mendeleev

10C in Denver

My understanding with Sheremetyevo, for us at least, is that we still have to connect to Sheremetyevo 1 from Sheremetevo 1 or 3 to get to Novosibirsk and that the layover is still 10 hours. Domodedovo gives us a transfer inside the same terminal and a 4 hr layover. Gets rid of the second overnight flight and cuts travel time from 35 to 28 hours.

YMMV

There are connections between Moscow/Domodedovo that you might want to look into. You might need a transit visa. Don't know about Ukrainian airports but Domodedovo is new and surprisingly well laid out and efficient. Sheremetyevo might be an option, too. I haven't been there since before Sheremetyevo 3 opened, so cannot comment on that airport.

People from that part of the world are viewed similarly to illegal migrant workers in the US. They do menial labor or run little grocery stores. There is also a lot of anxiety surrounding their overwhelming presence in Russia, since they, being Muslim, reproduce at a much higher rate than the ethnic Russian population. Also, often just the men come, work, and send money to their families, so they are seen as a threat to women in terms of rape/sexual assault. That's why it seems weird that a Russian/Ukrainian women would move to Uzbekistan for a man; Russian women are taught to AVOID them and view them as lesser.

Let me second that. My wife, who grew up in Soviet times, got her advanced degree in Tashkent. It was different in the 1970s, when the Soviet Union was whole. There may have been racism even then, but it may not have been so pronounced. But now when we are in a city strange to us, like Moscow or St Petersburg, and she sees someone from Central Asia, she will take us out of our way to avoid that person if we aren't in a crowd.

This is an interesting change. I was in Moscow for both my wife's K1 and subsequent K3 interviews and had to cool my heels at the coffee shop across the street. I'd much rather have been able to accompany her. Our Consulate in Moscow didn't allow it.

Well, we go to Novosibirsk, and if one needs to go to the interior of Russia, Singapore is a really good bet. Their costs from Houston are competitive with incremental cost we experience in getting to a coast, east or west. Better yet, Aeroflot, Delta or the rest force us into a *long* layover in Sheremetyevo and, consequently, back-to-back overnight flights. Singapore goes to Domodedovo and that airport offers convenient evening connections to the interior of Russia. The Singapore connection cuts off 6 hours of travel time. We arrive at midnight rather than 6 am.

Then, after that, Singapore really does early their consistent first place standing as the world's best airline. That's something a US (or Russian) airline won't be in the running for, as far as I can see, for a very long time.

Alla finished her education, university, before the Soviet Union ended. She would not agree that it was better than it is NOW, she would agree it was better during the SU than during the first 10 years after the SU. She also will say that it was not nearly as bad as people make it out to be, which I can believe, especially in the opinion of a child or teenager or young adult at the time.

She agrees that the selection of clothes here is just mind boggling...and almost free!

When we went for her passport, we first went to the county courthouse which has limited hours of operation for passports. We arrived and the ONLY clerk that does them during these very specific hours was gone, and no one knew where she went or when she would be back. Alla said "Yep, just like the Soviet Union" So we went to the official passport office and there they told her she needed a bunch of things she did not need. We asked for a supervisor and reviewed THEIR printed instructions. We had everything we needed. "Yep, just like the Soviet Union"

Our step-son, in the past five years of his work career in Russia, has been paid not more than 20% of the time. That sort of thing didn't happen in the USSR. A higher education is Russia means close to nothing. (The step-son has the equivalent of a MS in telecommunications from a pretty good institute ... and no paid work.) A higher education in the USSR meant a lot. These things color one's perceptions of the country.

And we cannot get medical care that is at all decent for an elderly, desperately ill mother-in-law. Medical care in the USSR was way better than we can get there now. So, in a large city in Siberia at least, life is still not as good as in the USSR. Moscow and St. Petersburg may be different.

And, when one gets my wife going, the examples continue to multiply.

I don't know if you have your heart set on Amsterdam ... Singapore has nearly daily nonstop service between Moscow and Houston.

KLM is nice, but Singapore earns its reputation as the best airline in the world, based on my experience.

