lyublyu Iru

I guess you offered the school angle then right? IE. In the US during the school year and Russia for all other days.

Alternating years doesn't work well for school.

That's exactly the angle we have been working.

The guy is a narcissist and what's best for the child is 29th or 30th on his

list of priorities.

Does anyone have an idea on how easy and how long it would take

to get a student visa for the child? or a link?

Thank you

Would the father want to take of the daughter full time?

If not use that to your advantage. IE as the father if your soon to be wife wants to leave he would then be required to take full custody. I suspect he may not want that.

Apologies if this has been tried already, I haven't read the full thread.

Yes surprisingly, The latest offer from him was that we alternate years. Which is a vast

improvement from before which was never ever will that child be allowed to leave Russia.

We have offered Summer and a week in the winter, but it's been rejected.

There is no way the Mother/Child should be separated for an entire year at a time.

A couple of questions, I thought I would ask them here rather than start a new thread

1. How difficult and what is the time frame to get a student visa for the child?

2. If the Father agrees to let child visit does the letter need to be translated?

Thank you for your help

We lost round one in Russian court, the childs father doesn't have to pay
child support. Our attorney highly suspects that bribery was involved which

isn't unheard of in Russia and the amount he would have owed was

substantial. The reason the judge gave for rejecting the claim was that the

child never asked for anything and probably didn't need it.

That sounds pretty sketchy to me and we can easily appeal the decision.

The childs father claimed he made no money and couldn't afford to pay

anything.

I didn't really care about the child support, I thought that the child support

might be effective as a bargaining chip as the childs father cares much more

about his money than anything else.

The childs father absolutely will not agree to allow the child to live in the USA

and thinks the USA is a terrible place. All appeals to do this have been rejected.

We've tried to make nice, the child, my fiancee and the lawyer have all tried to

reason with him. He won't allow the child to visit the US using her tourist visa.

The next step is to try to get full custody the father claiming he doesn't have

any money won't help his case but I don't know if the father is going to bribe

the judge again either. That's too crazy to think about.

The lawyer thinks we should also appeal the first decision since it was made

on fairly sketchy legal grounds.

We plan to get married shortly here in the USA.

I was talking to my fiancee today. She suggested that we get married here in

USA during her next visit. She will go back to Russia after spending two weeks

with me.

Our lawyers suggested that we get married to facilitate getting permanent custody

of the child.

My question is will the USCIS throw a fit if we get married here or must we get

married in Russia?

Thank you for your advice,

Note: numbers added by lyublyu Iru so I could respond more clearly below

1. She can use the visitor visa for visiting, not schooling her kid, not living in the US.

2. They might stop a heavily pregnant woman with a tourist visa, they do not want birth tourism.

3. If they ever think she is abusing the tourist visa then they can deny her entry.

4. The choice is either a fiance visa or a spouse visa, for moving here to live.

5. You will need to work out the custody agreement and get permission for the kid to move to the US,

for either the fiance visa or the spousal visa.

6.You can start the K-1 process now, or you can get married and then pursue the spousal visa. There are ways to delay either process if the permission for the kid is not yet obtained.

7. For birth in the US, she will need to be insured or you will need to pay out of pocket. If she is not married to you then you probably can't get her insured.

1. I suspected that they couldn't use a tourist visa for tourism.

2. I am worried about this, won't the child be a US citizen either way?

3. We want to make sure this doesn't happen.

4. agreed

5. agreed or a court order

6. where can I learn more about delaying either a K1 or CR1?

7. I understand, I will talk to my company benefits department to get this nailed down.

I believe our company is self insured, so they may or may not have some flexibility, I

will research this further.

Thank you for your advice

Moved from What Visa Do I Need - Family Based Immigration forum to General Immigration-Related Discussion.

The reason I posted this in the What Visa do I need, was because I wanted to know which visa or combination

of visa's to apply for.

Here are the primary factors as I see it.

We have a baby due in 7 months.

We have an ongoing court case with the exhusband which has been in court for 6 months.

We expect that this part of the court case where the ex will be assessed child support and

back child support will take 3-5 weeks to be resolved. At that time if he decides to negotiate

and allow the child to live here during the school year then we would want to have a K1

application winding it's way through the bowels of the USCIS system for these 3-5 weeks.

However if he still refuses after 5 weeks then we need to file for full custody, which will take

more time and the Russian lawyers recommend that we are married for the best chance

which means a CR1 would be the way to go.

My fiancee has a tourist visa, I don't know all the rules for it and we applied for a similar visa

for the child. I need to learn what can and can't be done with a tourist visa. My ex believes

that the child can attend school for the 9 month school year with a tourist visa. I don't think

that she's right about that.

