Derek & Rita

And don't open the envelope they give you! Otherwise you'll have to go back and get it sealed again.

If the child is traveling with the parent and is written into the parent's passport, then no passport is needed. If child will travel with someone else then child will need his own passport and probably a notarized letter allowing child to travel.

If this is for travel to USA then the child will need their own passport.

Post unnecessarily advertising a website has been removed from the thread and edited to get rid of the web link, as follows:

I will say that I was dumb and tried 'dr*** mar*****' website (i won't put the name here, but you've probably seen it before). I signed up, but very strict things on my bio. And I got 10 messages 20 messages a day from women. I responded to each and every one with a personalized rejection letter that was at least a good page or two. The next day I do the same thing, and the day after that, an admin goes "please don't write to girls to reject them, only write to them to accept them." I assume it was a scam from that point, they probably hired someone to read the letters and write back. The rejections were quite light and did leave some openings for further emails, yet strangely nobody ever bothered to write again... anyway, you don't need those silly sites. Get on vk and make your profile, then join some groups and get to know people.

Well, if you don't have them, no big deal. You just get them again. Go to the doctor and say "hey I have no idea if I had this or not, give it to me" and they will vaccinate you again. It's that simple.

I'd be interested, my wife is kind of in the same situation.

We got married in Moscow, then filed the CR-1. She didn't change her name then because it's such a hassle to go to all these places especially in the cold winter snow and pregnant as well.

We got her green card in her previous name, because we felt it would be a hassle to change it during the process.

So we got to the USA, she has her green card, and they never sent her SS Card for some reason. We go to the SS office, request a replacement card, ask they put her married name (my last name) on it, they agree, we get the SSN with my name.

Tried to file taxes, it wouldn't take the SSN for some reason, we had to go back to the SS office, get a letter saying 'yes this is her ssn' and mail in the tax forms. We got our refund.

Then we wanted to get an ID Card so that I can put her name on the house we bought. Well, all her photo IDs say her previous name. We couldn't get the ID card.

So we file an I-90 to change the name on the green card. $450 and turns out it will probably be 6 months. Her GC expires in 10 months, so what's the point in changing it now if we can just change it then... but, looks like once you pay, they don't give refunds. So we could cancel the request, but then what's the point in cancelling if they won't give the money back? (looks like i'll have to wait longer on buying a new tv).

Anyway, we decided to go ahead, she wants to go to Moscow, change her name on all her documents there, but thinks she needs the green card to get that changed. Russian passport sites are written confusingly, I don't master enough of the language to make sense of it, and to my wife it's just a bunch of legalese.

That's where we're at today. We'll try a different DMV and see if we can get her an ID card with her new name on it.

As far as registration goes (all this I gleaned from talking to my wife about it for the past two years), you need to be registered to get any kind of help from the government, medical care being the most important, but you also need registration to get passports, or any kind of government documents. But, if you are registered somewhere, the owner of the place you are registered must pay a certain amount of money in taxes per each person registered. And if anyone under 18 is registered, you can't sell the property unless that child is registered somewhere else, or when they turn 18, they can provide written agreement to sell the property. You can certainly be registered while you are renting, but sometimes the landlord won't do that for you, so you have to pay someone else to do it. It's usually because the place you are renting from is overcrowded anyway because for registration you need to have a certain number of square meters per person...

Anyway, my wife is concerned because once she gets the green card in the new name, all her documents won't match, and she's afraid that Russian border control won't allow her to leave Russia if all her documents aren't in the same name.

We used the App Viber which is available on iPhones/Android/WP8.

It's essentially a lot like Skype but we've had better luck with it. It works like a standard VOIP tool so that if you are both using the app you can talk all day long and are only limited by your data cap (I've never come close). It also has a robust chat client and video beta.

The only caveat is that you both need a smartphone. http://www.viber.com

It's 100% Free.

I'll attest to that, it seems like a new thing, but all of her friends in Russia are on it now. It's great. Maybe everyone's upgrading to smartphones, I don't know.

