mrsjohnsonscat

No I think she was concerned that Uzbekistan hadn't accepted her renouncement of her citizenship and that she had in effect 'dual' citizenship which isn't allowed and can be a problem in Uzbekistan. Apparently a few years ago, one of her relatives was in a similar situation and had to bribe her way out of Uzbekistan. The whole, "you're going to have to go to Uzbekistan", made her panic a bit about her papers being in order.

She's cool now.

Damn! I screwed up, instead of putting Russia as the state/country I put Kaluga. So they assumed it was in Uzbekistan...of course on part B, it does have Russia as the country. You would think when they inputed the data, the data on part B would've raised a flag and cause an inquiry...but ultimately it's on me. Hopefully they won't require a change of address from us and just make the correction there.

Be back in 10 days.

update in case anyone is interested.

I called NCV and fortunately they hadn't sent the paperwork out yet. It looks like they just saw her birthplace as Uzbekistan and stopped reading. The rep I spoke to read me Yule's home address in the database and said it was in Uzbekistan. I told her it was in Moscow and that on the forms we supplied, we listed her citizenship as Russian and her home as in Moscow.

She said they would have to pull the original file in order to check what the form says, if it says Moscow; they'll change it there. If not, I'll have to send a change of address form. It'll take 10-15 days to get a decision.

Again, the rep I spoke to was pleasant and didn't give me any grief. I also sent an email to them, but I don't expect a response.

So I guess this is the best result I could I ask for, as the changes are being made before it leaves the US and I still have 'some' access to the process.

Ok, heard from my girl:

"When I received the citizenship of russia, I could only do so after the refusal of the nationality of Uzbekistan. I just wrote the paper with the notary and sent by mail to the Embassy of Uzbekistan. But for russian goverment I send just copy of this paper and to russian goverment came notice that this paper was received at the Embassy of Uzbek. I thought all was completed, but now I see that it was not. The Russian government told me it would be all that I required to do and they gave me a passport.

My Uzbek passport is invalid. I have a Russian passport now and I cannot enter Uzbekistan because I now have dual citizenship. I do not think they will even allow me to leave the airport."

is she making a lot of assumptions, or is it really that complicated? She's going to try and call the embassies to see what they say. I'm hoping its not going to as big a mess, as it sounds.

I was like, can't you get a visitor's stamp or something in your Russian Passport? It's clear that the Uzbekistan government still considers you a citizen, wouldn't a phone call to them and few "i'm sorry, The Russian government gave me the wrong information," sort this out?

I just don't know enough about how the government works to give her an answer or fully appreciate her situation. Any advice is welcomed.

somehow based on information you provided they determined that tashkent has jurisdiction... if she lives in Moscow, you can request a consulate change

How big a deal is the consulate change? Which agency do I contact? If it's an easier proposition to toss her on a plane and let the system do its thing, I'll rather to do that, than muck up the works.

What citizenship does she have? Is she ethnically Uzbek? Things get complicated with the Soviet Union since when it fell apart people ended up with different citizenship and passports.

Yes she's ethnically Uzbek, but I don't remember whether she had her citizenship changed. I remember and my memory may be faulty, that she said she couldn't have dual, so the assumption is, she was still using her Uzbek and needed to change. I'm waiting for her to SMS me, so i can verify.

So I call NVC to get the application status and they were pleasant, quick and effective; as most posters say they are. However I was caught by surprise when given our new case number. It wasn't Moscow, as I assumed it would be; but Tashkent. Now it's true, she was born in Tashkent, but hasn't lived there in close to twenty years. She's been in Moscow all that time.

I took a look at the Tashkent embassy site and didn't see much info on the process.

Any info would be helpful.

Thanks.

I am in no way trying to be a jerk but why did you plan a wedding before you knew what your options were?

I think what she's saying is that they were given information or at least the impression, that they could what they had planned without a penalty and once they hit the 'front lines' so to speak, their options changed.

I think we all at one time or another have spoken with person on the phone and have been given advice/suggestions and when we walk in the door, what we were told over the phone 'suddenly' became the wrong advice...and we're out of luck.

That doesn't mean they were at fault for believing what they were told.

I got the SMS message today and checked and sure enough it was there, 39 days.

