Belarus US Immigration Portal

Hey! I have just received a letter with RFE. I am not sure why I have not been notified by email update before the actual mailed letter though (any ideas?).

My marriage of a year and a half did not work out and ended in divorce. I have filed with request to waive the "married" requirement.

This is what I submitted:

Personal affidavit, explaining the development of our relationship and marriage;

Copy of a letter from the landlord, owner of the condominium, which was leased by me and spouse;

Copy of a letter from BECU, confirming we had (and is still open as of a date of this letter) a joint bank account; Copy of a latest estatement for all my accounts with the bank, showing current balance on the joint account, and Copy of a voided check with both our names and mailing address;

Copy of a letter from Institutional Retirement and Trust, showing spouse as my primary and sole beneficiary of my 401K account;

Copy of spouse's summary of life insurance, agent retirement plan, persistency fee guarantee fund plan, commissions/deferred compensation, showing me as a primary and sole beneficiary on all the above mentioned plans;

Copy of my 2012 Federal Tax Return, filed as married filing separately because spouse was not going to and did not file at all;

Copy of my Health and Insurance Detailed Coverage Notice, showing spouse as my dependent on vision coverage plan;

Copy of a letter from UnitedHealthcare Services, Inc., showing me as a dependent on spouse's health benefit plan that was effective 10/01/2012 and is still active as of this date;

Copy of Geico Auto Policy Identification Cards, showing me and spouse as insurance holders on both of our vehicles; and Copy of a letter from Geico confirming me paying off our insurance policy because of non-payment from his side;

Copy of emails with confirmation of a trip for both me and spouse that was paid in full by me;

Copy of monthly parking application/lease amendments for an extra parking spot in both of our names, and copies of payments made by me;

Copy of T-mobile agreement for an additional line to spouse's Family Plan for me with my signature on reverse page;

Copy of occasional photos with spouse made over the course of our relationship (not submitted prior);

Copies of the cards me and spouse exchanged during the course of our relationship; Copies of cards written in both of our names;

Copy of the card that came with the flowers that were sent by spouse to me at work;

Copy of the message notes of me and spouse showing we used to go to Church together;

Copy of the receipt from the place from the day we first met.

Copies of sworn affidavits of 6 people.

I do not have any ownership like a car or a house with the spouse. Can you advise me on anything else please?

For starters, I'm Turkish American and my wife is from Belarus. We got married in summer 2010 in U.S. We decided not to stay away from each other and moved to Turkey where we can live together back in September 2010. We started our IR-1 procedure in April this year after realizing that we should have done this earlier. But anyways, April 11 was the date that we got the NOA1. It's been over 5 months now and we are still waiting for NOA2. Now, here's the thing. My father-in-law is asking us to help him out with the grocery store that he will be opening in Belarus. Although we told the officials that we are living in Turkey and requested Ankara as our interview post, now I don't know if moving again would create a problem. In general, I see that the USC remains in US and the spouse takes care of the needed stuff from overseas. I already moved to Turkey and we've been here almost 3 years. Now thinking about another move??

About the domicile, I kept paying my school bills in U.S and kept my accounts open. I have a job offer for both myself and for my wife for the next summer from my boss that I worked over 7 years. When it comes to AOS, my boss will help us out.

So at this stage, I'm concerned about moving again. Anybody has any experience or suggestions?

Thank you for your time

We filed for my wife's ROC. Unfortunately her fingerprints always cause a problem because they do not scan well. After the second try, immigration sent an RFE requesting, in lieu of the fingerprints, police reports showing no criminal activity. We have one from our local city but they also asked if she "resided" outside the US to have one from those countries as well. The only place she has traveled to was back to her home country to visit family and friends. Usually for 2 months or so at a time. However, this year she has been there for almost 6 months caring for her sick mom. Does 6 months constitute "residence" and require an updated police report? ( she had one before for the K1). Thanks for any response.

I have been getting a lot of questions about the interview process. Because Belarus citizens must travel to Warsaw for their interview it is not only unfair to them but very confusing to all involved. Instead of have numberous conversations with many, I would like to start a tread just for members that have loved ones in Belarus. It has been 6 months now since my fiancee and I went thru this process but most of it is still fresh in my mind. I wanted to post everything that I remembered about the process and a few tips. I welcome others that have recently gone thru the process to add comments.

After you have received your NOA2 wait 4-5 days and then call the NVC 603-334-0700 to find out if they have received the petition and if your fiancée has an embassy case number yet.  Once you have the case number you can ask if it has been sent to the embassy.  After a few days call the US Embassy in Poland +48-22625-1042 between 2-4 pm local time. 

Once they have the petition in their system they will send the fiancée IV-F04  “packet 3” http://poland.usembassy.gov/poland/processing_fiance.html .  Packet 3 is just a check list of everything she should have at this time. She does not have to actually wait for packet 3 to arrive before she completes it and returns it.  Once the list has been completed and signed she will return it and DS-230 PART 1 only to the embassy. She can attach scanned copies and send as email.

Once the  embassy has received packet 3 checklist they will mail “packet 4”.  This is just instructions on how to go about getting her medical and how to set up the interview process. You don’t have to wait on this before you act and may not ever actually receive it. At any time after she has her case number she can set up a medical appointment in Minsk.

Once the medical is complete and all forms, documents, certificates and police reports have been completed and translated your fiancée is ready for the interview. She will also need your I-134 Support paper and supporting documents prior to the interview. If you will not be joining her at the interview it is a good idea to send this information as soon as posssible.

Here is the confusing part about having a Belarusian fiancée. As you probably know they have to travel to Warsaw for their interview. They also have to get a Schengen visa to travel to Poland.  My advice is to have the fiancée use a travel agency to get the Schengen visa and order it a about a month before her trip to Warsaw. I also advise to plan on arriving in Warsaw on a Monday.  She will have to go to the Main postal office and pay for the interview process there with Polish currency. Make sure she has her embassy case number and a pre-printed receipt from US Travel docs. These have expiration dates on them so make sure it is printed right before she travels.  Once it is paid the postal office will give her a receipt number that she will use the following day to call the embassy and set up her interview for Wednesday. When the interview appointment has been made the embassy will send her an invitation via email. I would advise her to call the embassy from a location where she has internet access and make sure that she gets the emailed invitation before hanging up the phone. This invitation letter will have to be printed out. It has a bar code on the bottom and she will not be able to get in the embassy without the complete invitation and bar code.

If all goes well at the interview she will be able to pick up her passport with the visa the following day. It is at a different location all the way on the other side of Warsaw. If she uses a taxi tell her to have the taxi wait while she picks it up. In my case my fiancées passport and visa was not there. I was told it had not been received and the TNT company didn’t know where it was.  I called the embassy and a general employee told me that it may be done the following day. This was not an option for us and I went back to the embassy and they had her passport there. They were able to go ahead and print up the visa and return her passport. When your fiancée is approved make sure they send the information that day.

I will add comments about the process as I remember them and if you have any question feel free to PM me.    Gary