DaveAndAnastasia

Just a minor nitpick because I doubt this actually applies in Mexico and almost definitely doesn't to the OP, but if your marriage would not be legal where you live, then it's not valid for immigration purposes. There are some cases where marriages that are legal in other countries are not valid in the US (most notably multiple spouses are legal in some countries, first cousin marriages are not legal in all states but are in some countries, and minimum age for a legal marriage varies). FWIW, I'd still saying doing a K-1 was absolutely the right thing for us in 2018. Anastasia couldn't easily get a US tourist visa so we couldn't marry in the US, getting married in Russia takes a lot of time in-country (like over a month) or multiple visits in a short time (neither of which were practical for me), getting married in a third country would have meant choosing a meet-up location expressly for being somewhere two foreigners could marry quickly and easily (which in fact isn't true of a lot of major tourist destinations in Europe -- in quite a lot of European 'destination weddings' the couple actually legally marries beforehand in the US) which meant we wouldn't be able to start the process for another 3 months or so at minimum after when we did, at the time K-1s were taking about half as long as CR-1s from petition to POE, we wanted to have a kid soon so working immediately wasn't a huge issue, our local field office was pretty fast for AOS on average at the time, and Utah zoom weddings weren't a thing in 2018. But generally the CR-1/IR-1 path is better, especially now.

I mean, I did go home and sleep the next night (and the night after) after confirming that they'd let me back in (this being April 2020) ...

A little before mini-Dave was born (aka after midnight), I noted that I was dead on my feet, but PRG was bright-eyed and wide awake. She was having a baby. I was just giving encouragement, keeping family updated, and making snack runs. I don't know how that works.

Mini-Dave turned two last month. I've said a lot over the last couple months that while I remember the day before was born quite clearly (noting that he decided to pop out a little after 1 am*), the last two years, not so much. * Which meant we weren't ready to sleep until 4am** ** also, some idiot didn't realize that if his wife was in labor in late afternoon/early evening he was going to be spending the night in the hospital so he should pack a change of clothes for himself too, not just for his wife

If she's had a green card for over 3 years AND has been married to a US citizen for over 3 years (technically living in marital union with you), she is eligible to apply for naturalization (aka if she didn't get her green card via her relationship with you, then she's not eligible to apply for naturalization under the 3-year rule). Not sure how the other parts work.

My quick summary on why despite all the stories about mail-order-bride scams someone might have heard, Russia and Ukraine are not high fraud for fiancé(e) or spousal visas. Russia is not high fraud because the large majority of fake "Russian mail order brides" are in fact Ukrainians. Ukraine is not high fraud because the women involved in fake "Russian mail order bride" scams almost always have no intention of actually marrying the western guys, or even meeting them (and often didn't provide anything to the scam dating site beyond a picture).

Heck, many of us who did a K-1 and are 100% convinced it was the right decision for us at the time are well aware that a spousal visa is a better visa (and were at the time); it's just that when things were working semi-normally, the K-1 process worked better for couples where the beneficiary couldn't easily get a US tourist visa and marrying in the beneficiary's country was expensive and/or time-consuming (and didn't want to visit a country where two foreigners could marry quickly and easily just to get married, and this was before Utah zoom marriages were a thing).

First we had a couple weeks where I took off and we basically had a vacation / get to know San Diego period (along with actually getting married). Then we had a ceremony-type thing to plan and AOS paperwork to file. And by then my wife was getting pretty bored even though my condo was better decorated and cleaner than it had ever been previously, but a couple months after said ceremony-type-thing we were expecting a baby, so she didn't start looking for work when she got her EAD.

