belarus1

the bad thing about belarus is that he would either have to go to moscow or kiev to have the interview. he took the exam to try and get in to university and missed it by a few points so he will wait until next year to give it a go again. thanks for the tips slim.

Thanks for all the replies everyone! Im not really sure what to do, I wish he would have taken the opportunity to come here before he turned 21 and within the one year time frame that we got the K1 visa

By the way, he is 21, single and has a crappy job so Im sure the tourist visa is out of the question. He is a mechanic/truck driver so really no special skills so even a work visa seems unlikely?

Ok, thought some of you visa experts could tell me what I would have to do to get my wife's 21 year old son here. He's a good guy, talented mechanic and truck driver and I know places he could work. Its a shame to see how hard he works for so little money and my poor wife is miserable without him. We have more than enough room for him with us so lodging is no problem. Do I need to adopt him (can you even adopt a 21yo?) or get a work visa? Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Thanks for the replies guys! Yeah, thats kind of what I thought. We would need to get a visa and unfortunately Germany treats those from Belarus about as well as the US does

I dont know whats taking the GC so long, the paperwork was transfered to the CSC back in June. Seems like a lot of others with the same timeline have already gotten the GC. Our case still shows under "initial review." Ah, the wait continues...

Is it possible to travel to the EU before one has gotten thier greencard? I would like to take my wife to Germany in November but Im not sure if its possible. She just got back from visiting in Belarus and didnt have any trouble getting back in through US customs. She obviously has the Advanced Parol document but is that enough for the EU too?

I'm thinking Lukashenko will rig the elections again for the fact once he's out of power he's going to be brought up on charges that should land him in prison for the remainder of his life. On the flip side Belarus is a fast sinking ship with no real hope of staying afloat. Lukashenko seems to have burnt his bridges with both the West and Russia.

http://charter97.org/en/news/

http://charter97.org/en/news/2010/9/15/32142/

Gross foreign debt of Belarus reached 45.5% of GDP

http://charter97.org/en/news/2010/9/16/32200/

From the year of 2011 the Russian gas price for Belarus will increase considerably by 35%.

Yeah, if Russia pulls is subsidies they are pretty much sunk. There has been a little bit of foreign investment in Belarus but its probably just because of the cheap labor? Im sure in the "post Lukashenko" era if there is one in the near future things will get a lot worse before they get better.

do you think there is even a remote chance that there can be a fair election? I dont see how Lukashenko would be voted out under the current voting standards in Belarus. I dont think the people are ready for a revolution yet. Like you said the country seems split between the old soviet era supporters and the younger western leaning people. My wife is pro-Lukashenko so I try and respect her opionion and not talk about politics and my opinions because she feels it is an attack on "her country".

I think the day's of the Lukashenko - Kremlin love affair are over with. But then again you might be right about the Kremlin not having a hand picked crony this time.

http://www.europeanbelarus.org/en/page/7/ <--- This is the man I would like to see lead Belarus in the near future.

new internet controls were instituted in july to attempt to control what info gets in and out of Belarus. The govt has the right to block/ban/monitor a website within 24 hours if the content is found to be offensive etc... Many say it was instituted to have control over what info gets out about the coming election.

Glad its not just me then! Do you guys find yourself fantasizing about being able to have a normal conversation without having to explain things? I love her and Im in this for the long haul but at times it would be nice just to be able to speak normally and at a normal speed

Mmy wife definately drank the Lukashenko "koolaide". She thinks Belarus has a good system and I really havent tried to enlighten her of the political situation there, dont really need that battle now. I wonder if it has to do with where one was brought up as to ones political leanings? Ive known some highly educated people from Minsk who really hate Belarus/Lukashenko. My wife and her family on the other hand are very simple folk from a small town/village. I tend to see the same differences here as well, I deal with mostly poorly educated people in my line of work and their political affiliations are rather predictable.

Svetlana gets so frustrated at her English although I think it is really very good. I must admit that I have gotten so good at listening to "Russian English" that I dont even hear the little mistakes etc... Hell, I have even found myself picking up some of the lingo by accident.