The only concern I had about a REF, was that I forgot to resize her 'passport style' photo into US specs; I kicked myself for that, when I realized it a few weeks later. Fortunately they didn't seem to mind and let it through.

I did the bare minimum for the requirements, but it was all good stuff. Visa Stamps in my passport, hotel receipts, boarding passes. Photos were secondary evidence, so I only used two from each of our meetings, which was in Moscow, Cyprus and Turkey. 6 in total, printed off my ink jet printer on good quality photo paper, with dates, names and places next to them.

Everything else was standard fare, birth certificate, divorce papers, blah, blah, blah.

I used Acrobat Professional to fill out the forms and resize the type, so everything would fit in the space provided. I didn't want there to be a need for additional sheets or legibility issues; when you make a government worker's life easy, they make your life easy. When asked to describe the circumstances under which we met, I wrote maybe two lines: the countries we met in and the dates.

No emails, love stories or chat logs. I didn't bind anything in fancy binders or used labels. I paper clipped each 'grouping' of papers into their respective pile; evidence of meeting together, Divorce papers together, application forms... etc and placed them in a USPS priority envelope and dropped it in a mailbox.

I just decided that I wasn't going to over think this, as the examiner was going to break everything apart anyway...why make him/her go through the extra hassle of tearing apart my setup?

Remember each situation is different, as is each country's rules and regs; so your miles may vary.

Good luck everyone and Godspeed.

I sent mine via USPS - about $16.

absolutely. The USPS Global Express seems to be the most reliable method of shipping. Everytime I shipped, I used their shipping software to create labels and custom forms and I received email updates of the package's progress. 10-14 days and it's there.

For a fraction of the price.

Money shouldn't be a concern, but there's nothing wrong with spending your dollars wisely. Still, do your research and go with what works best for you.

Yeah, I think you're correct about the 8. Been hitting as many conversion calcuators as I can find, and the 8 is coming quite a bit.

Thanks

Getting ready to send my care package and I saw a really great Summer dress I would like to send. I know her size is 46. In the past I only sent her shirts and stuff like that because I knew she could wear a medium and that has worked out ok. The conversion chart I saw lists a Russian 46 as a US 10-12, do I chose the 10 or the 12?

I suppose if it's a little big she could take it in, yes?

She's a sporty girl, so her shoulders are a little wide, but she's not a big woman by any means; my shirts drown her.

For some reason a size 10-12 seems large to me, but i admit I'm confused.

Help.

Without labels, how would we stereotype? Clearly, they serve a valuable purpose.

That's not true. If know that people in West Virginia that call themselves appalachian, are suffering from say a certain form of Cancer than the general population in West Virginia, that is sign that something is wrong with their environment. It doesn't have to be a judgement call on them as a group, but provides us with a means to isolate and locate what's different about their lifestyles; be it nature or nuture.

Labels, like guns or cars are just a tool; it's only as good or bad as the person using it.

Yes, we agree. I merely used African American, Asian American and Hispanic American as examples. That's all.

Cool, usually when I have these types of discussions, people are unwilling or unable to view ALL hypehenated americans as guilty of the same thing, which is why I questioned why you left out Eurpoeans in your list.

All he's saying is that people who've been born in the U.S. and are several generations removed from their home country are less "hyphenated-Americans" than pure, plain "Americans." Look at African Americans. If someone is labled an African American, but is several generations removed from Africa, was born in the U.S. and has no intention of ever setting foot in Africa, why are they an African American? More to the point, how would they be anymore of an African American that someone who's white, born in Africa and becomes a U.S. citizen?

I don't call myself a "European American." I consider myself an "American" and that's it. Did my ancestors come from Europe? Yes. I was not, however, born in Europe and neither were several generations before me.

I don't think we'll ever achieve racial or cultural equality so long as we segregate people into different groups. Why African American or Hispanic American or Asian American? If we called everyone living here an "American" and nothing else, we'd truly be on equal footing. That won't happen, however. If society did that, we'd put numerous racial and cultural activist organizations out of business.

Again, why only look at African Americans? We have whole groups of Americans who have no problems calling themselves Irish-Americans, German-Americans, Italian-Americans and so on. We have parades based on Irish, Italian, Polish etc, and no one seems to have a problem with it. These people, just like the African Americans have not, nor will even touch foot on the lands of their fore-fathers; yet again, i notice that you do not include them in your grouping. You note Asians, you note Africans, you note Hispanics; but not the Eurpoeans who do still hypehenate their americanism.

