dkrivosheyev

I've never heard of an I 94 coming up in someone else's name. When did she enter the US?

She came on November 30th.

Hi,

We got married few weeks ago and recently went to Social Security office to change my wife's last name on her social security card. The clerk run her I-94 number through their database and said there was a problem with it - someone else's name came up under this number. So they said they will have to verify my wife's status with USCIS before issuing a new Social Security card. Does anyone know how long this usually takes? 2 weeks? 2 month?

Thank you!

Hi

We are in the process of collecting all the paperwork to file for adjustment of status for my fiancee (will get married in a few days). The VJ AOS FAQ mention that we need to include a vaccination supplement I-693A with the package. When my fiancee had her medical for K1 visa, she was given a DS-3025 vaccination form by her doctor overseas, but not I-693A. Do we need to go to a USCIS-approved doctor here in the States and have him transfer all the information from DS-3025 to I-639A form, or can we just file a copy of DS-3025 from her overseas medical?

Thank you,

Hi

I have a rather unusual question. My fiancee and I will get married in about a week and file for AOS after that. However, we are considering that she will keep her maiden name after marriage for cultural reasons. Both of us are Russians, and in our culture wife's last name after marriage is the same as her husband's name, but with a letter "a" added to the end. After some research we found that it will be a big deal to accomplish this here because in the U.S. her last name will be exactly the same as mine. In our culture this will sound very awkward. So we are thinking to keep her maiden name until she goes for U.S. citizenship and we will change it at that time. However, I am concerned that if she keeps her maiden name it may create a problem during AOS interview. Will they think that our marriage is not "real"? What is your opinion?

Thank you,

This is America, we can change our names to just about anything. Personally, if I had a Russian last name I'd want my wife to have the "a" at the end too, as it is proper. If you can't find a simple solution, just have her name legally changed, in Ohio you do it at the probate court.

That's what we probably will end up doing. After some research yesterday it appears that DMV or Social Security Administration will only use my last name as her new last name, they are not willing to add "a" to the end. So we will have to file for a legal name change for her after we get married. Does anyone know how long it takes in Florida? We want to file for AOS shortly after we get married, but I guess we will have to wait until the name change paperwork goes through...

When you guys get married, ask the person to put the a on the marriage certificate. Explain why. It really shouldn't be a big deal and it makes it legal without paying probate court fees.

Well, all we have on the marriage certificate here in Florida is my name and her maiden name. The certificate itself does not say something like "wife's name after marriage is such and such". There is only my last name on the certificate and it becomes her last name when we go to DMV or SSA. Maybe in some other states the marriage certificate explicitly states wife's new last name, but in Florida it does not....

I'm so envious - you get to spend Christmas together!

Their Orthodox Christmas falls somewhere in the beginning of January.

Christmas is on January 7th.

Since we live in America, we celebrate both - Dec 25th and Janury 7th

This is America, we can change our names to just about anything. Personally, if I had a Russian last name I'd want my wife to have the "a" at the end too, as it is proper. If you can't find a simple solution, just have her name legally changed, in Ohio you do it at the probate court.

That's what we probably will end up doing. After some research yesterday it appears that DMV or Social Security Administration will only use my last name as her new last name, they are not willing to add "a" to the end. So we will have to file for a legal name change for her after we get married. Does anyone know how long it takes in Florida? We want to file for AOS shortly after we get married, but I guess we will have to wait until the name change paperwork goes through...

Today we went to the courthouse to get our marriage license and run into a very unusual problem which hopefully some of you came across before... Both Elena and I are Russians, and she wants to take my last name. In Russian language the female last name has a letter "a" added to the end, for example Ivanov - Ivanova. So we need to take my last name, add "a" to the end, and that will be her last name. I wonder if anyone came across this issue before and how was it handled? Because technically the U.S. officials can only change the wife's last name to her husband's last name which does not have an "a" on the end... What do you think?

My fiancee just arrived 2 days ago, and we are going to get married in 3 weeks. However, prior to getting married it is recommended to obtain a SSN while still in K1 status. My fiancee already has social security number and a card from 2 years ago when she was in the U.S. Do we need to stop by social security office and update her status in their system? Elena was here on J1 visa 2 years ago and received her social security number at that time. So now we are wondering if we need to update her status with SSA?

Thank you!

Hey thank you kotenochek!!!

I am already here and very happy. I had my work authorization stamp put in my passport ay POE, and now I already know that I am definaltely getting a job, i already applied. I know it may be hard to get a job, but as long as I am here with my baby I feel great and no lonely any more!!!