And as to some of the previous posts about driving, oh my, dont get me started. At first it was quite the terrifying experience but now she is starting to get the hang of it although she still has trouble maintaining a safe distance to the car in front and does some pretty abrupt lane changes when we are on the interstate. Needless to say Im always a little on edge when she is driving

we are still waiting too. submitted our aos packet in janurary, got an rfe but that was cleared up pretty soon, had biometrics in april then got notice in june that the case was transferred to csc and now we've heard nothing. we know of another person from belarus that lives close by that had almost the identical timeline as ours and they had an interview and already have the gc!

wow slim, i think my wife and yours may be sisters! sometimes i am as she says "every slavic womans dream" and at times i am the "diabla" and no woman would want me. i understand she is confused by lots of things here but these manic depressive swings in mood at times have me scared to go home after work because im not sure if jekyll or hyde is waiting for me.

im a very romantic guy and do the flowers, dancing in the living room for no reason type of stuff on a regular basis and she will tell me "no man ever do this for me before" but then she will say "im no better off here than in belarus". im like #######! youre in a nice house, all the food and clothes you ever wanted with lots of things to do at the drop of a hat etc... sometimes i swear she purposely sabotages her happiness.

oh well, like you said, if this doesnt work out there are 48,000 other hot russian chics just waiting for a chance

by the way youre spot on, im 44.

It seems like my relationship lies somewhere inbetween what slim says and what gary says. I realize Svetlana is going through some challenging times and is having to sort out a lot of things here that she is not used to and Im being as supportive as I can but I am not going to be taken advantage of either.

On a related note to what you were saying about Russian men etc... When we were first married I was repeatedly accused of having sex with the mother of my daughter (very laughable) and also having sex with women at my office (even more laughable) and believe me it was so frustrating of being accused of such things when they were not even remotely true. I dont even know where she was getting it from, she knew where I was 24/7!

After a while she explained to me how men act in Belarus and how all her past relationships the guys were out cheating within a few days. I guess its almost expected for men to have mistresses and the women really cant do anything about it.

She said its common in the workplace for men to touch the women, grab thier a$$ etc... and the women actually kind of like it and think nothing of it. Hmm...maybe Im living in the wrong place

before we got engaged Sveta was reluctant to tell me that she had a bank loan for an apartment because she was afraid I wouldnt want her;)It was only about $120/month so I said no big deal. She told me "once I get a job I will pay for it" so I said cool, no problem.

Well, once she got here I started paying for it (her son lives in it now) and somehow the payment went from $120 to $180 per month because her son couldnt afford the utilites etc.. Again, no big deal. After Sveta got a job here I kindly reminded her that now she can start paying for it like we discussed and I still remember the first few times we trugged to the MoneyGram place. She didnt talk to me for two days I dont know if she thought Id keep paying or what but a deal is a deal. I pay for everything here so the least she could do was pay for something she already agreed to. I kept telling her to save her $ here and she could have the aparment payed off in about 10 months. She says people never pay off their loans early becuase the govt sometimes forgives loans and you dont have to pay. I said bullsh## on that one but it seems to be a common myth over there. No one seems to know anyone who this has actually happened to by the way

good advice guys but very hard to do when things are cussed and discussed over and over agin ad nauseum! I am a kind, understanding and patient man but only to a point. Ive had to tell her on numerous occasions that all is well and there is absolutely no reason to worry about things so much. She has a lot of "baggage" to sort through, feelings of guilt (we have all this nice stuff and my family has nothing), insecurities about money, insane jealousy (she loves my daughter but hates the fact that I have a child with another woman) etc.....

I dont mean to sound so negative because I love her and am very committed to her but its good to bounce things off of guys whove gone through some of the same stuff.

I dont know, at first she just loved my family. Said she felt like they were her own parents. I am going to build a new house and she didnt like the location because it was too far away from them. Over time it seems like the sterotypical mother-in law thing has kicked in with Sveta. My parents leave us alone, they dont drop by un announced or anything like that but it just seems wierd. We definately have our seperate lives and things we do together all the time but who knows, you may be on to something.

