Gage

I imagine someone has been through this before, so I'm hoping to get some guidance on our situation. My wife is Russian, and holds a valid U.S. Green Card. This summer our oldest daughter (who will be 4) will be traveling to Russia for the first time with my wife to visit family. She was born in the U.S. so will be traveling with a U.S. passport. My primary question concerns whether our daughter needs a Russia tourist visa in her U.S. passport. My wife states the Russian Consulate told her that it's not necessary since we had our daughter's name and photo put in my wife's Russian passport when she was about a year old. She says this establishes our daughter also holds Russian citizenship, and thus she won't need a tourist visa to enter Russia.

The entire thing sounds a little shakey to me. I can't find any evidence of this sort of allowance on the Russian Consulate website. I'm thinking our daughter wouldn't be allowed in without a tourist visa or a Russian passport. Anyone else have experience on this?

Thank you everybody! Yes, USCIS and me are so close I send them a fruit basket every couple of months. Okay, not quite that far, but they actually were better than I hoped and the whole process smooth. Even when we were warned (here and other forums) against trying to have my wife come over for a visit on her B-2 after we filed for K-1, they didn't even blink. The bizarre thing I remember from the whole experience is that when she finally made the move over here on her K-1, they grilled her (politely of course)for nearly 40 minutes in an office at JFK before they'd let her leave. She thought there trying to find excuses to send her back. Two visits on a B-2 and nothing. Wants to come stay for a while with a document saying she can and suddenly she's a target. Oh well, still much easier than some people deal with. We don't know about citizenship yet. She first wants to make sure that it won't make it harder for her to go back to Russia for visits.

As you can see from my signature, our long journey has finally come to an end. A little over 4 years after meeting, we have our 10 year GC in hand. Just over 3 years from first filing for K-1. We filed as early as possible at every milepost and lucked out at every turn it seemed. Not a single hiccup the entire way except one lost letter that temporarily extended her GC. We had to get another copy so we could travel.

I know the journey is a lot more of a headache for others and I realize how much good fortune we've had. Everyone here has been great with advice along the way! We'll be married for three years this summer and we have a beautiful daughter who is almost two years old. It doesn't get much better!

This is a strange question that we can't seem to find a straight answer on, so I thought I'd give a shot here.

My wife's mother has visited us on a B-2 from Russia several times since my wife moved here. This time, however, she wants to try to bring over her foster child for a visit. She has paperwork that says she's the child's legal guardian, but she has not legally adopted her yet. She's been receiving some advice from visa "experts" in Russia that it shouldn't be a problem to bring the child, but when you start navigating the visa paperwork it quickly gets complex. I don't think we can list her as the child's parent. She's not an adopted child either. I'm thinking the consulate is going to want to see permission from the child's parents or family to travel, but nobody even knows how to contact them anymore. In that case maybe the permission has to come from the orphanage where the child came from?

Anyone have any advice on this?

That letter acknowledging receipt of the I-751 application, when presented with the expired green card, extends the expiry date on it. If you've lost it, you need to make an Infopass appointment and ask them for a replacement OR to put the temporary I-551 stamp in her passport, extending her expiration date on the green card.

It's possible she could receive her 10 year card in that time frame, but that relies heavily on your application being perfect and being processed within the 6 month window, which is not probable, based on the dates we're seeing at present.

Bummer. Oh well, at least we know what we have to do and we have plenty of lead time. I managed to get an InfoPass appointment by the 17th of this month, so it should all be fine. I appreciate the advice!

If this has been covered here before, I apologize. I couldn't find anything exactly like our situation:

My wife recently applied for removal of conditions. Shortly thereafter she received a form letter saying that her GC was being extended for 1 year while the I-751 is being processed and they schedule her biometrics, etc, etc. No big deal so far.

Here's the rub we just realized today: Her current GC expires mid December. We just booked a trip to Central America for February 2012. If her 10 year GC hasn't been issued by that time, she's going to be trying to come back in to the U.S. with an expired GC at the end of that trip.

Will their computer system simply note her extension when they scan her card coming back in to the US, or are we going to have a problem? Unfortunately we seem to have lost this form letter stating her GC was being extended 1 year, whether that would have made any difference or not.

