MishaMoose

I know she would prefer not to become Russian. BUT her daughter is about to take exams and graduate from 5^th form (a major milestone I am told) so she will not do anything to upset that process.

We have heard nothing more about when. She and her mom were discussing their options Sunday but we have not spoken since Saturday. Phones and internet are ‘inconsistent’.

I will certainly post if I hear something.

My In Laws are currently about 90 miles from where the troops are, and they are not letting anyone go to Crimea unless you have a Crimean passport and or Russian passport. Even with the Crimean passport, they want you to convert to Russian. And what ever she does, don't say anything about the referendum and that it's not legit etc. Look what happened to one of the Senators that spoke out and sent a few letters to Poland, Hungary, Romania etc. Not good.

You also mention you porposed in 2012. Have you been back there since so you are keeping current of your 2 year requirement?

That last is part of the pressure. I have not been back since mid-April 2012. I was planning to go again in May.

We need to get the paperwork done, since we had planned on me moving to Crimea at early retirement. Now we are going to try the K1 route as neither of us wants to live in Russia or anyplace that might suddenly “decide” to become Russian.

Hopefully phones will be working when she is done with the current excursion she is leading. Then we can talk and exchange necessary information. If we slide past the 2 year window we will have to arrange for me to go to Crimea or her to someplace in Ukraine, Russia etc.

Many thanks to all for the responses! I expect I wil have more questions as I try to sort this all out.

Thanks!!

Moscow if she decides/is forced to get Russian citizenship. Kyiv is she is finally permitted to leave.

Time will show.

Some background to the question.

My fiancée and I originally planned to do a K-1 until she ran into the road block of the father of her child demanding a LOT of money to sign the paperwork.

We decided when I was there in 2012 and proposed that we would wait for my chance for early retirement in 2016 and I would move there.

HOWEVER she is a Russian speaking Ukrainian citizen in Crimea and has very mixed emotions about becoming a Russian citizen. She tried on 2 or 3 occasions to leave Crimea but was turned back by the Crimean border “officials”

She has apparently resolved the issue of her daughter (who is 10) by legal means within the last few months. Of course it may be moot as it was done under Ukrainian law.

My settling in Crimea is no longer an option and she does not want to stay in Ukraine now with the potential for long term issues with Russian intent.

I plan to start the K-1 process but am concerned by potential complications.

Advice, comments, etc much coveted.

Many thanks in advance!

Michael/Misha

UPS definitely. You can also buy insurance on it, and track the package where it's at.

Best check to be sure that it is permitted to send jewelry into Ukraine. As I recall it is not permitted (or wasn't a couple of years ago) something to do with tarriffs.

Good Luck!

Greetings and best of wishes to you both!

If she has children PLEASE make sure you get all the appropriate permissions etc from the father!

We have been fighting that issue for over a year.

Welcome.

First questions - What are you favorite guns and pie?

Second questions - Where are you from, where's she from, is there an age gap, how'd you meet, how far along in the process are you, etc.

Do you have any questions?

Slim,

You should start a thread just about "First Questions"

Congratulations ONA!!!

The Baltimore schools can certainly use good people.

There used to be some great people in the Language Center at Johns Hopkins on the Homewood campus there might be some opportuniies there for you as well.

Best of luck!

Misha

I don't know about that book, but the USCIS has a Welcome to America guide that you can download. It comes in various languages including Russian. I printed it out years ago and placed it in a three ring binder for my new wife. It is a great source and explains a lot of things about America.

Here is the link: http://www.uscis.gov/files/nativedocuments/M-618_r.pdf

As you can see, it is in pdf form so you can download it to your computer and either print it out or save it and email as a pdf file.

Many Thanks! Every little bit helps and this is a big one!

Is anyone here familiar with this book? "Welcome to America: The Complete Guide for Immigrants. "

It is pricey ($69.95) and a long read BUT in is in both English and Russian on facing pages. What I have read thus far seems to be very well done. I wil be taking it to Zhenya on my next visit so we can use it as a reference and conversation starter.

