belarus1

RE: Staying overnight in Poland. In our case we are an I601 waiver situation so he did not expect a VISA to be issued so planned on doing interview and leaving the same day on return train to Belarus. Interestingly the VISA person at the window told him when he asked about just getting a tourist VISA that he would have to have a pre-paid hotel reservation in Poland.

That is why I suggested the alternate route for the VISA appointment for citizens of Belarus to simply get a tourist VISA and have in hand the train, plane or bus round trip tickets and hotel reservation copies in hand. As I mentioned in the past we have had no trouble with Polish VISA or other Schengen country VISA's for tourism before.

Sadly we believed that a one day VISA with a stated purpose of attending a VISA interview at another Embassy would be sufficient evidence for the Polish Embassy. I think they are used to seeing the "old school" type of invitation letter from the US Embassy in Warsaw and not the NVC notice. My husband said they even made comments about the size of the paper which I have noticed in Eastern Europe is slightly different from US 8 x 10.

I am not sure why they would interfere or care what type of VISA he was interviewing for at the US Embassy it seems they simply do things the way they always do them and cannot psychologically accept a new process. They did tell him the US Embassy knows what they are supposed to send so it kind of ticks me off if they know that they don't automatically generate a Invitation letter for Belarus citizens since they know they will need it for the VISA.

I will update the new process for VISA applications for Belarus citizens once we figure it out since it is supposed to go online application next week.

the people at the polish embassy in minsk were definatley less than helpful and actually quite rude to my wife when she went to get a toursit visa for the interview in warsaw. i wanted to be there for 5 days so we could do a little sight seeing etc...but they refused her because we didnt have an official invitation from the hotel! we had a paid in full reciept and the documents from the us embassy stating she had an interview date. well, after lots of calls to the hotel concierge he was able to come up with documents that satisfied the embassy in minsk and we were able to get the visa finally.

things in warsaw were great and went smoothly. we had the interview one day and picked up the visa the next.

Citizens of Belarus a little tip for you. If you have a VISA interview scheduled at the Polish Embassy in Warsaw you will need an "original" Invitation for the VISA interview in Poland at the Warsaw Embassy in Poland. My husband went to get his VISA using the letter from the NVC which was emailed to both of us and no hardcopy of invitation was ever sent to him from Warsaw.

After 3 days of standing in line he had no success with the folks who work the VISA window and even though he went back and printed out the document in color thinking perhaps they just wanted to see the logo of NVC in color they then asked him for the envelope. Also they want the invitation translated into Russian. I know its the Polish Embassy but that is what they asked for.

So you will have to contact the Warsaw Embassy and ask them to mail a hardcopy of invitation to your spouse/fiance in Belarus if they plan on making the trip solely for the interview. They state on the website it takes 8 days to hear back from them, although it took them four to answer my email inquiry. I have found it impossible to contact them on the phone.

In our case my husband was taking the overnight train and returning the same day after the interview. It takes 10 days from the day you submit VISA request to day VISA is delivered at the Polish Embassy. Since we did not know the Embassy would not accept the electronic documents we are going to have to request a new appointment date.. God only knows how that is going to work.

ALTERNATE PLAN: If you don't want to have this hassle plan a "vacation" and request a tourist VISA instead. In the past we have had no problem getting tourist VISA to Poland which requires application and return tickets plus copies of hotel reservations information and itinerary.

Oh and if things are not confusing enough they will be changing the entire VISA system and require applications online effective next week so good luck with that if you have interviews next month.

be advised that he may want to plan on staying overnight because chances are he will have to come back the next day to get his visa if it is issued.

Got emails today that USCIS has ordered card production of Alla's and Leonid's EAD and AP. Virtually two months from when the applications were received.

No word on the GCs but all is well.

Tomorrow is a day off and we all go to Kankakee State Park where we will hike and picnic and Leonid will fly his first kite and take a real live pony ride.

Weather is hot in Chicago and so are the Russians......got to go, have been called to duty!!!!

Sveta's ead and ap came relatively quickly once the bogus rfe's were cleared up by a call to our congressman:)

Hello all,

Just curious if any of you have found that your SO has some rather strange superstitions?

My Sweetie is from a small town in Belarus and she has aquired some pretty funny ones.

