Hello Everyone,

I have just received an email from my fiancé in Russia. Here are the details about the documents that she wants for her visa interview(which is not scheduled yet):

1. That she has had no previous conviction.
2. That she lives in her city.
3. That she has used only one name.
4. That she has permission to take her son from his father.
5. Her son’s certificate of citizenship (It is enclosed in her foreign passport).
6. Her Russian passport.
7. Her foreign passport.
8. Her tax ID number.
9. Her son’s tax ID number.
10. Reference about her wages.
11. Reference from her work.
12. Her son’s birth certificate. (her son will be coming to America too)
13. Her birth certificate.
14. Her declaration of divorce.
15. Reference that she’s unmarried.

She said that she must have these documents apistled(stamped) and translated by a state agency in Ufa. The cost to have these translated into English is $450 and it takes 35 days to complete. Please tell me if this sounds correct?

Items 1, 4, 7, 12, 13, and 14 are the only items she needs. *None* of them need to be apistled, and none of them need to be translated except the police report, *unless* they are in a language other than Russian, and they are not in English.

In any case $450 sounds really high, even if you did need all that stuff. Like...REALLY high.

Here is a list of everything she needs to bring to the interview: http://moscow.usembassy.gov/consular/consu...cord_id=fiancee
Here is the same list in Russian: http://moscow.usembassy.gov/consular/consu...cord_id=fiancee

Here's a Russian translation of the PDF document linked in item 11 of the consulate list: http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.ph...ost&id=6560

Sounds like she's being "helped" by a fiancee agency over there and they're going to charge her (read: YOU!) $450 for their services which really end up being nothing more than them requesting everything from you.

Whatever she's doing... have her stop it right now (or at least use it only as an "advice" type service) and get your butt active here in the VJ Russia Forum.

This place is 100% free and we'll get you (and her) the right info, no "service fee" required. Unless of course, you want to send us some money. There was something about a "punch and pie" fund getting started up the other day so if you're interested you can PM me for my PayPal info. Be more than happy to set that up for you.

Seriously though, as mox said above, there are certain things she needs and certain things she doesn't. Either way, $450 should never come up again.

Welcome to the forum, hope to see more of you. Ask questions. Lots of them. And keep in mind you're probably going to get a whole hodge-podge of answers that you didn't even want. But, you'll get the ones you want to so just bear with us. GOOD LUCK!!!

Mox, I don't think you meant what you wrote......or am I just not reading and understanding well this morning?

You're certainly right that none of the documents needed in the K-1 process need an apostille. However, the divorce certificates and birth certificates certainly need to be translated into English. Basically, everything needs to be translated, although the translations do not require notarizations or apostilles. The only document that I don't remember for sure as needing translation is the police certificate.....though I would think it would also. Does the police certificate need to be translated?

And $450 is certainly ridiculously high for a few document translations.

Yes, you're right. I blame lack of coffee. Sorry about that. Just to be clear, here's the official word from the embassy:

Copies and translations of each document into English are required. Translations must be notarized only when the original is in a language OTHER than Russian. (e.g. a translation from Ukrainian into English must be notarized, translation from Russian into English does not need to be notarized).

To the OP, this is why you want to not pay us instead of paying someone else. When one of us makes a mistake, someone else will step in to correct. See...I was just...um...making that point is all.

All I can add is the support that $450, is not only high it, is off the scale! Nor should it take 35 days.

That was my initial reaction as well regarding the cost and time frame to translate these documents. I think sometimes she is too quick to spend too much money without doing any comparison shopping or research. Now, if only I can get her to understand this... Thank you all for the responses. I am getting smarter through this website:)

What would be the average cost for translating these documents? I want to be able to tell her a price range and timeframe to try to attain.

I'd say that anything more than $10 per document is getting too expensive, and I'm pretty sure you could get someone to do it for much less than $10 per document if she looked hard enough.

Here's the thing with translations: it can be done by anyone who is capable of translating the document. It doesn't have to be done by someone "registered" or anything like that. If she lives near a university, she might be able to find a student willing to do it for super cheap. It's also likely that she has a friend or relative or co-worker who is versed well enough in English to do the translation. Getting it done for free is not out of the realm of possibilities.

