Utah couple stranded in Eastern Europe asks for those back home to help

SALT LAKE CITY — A Utah man and his wife are seeking the help of Utahns and state officials to get home after what they call years of being stranded in Eastern Europe after policy changes surrounding immigration and visas.

Valentin Sergeif and his wife Anastasia were married in July of 2023 in Salt Lake City. Valentin said they were doing all they could to follow U.S. immigration law to the letter.

When they traveled to Belarus, Anastasia's home country, to finish her education and get her full piano teaching credentials, they thought their case would be processed through the standard consular procedure.

That's when Valentin said policy changed and their short wait turned into "three years stranded in a level-four travel advisory country under sanctions, border shutdowns and immigration freezes."

On top of the legal issues, Valentin said he and his wife both have seen their health deteriorate in their time there.

In 2025, Valentin also lost his job, which he had been working remotely. He said the change came because of international sanctions and regional supply issues.

The couple has been preparing their case, even working with a sponsor in West Valley, while being financially supported by friends and their church congregation to pay the associated fees.

They compiled everything for a meeting at the U.S. embassy in Poland in April, where Valentin said a case worker vetted their case, verified their Utah sponsor and looked over their spousal petition.

"They told us our case was solid, but it was put on hold by the ongoing federal immigration freeze," Valentin said of that initial meeting. "They told us to return with updated documents when the freeze ended."

So when they returned to the Poland U.S. embassy on Oct. 19, Valentin and Anastasia said they believed that would be the day their journey back home began.

Instead, they were met with an entirely new caseworker.

"Instead of our previous officer who had vetted our case and understood our situation of being stranded overseas, there was a replacement officer who came up to the window," he said. "In under 10 minutes, without reviewing the evidence we brought and dismissing our sponsor's affidavit of support, as well as ignoring my wife's piano credentials, she issued a blanket refusal."

"Three years of sacrifice, travel and community support wiped away in 10 minutes by someone who refused to even look at our case file," said Sergeif.

Through it all, he and Anastasia said they are supporting each other as husband and wife — although Valentin, if he wanted, could board a plane to go home to Utah fairly simply because his citizenship is not in question.

"Some people ask why a U.S. citizen didn't just board a plane home, but as a husband, I took marriage vows before God," he said. "I could never abandon my wife alone in a hostile, sanctioned country with closed borders."

Now, the couple is still in Poland and has less than a month before Anastasia's Polish visa expires. The Sergeifs are looking for help from Utahns and lawmakers to push their case and the refusal into a review.

"Right now we're looking for any support we can get, especially if we could reach a senator, like Mike Lee, to open an emergency constituent inquiry to the embassy," Valentin said. "The embassy has the authority to conduct a supervisory review of this refusal before my wife's visa here in Poland runs out."

He added that if the visa does expire, they will be forced back to Belarus and will lose access to the embassy, effectively stranding them indefinitely.

"Utah is a state that supports legal immigration, and it's a state that honors the law. ... We were hoping to do that without getting anyone involved," Valentin said. "But it looks like we will have to reach out to Mike Lee's office as soon as possible."

Valentin said the process is even more sensitive because they have been told they can only reach out to one representative in office in the States.

Their congregation and friends in Utah have set up a GoFundMe* account on their behalf.

*KSL.com does not assure that the money deposited to the account will be applied for the benefit of the persons named as beneficiaries. If you are considering a deposit to the account, you should consult your own advisers and otherwise proceed at your own risk.

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