Amazon carries it but it is currently our of stock. ( http://www.amazon.com/Welcome-America-Complete-Guide-Immigrants/dp/0972788808 ) I am in no way affiliated with Amazon or the auhtors and publishers of this book 8^) I just thought it was a great resource.

Best of luck to all!

Misha (fingers crossed that Zhenya wil finally have custody of Krintina in June so we can actually start the paper work!)

Here is thier blurb about it:

This book fills the information void for people new to the US. Although it was written primarily for immigrants, we are sure that international students, businesspeople, and others who come to the US for extended periods of time will also find it useful because there are very few books on this subject and non of them covers all the issues important to new American residents in such details.

The book explains how to:

• rent an apartment

• buy a car

• open a bank account

• establish a credit history

• find a job

• pay taxes

• control your income and expenses

• get an education

• buy a home

• and much more

In addition to being an excellent reference source for newcomers in the US, Welcome to America also gives them an opportunity to practice reading and understanding English. Russian speakers will find the book's unique bilingual format especially valuable. It has English text and its Russian translation on opposite pages.

Congratulatuions!!

http://www.murs.com....tration_in_ukr/

Try here, this is what i read. Now that i read it again, looks like it may have been talking about marriage is registered 30 days after marriage registration application... but then they talk about expidite if pregnant...? again, i was going from memory and by the time i got this far, realized i was doing it in the USA... But this is all i have on the topic about the 30 days from my original post.

PS, if you do it or find out, let us know... may have to go for this if the K1 falls through...

Thanks for this.

I will gladly post whatever I find out.

I wish I could remeber where I read the posts about RAGS expediting if the foreign party had a short time line and had documentation to prove it (like a letter from the employer saying "if he isn't back at work by such and such date we will fire him" . As I recollect it has to be on comapny letter head and some other specifics.

More searching in my future

Could you post a link to this information about the 30 day requirement? I have found no statement that 30 dyas is required before the wedding except for one site which inidcated it was for UK citizens (a UK requirement not Ukrainian)

I would really like to find something definitive for US citizens.

Thanks!

Sorry I do not know how to edit this ...

I found some information on this finally!

www.murs.com.ua/en/articles/title_reviews/marriage_registration_in_ukr/

Specifically this section: Time of Marriage Registration (sadly it will not let me copy the text)

I misremembered the UK reference .. it is 21 days and that applies to the period the UK citizen must be in Ukraine before he/she can get a "Cer­tifi­cate of No Impediment"

I have however found a few references to a 21 day period but many more where no time period is mentioned.

I have also read some posts that indicate that an expedited date can be set if the USC has documentation from his company that he must return to the US by a certain date.

So confusing.

Ah, the apostille rings a bell with me for a real Ukraine wedding. (not quite totally relevant to specific post... but here is what i found). For American to marry in Ukraine (for real), they must first have all documents apostilled (prior divorce, birth, etc). Take these documents to American embassy for cirtification. Then take to Ukraine Federal building in Kiev for approval of American approval. Now take all these to local city for registration. You must then wait 30 days to marry (unless woman is visable pregnant then you can marry right away)... One of the parties must be current resident of Ukraine (maybe at least 6 months i cant remember)... Seemed like quite a process so we went for K1. But after marrage in USA, likely after 1 year we return to Ukraine for second wedding as you are all discussing. Thanks for all the info...

Could you post a link to this information about the 30 day requirement? I have found no statement that 30 dyas is required before the wedding except for one site which inidcated it was for UK citizens (a UK requirement not Ukrainian)

I would really like to find something definitive for US citizens.

Thanks!

Congratulations to Sergey!

as mentioned Rice is an outstanding school. I worked with a lot of scientist from Rice the years I was in Huntsville AL, They all seemed to be pretty well rounded and competent folks.

All the best to all of you!

Congrats to Alla and bst of luck moving forward!

