Brad and Vika

We included several photos with the petition, and took a batch to the embassy as well. A few points:
1) T-Bone was right, embassies are different, and some are tougher than others - so reading the embassy review can be helpful.
2) Sending photos will not hurt your petition. We focused on pics of both of us with Vika's family in Ukraine. There were no dates on them, other than what I wrote on the back.
3) Going to the interview can be helpful. There are some embassies where the petitioner is not allowed to attend, so check. Standing next to your SO during the interview is absolute proof that you met face-to-face during the past two years.

Closed for review

Again, if you are making a purchase, Best Buy is known to be pretty loose. HH Gregg has in-store credit, as does AT&T for mobile phones.

Buy something that requires credit - the store will offer it to you. If you buy a car, they will bend over backwards to get you financed, although without a rating you may pay a very high interest rate. Finance companies are another route, and have looser criteria than banks (and so cost more). In-store holiday financing for appliances is big too, so if you need a tv or something, any store selling that stuff pretty much does financing.

If I post about farting, will you respond to that?

OH HELL NO! Also never forget ANY other event which involves her getting gifts...New Year's, Women's Day, Mother's Day, Birthday, Anniversary, Christmas, even Sweetest Day It would be like all 7 deadly sins in one to forget

I would suggest checking in at the Expat Ukraine forum here.
We do have a member who is in Sevastopol now. Retired, living with his wife. He is also on the site above, along with lots of others. PM me and I will put you in touch with him, as we email periodically.
Edited to say that the guy I am talking about definitely draws a pension, and has no problem doing so from where he lives most of the year. There are also some other issues that he has worked out around prescription refills, etc.

Baiting is a violation of TOS - and I know those of you doing it here know that. Administrative action will be taken if it continues.

Baiting is a violation of TOS - and I know those of you doing it here know that. Administrative action will be taken if it continues.

I never bought anything in a duty free in Ukraine. I take American whiskey, bourbon candy, t-shirts and hats for my male relatives, derby pins, and other things that are related to the area where I live (Kentucky). I gave my in-laws a coffee table book with pictures of my city, and they gave us one for Kherson.
I also used to take my wife perfume and jewelery when she was in Ukraine. Just be aware that there are limits to the amount of booze and other things you can bring in. The customs officers in Odessa are pretty aggressive about asking after jewelery, as the tax is really high and they can get a bribe if they catch you. So hide the stuff and use vip services . If you pay the vip fee, you can usually get by with extra bottles too. I never had a customs problem in Kiev.

Wellcome aboard

http://youtu.be/EwK9Zjy9h3Q


The Avengers - totally for the special effects. Absolutely no other reason to watch it. The scene where Hulk gives Loki a beatdown was hilarious.

Five people who do not wake up with naked RUB women next to them have given him +1. Probably carpets all over their house.
Must be high level players like AJ.

I'm already looking forward to the inevitable "My bargirl wife walked out on me a week after getting her green card, what do I do?" thread.

Think very hard before you bring a bar girl here, you are playing with fire. A bar girl has to be the most degrading thing a girl could possibly do, it will scar her for life not to mention the feelings you might keep from it. You have to do what makes you happy at the end of the day but I'm sure you can find a girl who has not done something like that. For those of you unsure what a bar girl is you can google it. I've met "good girls" that got visas and came here and became strippers, but they would never consider being a bar girl. Because their society placed the bar so low, stripping is not all that bad in their head. Please for your own sake think very hard before you do something like that, it may sound good now but it will most likely not end well.

There are numerous posts containing Terms of Service violations in this thread. Any further such posts will be removed and the poster will be thread-banned. Violation reference:
19) Condone or instruct, either directly or indirectly, others on how to commit fraudulent or illegal immigration activities in any way, shape, manner or method.

Don't forget about all the pissed off USCs that want a refund

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.

Don't forget about all the pissed off USCs that want a refund

I think this is exactly right. The decision to take US citizenship seems to be influenced not only by personal preference and circumstances, but by the utility of having a US passport. We balance property and tax issues in Ukraine against ease of travel and so forth. If my wife already had a UK or Canadian passport there migh be no need at all, since property rights, tax status, and the like have been worked out ages ago. Also, those passports (UK, Canada, and US) get you into most of the same places without hassle. So no great benefit perhaps to acquire a US passport. Many Ukrainians get US citizenship, and forget to tell Ukraine, so they keep their passports for Ukraine business (they have external and internal passports).

Good Job! I like to hear that.

Don't forget about all the pissed off USCs that want a refund

Don't forget about all the pissed off USCs that want a refund

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.

The U.S., under the leadership of the sainted Ronald Reagan, not only collaborated with Saddam Hussein in the Iran-Iraq war, but armed him with chemical weapons and turned a blind eye to the use of those weapons against the Kurds.
Later of course, under GWB, the U.S. cited the very same attacks it had funded against the Kurds as one of its excuses for war.