ONA

Our case was transferred to CSC in November and still nothing!

I have called USCIS twice already and I am going to call them next week again.

My parents are coming here on June, 25th, so I'm pretty excited too. I'm worried a little bit, although they have been here before, but last time I was flying with them, so I was actually working on the cheat sheets for them too

I spent 3 months looking for a job, although some of my American friends looked at my resume and helped changing it... I had some interviews, but not many... Then I read an article online, which explained how a person could change their resume, so it would stand out. I actually changed it according to the format mentioned in the article and I started getting more and more calls back! I actually got a pretty decent job a month ago and I absolutely love it!

So, I did the following to my resume:

I listed my skills first;

Then I listed my work experience and instead of just listing the description of each position, I tried to mention my achievements at work and the contracts I worked on (i.e. I have some experience working as a freelance translator, so I mentioned which companies I worked with and what types of translations I did for them, then I have some content writing/translation experience, so I mentioned that some of my articles were chosen as the top story of the day/week etc.). I don't have a lot of work experience, so I listed my internships too (and it turned out to be very helpful).

And my education was the last thing I listed on my resume. If the first thing you mention on your resume is your education, HR managers might think that you are a recent graduate with no work experience.

Anyway, those little hints helped me. I hope they will help you too.

One more thing - If you get a visa to go to Russia in your USA passport - you are giving up your Russian citizenship.

That's slightly incorrect. If you keep your Russian citizenship, you are ineligible for a Russian visa. You have to give up your Russian citizenship BEFORE you apply for a Russian visa (and if you are going to travel to Russia, there is no sense in giving up your Russian citizenship).

Why?

one of our friends is a tattoo artist, and even he thinks that THAT MANY tattoos on a woman look kind of trashy...

Yes, I agree, that it depends on the state.

In Maryland you have to have either an unexpired I-94 or EAD. I got my Maryland DL with my EAD and it expires on the same day as my EAD (I will have to exchange the DL once I get my GC).

I see an updated activity when I checked my case. I see last update 4/30/2012..

same here...

No approval yet though

got my card today but i have to send it back since it has an error. the dates are wrong on the resident and expiration

sorry to hear that, hopefully they will fix it soon.

I have had many interviews here, in the US. I prefer to show up 20-30 minutes before the interview and I always dress professionally for it. Nobody ever was surprised by that...

And I am 23 years old, so it does not really depend on age. Probably depends on how much you want the job

Do you think if Georgia was not located where they are that America would be so willing to assist them??

I believe that Georgia expected help from the US.

I have a great article about the whole conflict, bookmarked on my other computer. I'll post the link to it here, when I have a chance (be prepared, it's VERY long, but it's a good reading).

In a medical clinic and the US embassy web site, prices for medical are in dollars. Does it mean that I can pay in rubles or I have to pay in dollars?

Thanks!

You don't have to pay in dollars, rubles are fine. I payed in rubles last summer.

In Russia SIM cards are 100 or 150 rubles, I forget which because it's been a few months since I bought one. Ukraine could be more expensive. But on my BLOCK alone there are five stores selling cell phones and a couple of little stands selling just selling SIM cards from individual providers. Everyone from babushkas to seven year olds has a cell phone. You can get a new phone for 25$. Claiming to only have a landline is a HUGE RED FLAG. It is far more difficult and expensive to get a landline than a cell phone.

That's true. It took my family YEARS to get a landline. There was a time when we just used one of our cellphones as a "home phone".

Too much work for a creeper. If you want to talk to me, fine, talk on my terms, if not ... good riddance.

Really? Buying a card on your way home and inserting it in your phone is too much work? Good luck receiving a million calls from your stalker (there are no laws, protecting you from that in Russia, or even if there are, they don't work). Nothing personal, but since I was born and raised in Russia, I pretty much know the way it works.

They didn't. They defended themselves from an invasion and were lucky enough to get a semi-ceasefire before being completely overrun.

Why did they defend themselves by killing South Ossetians?

It should not be a problem. Nobody will make you change your last name, so it will be "Ivanov". Some people might wonder though, why you and your husband have different last names.

I have a friend here, she and her husband are both Russian and got married in Russia. They recently went through her AOS interview and they were actually asked, why they have different last names (because Ivanov and Ivanova are considered to be different in the US), they just explained that in Russia Ivanova is a female version of Ivanov. No other issues, her green card was approved.

Still waiting here too!

same here (sigh)

CSC is sloooow!

Slim, you really like pulling his chain don't you. There is no comparison to US politics and those of most RUB countries. Freedom of speech, the press and right to assembly are not standard rights in many countries.

Freedom of speech in the US? Really? I come from Russia and I had more freedom there than I have here.

Americans think that they have more freedom, but they are not always right.

I talked to this Italian guy once and we started talking about the States, cause I've been to the US and he's been to the US once, so he was like: "In Italy I can do what I want... In the USA you get arrested for that"

You see the difference there don't you. Being paid to vote a certain way (a choice) vs spending years in a 5 x 7 ft. prison cell while your family members lose their jobs and are constantly harassed.

Well... there is a choice... People get paid in RUB countries to vote too. There are people though, who don't take the money - and that's when they are locked up.