I've explained this once, I'll try it again. African-American is an American term; people from Africa do not call themselves that, because they know which part of Africa they come from. Africa like Europe is not one country, it is made up of many countries, each of which has it's own nationality.

Because we have such a diverse country, we have made racial and generic short-cuts for entire groups, Asian-Americans, Hispanic, African and we never cared enough to recognize their individuality.

If your family originality came from Ireland and I called you a European-American, you would correct me and say, no I'm Irish-American; because you know what part of Europe you come from. This is the same for people from Africa, if you came from South Africa, and I called you African-American, you would correct me and say no, I'm South-African; because you know where you come from. If you were Korean and I called you Asian-American, you would correct me and say no, I'm Korean-American.

It has nothing to do with separation and everything to do with being in touch with your cultural identity and there's nothing wrong with that; no matter how many generations have passed. Now YOU may chose not to and that's ok, but this country is build on people who are able to call themselves American and still hold their traditions.

The reason why black people in American, that are decended from the Slave class use the generic African-American is because they don't know where in Africa they came from; that knowledge was taken from them. They don't have the luxury to say, "I'm a Somalli-American, the way a European American would say, "I'm an Irish-American", even if they both have been in the US the same amount of time.

Now if you agree that all those Americans who call themselves Italian-Americans, Irish-Americans, German-Americans, Polish-Americans who have been here for generations are also guilty of adding to a society that keeps the numerous racial and cultural activist organizations in business, then we a agree.

Do we agree?

You mean there are white people in Africa? noooo seriously

I thought that the only people who should be identified as "African American" are those who have been separated from the continent for a few hundred years now. 6 or 7 generations that is.

Scratches head. I need to go back to my: "Dummies guide to PC Yank logic".

Ironically I have actually been to South Africa. How many "African Americans" can say that?

interesting you put "African Americans" in quotes. Do you put "Irish Americans" in quotes? Because I know many, many Americans who have been separated from Ireland for several hundred years, who have never been there who don't speak Gaelic, yet no one seems to have a problem with them calling themselves Irish Americans. Hell we even have a parade here in New York, where the streets run green with the Irish and yet no one questions their attempts to tie themeselves to a continent they have been separated from or try to dimish them, with little quotes, as if they don't really exist.

Here's the deal. People from other countries always refer to their point of origin as their descriptor, especially first or second generation. You would never hear a person from say China, call themselves Asian-American; they would say Chinese-American; because they know what country they have come from. Asian-American is a short hand created by non asian Americans as a means of racial short-hand; because we can't be bothered to learn about non-white culture and past racial issues.

The same with someone from Africa, which is the largest continent in the world and has literally dozen of countries, scores of nationalities. They would not refer to themselves as African-American, because it has no meaning to them; that is an American term. They know what part of Africa they come from. The white South Africans, I've met, call themselves South African, they don't call themselves African-American; if pressed they would call themselves South African-American, the same as an Irish-American, Mozambique-American or Haitian-American would. The country of nationality always comes first.

Any white African who calls themself African-American, knowing the history of this country concerning Race, is doing so to create a problem or to make a misguided point; African-American is short hand that doesn't apply to them, they know this. African-American is cultural short-hand for people who are decended from the American slave class (regardless of skin color)who no longer know where their exact point of origin is, except in the broadest sense...Africa.

Many employer plans do have some degree of choice. Mine (with BCBS) does have a cafeteria plan to let me choose based on my needs.

Many plans will let you select between an HMO or PPO option. And between different rates of copays/premiums.

Employers and insurance companies have recognized that employees have different needs. Different family and medical situations. Some want the flexibility of a PPO, some prefer the managed care of an HMO.

I'm not defending the American system. It's broken and gives very poor return for the money spent. It definitely needs a radical overhaul. Having 40+ million uninsured, and millions more underinsured or in danger of losing their insurance is unconscionable.

Sure, but mine doesn't and in fact every job I've had for the past 7 years didn't provide that choice. You and I agree; i just have a problem with people blaming the working man for 'poor choices', when often he had no choice in the matter at all, except to find another job and while that is a choice; it is one of Hobson's.