My inclination is to roll the dice. Apply for the K1 and then have her stay with me for the

last month of her pregnancy on her tourist visa. It's not super likely that the K1 would be

approved by then

Will USCIS allow this? will they stop a pregnant woman with a tourist visa?

I don't know the rules for traveling back and forth. Does she have to do the interview(s) in

Russia?

Any and all other advice is appreciated

i dont have permission to edit my post. but this was a woman from RU, not Iran, or some place where they need to be concerned about a muslim coming here and... doing whatever. Just some RU woman coming to be with a man and get married.

To answer your first question, is that customs officials can take a large amount of time

and it's more than likely that some of the people in line don't have their paperwork in

order or decide to fill it out once they get to the front of the line.

There are zero email order brides. A man must meet a woman in person to apply for

a K1. These are called international relationships. See the difference? They don't have

wives on Amazon that you can point and click from.

Have you ever heard about Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev? they built pressure

cooker bombs at the Boston Marathon. Do you know what country they are from?

In your town they have a library where they have books, periodicals, maps and

reference materials that you can read (for free) to become better educated about

the world around you.

Good luck

the only people guaranteed entry are US Citizens. Valid visa holders can be denied at POE, for any number of reasons (fraud, smuggling, criminal activity).

What is striking is that you call this woman an email order bride. The law doesn't allow for this; you have to have met in person at least once. So surely this woman is not in fact an email order bride if you have met her. But you still call her that? Telling.

Excellent point

I would get the daughter a tourist visa, that way she can visit dad in the meantime. And no she won't have to surrender her tourist visa while a K1 or CR1 (forget K3) processes.

Thank you for your advice, I think that's probably the best way to proceed.

Marrying in Russia might be an issue, ZAGS usually likes making people wait 30 days before letting them marry.

Do you have plans on having the child have a relationship with the father at all? If so, I'd think CR1's the best route, given they'll get their green cards faster, so able to travel easier.

Yes, I think that she will have a relationship with the father.

My fiancee' has a tourist visa, would getting the daughter a tourist visa as well

be a good idea? she won't be able to travel until the father gives permission?

Do they have to surrender their tourist visa's while waiting for a K1 or K3 to be processed?

Just noticed but you do not seem to have filed for anything?

K1 would be the quickest, but probably not something that would be completed before birth.

You could get that going on the basis that Russian Courts decide in your favour.

What will you do if they do not?

Yes, as of today I haven't filed anything and would like the advice of yourself

and the other forum members regarding this.

Here is the dilemma as I see it. If we win the child support case and the ex husband

decides to give permission then the K1 visa seems to be the best and fastest option.

If we win the child support case and he won't negotiate then according to our Russian

lawyers the best way to win custody is to be married.

I like the idea of marriage in Russia because her friends and family will be there. She

is researching what documents I need to acquire to make this happen. She is meeting

with the lawyers at the end of the week and will get their advice as well. I like marriage

in the USA because I've been told it's faster and I don't have to travel to Russia first

before starting a K1

I think your best bet is to see an immigration lawyer and consider what your options are. Folks here have good intentions but we are not familiar with Russian custody law, and it sounds like you need to talk to someone who know that side well. However, it does sound like it will take time to get this sorted out.

Good luck and hang in there.

We have retained a Russian law firm and this has been working it's

way through the court since January.

Thank you for your good wishes and I want to thank everyone else

who has taken the time to respond to my thread.

A Russian job would not be relevant for US sponsorship unless it was to continue. You worked for a Russian Company and they had a US operation who would employ you.

Something has to give by the sound of it.

Yes something has to give.

Here is where we are currently. My fiancee' has a child support case against

the ex husband/father. It's extremely likely she will win and he will have to pay

child support and back child support. His international passport has been

confiscated by the court so that he can't travel internationally.

This guy values his money very much and has never parted with it in the past

to support his child. Our hope is once the court determines that he must pay

that he will be willing to negotiate. Nothing would make me happier than to send

the child to Russia during the summer and holidays to see family and to maintain

Russian language skills.

The USCIS looks at past income to determine US sponsorship. My past income

is more than sufficient to qualify. If I move to Russia and work for a couple of years

they would consider that as my income rather than what I made while I was in USA.

If I worked in Russia as an English teacher it would be highly unlikely that I would

make even close to 125% poverty.

Am I missing something? is there a way around the 125% poverty wage requirement?

I have no experience with USCIS and all I know is what I've read here.

