ONA

Our case was transfered at the very end of November and we are still awaiting our green card. I actually called last Friday and was told they were processing midle of Augusts still and would not put in a service request till we've hit the 180 days mark( 6 months)/ We were less then thrilled. But I just read on the the Oct AOS discussion that some one was just approved from the CSC. So apprently they are working on the beginning of Octobers right now. Hope this helps. We are getting very impatient it's been long enough. But aleast we can do this waiting together!

Wow, I called them last week too and I was told that they were working on July 29th. I'd rather think that they are working on mid-August applications, sounds more optimistic

Our case was transferred on Nov.18, my EAD was approved right before Christmas and I haven't heard anything since...

Happy women's day to all the women of VJ and wives of VJ members!

The hardest thing for me today is: every time when a guy says "Happy women's day!" to me, not to say "Thanks, you too" back

At first I though, I wouldn't be able to come up with anything except for my husband.

But actually there are some things that I like...

I like how cheap clothing is here. Anything from discount stores to the most expensive stores sells clothes 2-3 times cheaper than the same type of stores in Russia. The same thing with cameras, laptops, cars...

I love some local food, seafood mostly. I am absolutely addicted to crab cakes

I also think that once the economy picks up, there will be more career opportunities for everybody than, maybe, anywhere in the world.

Wow seven days to get the interview scheduled once the embassy has the petition? Is that correct?

Ever since they changed interview appointments and delivery system, and the applicants can pick the date themselves - yes, it's been taking 1-2 weeks.

A year ago people had to wait for 1,5-2 months, because the applicant couldn't pick a date, the embassy was scheduling "the closest possible date".

In Malaysia, they would have hundreds of shoes in a shop and you'd ask for your size. The shop space is utilized better with more variety and choices.

The same thing in Russia

I miss that too. And I miss the actual shoes too! I mean, I can find some nice shoes here, but the ones from Russia are usually better (but also much more expensive...), I get lots of compliments about the shoes I brought from Russia and both of my sisters-in-law want to go shoe-shopping to Russia with me

I miss my family and friends of course... I miss my city. I used to live in a big city and now I live in suburbs, so I miss the "big city" lifestyle.

I miss Russian holidays, I got extremely homesick on New Years Eve.

I used to miss food, but I found a couple of good Russian stores in the area, where I can get any Russian food I can think of.

And also, since it's winter I miss SNOW

So, would my fiancee call the embassy in Moscow to find out if she can go before the NOA2?

I think it will make more sense if she calls one of the medical centers, rather than the embassy.

Some examples, what I cook for breakfasts (may be it will give some ideas for you): sausage links; buckwheat (very popular cereal in Russia - yummy!); cauliflower; fried eggs; omelette (similar to scrambled eggs, but not quite the same); French toasts; bliny (Russian variant of pancakes); pelmeni or vareniky (Russian meal similar to dumplings - with meat or vegetables); various sandwiches; crab meat/sticks (substitute from surimi, of course, I'm not such rich to have real one); draniki (Russian variant of potato pancakes)...

That's not everything, but what I mostly cook in the mornings, usually cooking breakfast takes about 20 minutes of kitchen rush for me every day. Also, as Amy already wrote, I can use for breakfast leftovers of some kinds dinner (like pizza, or broised vegetables).

Victor, I'm not sure about some of the options listed here...

Buckwheat, for example, is not very common outside of RUB countries and some people (like me) absolutely hate it.

Cauliflower... I would mix it with eggs for breakfast, but, I think it's better as a side for dinner.

They make omelettes here, a great variety, with mushrooms, onions, green peppers etc. - delicious!

Blinchiki is a good idea (it's more like crepes than actual pancakes).

I would not eat pelmeni or vareniki for breakfast - pelmeni is dinner food and vareniki is more of a desert (the sweet kinds).

You don't have to be rich to buy real crab meat here (especially here, in Maryland, "Blue Crab Land" ), but it's hard to find decent imitation crab meat (crab sticks) unless you go to a Russian or an Asian store. And it's better for dinner too.

Draniki is a great idea. It is pretty much a Russian version of hash browns, my husband loves them And he learned how to make them himself

I use dinner leftovers for lunch.

As for breakfast - I never had real breakfasts in Russia. I was on a very busy schedule and I thought that I'd rather sleep than eat in the morning So my breakfast was pretty much just a cup of tea, sometimes with a muffin or something like that.

Now, ever since I moved to the States it depends... It can be home style potatoes with eggs, an omelette, eggs with cheese and tomatoes, hash browns, a bacon/egg sandwich, but since I very seldom feel that hungry in the mornings, it's more likely to be any kind of fruit or fruit salad, yogurt, a muffin or a toast with some orange juice.

Alla bought her first gun yesterday! FOR ME! She calls it "men's day" and bought me an appropriate Russian made Over/Under shotgun I had admired the other day in the gun shop. 20 ga. really nice Sporting Clays gun, ported barrels, knurled tubes, nickle plated receiver, made by Baikal Remarkably good quality for the price.

And NOW you tell me I shouldn't celebrate? No way, I am keeping the gun! Now I got her buying me guns for gifts, I'M CELEBRATING!

Thanks to ALL who serve their country!

My 1st paycheck (or several paychecks, depending on how much I make) - I'm buying my husband a new bow (shhhhh... ).

It doesn't have to be a "men's day" or an "army day" or whatever.

That's a school of thought.There are others. One would be called total emersion...which is now a popular way to learn language quickly.

Beginning to teach and acculturate someone while minimizing the old cultural ways is a good distraction from homesickness and fear of something new and different...and IMO excellerates adaptation. This is kind of like starting public school...you've got to let go of mom's hand and deal with the new teacher. I would support honoring Russian Christmas and New Years Day, etc. Honoring anything to do the Soviet evil empire is a different story.

