Brad and Vika

I work for a bank, and want to post agreement with several points here that may appear at first to conflict.

1) I agree that if you wire or deposit small amounts in an attempt to avoid IRS scrutiny, the bank will report the deposits. I don't work in retail banking, but the branch folks are required to fill out a SIR (suspicious incident report I think) when they see some one laddering small deposits. The concerns are money laundering (as stated above) and/or other illegal activity like drug dealing.

2) I agree that a transfer of the full amount will also be flagged, and result in questions, first from the bank, then from the government.

3) I agree that your tax liability MAY depend on where/how the money was earned, as well as your status. If you are a German citizen, I think you may have to pay German taxes on the gain, and will owe the US the difference between that amount and the US tax on the gain-on-sale if the US tax results in a higher amount. If you earned the money here, the US would tax it first, then presumably Germany would require the same calculation. The point of all this is to say that a tax expert is needed to sort it out. Resident aliens get punished this way all the time, as do expats that earn money abroad.

4) I am honestly not sure about sheltering the gain by investing it in US real estate. If you sold the property here, you can. Selling foreign property probably eliminates that shelter.

Good luck to you. I am curous as to what you do next.

I think it is just an individual preference. My wife is on the fence. She wouldn't mind having an American passport for travel. Right now she needs a visa for lots of places I can go, and vice versa. Giving up Ukrainian citizenship will really screw up her property rights, and have negative tax implications in Ukraine though. We aren't sure what to do.

Thanks, si man, if I don't up-screw it...

Doubtful. Long past due man.

Really lovely post Brad, have a wonderful life with your family!!!

Thanks, and we will do

Moving to ROC forum

Thanks TB, and welcome to the team

Keep your eyes on the prize! It will all work out.

We did a K-1 and had no trouble, but I agree with PB and the others that considering where you are applying, a spousal visa may be easier for you. Good luck and welcome.

OP - I don't have an answer for you, but I am moving this topic to the AOS forum hoping that you will get a better response.

Moved to NVC forum

Welcome aboard and congratulations

Give us a little more detail. You are in Korea, but your SO is in the PI? Are you in the military?

I spent most of the day one-on-one with my nine week old today. Vika and MIL were at a girlfriend's house for a day filled with Ukrainian food and gossip. Two feedings, three diaper changes, several naps (hers), and lots of rocking and baby talk (mine ) later, I am feeling pretty tired. More tired than I remember last time, twenty years ago . At least my memory appears not to have suffered over time.

Watching my wife and MIL walking around with my daughter as we wind down the weekend got me thinking. It is easy sometimes for me to forget the risk she took coming to my country. She didn't do it to take care of her kids, or get a green card, or provide for her family back home. This is her home, and she came here to be with me. That is commitment, and even more amazingly her entire side of the family got behind it.

When I was still in the middle of the process somewhere, it was pretty frustrating at times reading all the posts about delays and problems with documents, USCIS, NVC, or the State Dept. Not to mention all the weirdness around members posting about the personal details of their relationships, their relationship problems, or their SO's body parts.

If you are still in the process, take my advice. Don't sweat the small issues, and keep your eye on the prize. The prize I am talking about is a strong family, and the life that comes with it.

We wear shoes all over the house. At this point Vika is pretty good about covering food and putting it in the refrigerator (MIL is not ). Any wardrobe issues were dealt with years ago mostly. No one walks around in their underwear generally, and I wear gopnik clothes when I want to. In the house or out. Vika does not wear mini skirts or see through clothes. The issue for us is just conforming to the culture, and I appreciate her making the effort.

It looks like Dave took care of business (good on him), despite the usual level of tactful disagreement here in the RUB forum.

This is my second time petitioning. I broke off my first engagement due to her being unfaithful as it appeared then and what I found out later to be factual. Watch my timeline as I am certain of RFE even though I sent them a letter detailing why I ended my first fiancee visa and relationship. I doubt age has much to do with this. One of my friends married a 32 year old and he is 59. I have seen others 30 years difference and okay. For me I am 22 years older than my current. I am age 46 and she is 24. I did live in the Philippines two different times for more than a year each time with one time being 3 and half years working. That is why I keep going this route lol. I am more Filipino than American the last 10 years.

The only reason I can forsee an age rejection is if the petioner is well into his 60's or older and his fiancee is under 30. I am only speculating that maybe they look at how much time based on aging death does the petitioner have to support his wife to be.

I wish you the best. Wish me luck as I anticipate an RFE within the next two months based on timelines.

I agree that age difference is not a good indicator of compatability (my wife and I have seventeen years age difference), but I think the OP is asking a procedural question. From what I have read on VJ over the years, it seems like it depends on the embassy, the amount of visa fraud in the beneficiary's country, and the culture of that country. So in a culture where men don't normally marry women that are much older than they are, the CO can make the visa petition an uphill climb.

