No longer in limbo: St. Charles woman's Ukrainian father gets visa, can return home with her

For 45 minutes Friday morning, Yaroslava Dunn anxiously waited outside the U.S. Embassy in Warsaw for her father.

As he exited, the St. Charles woman tried to read his face to see if the news was good or bad - but her father's facial expression didn't give any clues.

"I had to ask him, 'Did you get it?'" said Dunn, who left St. Charles on March 5 to fly to Poland to help her parents, who fled Kyiv, Ukraine.

He had gotten what they had hoped for: a visa to enter the United States with his daughter.

"I feel good," Iurii Siedov said through his daughter when reached by phone Friday. "Finally, we will all be together."

The 78-year-old nuclear physicist looks forward to being reunited with his wife of nearly 50 years, Nataliia Sukhodolska. The couple left their home in Kyiv together on March 6 and were able to enter Poland, but only she was able to leave for the United States on March 18, going with Dunn's sister, Natasha Stevens, who lives in Wisconsin.

That's because Siedov's visa allowing him to travel to the U.S. had expired early in 2020 and he was unable to renew it due to the pandemic.

"I have a feeling that I've landed somewhere and that I'm not just in limbo," Siedov said after receiving his U.S. visitor visa.

Dunn, who has been telecommuting for work since arriving in Poland, took the day off Friday for her father's appointment. The two celebrated the good news with a dinner at an Italian restaurant in Warsaw.

"We just want to exhale a little," she said Friday.

Dunn said her father's visitor's visa will take three to five business days to process; she hopes to be home with him on March 30. Siedov, Sukhodolska and their two dogs will stay with Dunn and her family at her home in St. Charles.

Dunn and Stevens flew to Poland on March 5 after their parents reached out to them for help to get out of Kyiv. The two women met up with their parents in Warsaw on March 14. Siedov and Sukhodolska fled Kyiv with the help of a Christian organization.

They were delayed in Lviv after realizing they had grabbed the wrong documents in their haste to leave their home. A cousin, who had to stay in Kyiv, was able to retrieve the couple's passports from their home and courier them to the couple in Lviv.

The last several days have been a series of ups and downs as Dunn attempted to secure a visa for her father. She said Friday's appointment was a bit nerve-racking.

When Dunn and her father arrived for his appointment at 9:15 a.m. (3:15 a.m. Chicago time), there were already dozens of others waiting outside the embassy. Many of them had appointments at the same time. But her father was able to get in fairly quickly, Dunn said.

She had hoped to accompany her father as he talked to embassy officials. But once they arrived for their appointment, she was told she would have to wait outside.

She passed the time watching people - and scanning their facial expressions - as they exited the embassy.

"I was kind of looking for him," she said. "When he walked out I was trying to read his face if it was a yes or a no. He was one of those where I didn't know."

Dunn said she's ready to return home and is thankful that she didn't have to resort to the family's backup plan, which would have involved traveling to Italy so her father could stay with his sister.

A family friend who traveled with Dunn's parents from Kyiv and has been staying with Dunn and her father in Warsaw also will be heading to the United States. Dunn said the woman's daughter, who lives in Utah, is flying to Warsaw and will be bringing her mother back to the United States with her.

Though Siedov hopes to return to his homeland one day, he said he will do his part from his daughter's home to help other Ukrainians.

"Absolutely," he said through his daughter when asked if he planned to help others in his homeland. "There's not even a doubt about it."