Speaking as a linguist, I should say again that keeping some ties with your own culture helps a new immigrant to live through the stress of culture shock and that, once you're older than 12 (+/-2 years), total immersion is only helpful if accompanied by language classes, where you will learn language structure, grammar, phonetics and learn the difference between your native language and the language you're trying to study.

While I don't quite like the idea of celebrating RFD by people, who are not Russian fighters, I think that if a family is multicultural, traditions of both cultures should be respected. It doesn't delay the adaptation, a lot of times it helps people through culture shock (something that any immigrant experiences) - it's good to have something that is familiar and talk to somebody in your native language once in a while.

(required for the Schengen visa she just got)

Her Schengen visa will be much more helpful than any bank statement

I agree with mantra.

I never even congratulate Russian/Ukrainian guys unless they served in the army. It's not men's day, it's more about military people. My aunt from Ukraine used to be in the military - it makes more sense if she receives presents on Feb. 23, than a person, who was never in the military, but just happened to be a man.

My husband knows this holiday as "Russian Army Day".

Thanks again folks. I guess I hadn't thought about emailing the consular section. It also seems to be about MIL's records rather than anything we send. Good to know, and Vika was asking me to do an employemnt letter, bank letter, send tax returns, etc. I couldn't figure out what my tax situation last year might have to do with anything.

Your tax situation has nothing to do with it. Your income has nothing to do with it. Your MIL's income might be helpful, since a decent stable income proves strong ties to Ukraine (and there are questions about occupation and income on DS-160).

All that your MIL has to do is to prove strong ties to Ukraine, that's why most of the additional papers should be about her.

Congratulations to Sergey!

My parents' visas were approved last summer in Moscow (before even my K-1 was approved), my husband (fiance at that time) sent invitation letters for each of them, stating the purpose of their visit (our wedding) etc. and a copy of his passport - page with the picture and bio information (proof of citizenship).

My parents had:

letters from work for each of them, including income statements.

copy of my brother's birth certificate (my brother wasn't coming for the wedding, so he was one of my parents' ties to Russia - and the CO DID ask some questions about him).

copies of papers, which proved that they own an apartment, a car etc.

my dad's old passport with a Lithuanian visa.

a copy of NOA-2 (since I didn't have my visa at that point)

They didn't look at the papers. The CO asked a couple of questions about me and my husband (age, whether my husband had been to Russia or not and whether he could speak Russian or not), about my brother (where he lived and stuff like that), also the CO asked if my parents had been to any other countries (they only travelled to Ukraine (which doesn't count ) and my dad went to Lithuania once, more than 10 years ago).

Congratulations!

It is the form she needs which is FREE. If she does not get this form she will need to have an I-693 filled out for by a Civil Surgeon and signed off on and many charge more than $250.

Correction: in Moscow they charge $20 for DS-3025 (still better than $250), so, OP, if she does her medical at IOM, make sure she has $160 to pay for the medical + $20 to pay for the form.

They are trying to come to a mutual agreement - Russian visas will be extended to 3 years when Russian citizens will be able to receive 3 year visas to the USA (currently it's a 1 or 2 year visa).

I don't see that happening any time soon, and yes, they've been talking about it for a while, but nothing has happened yet.

Congrats to everyone on their interview dates and approvals! It's great to hear some good news!

I've seen you, guys, talking about changing social security card, I applied yesterday with my EAD - they also told me that they needed to verify my status, which can take up to 4 weeks, but usually takes a week or two. I've had my SSN since 2008.

The most creative riot signs, Moscow.

http://www.ridus.ru/news/20877/

ONA...do not just slink off quietly to the next county MVA, make sure you let your state representative know what happened. Our acceptance of incompetent boobs is what promotes this nonsense. It is nothing less than denying you privileges and rights because they are ignorant of their jobs and that is NOT OK.

Oh... I will. I definitely will, but I'm going to do that after I get my DL.

If you face incompetence at one DMV office, you can go to another one. It can be in a different county altogether - for as long as the state is the same! My husband and I had to drive to a different county several times to get our DL's and ID's renewed, because the DMV office in our city was acting up. So keep this option in mind next time, it does work

Thank you! that's good advice, we'll try it next time if we have any issues.

Hi everyone,

I was reading a thread in the UK forum and I found this comment relating to CSC transfers. I am by no means trying to bring the mood down in our thread but I thought some people may be interested in it.

"I did not receive any notification that CSC had received my file, fortunately my new Sister in Law has connections with a Georgia Senator Johnny Isakson, his office checked this out for me and confirmed they did have it and their current processing time is 6 months from receipt. This is speeding things up!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Hopefully this isn't the case!

Thanks for the info.

6 months... wow! I hope I won't have to wait all the way till the end of may to hear something about my case! On the other hand, it's good to have some kind of a time frame.

On a positive note: my first job interview is on Tuesday! I'm nervous, but at the same time I'm really excited!

I don't understand. If you are taking the vision,knowledge, and skills test, why is your Russian license even an issue?

My step daughter has a Russian license (I think she bought it as she has absolutely no driving skills) and is trying to get her drivers license here in Florida. She took the exam but failed the skill (driving ) portion. They told her she could continue to drive using her Russian license until she passed the Florida exam...LOL!

I know each state is different.

Well, with my Russian DL I can pass all the tests and get a regular Maryland DL, without having to obtain a learner's permit then a provisional license.

Maryland is very strict, even though I had a license - I still had to go through a 3-hour class (they call it "Safe and Sober", but it is some sort of introduction into driving in Maryland). If I didn't have a license from Russia, I would have to go to a driving school - they don't issue a learner's permit unless you bring them a certificate of completion of a driving school course.