No visa issues for her with Moscow. Of course, you might need a visa. And there's a hotel conveniently located next to Domodedovo if you need it.

Just another option.

Tanya sounds a lot like Alla on the issues, isn't a USC yet, and voted against Putin. (Yes, she happened to be in Russia on election day.) Won't say who she voted for. None of my business. Likes Obama. Thinks all politicians are crooks but isn't sure about Obama. Thinks he's a better man than Putin. Doesn't have the insecurity complexes Putin has with all his bogus sports real-man counterfeit stuff. Isn't aware of the Secret Service scandal, since she's over there taking care of mom these days.

Is old enough to remember the Soviet Union. Thinks things were better then than they are now in either Russia or the USA.

I also used travisa last year, so I called them again today. They'll still do the legwork but instead of submitting documents directly to the Consulate, they have to submit it to this new LLC. This new LLC, for an additional fee of $30 will submit the documents to the Consulate.

So, everything is like normal: they change and stay the same, but get more expensive.

So now I'm just waiting for the pesky invitation from the Academy of Sciences ...

The last visa was last summer for a September trip. I understand the online visa application process and get the fee increases.

Last year there were three agencies that the Russian embassy allowed to present visa documents. Now there is only one, and it is different than last year. This single company states that they do not accept documents sent to them in the mail. Their website has no posted telephone numbers. These changes went into effect on 12 April 2012.

I found telephone numbers for this agency at the Russian Federation embassy website and also for at the Russian Consulate Houston website. For the 45 million or so of us who live in a city where there is a Russian consulate, and where this single agency has a physical presence, it will not be too big a problem to present documents in person. For the 250 million of us who don't, it is a bit of a puzzle. I currently live in Denver and it would be a hardship to have to fly to Houston or San Francisco or somewhere just to present a person with my passport just because they don't know how to accept a FEDEX parcel. And then return to get it from this similarly incapable person. I betting now that this is just another middle-man inserted into the process and that there are still companies that can serve as intermediaries. Except now instead of being intermediary with a Russian consulate, they will be intermediary to a sole-sourced company that is intermediary to the Russian consulate. I'll learn more today and post more tonight.

It seems that Russian consulates no longer accept visa applications but require all applications to go thru an organization called Invisa Logistics Services.

This organization, which states on their website, "We will do our best for you to get a visa to visit the Russian Federation; it has become a very comfortable and pleasant procedure." also states that they do not accept visa documents by mail. Every visa I've gotten so far (on the order of ten -- 8 in my just expired passport and maybe 2 or 3 in the one before that) I secured thru visa agencies to whom I mailed my passport and other needed documents. This ILS organization does not provide any telephone numbers on their website.

It looks like it'll be a curious escapade getting my next visa, once the invitation arrives. Is anyone a little further along in this new process than I am? I am currently quite puzzled.

My wife travels back to Russia twice a year, usually for about 10 weeks at a time. It is a lot. I accept it as necessary. My Mother-in-law is an 88 widow living by herself. My wife worries. And she worries, with plenty of justification, about her son and loves to see her grandson.

Last year I managed to get over there, for the first time since '08. And I'm striving to get back over there this summer.

Indeed, when she went back at the end of February, she found my mother-in-law to be in rapidly deteriorating health. We've suspected cancer and may have confirmation today. Obviously, my wife plans to extend her stay in Russia.

It is tough. Extended separation can be hard, especially in the context of ongoing family emergency. It seems to me that this is part of what we have agreed to, implicitly if not explicitly, when we agreed to an international marriage. Doesn't make it easier.

Based on what we're experiencing now, I'd urge those with aging family over there, especially if they are alone, to start trying to plan to what will probably come eventually. A lot of what we take for granted here doesn't exist there in a good way. While I've known this for years, I am shocked and dismayed at the absence of being able to find any good, useful, hospice-type support where my wife is.

It sounds the OP's mom is much, much younger. It would be a very good idea to find some way to get her to travel ... by ship ... or by medicated flight. Last time I traveled, I popped an ambien shortly out of Houston, vaguely remember being over Arkansas and woke up over Finland. That's a good way to travel!