1. I cut my own hair at "Le Garage Salon" and one day when I was throwing the clippings out in the yard Sveta comes running and askes "what you do!!!?" She says if the birds get my hair I will have headaches.

2. Sitting one evening and munching some cookies in front of the TV when done I start to eat the crumbs from the plate and again I get a slap on the hand and asked "what you do?" I guess that by eating the crumbs from the plate I will always be poor. She ate her cookies over her cup of tea. I told her she is eating her crumbs as well from the cup but of course thats different;)

3. Im not supposed to show how someone else has been hurt on my own body like saying "my friend broke his arm" and then point to my arm and say "crack", I get the slap on the hand and "what you do" plus she says some sort of prayer and then the sign of the cross to undo the harm Ive done:)

There are quite a few others but these are the few that come to mind first.

Oh, how interesting it is this mix of cultures at our house;)

Say for example your fiancé would not get a visa. And the only way for you to be with her(him) would be to move and live in Ukraine or Russia. And your fiancé would ask you to do it. Would you move to marry your fiancé and live in her(his) country?

my wife is from a small town about 2 hours from Minsk and while I found it quite charming and life seemed much simpler I couldnt leave my young daughter here and even though I am far from rich I would miss the comforts I have.

we have talked about the possibility of going there for extended periods of time (wife owns a flat there that her son is living in and somehow Im paying for now;)

it just isnt possible to make enough $ to live the life I want to live, love only gets you so far.

my hobby, passion, avocation is triathlon and it is all but non-existant in Belarus mostly due to financial reasons and weather and Im not ready to give that up.

on a related note from other posters, we had discussed everything being 50/50 and she getting work once able to here but there have been hints of how she has enjoyed staying at home and not having to "do everything" and not having to be the "strong woman" she had to be back home.

it kind of freaks me out a bit feeling like Im having to take care of her 100%, thats not what we discussed and I signed up for but Im hoping once she can be a bit more independant and start working things will even out.

hell, I feel like Im taking care of the whole family there, paying for the flat, sending extra$ to her son and gifts for her family due to the numerous holidays etc...

by the way, has anyone found any way you can send $ to Belarus without using Western Union? Most places dont want to deal with Belarus.

OR, they haven't even looked in the "A" file, which has happened more than once. Remember, K visas are such a tiny percentage of the AOS filings per year that errors shouldn't be entirely unexpected.

I read these RFEs as expecting that the overseas medical should be sent in with the AOS, and that's not the case, the person opening your file has to look up your "A" file turned in at POE, to get the two files together and they might not all be doing that.

You are talking about the "A" file turned in at POE. Is that the number under the reciept number on my RFE? It says "A200######"

So I just received 2 RFE's in the mail yesterday and I am pretty angry about it.

The first RFE is about lack of financial statements. I find this hilarious because I sent THREE YEARS worth of tax papers for my husband and father in law. Specifically it says that we need to tax papers for my husbands self employment. Well I checked my copies of everything I sent them and what do I find? All the tax forms for the years including the special schedules they use for self employed people. So basically I now know that they don't look at everything you send them.

They MUST skip over things because they HAVE these documents. I spoke to USCIS and they said to write a polite later stating where in the original package it would be and to let them know they have it but to send other copies anyway just to be on the safe side. Which I plan on doing just to get rid of that problem.

The second RFE is about my medical. The way that the letter is phrased makes it seem like they want me to do a full medical over again which isn't going to happen as its only been 6 months that I had mine done in Montreal and its still very valid. So I asked the USCIS guy about that and he said, OH NO! do not redo your medical exam...just do the I-693 part 1, some of part 2 and part 5 only. He also said to once again write a polite letter when sending it all in stating that your medical was done in Montreal on such a date and you are not required to have another if it falls within the year and that's it.

It's all a pain in my butt and seriously, some of these workers looking at our cases need to wake up and stop being lazy or absentminded or just plain stupid. We are paying an arm and a leg to send them this stuff and going through hell to be married and then they can't even look through files thoroughly and properly. Either way, I'm calling more civil surgeons today so hopefully I'll find someone reasonable. I also have my biometris appt. this coming Tuesday.....

wow, thats the same exact thing that just happened to us! two rfe's for the same thing. i sent in 1040's and Im self employed as well and also they said our med exam was not within the one year time frame. the exam was done august 17, 2009. we have the results, reciepts, xrays etc... that show the date of the exam.

i contacted my congressmans office yesterday and have tried contacting the nvc all day but the line just rings busy. maybe there out because of the weather?

soooo frustrating!!!