My understanding is that you can't have held a principal interest in any home for the three years previous before filing for the first time buyer's credit of $8500. I didn't see anywhere where you had to "prove" that you didn't own a house during that period of time, but the IRS will certainly check their database to make sure neither of you has claimed any mortgage interest on previous tax filings during the previous three years.

My interpretation is that the house in Ireland doesn't matter. The IRS doesn't have the ability (nor the time) to check real estate records in Ireland to see if you owned a home there. I think they're only concerned about if you've owned a home in the United States in the previous three years anyway. But obviously I didn't interpret my own tax status correctly before filing, so you might want to take my advice with a grain of salt.

I just wanted to pass on my recent experiences concerning buying a house and thinking I could claim the $6,500 homebuyer's tax credit for a second house. My wife had also owned her own home in Russia, so I had assumed we were eligible (or that they wouldn't even consider her previous ownership status since she is new here). We rushed out to buy a home before the April deadline on the tax credit. As we went to file taxes, we discovered that we don't qualify specifically because of her previously foreign status. They don't care if she owned a home in Russia or not, it would only qualify if she owned one here. No one to blame but myself on this one, I simply didn't read the rules closely enough. Not that it matter much in the end. With a baby coming, we had to buy a house in the next 4 months, so essentially we just bought a house a little earlier than we had to.

My poor wife had a strange encounter with the staff at the SS office a few days ago. She got her original SS card within a week of arriving in the U.S. on her K-1. I was with her at that time and it took all of 5 minutes for the paperwork and she had her card within a week. A few days ago she went on her own to the SS office to get her name changed on her card to her married name. She took a certified copy of our marriage certificate, along with her recently received Green Card. She thought it should be even easier than her original visit. She was wrong.

They started quizzing her immediately, asking her things like my birth date, my parents name, where I worked, etc. They warned her if she got any answers wrong, they would refuse to change the name on her card. Then they asked for the certified translation of her Russian birth certificate. They said that they would send it off to their own translator and further advised her that if their translator interpreted something differently than our translator that her name change would also be refused. After all of this they told her if they "approved" her name change on her card, she'd receive it within a month or so.

As you can see from my signature, we've had a pretty easy and fast process, with her GC arriving in just over 3 months without an interview. This experience at the SS office really soured everything. What a bunch of jerks on a power trip.

I just got off the phone with the IRS!I got a very nice lady that explained the best plan for filing would be to file her as a resident alien and file married jointly.

Fill out the 2555ez with mine and claim her income and then it would be turned around and taken off cause she made less than 93,000.The only drawback would be i would have to mail it in,instead of electronic,cause you have to attach a written statement saying you wanna treat her as a resident alien.

Well, my situation is a little different than yours since my wife just received her Greencard. In any case we're just filing married-joint, and I have no plans on claiming her previous income this year in Russia. Not only has she not worked since May, but there's no way the IRS is going to know her 2009 Russian income anyway.

As you can see from my signature, it's been a frustrating road for us at times (certainly not as bad as some people deal with), but we're finally nearing the end! Good luck to everyone still in the process and Happy Holidays!

Sounds like the same exact situation my wife will be in soon on her return trip to Russia to visit family. Was your wife's airline ticket in her married name or maiden name? My wife's is in her married name, which of course doesn't match her passport, which we've heard could be a major problem. In any case, we recently got it fixed as we managed to get the Russian Consulate to put a notation about her name change in her passport.

As you can see from my signature, we're sort of in the same boat as the OP. Got advanced parole right away, but EAD and GC are still somewhere out there in the ether after almost 90 days since filing for both. At least our AOS paperwork was transferred to California, which means we probably won't have to deal with an interview, but it would still be nice to get the darned EAD after all this time.

Yes, and the airline staff will be Russian Aeroflot agents. If you've never dealt with Aeroflot employees, it's best not to leave anything to chance.

Last night I just booked my wife's trip home for the holidays. It's non-refundable and non-changeable, but that didn't concern me when I booked it because everything about how I did it made sense at the time. Now that I've had overnight to think about it, I'm worried I could have made a huge mistake.

My wife is from Russia and holds a Russian passport. You can see from my signature where we're at in the AOS process. I purchased her airline tickets in her married name, which made sense to me since it's now her legal name. Where I'm starting to get worried is that she has very little in the way of identification that shows this as her name. Here's what she has:

Russian passport with her maiden name

South Dakota driver's license in her maiden name (we can't get it changed to her married name until she gets GC or EAD)

Certified copy of our marriage license

Advanced Parole documents in her married name (with her photo of course)

Do you think she'll be okay, or is she going to have problems?