I wouldn't worry about it.

The shutdown is stopping discretionary spending. Your application fees cover all the processing that needs to be done, so they will not shut down processing. You and everyone else are paying for it. And embassy services for Americans is essential, so they wouldn't shut that down unless there is a war starting with that country or the ties between the countries are being restricted (like for example with Iran).

Also, if you won't take my word for it, read here:

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/29/us-government-shutdown-services-affected

The State Department would continue processing foreign applications for visas and US applications for passports, since fees are collected to finance those services. Embassies and consulates overseas would continue to provide services to American citizens.

So go through with your plans, you have nothing to worry about.

My Ukrainian wife and I recently got married in Ukraine in August. After a lot of discussion, we decided to change her last name to mine so her name was changed on our marriage certificate. One of the problems with the last name is the marriage agency added Jr. in her last name because that is how it is written on my passport. We tried to explain to them that Jr. is a suffix and is not part of my last name; however it was like speaking to the wall. So we went with it and now she is having trouble updating her international passport because it has Jr. in there and they are spelling my last name wrong in her passport. They say it is being spelled wrong because that is how the system is processing it. They can change it manually; however the woman that she spoke to would not do it. My last name starts with a W and of course they do not have a letter W in Russian or in Ukrainian. I guess my question is has anyone ever had this problem and if so, how was it corrected? She lives in Odessa, Ukraine so this is where we are having the problem. Thanks

I won't worry about the Jr or anything like that, if Russia accepts it, then USA will accept it also. Just let the USA know that the JR part was a mistake, and they should issue the green card in the appropriate name.

Don't worry about the 'W' being a B or a Y because it makes no difference. Just tell the person doing translation what your actual name is so they can do it correctly. They have rules that they follow so you can't change the way your name is translated into Russian, that's just how it is. My last name also starts with W and sometimes they translated it with a B (not a B but the V sound) and sometimes with a Y (again, not Y but a U sound).

Normally in Moscow you apply 1 month before the actual marriage (fixing the date). Not sure about other cities. This can be done by the bride if she has an application from the groom (separately from hers) which is notarized (notary saw the groom sign it). Also, copy of first page of groom's passport has to be provided with an official translation + a letter from US embassy notary saying that the groom attested (is this the correct word?) in front of them that he is not married.

Here's a link to ZAGS site where it describes what's needed for foreigners (in Russian).

I just wanted to add that sometimes they will bypass the 31 day requirement as long as you have a good reason. I've been told that one good reason is 'it is financially infeasable for me to stay in Russia longer than 14 days' and I myself went with 'my employer will not allow more vacation time'. That seemed to work for me, but of course, my wife was 6 months pregnant at the time, so I am sure that helped. Just don't plan on getting the waiver approved, as it's not a guarantee. You have to speak with the manager at the Zags. And I allowed two weeks for my vacation, got married on my last day there, so I was very lucky. I did the attestation at the embassy the day I arrived. You also have to go to the foreign document service and get all your documents approved in Russia which includes visiting a notary (in Russia). There they tape a string through the documents and sign the tape, so you can't tamper with it. Heaven forbid if you handle those documents roughly and the string tears the tape... If you don't speak Russian, you'll also need to book a translator for your wedding. And at Zags, (and everywhere else) if there is one single mistake on a written document, you have to start over again. There is no white out. My wife had to fill out the marriage application about 4 times before they thought it was perfect. Her hands were sore from all the writing that had to be done.

Anyway, if the thought of going through all this is making you rethink your choice of wife, then I'd suggest not getting married and breaking this poor woman's heart.

P.S. I almost forgot, you have to have all your documents translated to Russian by approved agencies and yes the only approved agencies are on Russian soil. It took a week just to get all the translations done, and it was not cheap.

OK so stupidly I got into an argument with some flatmates which resulted in me ripping a piece of tape off " his door" which he had used to seal it. I didnt open or enter and have a witness to prove it.