Hi all, quick question to see if anyone has had this happen.

Just recieved an rfe that reads as follows: "You submitted form I-693, Medical Examination and Vaccination Record. However, the civil surgeon certified the exam more than one year before the date the applicant filed the Form I-485. The form I-693 must be dated within one year of filing form I-485."

I called uscis and they say we must have a whole new med exam! we took the vaccination records and had them transcribed by a civil surgeon here and he filled out everything, sealed the envelope and we sent it along to uscis.

The med exam for the k1 visa was done August of 2009 so its within one year. Im guessing they lost it?

Any thoughts on what to do?

yes, Im all to farmiliar with it! if you plan on getting a visa for more than 3 days you will need proof of either having payed for a hotel or apartment, reciepts for flight or train/bus etc...and proof of her interview at the US embassy. also try and do this at least 2 weeks ahead of time because it may take a while and tell your SO to be prepared to be treated like ####### at the polish embassy.

Generally it is a good idea to answer question 19 in the affirmative regarding any of these introduction web sites. Then there is no problem about how you actually started to communicate before meeting. Since so many of the introduction web sites for meeting foreign people are outside of the USA they aren't subject to the laws, but most comply just as a matter of convenience for their clients. I'm pretty sure Elena's Models is based in Australia.

Oh, Slim, I'm pretty sure the U.S. military has an exemption from the IMBRA requirements.

I contacted EM before filling out our forms and they said yes they are a Marriage Broker.

I answered thusly on our forms and it didnt seem to be a problem. We got the visa on Sept 29:)

had our interview in Warsaw on 9/28 and thankfully we got the visa!

now i am wondering if there is any chance of my fiancee's mother and adult son coming here for the wedding?

i figure her mom maybe but i didnt know on her 20 year old son? the problem is the mother will never travel without her grandson to help her so if he cant come she wont either.

anyone with any experience with Belarus on such matters?

When Dima got his tourist visa in Warsaw, he got the visa the same day. The US embassy in Warsaw is very considerate of the people coming from Belarus for visas.

Cool! I hope they are in a good mood and kind to us for our K1 interview on the 28th!

dima's visa to poland was only good for 3 days, so he didn't have to provide proof of lodging or available funds. 3 days was long enough for the whole process. good luck

Ditto for my wife and stepdaughter too. They took the bus from Baranovichi to Warsaw on the day of the interview, got their K-1/K-2 visas, and returned home by bus without staying overnight in Poland.

If I remember correctly the Polish visa requirement was instituted just before their interview in 2004, so it was an added burden on my wife to get it. Back then it was $50 for the visa. Before that Belarusians were able to travel to Poland without a visa.

What a freaking fiascoe! Sveta made the 2hour train trip from her town to minsk to the polish embassy thismorning. Was at the embassy at 5am to get a good spot in line. There were already people lined up. She had proof of her round trip ticket from Minsk to Warsaw, voucher of paid apartment there and Letter of Invitation from the US Embassy stating she had an interiew on Sept 28. She gets in to apply and they say "no visa, you stay too long" so she shows them the apartment voucher and they say its not good enough. She asks them to call the apartment place and they say they make no calls so its "your problem not ours".

Sveta calls me at 3am hysterical but long story short I called the apartment place then they faxed something to the Minsk main post office for Sveta stating that the apartment was paid for so she hurries back to the embassy, waits in line again and this time they accept the documents! #######!

Anyway, thank goodness they took the stuff.

Sveta said they were treating everyone very rudely that was there for a visa.

Crazy ######!

We are so stressed out over this whole K1 thing and are ready to get this all over with. Lets hope all goes well at the interview!

Ok our interview is for Sept 28 so Sveta is going to the Polish embassy in Minsk to get the visa to travel there so she called to see what she will need.