So, the USA citizen husband of the N-400 petitioner had a daughter over twenty years ago who died in infancy. The petitioner never new this baby and met the US citizen guy a dozen years after the baby's passing.

So, is this deceased baby a step-daughter that the petitioner must disclose in Part 9 of form N-400?

Whole Foods, at least in our area, carries the Lifeway Kefir's (which aren't good and aren't like Russian kefir's) and other lines of Kefir that are really good.

It seems that these days one can get better Kefir there than in Akademgorodok, the suburb of Novosibirsk my wife is from. I'll be able to "see for myself" soon, as I'll go over for the first time in three years in a couple weeks, but it seems that the quality of foods in the groceries there have gone downhill steeply. Its a huge pity.

Almost forgot, but I asked my mom, she says there's no problem with that, even if she spends a lot less time in Russia, it doesn't matter.

Interesting. A friend of my wife's, who is married to a US citizen and therefore spends most of her time in the states, has to return to Novosibirsk. The authorities there want to terminate her pension payments. There's a court date in September.

One wonders what is going on here ... perhaps the local authorities want to play differently than in the center. I'm perplexed.

The answer to the subquestion is, to the best of my knowledge, in 1979, when Cyrus Vance, then Secretary of State, resigned because he thought an ill-planned attempt to rescue American hostages held in Iran was too risky and would fail. (Events proved him right, the attempt did fail.)

It used to be an honored tradition for a politician to resign on principal or when his own followers refuse to follow his lead. This decent tradition has fallen into disuse in the past few decades in this country (and in the UK, too, to a lesser extent, seems to me).

Boehner cannot get his own party to support his proposed radical cuts to solve an unnecessary debt crisis he helped create at this time. There was a time in this country when an honorable politician would resign in the face of this sort of fiasco. Does Boehner have this sense of decency? Don't count on it.

Look up the definition of treason at dictionary.com. The first definition doesn't fit the current Republican leadership or the Republican House, but it sure looks like the second and third definitions do fit!

I'd like to ask a few questions more on-topic.

We also are thinking about retiring over there. Given our ages (which are about the same) it won't be for a good 10-15 years, probably. She just started collecting her pension and it is deposited into a bank account over there.

1. Are there any issues about being a pensioner in Russia while living with an American in the States? My wife does spend a good part of the year, maybe 40% of the time, over there. It is necessary for family reasons.

2. What are issues associated with buying property over there jointly? Can the property be in both of our names? In her name only? (Yes, she is the Russian in this marriage.) Is there anything like title insurance over there?

This has been an interesting string and I may chime in later on corruption. It is great that this string, which went down into the gutter, managed to get back out.

There would never be feral roosters in RUB countries. People would catch them and eat them.

My sister, when living in Shenyang, saw this canned food with a picture of a German shepherd on it in the grocery store. For a year she thought it was dog food. Then she learned that it was just dog.

Biden and Putin actually had this conversation recently, but for a thousand reasons it will not happen any time soon.

Obama and Medvedev also discussed it in the past month.

We find a news article in the Russian press that seems to state that the USA, effective 1 April this year, that Russians may enter the USA under the Visa Waiver program without needing to first get a visa.

Here's the article (in Russian): Visa Waiver for Russians

My first suspicion is that this is an April Fools joke, although there have been discussions on allowing Russia to join the Visa Waiver regime. I cannot find any news on this in English at Google News. Anyone here know anything about this?

Louisville, CO

The Iranian revolution also started as a broad-based call for democracy. Islamists consolidated control only later. In both cases, an American-backed despot was deposed by popular revolt. The similarities in Egypt, superficially, are more like Iran than Iraq. That's hope the Egyptian path going forward is different and becomes genuinely pluralist.

Back in the '80s or '90s there was a female teacher in Wisconsin accused of similar misconduct with one high school boy. She was acquitted, though, because the statutory rape language was worded along the lines that the perp had to, with respect to the minor, "penetrate or cause to be penetrated". She didn't do that and was acquitted.

I think they changed the law after that.