I personally hope that you hang around Gary .. you posts are fun and inavaluable!

And here I thought it had to do with buying Girl Scout Cookies!

Well that too

SemperFi

Could be, however if you check the stats you wilt see that Vermont has had the highest per capita representation in the military since WW2 and the highest percentage of wounded/killed per capita of any state. I was suprised to learn that but given we are a state of 600,000 total population a few people make a big impact on the "per captia" numbers.

But yes, that is why Tennessee is called the volunteer state

Gary,

Quite a few states do well in the per capita numbers. It was originally applied after the War of 1812 and the Mexican war, but I think stuck just as much for consistently high percentages over various conflicts, even through the present. I think it probably applied even during 'the War of Northern Aggression' 8^) on the Union side of the scale as well. A truly significant number of Tennesseans fought for the North. I think a number of states could good make a claim to the 'title', Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Texas and Pennsylvania all seem to have been prominent in my recollection. I am also sure there are a number of others.

.

Yes, they represented 35 of the 185 men there. Which in no way belittles what they did and no one ever claims otherwise. The shrine at the Alamo in fact displays a flag for the home state/country of each man that died and there are a whole bunch of flags!

There is a county in Texas named for each man that died there regardless of where he was "from" he died a Texican.

This being one of several events that lead to Tennessee being called the "Volunteer State". I believe that we are still rpresented in the arme forces in numbers out of proportion to our population.

Congratulations!!! Each success strory adds positive energy to the process! 8^)))

We are till waiting for the custody issue to be resolved for Zhenya's daughter Kristina. With luck I might still have her here by summer.

Again congratulations and the very best of luck for the future.

Both Delta and Aeroflot have direct flights from Kiev to NY. Then hop a short flight to Florida.

Aerosvit also has direct KBP to JFK flights several days a week and are usually relatively inexpensive.

Congrats!!

My wife asked a second time, when am I going to get her a gun. This was after telling her about the lock down at a school next door to my office yesterday. I hadn't seen so many police at one spot since the last big sale at a donut shop. So, now I am trying to figure out which kind of gun she really wants. I thought she would want a pistol but she mentioned a rifle. We are talking about person protection for in the home.

Any suggestions?

I would certainly consider a shotgun. They offer a selectable range of lethality and penetration based on the choice of shot. Base on several studies I have read small game and large bird loads are quite effective indoors, being quite leathal (all still in a 'clump') at end of hallway ranges but rapidly loosing penetration power in walls etc. Seems most pistols that offer good stopping power tend to be highly over penetrating and rifles even more so.

A 16 or 20 gauge might be more comfortable for a small lady than a 12 gauge, but the 12 throws more pellets.

I personally like my Mossberg 500.

Just my 0.02 grivna.

Both the USA and Ukraine are signatories of the "Hague Marriage Convention" which recognizes that marriages that have legal status in one country is valid is any other (that signed the treaty).

Now there are still likely to be some additional paperwork to provide to the respective foreign government, but that doesnt mean that the wedding is not valid in both countries.

Google: hague convention marriage certificate

Good luck!

I beleive this is the "No Impediment to Marriage" form from the US embassy.

info here: No Impediment to Marriage

or search on "non-impediment to marriage ukraine"

If he has been married and divorced he will need official copy of his diovorce decree apostiled and translated.

I also think he has to be in Ukriane for 21 consecutive days before you can file for permisson to marry.

I would be interested to hear how that all works now.

There are several disscussions on this topic un various places here.

Best of Luck!

Fillene's Basement might prove worthwhile. My daughter introduced me to it in Baltimore and I bleive we have one in Columbus.

Zhenya has great taste in clothes IMO and seems to be interested in bargins too. I am looking forward to the manditory shopping expeditions with both great interest and foreboding

my visa got approved yesterday! i had a previous ovrstay but i got a visa! Thank God! thank you everyone who helped us with your advice! !!!

Congratulations and Best Wishes!!