Since we are staying 4 nights in Warsaw they needed proof of our renting an apartment. All I have is the electronic voucher they emailed me after I made the reservation and the embassy says they need "original document". Thats about as original as it gets over the internet. I suppose the aparment place can fax them a copy or something? Also they wanted to see proof of her flight booking there and back so she took a copy of her "e ticket" but they again said "need original document". Well, I booked it over the net and pretty much everyone uses e-tickets now so whats the deal?

Theyre saying they may only issue the visa for 3 days instead of 5.

Has anyone had any experience with the Polish embassy in minsk? Seems like a highly unfriendly bunch.

They told Sveata "its your problem not ours". I called the polish embassy in washington and they pretty much told me to go f##k myself.

Any advice?

Hi all,

I was wondering if anyone has done this.

When we faxed DS230 part 1 to the Warsaw embassy on question 20. which asks places you have lived for at least 6 months since the age of 16 Sveta forgot to put where she lived when attending school.

On question 22 she thought they needed only 5 years employement history like was needed on the I129f instead of the last 10 years.

Will it be possible to update this information by calling the embassy?

We got our interview date for Sept 28.

ok, so it looks as if we will finally have our interview on Sept 28!

We have all the documents, med exam etc..

For proof of ongoing relationship I told Sveta to print some of our emails throughout the last year as well as getting a log of the bazillion text messages we have sent and the lovey dovey greeting cards I have sent her. We talk by phone at least once per week but I have always bought these "international phone cards" since they were super cheap so I assume I could bring a few of those for her to show as well.

We only have a few photos of us together and some of me and her mom and her son etc... I assume I should bring those as well as my boarding passes and visa etc..from my last trip to see her?

Is there anything else Im missing to prove an ongoing relationship?

Ok, I talked with someone at the embassy in Warsaw and they say that the interview is actually on Sept 28th at 8:45am.

Its not on the list on the embassy website but the lady read off our case number and my fiance's name DOB and address and said the invitation letter will go out shortly so I assume I should go by what she said and not the fact that we arent on the list?

Id hate to make reservations, flights etc... and not be there on the right date

I was wondering how big of a deal it is to reschedule a visa interview.

I was hoping that we would make the September list in Warsaw Poland but the new list is up today and we arent on it.

They aknowledged that they recieved our packet 3 checklist and that we are ready for the interview and that they would be sending the invitation letter soon.

Unfortunately due to work my fiance will not be able to make an interview date in October. Will the embassy be able to reschedule for November?

Thanks.

Ok, I just emailed the packet 3 checklist and form DS 230 part 1 to the embassy in Warsaw.

Ive heard that we can expect to have the interview within about 30 days from the date they recieve this stuff.

Anyone from Belarus have any input on this? True or not?

Thanks!

Warsaw is super fast about scheduling appointments. Dima got his interview for a tourist visa in 1 day.

he was able to get a tourist visa to the US?

i would have loved to have had Sveta here for a visit but I was told that there was very little chance of her qualifying for a tourist visa and I didnt want to waste her time and my money;0)

Ok, I just emailed the packet 3 checklist and form DS 230 part 1 to the embassy in Warsaw.

Ive heard that we can expect to have the interview within about 30 days from the date they recieve this stuff.

Anyone from Belarus have any input on this? True or not?

Thanks!

Once again, folks, when something is issued by ANYONE, it is valid for the amount of time the embassy says it's valid, not the issuing agency. If the embassy will take it for six months, it's good for six months, even if it says it expires after three. If they say it's good for a year, well then, it's good for a year.

Translations don't just all the sudden become invalid. What's the expiration date on a language? Surely it's more than a year!

well, it says "12 months from date of issuance" on the Instructions for Immigrant/Fiance Visa Applicants from the embassy in Warsaw so we're goin' with that.

Sveta got her medical exam done yesterday with clean bill of health and also all the documents are now in english. Found out the NVC has forwarded our stuff on to Warsaw so its starting to get down to crunch time at long last!

we are in the process of getting all the documents for packet 3 translated into english and had a question about the police certificate.

On the instruction page it says that the certificates are valid for 12 months from the date of issuance but when Sveta took them to the translation bureau in Minsk they said they are only valid for 3 months. Who do we believe? Im going with what it says on the instruction sheet from the embassy.

ok, Im sure this has been addressed elsewhere on VJ but thought Id ask someone from Belarus how this works.