Now, if we ever get around to having another kid ... 🤣

No, she needs one with a Russian accent and California answers to the "your state" questions 🤣

We'll run an experiment at the end of June or start of July at any rate ... /Anastasia becomes eligible to apply for citizenship in six weeks or so Honestly, except for a weird random two week delay between her K-1 interview in Moscow and shipping her visa to her, all her immigration stuff has been pretty reasonable so far (nothing over average processing time at the service center, embassy, or field office, no place we had to deal with had really slow averages, and we caught a rare window in early 2019 where K-1 interviews in Moscow were being scheduled and actually happening relatively promptly). AOS took 5.5 months in 2019, ROC took 9 months and was a approved last month.

Okay, we can do bread making or ice cream making talk next ... 🤣

I'd put one on our wedding registry because I'd read about it (a columnist I like occasionally diverts into talking about cooking and raved about it) and sounded like something that was great for lazy guy cooking (also why we have a bread machine -- I love homemade bread, but kneading and keeping track of knead/rise cycles is way too much work) and we got one then. But then I didn't actually use it for a few years until the grocery delivery shopper got a tri tip roast instead of a pack of tri-tip steaks, and my parents were around over Christmas so I thought "hey, let's try this thing out" (and all I did was cover the thing in Montreal steak spice, bag it, and toss it in) and it was amazing so I've been experimenting with that since then (I usually cook the main course on weekends to give PRG a break; have also done something with pork tenderloin, flank steak, and tried a cross rib roast yesterday that was the first thing I kept in all day instead of just the afternoon).

If I'd said "immersion circulator" instead of "sous vide machine", you'd still have said that 🤣

In fact unless you are coming to the US by land, leave most of your stuff at home. Determine how many bags the airlines will let you take on the plane if you are willing to pay extra for it (either directly or via buying a more expensive ticket). That's the absolute maximum amount of stuff you should bring with you. Unless something has an enormous amount of sentimental value or is really, really high end stuff, it's almost certainly going to be cheaper to replace large or heavy things than to ship them.

I mean, at my place I'd sous vide (sounds fancy, but is really easy, and you can't possibly burn anything; good for guys) some beef or pork, PRG would make some corn or potatoes, salad, and a some Russian thing she'd call a cake and I won't argue because whatever it is it's delicious, and we'd be good. Requires a big pot and a sous vide machine, though. And a stovetop or grill to finish. And a PRG for the rest 🤣 (and there's only one of those, sorry, man).

It's legal for a dad in Texas to not have a grill, man? But no ideas for producing something good for five or six with just a microwave, sorry.

I mean, it's true that there are more, but I don't think it's "most" or even close to that. Though I think it is most Schengen area countries that border Russia.

Apparently in Russia it's considered bad luck to celebrate your birthday early, though. 🤣

Heard crunch when backing car out to take mini-Dave to the park yesterday. Assumed was plastic bottle, didn't think anything of it. On returning home, find out I drove over PRG's hair color. What kind of idiot leaves a small package in front of a garage door, not the front door?

Until mini-Dave was born, I wasn't really cognizant of the fact that PRG's birthday is usually going to be on Mother's Day or +/- a few days. /stopped by store to pick up Mother's Day and Birthday cards from mini-Dave and me on the way to taking mini-Dave to the playground on Saturday. //had birthday presents delivered to an Amazon locker and retrieved via same tactic, then smuggled out of trunk and wrapped while PRG was with mini-Dave at the park

How long from date issued to POE are IR-1/CR-1 visas generally valid for? If it's something around six months (like K-1s are six months from the medical), couldn't you delay your initial entry to the US long enough that you'd be fine through March (and presumably meet with your spouse in the UK or some other non-US country over the summer)?

Don't worry, when other people acquire a new-ish boring, reliable family vehicle, no one will care about theirs, too ... /not that there's anything wrong with this; Dave-mobile is a 2016 Toyota Camry, and when it gets replaced (probably with a RAV4-ish electric vehicle in 2025 or so) said replacement will also be a boring family vehicle, though if PRG has to go to an office once she finds a job, I'll probably pick up an e-bike once she learns to drive. It's San Diego, the weather's almost always fine, but it's a bit too hilly in my part of town to go very far on pure pedal power unless you're in significantly better shape than I am.