You can meet her in Switzerland. There she doesn't need visa, and you can use the normal Schengen Visa. Beware of Russia girl scams! Note: the rules are done by Europe (for EU visa), I never seen the 5 year blacklist.

@GiacomoCatenazzi Thanks for the info! Don't worry, she and I met in real life and we've been together for a year LOL ... But where is more info about Switzerland? How can we get to Portugal through there?

@GiacomoCatenazzi Here it shows visa is required: en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visa_requirements_for_Russian_citize‌​ns ... Maybe you meant Swaziland?? LOL

Right. Switzerland is no more visa free, so usual Schengen visa, so usual requirements (and so, no embassies are better then other).

@GiacomoCatenazzi ... Tears falling.... so there's no answer?

there is a lot of Russian tourist in Europe, so it should not be difficult to have the visa. Just careful: do not put money in her account: this will be noticed and be a major reason to refuse the visa. Moscow is also one of the most expensive city in the world, so (if she come from this of St Peterborough) it should not be difficult to proof that she can maintain herself. So prepare good documents, and doesn't overdue: be honest.

@GiacomoCatenazzi Switzerland was never visa free for Russian citizens.

Where did you get the info about $3500?

@Neusser see my comment under Phoog's answer below

ru.usembassy.gov/u-s-citizen-services/victims-of-crime/… - I sincerely hope you and your girl are a happy couple but your question almost exactly mirrors a common dating scam.

@Freiheit Thanks, but luckily we met in real life and together for a year. No internet was involved haha

@solrac WONDERFUL. I wish you happy relationship and a fun vacation

@GiacomoCatenazzi As the OP is a US citizen as well as Brasilian, he does not need an advance visa for Switzerland.

@AndrewLazarus — this is my Russian girlfriend's issue, not mine. As a dual Brazilian + US passport holder, I have access to the entire world it seems, and Brazil has an uncanny relationship with SO many countries that allow us 3 months visa free, where even US citizens don't get that. If only she had that too...

@Fattie — source for your info? Otherwise I disregard your comment

Ability to provide a sponsorship letter will depend on Schengen country you are going to visit - France for example will likely only approve letters for spouses and close relatives, while The Czech Republic may approve letter for a girlfriend - so you may choose a country with a longer number of days(by the rule of the first port of entry) which approves letters from non-relative and then go to the country which does not but don't forget specify both countries in your trip plan if required. Anyway consult someone and 200.000 RUB is very exaggerated I guess 80.000 + prepaid hotel would suffice.

P.S. Also black listing sound like scam tbh, I would go with sponsorship letter and finding a job - unemployment rate in Russia is much less than you may even imagine.

@BorisTreukhov Good info about Czech, thanks!

Adding to @GiacomoCatenazzi comment about not putting money into her bank account. I had someone visiting me in the US from Canada and the border agent obviously wanted similar proof of ties, commitment, and self-sufficiencies with money. They made it clear that people are not allowed to give each other money to leave in their account to make it seem like they're financially covered. They said this could be seen as fraud. So, don't risk that.

I have another thing to say. Maybe, if your girlfriend is not imaginary, she just doesn't want to go. You're pushing here and she clings to visa issues. Talk to her, ask if she really want to meet, when and where. Better provide some options and room.

@GiacomoCatenazzi there is a lot of Russian tourist in Europe, so it should not be difficult to have the visa - I've heard many times that the more single, young and girl you are, the more more difficult it gets (because why would girls even want to enter a country if not to become illegal prostitutes?) My sister (early 20s, single, steady job, enough money) couldn't get a tourist visa to go to Spain. I (30+ Russian guy, unemployed at the time) was able to get a visa to go to France without a problem. Should never put your trust in anecdotal evidences like this, but for what it's worth.

@alamar Quite the opposite; she will be devastated if she can't go. I'm totally fine going alone and staying as little time as possible, but she hates being apart from me. It's her unbridled, passionate vehemence about the difficulty of her visa process that prompted me to post this. And it seems she's right. Being a housewife / student type, without a sponsorship letter she's screwed. And that's exactly what she lacked before, but thanks to this thread we may try for Czech Republic with me as the sponsor.

@Headcrab Thank you! Yes, you're absolutely right. My gf was in her 20's when she tried before, and was over the top sexy and wild. They probably imagined exactly this. Insta-prostitute! LOL. AND she's never even had a job; only boyfriends who've taken care of her, hence "housewife" type, so her situation is even more difficult. This may be anecdotal, but it's totally, 100% right on. Now she's 33, and while still super sexy I think she knows now to dumb down her looks, and maybe simply looking older than 25 will help her. Plus Portugal is working hard to open up tourism since 2016.

@solrac If your gf is real and checks out, then please include that in the question. What you posted looks exactly like "russian gf scam", so people get distracted by that and you're getting wrong answers .

@Agent_L Correct; I didn't realize the Russian gf scam was so bad.

@solrac It is. We get so many questions about this here that there's a meta post about it and a canonical question for it.

@reirab I see... So what is a canonical question anyway? Is it like a sacred question listed on the Stack Exchange testament?

@solrac A canonical question is where we have a question that gets asked so often that we just make a generic question with thorough answer(s) to cover the different cases that could be asked, then link to that (already answered) question whenever someone poses a similar question by closing the new question as a duplicate of that one.

@reirab Cool thanks for the info. Nice chat room we got teleported into!