Just some funny observations about cultural differences between here and "the home country".

Seems that folks arent too honest back home, here are a few amusing stories I'll share with you.

Things were getting warm this spring so I broke out the garen hose and hooked it up to the spicket on the back of the house to water some plants. Its on one of those hose reel things and I just leave it out until its time to bring it in in the fall.

Later that evening before we went to bed Sveta says "we need to bring the "garden pipe" (hose) back in and I told her no we just keep it outside all summer. Oh! Someone will steal it! Nope, not here honey. Oh, in Belarus it would be gone by morning!

On a related note, I belong to the university fitness/recreation center to go swimming so once or twice a week Sveta will go with me to go swimming as well. The pool is awesome with huge glass walls and islands complete with palm trees etc...that looks out onto the sunning deck with chairs, tables, umbrellas etc... We were sitting in the jacuzzi one night when they were closing and she asked "when are they going to bring in all the furniture?" I said they just leave it out, OH! someone will steal! No honey, its ok there is a smallish decorative fence all around the deck no one will bother it. Oh! thats no fence! In Belarus all the furniture would be gone by morning! And the fence too!

Ok, one more.

I wanted Sveta to try some chocolate covered esspresso beans so we popped in to the local international food market and headed for the bulk isle. She marveled at all the stuff in the bulk isle! We were measuring out some beans and she asked how do you know how much to pay. Its marked here on the bin honey that its XX$ per pound, we just put how much we want in the bag, weigh it and mark it and pay on the way out. She said "these are so expensive, they look just like the chocolate covered raisins and they are cheaper so we should mark them as raisins". No honey, thats not honest. Oh! This would never work in Belarus she says.

yeah, the whole son thing has me worried. I really thought long and hard before I began corresponding with a woman with a child but since he was 20 at the time and had a job and a place to live if Svetlana and I ended up together I went ahead with things. We discussed it and he wanted to stay in Belarus since his english isnt good and his friends, family and job were there and Sveta said "no problem, I will see him when I visit".

She stated she never wanted to come to the US and knew nothing about it but after corresponing with me and meeting in person it no longer mattered.

I remember telling her to get on some of the forums and find out about things here but she refused saying she didnt need other peoples opinions and she didnt like the fact that I frequented this forum in search of advice on the visa process.

Well, now that she is here she has been on lots of forums and it has her scared to death. She states that "she came here like a blind kitten" and knew nothing of life here and I should have told her about everything. I dont even know what she is referring to because she knew about my life here and my family etc... so really its nobody's fault but hers for not doing a bit of research before agreeing to marry me.

She is just so supicious of everyting here, like its all going to be taken away at any moment. I come from a great, rather well to do family that is multicultural as well. (My mother is German). All of my family are very close and we all get along great and they accepted Sveta with open arms like another daughter. Sveta just keeps her distance and swears that my mother hates her which I have no idea where that came from since she is the person that has done probaly the most for her other than me.

I guess as you can tell Im very frustrated with the situation but I love her and care for her and like I said before and some of you have said as well in time things will get better.

thanks for the words of encouragment guys! Yeah, its been tough, we have had some great times but they some very very bad times as well. Its as if she is afraid to let herself be happy, everything seemingly good that happens is looked upon with suspicion. I can understand it most of the time considering the her background and her prior luck with men in Belarus and her and her families economic situation back home but its really starting to get to me.

I thought she would feel so liberated coming here and not wanting for anything and being able to help out her family back home but that doesnt seem to be the case.

I was and we are very comfortable financially, not rich but not hurting. She has had more food, clothes, recreation etc...in the last 10 months than her entire 38 years previous and she readily admits it but then she will say how much better Belarus is in this way and that way blah blah blah...

Of course she constantly laments the fact that her son and mother have to work so hard for so little money and how difficult thier lives are and I emphasize that we are lucky that we can help them out to make life easier for them but it somehow falls on deaf ears.