Do we need to wait for packet 3 before Svetlana can get her medical exam in Minsk? Is there some sort of form or something that the docs will need to fill out or will they know what to test for?

I looked at the info on the Warsaw embassy website but am still a bit vague on the question.

She has already contacted LODE and they are farmiliar with what is needed but I want to make sure that there isnt some "official document" we need to have for the medical exam.

Actually there IS another requirement --

(From I-129F Instructions)--

You may file this petition if:

1. You are a U.S. citizen, and

2. You and your fiancé(e) intend to marry within 90 days of your fiancé(e) entering the United States, and are both free to marry

Remember, you and the fiancee actually have to sign statements affirming that intent. So, filing the petition when you don't actually have that intent would be a pretty good case for fraud. Of course the difficulty is in PROVING what your actual intent was at any point in the process ---- a good reason NOT to come on forums like this and discuss your intent if you ARE thinking of using the K-1 as a "trial period."

Nothing about using the 90 days as a trial period is mutually exclusive to the requirement that you intend to marry. Obviously if you didn't intend to marry, then your decision has already been made, and you wouldn't be filing a K1. There's nothing wrong with saying you intend to marry, with a caveat that you want to make absolutely sure within your 90 day period.

Let's see---

"might marry" -- nope, that's not what it says....

'intend to marry IF".... no

"intend to marry assuming"... no

"intend to marry with the caveat that".... no

Let's see --- yep, we ARE writing and talking in the English language.....

Dictionary definitions of "intend" and/or "intent" --- "to plan" "to have in mind to do something" "to have in mind for a particular purpose or use" Hmmmm... nothing really there about conditionals, or contingencies, or caveats.

Although I DO think you've hit upon the solution ---- EVERYone who wants to use the K-1 as a "trial period" should be completely open and honest (which is after all, the "responsible adult" thing to do ) and include this caveat language within their "Statement of Intent". If USCIS approves their petitions and the Embassy issues the visas with these caveats in place -- then more power to them and enjoy the "free trial"!! Anyone out there willing to take that challenge?

if one is truely honest with oneself you know if the situation is right or not. Ive been around the block enough times to know that my initial gut feeling has rarely been wrong. Ive been in relationships where my gut told me it isnt right but my heart and head (not to mention other body parts) said "maybe things will develop". Needless to say they never did.

Just try and imagine once the hormones settle down between you and your SO and day to day life sets in, laundry, grocery, cleaning the toilet etc... and see if you can imagine yourself together.

It sounds cliche'ish but you better be good friends first and like being around each other before marriage is considered.

I met Svetalana online and we had an email relationship for quite a while then phonecalls then tons of sms messages and thats when I started to think that Im really starting to fall for this girl. Seems we were at the same point in life and had similar personalities and expectations. I still remember "sms"ing her saying that if its possible to fall in love with someone over sms messages I have. She called me about a microsecond later and was quite giddy and felt the same way.

About a month later I made the trip to Belarus to meet her and right in the airport we just seemed to "click" and it felt like we had know eachother all along. No awkward moments or shyness, very comfy from the get go. I cant do justice about how it went with words.

We are both realistic and have discussed that many times life and our relationship will challenge us but if we are open and honest with one another we can get through anything.

anyhoo, what Im saying is that deep down you know how things feel. Sure its only natural to get nervous and have doubts but look deep inside and you'll find the answer.

You need the new case file number assigned at NVC to contact the U.S. embassy in Moscow. They can't help you much without that. It is doubtful they will set up an appointment before the file has been received, but usually it doesn't take long at NVC unless your fiancee has a surname that's on a special list.

You can usually download the packet three from the embassy website so that you can get a head start on gathering all the information. You just need to make sure your fiancee has the needed tasks and information completed prior to her appointment date.

We all understand about the rush now after such a long delay, but just a little more patience and you will be rewarded. Generally the interview at the embassy is pretty easy, especially if she is able to speak some English and she also indicates that she wants to work as soon as possible upon her arrival. They really want to know that someone isn't planning on living on welfare.

She will be able to inform the embassy about her new address when calling about the appointment or you can send it in an email if you have the NVC number.

yeah, i figured as much. so on top of the checklist it wants the "case number:wrw", "visa classification" (is this K1?) and "priority date" (whats this?)