot. They are given a visa by clicking their fingers, and they go: someone-to Europe, someone-here. I myself know Ukrainians who are unhappy that Ukrainians are here, ”says Alexey.
First of all, Alexey issued travel and credit cards, submitted documents for a driver’s license.
– In Russia, it is believed that a credit card is not a very good thing, that you like you are in debt. And here everything works. A credit card makes it clear to people that you are a reliable person, you pay. A credit card needed right 100%. I handed over to my rights somewhere in September, it’s generally easy, nothing complicated, no one is loading, ”says a young man.
“New York and America is like Moscow and Russia”
The first impressions of New York by Alexei are very ambiguous. In the first weeks, he visited the famous Times Square Square and saw that a bright cinema picture was not quite true: there is an unpleasant odor, garbage is lying, homeless people are sleeping on the sidelines, the locals are trying to sell unnecessary trifles to tourists.
-The first months were cool to walk, to study something. Especially the central park, the statue of freedom, the memorial 9.11. But then begins to feel sick from garbage. There are not as clean as ours, there are no benches, no urn. I walk like a true Krasnoyar, with garbage in my pockets. You just wait for some urn to appear. I don’t really like New York: Brooklyn is calmer, but Manhattan is horror, ”said Alexey.
-New York and America is like Moscow and Russia. I was on the state of Pennsylvania, I was in New Jersey. There is chillial America, there are no huge houses, there are private houses. Had a friend of the American, he just drinks beer near the pool, he generally does not care about everything. He has written: “Fak Biden, Trump 2024”. But there is no chance to survive without a car, so the Russians basically go to Miami and Los Angeles, ”says Alexey.
Now Alexei works as an ITSHNIK, and it’s hard to live with his salary in New York. He later plans to move to another state – Pennsylvania or Texas. But for this you first need to buy a car.
– In general, I earn little. Enough for a living, but it doesn’t work. The average earnings of an American are three to five thousand dollars, I probably have two times less, about one and a half to two comes out.
The real stories of people who started life from scratch in a foreign country, look for “around the world” on the tag #emigration.
How in the USA relate to Russians
Alexey says that in six months he did not encounter a biased attitude due to the fact that he is a Russian. Krasnoyarsk lives in the same house with a girl from Ukraine, and on the first day they made contact.
-We are talking about the special operation sometimes, discuss something, but slightly. They know how they noted when [Russian troops] Kherson left? There were such parties. Ukrainians with whom I talked, all adequate, I have not yet met aggressively tuned to me. And the Americans are always good, especially black, – Alexey admitted.