As for "former" criminals... I believe 90% of world politicians are criminals, most of them just never were convicted.

And I think for learning to speak, English just seems much easier. Which is easier for a baby to say, "Toy" or "Igrushka" ? "Milk" or "moloko"? We'll keep teaching her russian though, she's only three months...

For a baby there is no language that is harder or easier to learn. In fact, they had an experiment, where they had adults from different countries listen to a baby, who couldn't talk yet - and each of those adults claimed that they heard sounds from their native language.

But, of course, when babies start putting words together, short words are easier. Looking at my little American niece and babies in Russia, I thought, probably, since one of the first words of an American kid is "please" and one of the first words of a Russian kid is "дай", English-speaking babies grow up to be stereotypically happy and polite, while Russian kids grow up into stereotypically "mean, gloomy and cold" Russians Just a thought.

Teach your daughter both languages, native proficiency in both English and Russian might be very useful for her in future

I sat here for ten minutes today trying to figure out how the hell I'd translate "а чё нет то?" into English.

"but why not?"

Yes, I think when you are looking for someone who doesn't fit the "norm" for your culture, you widen your search. Perhaps there was a woman in America who would have met my standards, but I happened to find mine in Russia.

That's about right

That's why it's great to be able to speak foreign languages - you increase your chances to find friends or SO.

And here's the problem with "formal" language learning. Nobody really talks like that!

There are some really good language learning tools out there with software, books, etc., but at the end of the day, they're way too formal. I remember the first time telling a babooshka in Moscow "Zdrastvuite! Dobre Ootra." And she just kind of grunted. Same with "Spasiba bolshoi!" Or, even better, "Bolshoi Spasiba!"

The man's got a point!

BUT

The reason why the babushka grunted at you was not because you used the phrases we never use (both "Zdravstvuite" and "dobroe utro" are very widely used), but because people in big cities don't tend to say "hello" to any stranger in the street. If you make an eye-contact with somebody in the street you just turn away and keep walking, you don't smile and say "hello", like people do in the States. So that's not a case of a language usage error, it's more of a cultural awareness issue.

It would have been different if you'd went to a tiny village in Ukraine - I promise

"Bolshoe spasibo" is also widely used. You just should know the context for that. It's not exactly the same as "thanks a lot", although it might seem as it is.

The issues you described fall right into my research area, which is linguistic pragmatics, so I can tell you a lot about it, if you're interested, of course

Yeah but that example I have to deem 'formal' vs. 'spoken' Russian, the kind of thing Slim was talking about; to be honest, I'd never say 'kotoriy tsvet tvoy lyubimiy?' that's hardly correct, even. You'd say 'Kakoy tvoy lyubimiy tsvet?' --> Which colour is your favourite vs What's your favourite colour is a big difference, imo.. saying 'what's your favourite' colour is far preferable I think, right?

yes, it is. That's my point exactly. And that's why I insist that "kotoriy" should be used as "which" and "kakoy" should be used as "what".

They might be interchangeable in some cases, but not in all cases. That's why to avoid any confusion, I said that it's easier just to use "kotoriy", meaning "which".

There are exceptions, of course, like "What time is it?" is "Kotoriy chas?" (can't be "kakoy chas?"), but in that case we can always say "skol'ko vremeni?" instead, so it works

I'm sure it's just my luck or my "wimp" generation, but the I'd never in my life dated an American guy who possessed a backbone or wasn't a "mamma's boy". Only one of them knew how to fix a few things around the house. They feared guns. Never touched a gym. I gave up after a while. I think I'm with the most un-Russian Russian around.

That sounds very funny to me, since I hear a lot of Russian women complaining about Russian men for the same reasons that you did not like American men.

That's exactly why I hate all kinds of generalization by national origin. While there are certain differences in mentality and mindset, it's completely different when it comes to who is more marriage material. There are decent Russian guys and there are decent American guys. And there are worthless guys anywhere as well.

Hmm, I always thought of Kakaya is kind of like "which one" or something like that.

Actually "kakoy/kakaya" are typically used for asking about qualitative characteristics, i.e. "what is he/she/it like?"

Kakoy/kakaya might be used in the meaning of "which one" also, but it is not always correct. I would advise to use the word "kotoriy/kotoraya" (который/которая) in that meaning, just to avoid confusion.

Speaking of the original post, I also don't understand why your wife is getting confused... And I am a native Russian speaker too, so it must be a personal characteristic.

Also, I was impressed by the fact that you'd learned Russian for your woman. I wish my husband would learn Russian He lacks motivation though...

I think that the best thing in that case is to write an email/call the embassy and ask them. They know the answer to this question better, than anybody else.

Actually, after getting the translation and exchanging SS card, I easily passed the knowledge test and I'm now waiting for the skills test. I was told in MVA that I can drive with my Russian DL (even though the website says that you're only allowed to drive with an out-of-state DL for 60 days only) while I'm waiting for the test. And the soonest day for the test was April, 30th

Wow, my husband brought me flowers yesterday, even though I never even told him that International Women's Day was big in Russia

He won't tell how he found out about it, but I guess the guy at his work, who dates a woman from Ukraine told him