To the OP - yes it is possible. If I recall correctly you will need a waiver if you file again within two years, assuming this was your first petition. Some one will no doubt correct me if that has changed. Good luck to you.

No matter how you go about this, you're going to be wrong.

True

I would just explain it to her like you were her biological dad. Tell her that culturally here, that much skin is not appropriate in front of a male your age, and you wish she would put some more clothes on. Turn it around, and ask her why she wants her mom's husband to see that. I bet that puts an end to it. She is no doubt a good girl that just never thought it would bother any one.

Edited to say that if it were me, I would have the above conversation with my wife in the room, so there was no possible misunderstanding because of language and whatnot.

A "person" is just a legal definition. For example, corporations can be legal persons. So long as you had identification that met the Patriot Act requirements, you are probably fine. If you did not have it, the bank would not have let you open the account.

Moving to AOS forum

Moving to K-1 Forum

I only paid $99 for my wife and selected her from an online catalog......Scout's truth !!

I don't doubt you Phil. I also know that to be about 3% of your story From all you have written here over the years, I doubt there was much fantasy marketing involved. Feel free to correct me.

I feel a rant coming on

For sure for sure. The VJ forums in Russia are chock full of these types of stories and warnings to the ladies. My wife was being contacted daily with expressions of interest and she has told me quite a few interesting stories of what some of the guys were asking.....to call them sex maniacs is being gentle!!

I have heard a few tales as well, though not from the wife. I met a woman from Odessa once, that married a guy who worked nights. She met him a couple of times, brought her son here trusting him, and wound up trapped in the country with no vehicle, limited English, and no husband unless she wanted to sleep during the day. When she told him after a couple of years (right before LOC) that she couldn't continue to live like that, he dropped her and her son off in front of a police station and told her they would help her. The shelter she wound up in helped her with LOC and divorce. She cleans houses now.

Now I only got her side of the story, but it is the kind of stuff retold as a warning back in Ukraine, Vika says. Something like "that smart city girl with the child psych degree married a guy overseas, and look what happened. You have lived your whole life in this village, are you crazy?".

I think a lot of it comes from stereo typing and misconceptions. I know that a segment of the population believe that women everywhere are willing to do anything to come to America with its streets lined in gold. Of course, the other misconception is that they are submissive women. :rofl: When it comes to RUB women that really cracks me up.

It is stuff like that, that keeps guys trying to find the drop dead gorgeous woman that will be their wife and sex slave. Maybe these guys need to come into the light and see if what they are looking for really exists. Now that being said, it does not mean that many of us don't have hot looking wives and enjoy a terrific sex life. But a lot of other things come into place before that happens. I think the primary item is that we guys can't be idiots.

There can be some misunderstanding, and I also think that there is a fair amount of fantasy marketing involved sometimes - for men and women. The unfortunate, the lonely, the bitter, are all told that the relationship and the family they have always dreamed about is just around the corner. Whatever your interest, we have the perfect match, and for a mere $6,000 we will take you there, trim your nails, shine your shoes, and make the intro. We will even provide some one to help you talk to each other! What could possibly go wrong?

Just because it's on the internet doesn't make it some magical, mystical experience. It should be no different than dating a girl next door.

Oh sure it is, because.... well because. Sure, fat old bald guys never fall in love with swimsuit model home makers here, but over THERE, it happens all the time. And for a trivial $400 per month....

Again, I think what I wrote above applies to women as well as men, and there is no right or wrong way to meet your better half. I totally get that the intro services (virtual and brick n' mortar) are businesses, and sometimes have well intentioned people behind them. The more I hear, the more cruel I think the marketing can be sometimes though.

Rant over, sorry.

they are made for each other. It's Nature's Way (humming to Spirit...!!!)

This one definitely cuts both directions. It plays both to the stories we read often about scammers and abuse. We see loads of stories about guys chasing women half way around the globe, sending money, etc. to find that she never intended to have a life with that guy. In Eastern Europe they see stories about old, crazy guys with no social skills shopping for young girls that are abused, or even killed. I could see this story translated and appearing on both sides of the lake.

It sounds like he has grounds for a restraining order or peace bond (depending on the state). Leaving him over infidelity is certainly reasonable, stalking him is not.

Interesting. I wasn't aware you could walk in anywhere. We actually rescheduled a biometric appointment for Vika online. I don't recall anything about walk in services on the website, nor was there any notice posted in the office.

Good point. Like I said, is better if they come here and then marry. This is not a "Less is more" type of situation. I suspect he already disclosed that for his student visa and therefore he's going through the lengthy AP.

I agree. If he already disclosed that he has been living with a USC that he intends to marry, and he gets the student visa anyway, no harm, no foul. I would guess though, that if anybody actually read that he intended to marry the USC in the application it may cause questions, if not a problem with the F visa. If no one asks, he will be covered when he applies for a green card later (just save a copy of the application disclosure).