My Alla paid 120 rubles per document with apostille done in 24-48 hours.

My wife had to recently get a new birth certificate and apostille (just in case the NVC requires it) and a notarization, and it cost close to $50. I guess that was for 4 or 5 pages of documentation. So that was around $10 or a bit more per page but it was done at an English language school in Siberia. In the more remote areas it's harder to find good translators who will certify their work which is required by the NVC.

That sounded high but considering how fussy the NVC is, it was worth it to us.

I can recommend an outstanding translator who is very reasonable if anyone needs it. I only needed the birth certificate translated but she was very prompt with it and the fee was something like $ 20.00 plus $ 5.00 for each extra copy I wanted. That included a well done translation (much more complete than the last I had from someone else at 3 times the price) and a certification.

I could be off a little on the price. It was so cheap I did not pay much attention.

Only police certificate must be notarized,the rest she can just translate herself and attach to the original one .In my case,at the interview they just asked for birth certificate and police record.thats all.
and also if you translate birth certificate at some company get 3 copies its cheaper,since you going to need 3 copies in this process.but again,she can translate it on her own!Only 2 documents should be notarized.
Probably in a small cities they charge more for translation,I would find online companies in moscow that do it,they notarize even if you just email them original one scanned.she could pick up then somehow there.Birth certificate costs around 300-500rubles...

According to the Moscow embassy, the police certificate does not have to be notarized:

Police certificate must contain references to each place (subject to the jurisdiction of the Russian Federation) in which the applicant lives or has lived for more than six months since attaining the age of 16. This includes localities where applicants have lived during university studies. If the applicant was on military service, he/she should bring the certificate from the local draft board. If an applicant has lived abroad for more than one year, a police certificate must also be submitted from the country in which he/she lived. Police certificate validity is one year since the date of issuance.

http://moscow.usembassy.gov/consular/consu...cord_id=fiancee

Corey-Mariya's in Ufa as i recall... Maybe you should send him a pm.

Oh even better then..all you guys need is to translate birth certificates:)))

Kotenochek, it's nice to see you around here again. Come back more often if you can.

thank you..Ill try just been working lately a lot....
when is your interview date?

Since he has now "divorced" his "smells too good" wife and started over in the Pitcairn Islands, I think he has a looong way to go until that interview! He is even on Pitcairn time now! Look at his post date!

Haha yeah i just read that tread:)))IMAO

May 14.


LOL! That one threw me for a second--almost went to see if the clock was correct on my computer.

thats really funny..
I am happy for you guys..not thnat long to wait now...almost there..are you ready for her to come?

Well...yes and no. I personally was ready for her to be here 6 months ago. But I still have a lot of work to get ready for her arrival. But if she was here tomorrow I'd be a happy happy guy!

I know...but you have no idea how much work you have to do once youll really start getting ready:)))my husband was cleaning house for a week and even then hired people to do the lawn and stuff:))))
So cool,she weill come just at ghe perfect time summer!!!

Yes, it's going to be a really gorgeous time of year for her to come. Here on the central coast of California the temperatures don't get real high in the summer, and the breeze of the water is just perfect. I'm sure she's going to love it.

I just have an apartment, and already there is so much to do. I need to get the carpets cleaned, new furniture (my old stuff is bad!), and of course clean top to bottom. I also need to buy another dresser for her clothes, and then get rid of some of the clothes I don't wear anymore to make room in the closet. Oy!

Yep lost and lots of work.We bought house in fbruary 2007,before I came here,but I chose it through listings online:)))We have house nearly empy..who cares we are young couple and we better pay more into mortgage...Let her choose the closet,but also be prepared to have money for that...since so much expences you dont even think of now..you need to add her to your insurance as soon as possible,better even before arrival...then she will need to visiti dentist ..In my case needed to re-do nearly everything.In russian Dentists suck...and thats so expensive...
then driving classes,if she does not already have a license...Just so many little things like that..even clothes..she will be all excited will want new clothes,shop here:)Just save every bit of money while you can:)))))we even got married only in a court yet,just to fit 90 days period and planning only summer to do actual honeymoon and ceremony for us:)
Its just lots of work:)