Make sure you are strong enaugh to go through this,because its whole different story.As slim said here all is expensive,stuff like nails and hair is considered as a luxory.

Moreover people here are way different than in europe..another problem adjustment time going to drive you nuts because you will not be able to work,which for most busy russian girls is worst punishment ever!

stay strong zaika,nikto ne govoril chto budet legko:(

Congratulations! Did you go through JFK to get the work authorizations? My fiancee went through Atlanta and did not get one, however, apparently you can work with K1 visa even without the stamp, at least that's what they are saying at russian fiancee forums.

Elena and I are finally together - I met her in Atlanta airport yesterday afternoon! It was a long wait for us and we are so happy to be together! POE in Atlanta was long (took about 2 hours) but not difficult, just long lines of people because her flight arrived at 3:00pm - probably the busiest time in Atlanta airport. They took her brown envelope, attached I-94 into her passport and asked when we are going to be married. Said "Welcome to United States" and that was it! Despite some negative reviews about Atlanta POE on this site, the immigration staff was very friendly and wished us happy life together.

Did anyone have their K1 interview in Moscow recently? My fiancee had her interview on November 1st and she was approved. I am wondering how long does it take for the Embassy to print the visa and ship it to my fiancee. It is November 7th now and the visa has not been sent yet. How long did it take you to receive the visa?

I have heard that the Consulates no longer issue the visa. They send it back to the states where it is issued and Fed ex to the beneficiary.

That doesn't seem to make any sense. If the visa is sent to the USC, how does it get affixed to the passport? The USC then has to ship the visa/passport to the Russian citizen? I thought the embassy affixed the visa to the passport and sent that to the Russian citizen directly. They will, after all, need it to process in at the POE (if not to depart Russia as well).

Hey Kevin,

I think what they meant was that the visa does not go to the USC but to the DHS, DOS or NVC to have the visa attached. But like you, I still thought that was done at the embassy. I will wait to hear what others have to say.

The visa is issued at the embassy and affixed to the passport. Then the embassy sends the visa along with the sealed envelope to the beneficiary via DHL. My fiancee received her visa last Friday.

The possibility of the US and Russia closing borders is almost nonexistent. First and foremost is the simple matter of money. There's a lot of western money pouring into the FSU right now, and quite frankly it's money that drives international policy.

Also, the current tensions between the US and Russia are just that. It's a lot of chest pounding and hand waving. The Shrub is going to be out of the Whitehouse in a year, and his ability to make any serious trouble wanes with each passing day. Putin, on the other hand, is only growing in power, but he's gotten to where he is because he's smart and ruthless. He has no interest in cutting off the US because it's simply bad for his power base. And whoever the next US President is, they're going to be way too busy (hopefully) fixing the messes left by this administration to push the stupidity of missile defense in Eastern Europe.

Your fiancee has nothing to fear. If she were Iranian, she'd have a real reason to worry. But if there were a list of countries to worry about borders closing to the US, Russia would be pretty far down there.

So tell her that moxcamel says it's still okay to marry you.

I fully agree with the above statement - the possibility of closing borders is negligent. There is too much business and money involved and the people who control all this money also control the power. It is not all about politics, but more about the money, and the business that is going on now between Russia and US is virtually impossible to stop...

It took Claudeth a total of about 45 minutes to get through customs, collect her luggage and come out of the customs areal. The POE officer was really nice to her and only asked her a couple of things.

Do you need to have your x-rays with you for POE? Some people commented that an officer has a right to ask for your x-rays so you need to have them in your carry-on luggage...

Did anyone have their K1 interview in Moscow recently? My fiancee had her interview on November 1st and she was approved. I am wondering how long does it take for the Embassy to print the visa and ship it to my fiancee. It is November 7th now and the visa has not been sent yet. How long did it take you to receive the visa?

Just want to share our great news - my fiancee had her interview yesterday and she was approved! We are extremely excited now! The officer said that she will receive her visa within one week. She was asked many questions about my job, parents, our future plans and what she wants to do in the U.S. Overall the interview went very well. We are so happy now!

Bottom line it all depends on your relationship. If you only saw the person you picked from an online catalog for a week a year ago, odds are you are going to be in trouble if you guys don't communicate in a common language either.

I'll second that. It seems if everything else is in order, the language really doesn't matter. But, if you've had a "short" relationship, better start practicing those questions/answers in English.

If you're a "native" Russian speaker, there should be no problem at all with her speaking only Russian. But, if you guys communicate in the "little bit of Russian" that you know and the "little bit of English" that she knows, then once again, she better start practicing.