She isnt isolated here either, she has about 6 or 7 russian speaking girls that live nearby that she talks to all the time and she always comments how happy they seem to be here and I told her you can too if you just let yourself. Ive talked pretty candidly with a couple of them and they are totally sold on the US and have integrated very well and rarley if every have the desire to go home to visit. They were amazed that I was allowing Sveta to go home so soon and for so long. I told them she isnt a prisoner, she can do as she pleases.

Anyway, it has truly been quite a journey thus far and I just hope the relationship can survive long enough for Svetlana to get comfy here and start to enjoy life. As I tell her, life is too short to be so miserable!

in a matter of 3 weeks my mother and sister managed to pull off a full blown russain orthodox wedding at the local greek orthodox church the priest was pretty excited to do the ceremony (you feel very married after such a wedding) and a great reception at the local Hilton all for a very reasonable price. we had about 20 people total.

This thread has been a good read! Svetlana has been here for 10 months and have been married for 8 of those and we have experienced quite the roller coaster of emotions. It seems the two key issues are her family and 21 year old son back in Belarus and her total lack of understanding about $ and finances here. Probably the biggest of the two issues is her son. He specifically stated he had no interest in moving here even though I offered it and of course now its too late to get a visa for him since its been past one year since our K1 approval. Svetlana cant seem to wrap her head around the fact that it will be nearly impossible for him to come and visit here on a tourist visa and her mom is too afraid to "leave the village" to fly here even though she could probably get a visa. This has just about been our undoing on numerous occassions.

Sveta has been driving for a while and has a part time job making only "small money" as she says even though in the same breath she says "I already saved in 4 months enough $ to live for almost 3 years in Belarus!

$ totally freaks her out, she always feels she is one step from living on the street and says that if something happens to me my family would kick her out on the sreet and not care about her. I try and explain to her about the life insurance I have that would take care of her if something happened to me not to mention that all the $ in my bank accounts would be her's and the house too.

Before she came here she literally had only one pair of jeans, two dresses and a few shirts and sweaters and 3 pair of shoes to her name and since being here between myself and my family who have taken great joy in helping her/us get our household in order has managed to establish quite a wardrobe;) Although she will rarely wear things since she still has that saving mentality and is afraid to get something dirty.

She just marvels and the cheap prices here and the ability to be able to return things if you dont like them. I/we have purchased and sent back to Belarus tons of shoes, clothes etc...to her family.

Sveta just left for a 6 week trip back home to help with the garden etc... and her suitcases were filled with things for everybody back home. Here is the short list:shoes, clothes, perfume, pencils, towels, blood preasure monitors (for mom and aunt), 5 jars of peanut butter, lots of chocolates, toys and last but not least 3 sets of swimming goggles for her nephew.

Homesickness has been a huge issue at about month 8 until now, Im just hoping that in time she will settle down and realize that this marriage is the best thing that ever happend to her or her family.

about a month ago ours was sent to the CSC. so you say that no interview will be needed if its processed at CSC? i have a question as well, my wife will be traveling back to Belarus for about a month or maybe a bit more to help out in some family matters. will this pose a problem for AOS? we have an approved AP already.

we have submitted all documents for AOS and have had biometrics quite some time ago but it still shows my wifes status on the uscis website as "under initial review". there is another woman from belarus in chicago, quite close to us with an identical timeline thus far and she has already recieved her greencard. how long does it typically take?

now for my question, my wife will soon be traveling back to belarus to help her mom do some things for a month or so. if we get notice of a date for an interview for the GC during that period can it be rescheduled?

Ok, here's my question. I am now married to someone from Belarus, we got our original K-1 visa in September of 2009. My wife had a then at the time 20 year old son who was not coming with her here to the US. He has no interest in living here but now of course my wife wants him to be able to come here for a visit and I've been told it is virtually impossible to get a tourist visa for him. We were told that we had one year from the time of the orginal date of the K1 visa to bring him here as well. Is it feasible to bring him here on a "K2" for a visit and then he just go back to Belarus instead of staying? If so, how much of a hassle is this going to be?

Thanks in advance.