Thank you

Everyone please feel free to post your comments, opinions or ideas.

Even those who want to question paternity, my sanity etc. This a forum

for ideas. I am not going to get offended because of what somebody says

on the internet.

I am here to get facts, ideas and opinions from people who have similar

experiences.

Thank you,

Usually the court will assess the child/father relationship very much into the case. That he didn't pay will help you, but the wellbeing of your child and his relationship to the father will count for the court, too.

I'm no Russian law expert, but in a lot of countries this counts alot.

As it should be. I believe this is the case in Russia as well. The lawyers we've

retained strongly believe that we will win in the end, however they are lawyers

and 90% of them give the rest a bad name.

What are the requirements for her to sponsor you?

They are cumbersome but not impossible. I know a few expatriates who live in Russia.

They have a different skill set than I do and their Russian is near fluent. It would be

unlikely that I could make as much money as they do especially at first.

You moving seems the obvious solution.

To Russia? I speak maybe 500 words of Russian and know the alphabet.

I might be able to get a job teaching English for a $400-600 per month and

live at near poverty. While my English is fine I would have to bone up on

all the grammar rules as it's been quite some time since I've taken an

English course.

Moving would eliminate the possibility of ever coming back to the USA with

the new family. The USCIS specifically states that I must make 125% of the

US poverty income which there is no way that I could do this working in

Russia.

The second child is not much of my business, and less of an issue if it is actually yours. But in my opinion I wouldn't have a child while in an immigration/custody battle myself so abortion looks like what I would choose as a solution, but I don't know if you guys are set on keeping the baby or not.

The child is mine, the time which she became pregnant she was here in the USA with me. You

didn't know this but it's a bit silly for you to speculate on such things. Regarding abortion, neither

of us would consider it.

How does the child feel? If she sees her father, like another poster said, there must be a relationship there. I'd hate for you to damage your relationship with the child because you didn't take his/her feelings into account

good luck

Excellent question, I should have indicated this in my original post.

The child wants to move to the USA and is very much in favor of

our marriage and is ecstatic about having a new brother or sister.

Regarding abuse, by American standards there is. If he gets drunk

he will slap his current wife around in front of the child. He will yell

and become very scary to the child. To me that's abusive, I don't

know that it is by Russian legal standards.

In Russia this would prove difficult to prove especially since it's

doubtful that the current wife would testify against her husband.

I don't like the idea of having the child testify against the father,

it could further alienate them and that isn't my goal.

You quoted he sees his child fairly often. That tells me, there must be some kind of son/father relationship going on.

There is a father/child relationship.

However no financial responsibility

Best to find out what the father's interests are.

Regardless of the child support, he still may very well want presence and influence in the child's life. Perhaps some sort of agreement whereby the child stays with you and your fiancé/wife during the school year and the summer with the dad? Finding a negotiated solution will be in the best interest of the child and likely more expedient then proceeding through the courts.

At what age can the child influence a decision or make the decision for themselves?

Of course, if he's just deciding to be a jerk towards his ex-wife, then you're probably in for a long and frustrating battle.

Right this moment he doesn't think he should be required to pay any support at all

plus see her when ever he feels inspired to do so. However, once the court orders

him to pay, we will find out how flexible he is.

Of course we would be happy to agree to a negotiated solution. Right now he

wants it all.

I thought the age was 16 (for the child to make the decision) however, I am told that

it's not until age 18

Belinda probaly saied everything here. If the father doesn't voluntarly sing off, you are probaly looking at months, if not years of a court battle gaining sole custody. And unless the father is a useless douchebag, the court won't let his son depart the country without him wanting to.

How do you define useless douche bag? A man who doesn't pay child support for 12 years

would meet most definitions.

My Russian fiancee' is expecting (she is 7 weeks pregnant) she has a

child (12 years old) from a previous marriage. Her ex husband never

pays child support refuses to allow the child to leave Russia. He does

visit the child fairly regularly.

My fiancee' has a multi year multi entry US tourist visa. We have been in

court trying to get the ex husband assessed child support and eventually

getting his parental rights revoked. Of course we would forgive all child

support if he allowed the child to move to the USA and we would be happy

to arrange visitation during vacations. The ex husband won't negotiate

at this time. This might change once he is presented with a court order

to pay years of support.

We started court proceedings in January and It could take another two

months for this to wind it's way through the slow moving courts.

Does anyone have any advice as to the best method of achieving our

goal of all of us living together as husband, wife and child(ren)?

We aren't interested in illegal schemes, bribery or in those who might tell

me to wear two condoms next time.

Thank you for your advice