Facts are he had not paid the month of September so technically it wasnt his room. He is being kicked out today so I know he is very angry.

I feel he is going to go to the police and file a complaint which although I know has no merit as it was not his room, I am worried it could slow my K1 visa, and I need to be in the states asap. I had the interview today and they are still going through final clearance checks. He knows im doing the visa and feel he may do it just to be spiteful.

Any thoughts??

Note: This is not legal advice, and I am not a lawyer! This is only my opinion.

Legally, he could take you to court, it doesn't matter if he didn't pay, you have to start the eviction process which usually begins with a 30 day notice of termination. If they don't move out at that time, then you can start the eviction proceedings, which starts with you going to court and filing paperwork. If you didn't do either of these things, then you are not following the law. If you are going to be a landlord, you need to read up on landlord and renter's rights. They may vary from state to state, but generally you have to give notice, and any evictions can only be done with a court order.

As far as visas are concerned, I don't think you'd be charged with a felony, so it's probably not a concern. Still, if you have a court date to meet, and you have an interview scheduled at that same time, you would probably want to reschedule.

Other than that all went perfect and now am Registered for 3 months in the town I am in. the office refused to register me for longer even though visa is for 6 months but I can go somewhere else re-register and come back probably or I can go visit Ukraine or something.

As for the wedding, ZAGS women refuses to skip 32 day waiting period unless fiancee is pregnant even when we said we had tickets. I have no idea if I should try to bribe or do anything of the sort since I don't want trouble. One thing I wasn't planning on was ZAGS requiring a translator being present to submit papers and for ceremony, but we found one for 700 rubles so I guess it's okay. Anyway that's a whole other story, again I look forward to taking part in community once I start the journey of my future wife's visa. By the way she is awesome!

All in all, everyone in thread was right. You just stay cool and wait for them to do their thing and voila you are in

Hope my experience helps future people too!

If you are concerned about the 3 month limit, you can go visit a different region for a week and register there (which will automatically cancel the other registration) and then go back and register again.

For the wedding, I was able to bypass the 32 day wait, and you usually can if you write the reason why you can't wait. It's not usually a big deal. I just wrote 'my boss won't let me take any more vacation days' and that was enough (my wife was about 6 mos pregnant at the time though, that probably helped!) I was lucky in that we were the absolute last people to get married at that particular zags that day, and we were late about an hour, but we did get in in time. I knew enough russian that I didn't need a translator. If someone said something, my wife could say it in a different way in russian so i could understand.

Now you are going to worry about the CR-1. That one takes a while, and if it does take over 90 days, write your congressman, open an investigation, do not do like i did and wait 6 months (the estimates on this site are from start to finish, not for a single step!). Get your documents in order well in advance. Police certificates are good for 6 months after they are issued, and they need to be valid at the interview. So, you should be able to start on that now. Also, I don't advise forging your wife's signature on documents rather than sending them to her... that would be against the law. Oh, and changing her name can be a pain. She has to change her name in Russia on her passport and all her documents, it may be better to file in her maiden name just to avoid the hassle, but if she tries to get a DL in the usa under the married name, well, that's going to be more difficult. And if she changes her name on the social security card and not on the green card, she'll fail the e-Verify, so she won't be able to get a job (she certainly could and would have legal status, but everify doesn't handle special situations well), or file taxes (everify is also used when you file taxes). And changing a name is going to be whatever the original cost of the green card was ($495 i think?). To file taxes you have to go to the social security office and get that form which says 'this social security number is for this person' which you can only get in person. Oh, and you won't be able to electronically file...

Speaking of taxes, you should file your taxes with your wife's name on it as well (jointly or joint as single) and to do that, you'll need a Tax ID number (ITIN). You need to contact the IRS and fill out form W-7. Do it well ahead of time.