I don't think it will be a problem at all to leave it the way you did it.

Also, I'm not sure why you can't change her driver's license. Normally, the dmv only requires the current license and a certified copy of the marriage license to make a name change.

SD recently enacted a new law that says that to renew, change, or get a new license, you have to have a Green Card or EAD (if you're a foreign national obviously). So now we're stuck with her license in her maiden name until we get one or the other.

I've also talked with Orbitz, the company I booked with, and they've also advised me there won't be a problem as long as she has the copy of the marriage license. So I guess she's as good to go as she can be. The only lingering concern I have is that I'm not sure what the Russians are going to do on the other end when it comes time for her to fly home. She'll have a ticket in her married name, a Russian passport in her maiden name, and a marriage license that they're likely not going to be able to read. To address that, I'm having an official translation done of our marriage license.

While I hope it all works out fine for your wife (and I don't see any reason why it shouldn't), you -- and hopefully many new members on this board -- may now understand how many implications the name change for an immigrant has, even more when it comes to acquiring US citizenship, and many times more so when the person is from a country like Russia that does not allow dual citizenship.

There will always be the issue with two passports, one of the without a valid visa to Russia, two names, one mismatched passenger manifest, and the big riddle which passport to use when leaving Mother Russia again.

All that because of a name change.

Who said that Russia does not allow dual citizenship?

Russia's law says that a Russian never loses his/her citizenship, even after acquiring a new one. Therefore, an American/Russian must enter and leave the motherland with a valid RUSSIAN passport. What the Russian citizen does after leaving the motherland is only his/her own decision.

That's always been my understanding as well. Russia doesn't necessarily have a problem with "dual" citizenship, but the United States doesn't recognize it with Russia. The whole "dual" term is really confusing to begin with. Let's say a person is a citizen and passport holder from Russia. They move to the United States and eventual become a U.S. citizen, getting a U.S. passport in the process. They're still technically a citizen in Russia since they still have a passport there, and they're also a citizen in the U.S. since they have a U.S. passport, even though the U.S. may not recognize it this dual situation. Off topic anyway, makes my head hurt.

Here is a thread from the RUB forum about this very issue, specific to Russia. It seems someone was denied boarding for this very issue. However, she didn't have proof of name-change, which may have been the issue.

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.ph...t=0&start=0

I still despair a bit at what to think. I've heard from several people saying they had a problem and I've also heard from several people saying they had no problem. I've talked to three different airline employees so far and all have told me "no problem as long as she has your marriage license." I suppose I could demand that they change the ticket, but so far they've declined saying that it's not necessary.

Well, just talked to an airline agent and they said it wasn't necessary to change the reservation as long as she had a certified copy of our marriage license. I hope they're right. I'm more worried about her getting flack from TSA security than I am an airline ticket agent.

I think that if you research Vj threads, you'll find loads of ladies who have travelled this way with little problem.

While your wife is back home, it might be worth her while to see if she can get her passport changed to her married name. If she decides to do this, find out for certain how long the process will take. She of course will need a passport to return home and she will need it for AOS.

Thank you, that makes me feel a bit better.

Well, just talked to an airline agent and they said it wasn't necessary to change the reservation as long as she had a certified copy of our marriage license. I hope they're right. I'm more worried about her getting flack from TSA security than I am an airline ticket agent.

If it requires a name change, hopefully they're willing to work with me. I'm sure people like us must get in this situation frequently. My thought process at the time of booking was that I should make it in her legal name, and the name that matches her advanced parole documents. I was worried that if I made it in her maiden name, then it wouldn't match her advanced parole documents and customs might give her a hard time. It's what I get for over thinking things, I guess.

International flights require that the flight is booked in the name that matches the passport.

Some domestic flights allow you to use marriage cert & ID to prove the name change.

Can you call the airline to double check?

Great, that's what I was worried about. Orbitz made a point of noting that name changes are not allowed when I booked the tickets, but maybe a direct call to the airlines will help, or perhaps they can tell me if she doesn't need to worry about it.