However, you said she's been to the U.S., so if you guys had a pretty long "courtship" and met each other several times and all that, then you shouldn't have to worry at all about the spoken language.

We knew each other for over three years, lived together in the U.S. for 9 months and I am a "native" Russian speaker. We communicate in Russian only, however, I told her to speak English to the officer. I think it will look good that she can speak decent English since she is moving to the U.S. to live.

I've seen other posts where people reported that they gave the beneficiary a choice.

I know they will give her a choice, however, is it better to speak English to them? Like apgk said, they probably like English more...

What language should my fiancee speak during her interview (which is in two days!!!)? I know consular officers in Russia speak fluent Russian, should she talk to them in Russian or English? Since I am originally from Russia myself, we communicate in Russian, and her English is a bit rusty now - almost 2 years since she was in States last time... What is the best practice?

Thank you!

My fiancee had it in English.

She has an intermidiate level certificate in english but has been corresponding with me in english for over 2 years

and so is quite fluent by now. The consular looked at the information about her english language certificate and made a positive remark about this fact.

It seems consulars are bit biased towards knowledge of english and prefer english.

OK, no problem. My fiancee also has intermediate English certificate, she also studied in the U.S. college for 2 semesters in 2005. However it's been a while since she spoke English so it is not as great as it was before. I just practiced English with her on the phone. I will tell her to speak English to the officer.

My fiancee seems to be totally confused - someone told her that she has to get some document from somewhere in Russia

that she is leaving Russia and would not be living at the current address (the address whis documented on her passport etc).

Has anyone heard of this before? anyone done anything like this when leaving Russia on K1 visa?

No documents needed to leave Russia with a K1 visa. It used to be a requirement many years ago - you had to obtain so-called exit visa to leave Russia. You had to get it from OVIR office and it was a real hassle. That time is long gone, now she does not need any documents.

ok great thanks.

It seems the address etc are documented on the internal russian passport (which I believe is not really a passport but a form of ID).

My only other question is that her international passport is going to expire in 2009 and we would need to renew it here in US - would there be any related issues at that time?

No problem to renew her international passport in US - just go through Russian Embassy in Washington, DC. You have to send them a renewal form, her old passport, photos, money order and a copy of her green card. Very easy and hassle-free, takes about 2 months. I have done it myself with no problems.

What language should my fiancee speak during her interview (which is in two days!!!)? I know consular officers in Russia speak fluent Russian, should she talk to them in Russian or English? Since I am originally from Russia myself, we communicate in Russian, and her English is a bit rusty now - almost 2 years since she was in States last time... What is the best practice?

Thank you!

My fiancee seems to be totally confused - someone told her that she has to get some document from somewhere in Russia

that she is leaving Russia and would not be living at the current address (the address whis documented on her passport etc).

Has anyone heard of this before? anyone done anything like this when leaving Russia on K1 visa?

No documents needed to leave Russia with a K1 visa. It used to be a requirement many years ago - you had to obtain so-called exit visa to leave Russia. You had to get it from OVIR office and it was a real hassle. That time is long gone, now she does not need any documents.

There maybe some questions about your F1 application, in particular if you really intended to study, not just be with your fiance in the U.S. It would be helpful if you have some paperwork from the school you applied to, so you can show that you had a real intend to study there - e-mails from the Admissions Office, letters, receipts... I do not think it will be an issue, however, be prepared to answer those questions.

He's got a plane ticket for the 22, so just a week! And his POE is Houston, TX. Thanks to everyone for all of your support!

Congratulations!

Hello again fellow visa journey friends and members.

My fiancee and I will need to travel from Krasnoyarsk to Moscow at some point to file the I-130 at the US Embassy. My fiancee wants me to consider taking a train instead of flying to save money. Aside from saving money, the train eliminates the hassles of going through airports and might actually be more comfortable than a coach seat on a plane. But...given my experiences with Russian buses and cable cars...I'm skeptical about train travel. And it will take around 2 days to get to Moscow.

So, I'm requesting info and tips about trains in Russia...especially the Trans-Siberian Trains. Are they fairly comfortable? Can you sleep on them? Do they have "first class" compartments? Is there food? And...are they really cheaper than taking the puddle jumper Russian planes?

Also, I'd love to hear your stories of taking the train.

Thanks!

The first class cabin usually cost about the same as the airplane ticket, however, it is usually very comfortable, you can have privacy with your fiancee and have a very romantic journey. I would go with the first class cabin, not to save the money, but to see "real" Russia and have some great time. These trains also have what they call a "restaurant car" which is basically a full-service restaurant on wheels.