You can technically get in queue for both X-Ray and blood test at the same time and people generally will hold your spot for you,

Gotta love that about Russia, they know how to queue without a 'take a number' system. One of the first things I learned was "kto posledniy" (who's last). England seems crazy about queueing up, with people paid to make sure people queue properly, and know how to form a line. Russians don't form lines often, but they do keep track the order of people. In America, if you leave, sorry, you lost your spot.

She received her visa yesterday, but my last name is wrong ugh!

Well, that will certainly be a problem, you should take that to the embassy... (especially if you are travelling with her)

If you don't think it will be a problem, then I suggest you try a game or two of 'Papers, Please!'

http://dukope.com/

Anyway, yea if they take her passport, she's getting the visa. My wife got her visa in 3 days, and that's exactly what I expected and planned for.

As far as the domestic abuse pamphlet, I bet it's just telling her that if she is a victim of domestic abuse, she can be granted permanent resident status (ie not dependent on marriage).

http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.eb1d4c2a3e5b9ac89243c6a7543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=b85c3e4d77d73210VgnVCM100000082ca60aRCRD&vgnextchannel=b85c3e4d77d73210VgnVCM100000082ca60aRCRD

Tried to send a box to Moscow last month via USPS (EMS) - still waiting, it's been over a month. They said it would be 5 days (which I knew was BS). I opened an investigation.

Can you take the daughter off as part owner? Perhaps register her with the US embassy as living in the US?

We just sold our apartment in Russia and I was listed as part owner. That became a problem when we decided to sell because a foreigner is subject to 30% tax on sale of an apartment. Took my name off and then made the sale. Saved us considerable money.

Nope, they can only be taken off the paper when they are at least 18 years of age. OP is stuck with that apartment. You want to register your child to a house so you can get free money from russia (something like 300,000 rubles) but you can't sell your house until they are of legal age to be removed from it.

Source: I asked my wife about it like 100 times. I would love to have some free money.

Thank you for your reply! Good luck! My Diploma is already translated and evaluated by ECE, and I was excepted and stared my MD Program, just am taking a break due to current financial situation. And am over thinking everything. I was hoping to hear from Russian - Ukrainian speaking population of vj especially if possible. Although, other responses are also greatly appreciated.

No idea about doctors, but I did find a Russian doctor here, got his degree at Moscow State University, did his internship at a hospital here. I'd guess you would have to do an internship here as well.

My wife is a nurse, we looked, and you have to take a clex test and toefl. You could try medical translation for work.

My wife is actually from Uzbekistan (lived there during USSR times), so she told me that she's familiar with every one of those dishes except Shubat! Her comment on the samsa's (which I really like too) is that the common trick is to put more onion than meat in them to cut down on costs.

Which reminds me of how great the xachipuri tasted (pita-like bread baked in a stone oven (called a tandir) with cheese filling)! I bought them all the time as a quick meal in between English lessons in Moscow; I'm sure they weren't too healthy but boy did they taste good! You can find them all over in Moscow in the street-vendor carts near the Metro stations.

And my comment on the manty (monti) should be handled wisely: yes they taste good but if you mix up the "t" with a "d" (as I did often), you're pronouncing not the name of tasty ravioli but a slang term for a part of a woman's anatomy. Which of course made for great fun when a girl in our group named Amanda would introduce herself to the Russians by her nickname Mandy

I'm with you two, I married a Tajik / Russian and she cooks monti, pelmeni, sombuca, borscht, solyanka, and of course, plov. She is a great cook, and never made anything that I didn't like (except for one time, she used peach yogurt when she didn't have plain kefir - for a dough for some meat wrapped in dough thingy, god that was awful, even the bums wouldn't eat it). The only thing she can't yet cook is bread, but that's not a bad thing, I love making bread, it's one of the only things I'm good at making.

Well, it finally happened. We had our interview, and then the plane ride, and we're all here together finally!