But there are plenty of stories to the contrary.

Not all insurance is the same. Aetna HMO is very well regarded by medical professionals. United Healthcare is seen as very interfering and as a bad business partner.

I understand that.

I am far from an expert on health care policy. It is really on the back of my mind.

I would guess it all boils down to people not being good consumers and picking bad plans or not updating their plan as they get older and are at higher risk for medical complications.

People's insurance is usually tied to their employer. The employer decides what policy to use, which is usually to the benefit of the bottom line of the company and not the employee. This isn't a matter of not being good consumers, picking bad plans or not updating their plans. The employee is not in charge of this decision.

Partially right, but you're almost got it.

All of the Windows XP OS software have an algorithm that is built in that checks all the hardware settings in your machine, group it into a series of numbers and send it to Microsoft via web when you register it then your windows will become activated permanently. Or, if you don't have the web you can read that string off the the Microsoft rep and they will give you the activation code. The problem with this is that if you do massive changes on your computer hardware such as replacing the mobo, processor, and HD you will need to buy a new Windows XP. This applies to the retail version as well.

Right, but the difference is and I admit, I'm going from memory; is that the OEM EULA states that it's only to be used on the machine it was installed on (which is why it's sold at a reduced price), I don't think the retail version says that and even though the effect may be the same (you have to call Microsoft if there' amjor change); Microsoft has the option to refuse to give you a new key based on the OEM EULA, even though they rarely enforce it.

The only thing with the OEM is that it becomes 'married' to the machine it was originally loaded onto. So unlike the retail version, you can't buy a new machine and just install it on that one. It's tied to the first/original system for life. Now of course, if you called Microsoft and told them your system died, they may release the lock; but that's only if they feel like doing it.

That being said, the OEM is the cheapest way you're going to get a good version of Windows on your system. I think you can get a version of Vista home OEM for a little less. The only other option would be to go to one of the online Education stores and use if you have one, your student or teacher's ID, which will get you a good discount.

As noted, you don't need to purchase Office; you can download OpenOffice Suite for free.

1) if you are late you should be charged a late fee. Whats wrong with that? Yo uagreed to those terms.

2) if the rate spikes and you are the sort of customer that maintains a balance and incurs interest then cancel your card and get one with a cheaper rate.

3) Don't max out your cards.

This isn't about people not playing their bills on time or maxing their cards.

This is what the CC companies are doing:

A. They reduce your credit limit, then...

B. They increase your interest rate.

C. The credit agencies list the reduction in your credit as a negative score, because your credit has been reduced; they don't care why, only that it has.

D. Other credit, including your other credit card companies use that negative to further increase your interest rates and/or reduce your credit limits and/or deny you credit.

E. One credit card has now basically done great damage to your credit worthiness REGARDLESS of whether or not you have a running balance and/or have paid your bills on time. That's the reason people are up in arms, do you really believe if this wasn't affecting people with really good credit histories we would even be having this discussion?

Why is it that when people talk about being responsible, it always seems to be on the backs of the working man?

New York State has a program called Healthy New York which is for families and Child Care Plus which is for children, I would not be surprised if many other states have something similar. It's means tested, which means you will have to pay something depending on your income.

Depending on where you are, you may find some doctors aren't too fond of it, because they get a lower amount of money than they would with private insurance; however I am of the thinking that it is better to receive less money upfront, than to have people turn up at the emergency room about to have a baby and then receive nothing, because they have no insurance. Even if they take a repayment plan, $5 -$10K is a lot of money to wait for at $25 a month.

Good luck.

Missed Edit:

I think with all the information provided here, the fact the she is receiving services, the verbiage of the older I-134; it's a fair bet that I no longer am...but we'll see.

Thanks, everyone.

Ciao.

That was an interesting point and insightful point. I did a quick look online and found a slightly older version (Rev 2004) of the I-134 than is in use today and it actually has a limit of 3 years, If I'm reading it correctly. I can't imagine the original document from 20 years ago having more regulations, than the one that I found.

Unfortunately, I don't have many documents from 20 years ago. Truth be told, if I'm still responsible, I'm still responsible; that's what I signed on for; but I would be lying if I would prefer that I wasn't.

For those interested here it is.Old I-134