Last night I just booked my wife's trip home for the holidays. It's non-refundable and non-changeable, but that didn't concern me when I booked it because everything about how I did it made sense at the time. Now that I've had overnight to think about it, I'm worried I could have made a huge mistake.

My wife is from Russia and holds a Russian passport. You can see from my signature where we're at in the AOS process. I purchased her airline tickets in her married name, which made sense to me since it's now her legal name. Where I'm starting to get worried is that she has very little in the way of identification that shows this as her name. Here's what she has:

Russian passport with her maiden name

South Dakota driver's license in her maiden name (we can't get it changed to her married name until she gets GC or EAD)

Certified copy of our marriage license

Advanced Parole documents in her married name (with her photo of course)

Do you think she'll be okay, or is she going to have problems?

...Dr. Arnold still provided services for my now ex and his parents. It was very common for him to prescribe drugs for common illnesses without ever seeing them in person (giving them Z-pacs, for example, when they called to say they had certain symptoms) and giving them several refills so they could self-medicate.

That having been said, he seemed like he was trying to save them the headache of coming in, basing his care on trust.

This is not uncommon, especially when a physician is familiar with a patient, his medical history, his manner of presenting medical issues (stoic, hypochondriac, in between), etc. I have this kind of relationship with my own general practitioner. Trust, familiarity, and knowledge together are powerful and meaningful.

As for the issue in this thread, I consider it appalling that anyone at USCIS would question the signing of an I-693 vaccination supplement "sight-unseen." The matter would not arise at all except that 99.44% of all OTHER civil surgeons charge usurous fees and hold people over a barrel to get a full medical -- it is the LATTER behavior that's ignorant, criminal, or both.

I agree, and it's really not that unusual. I have a similar relationship with my doctor, and it's the kind of relationship I demand from a physician. I have a chronic muscle problem in my back where it will give out and leave me darned near bed ridden for about 1 week out of every year. Having done the x-rays and exam years ago to diagnose exactly what is causing it, he prefers to simply call in my standard "back pack" to the pharmacy when I call to tell him I'm having problems. It's the standard week's worth of Flexeril, Hydrocodone, and prescription strength ibuprofen. In a week I'm back on my feet and usually good for another year. That's all I need would be some quack telling me I have to crawl to my car and drive to his office just so he can run up hundreds of dollars of tests to justify the same end result.

Two questions:

1: My wife has been in the US about two months and we were just married. While we were filling out the wedding application we found that the State of Hawaii takes about 120 days to send out the actual wedding certificate, and we live in Massachusetts. We then applied for advanced processing but not too sure if we'll have this before the 90 days of her K-1 Visa will expire. I called the USCIS 800 number and all they could reall tell me was to fill out the application for adjustment of status and just not include the copy, and wait for an RFE. Anyone have any experience with this?

2. Regarding work authorization: On her K-1 Visa the DHS stamped saying she was vaild to work for the duration of the visa (90 days). I know that then with adjustment of status she is also authorized to work. My questions is, does she have to work for 3 months, quit, and then wait for an approval of the adjustment of status or can she continue working since we've allready married and are in the process of AOS. Seems stupid to have to stop working for the three months overlap it would take to get the AOS approved.

Thanks

1: There is no requirement to apply for AOS within the life of your K-1. As long as you get married within 90 days, you're fine. If you look on here, you'll see some people who wait years to apply for AOS. It's probably not advisable since you'd be out of status and can't get a (legal) job during that period of time or even a driver's license (in most states), but it's not going to cause any significant issues. In other words, wait until you get the certified copy of your marriage license from Hawaii before filing for AOS. There's nothing to be gained by filing without it and waiting for RFE, and there's nothing to be lost by waiting.

2: If she got the temporary work authorization upon entering the country then yes, she's going to have to quit once that expires and then wait for AOS or EAD before she can continue working again. That is unless you can get some sort of temporary work authorization extension from DHS, which I've never heard of. It doesn't make sense, but very little does when you're dealing with government red tape. We ran in to the same sort of thing when my wife got a temporary driver's license using her I-94, but then lost it for several months after the I-94 expired. In SD, she wasn't allowed to renew it until she got her green card or EAD. That was until we found a neophyte DOL employee who we convinced to give us a renewal using the AP document.

Got the biometrics appointment letter yesterday. It's for one week from now. Thankfully we don't have anything going on then, because that's not much notice. Apparently the phone call to USCIS did some good.