The plane ride was terrible. First, the hurricane Sandy delayed our flight, so I had to stay an extra few days in Moscow, but we got on the airplane, with an 11 month old infant, and she is not having a good time at all. She vomits all over me, and we don't have a change of clothes for her or me. We got to NYC and they delayed us in that CBP room (customs and border protection) and had us wait an hour or two for no reason other than to get her signature and fingerprint. Which made us late for the next flight, but luckily there was an Aeroflot expeditor there, who guided us to the right location and made sure we checked our bags and everything. Still, we had to run to the other terminal just to avoid missing the flight. To top it all off we were all three sick with sniffles and sore throats, and neither of us had any sleep.

But, we made it, it's been a nice and relaxing week. Now we are preparing to go to thanksgiving.

My wife has already asked me: "Are Americans aliens?"

So, back on topic - my wife just got here last week. I'll just list the things..

• Must always wear slippers! Not in the bedroom though!
  
• Mop the floors every other day, on hands and knees!
  
• If we have a bezpadaric (?sp) then it will irritate her to no end. Clean room = happy wife!
  
• 72 degrees outside? Need a coat, scarf, hat.
  
• No air conditioner, it causes diseases, you know...
  
• A hot meal waiting for me every day when I get home.
  

So, yea, it's been great though, she's a great cook, and when she gets in the cleaning mood, nothing you say or do will stop her.

How did this end up working out for you, I am in the same boat right now. Our packet is on the way to the consolate, should be delivered on Monday, and I have already paid the consulate fee. We are trying to figure out if we need to wait for the packet 3 or if we can go ahead and schedule the interview now.

Thanks,

Rich

You must wait. If you try to schedule it earlier, they WILL cancel it. Once they contact you with the interview date, then you can setup the medical appointment and be there. It sucks, but you must wait. In my case, I had to wait 5 weeks.

Woke up this morning to find emails on the iphone from NVC with 0045 timestamps. Nearly tripped over my feet getting to the computer - didn't even want to try to read them on that tiny screen. After case completion at NVC on 28 Sep, interview date is 11 Oct. We're reasonably pleased since we had two RFEs at NVC, each resolved in about a week, including one sent by registered mail from Ukraine. Speaking of which, the USPS system did show the date & time the letter arrived at NVC from Ukraine. Rather anticlimactic for tracking, but does show proof something arrived. Overall, the process seems to be moving on schedule, if not early. I presume the 0045 timestamps are due to an automated system since I don't expect anyone to be working cases or machines that time of the night. No plaudits necessary, just posting FYI for those in the Ukrainian boat. Cheers.

Congrats!

(grumble grumble - another person who filed months after me getting an interview sooner than me)

Well, my interview is on October 19th, so good luck! My proof of a valid relationship is here:

https://picasaweb.google.com/107599762891993324101/8Months?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCIOx1ZHl09OJ5QE&feat=directlink

I still havn't sent the iv package, just waiting for my husband to fill out the ds230 form and sign it. Mail from nigeria is so slow. We pray we make the deadline to get the iv package in on time to get an october interview in lagos.

I'm sure if you are anxious, you can fill out the DS230 form yourself. You might search your things and find that he has already signed it somehow!

On August 27, 2012 we received a CASE COMPLETE from NVC. IS there any one else who had their case complete around that time and already have your interview scheduled? We have not been scheduled an interview yet, why is it taking so long?!

August 16th, and nope....

hi

i m in the same boat....is they count five years residency after i got USC or from the green card residency period.i am naturalised citizen in nov 11....but my baby is going to born on feb 2013. my wife is permanent residency....but lives in abroad

That's a question for the lawyers for sure. You lose your permanent residency if you leave the USA for more than 6 months (without advanced parole). Best advice I can give you is have your baby born on USA soil.

i did receive the passport of my baby but i did not get the social security number, can anyone tell me what do i do now?

You should have filed for the SSN at the same time as the CRBA. If you didn't, then you'll need to file for the SSN. If you did, then the USA embassy should be able to tell you the status and give you the social security number (but not the card - that gets mailed).