ForumTitleContentMemberSexCountryDate/Time
Russia, Ukraine and BelarusUSCIS and Embassy moving incredibly quickly.
Congratualtions. I am glad it is moving so well but you are making me a little jealous. Mine has been at NVC for 40 days without a peep from them. One guy with the same NOA-2 date from VT and a fiancee from Russia has his interview on March 25th. I am beginning to think mine is lost behind some filing cabinet.

Good luck on the interview. I am sure it will go great and you will be together soon.
TurboguyMaleRussia2007-03-02 22:01:00
Russia, Ukraine and BelarusApartments for Interview in Moscow
Another place that a lot of people go for apartments is Moscow Ricks' You can google him and he will come up.'

If you have any problems I have a friend who rents out an apartment in Moscow. I have used it two times and will be using it again if they ever decide to give us an interview and let us out of A/R. It is $ 95.00 a night, fairly nice, close to two metro staions, on the same side of moscow as the embassy and close to shopping and restaurants.
TurboguyMaleRussia2007-03-09 23:55:00
Russia, Ukraine and BelarusPolish Embassy tourist visa
That is a real bummer. I have never heard of that to offer any real advice. I wonder if there is any way to get the interview switched to Kiev.

Why don't you try calling the Polish Embassy in Washington. They may be able to help you.
TurboguyMaleRussia2007-03-16 07:21:00
Russia, Ukraine and BelarusHappy Woman's Day!
Mark, I can see your romantic nature was what won her heart. It is not the gift that counts, it is the thought and the feelings you two share. I hope you have dozens of happy Women's days ahead. I will remember that Reeses cup's seem to do the trick.
TurboguyMaleRussia2007-03-09 07:50:00
Russia, Ukraine and BelarusVisitor's visa while K1 pending

I have only seen one case of a fiancee from Russia successfully visit her SO in the USA and in that case it was real nip and tuck at immigration.

You keep missing the point. She wasn't sent back on the plane because she came to "visit" her fiance. She was sent back because she was unable to prove non-immigrant intent. The officer thought she was not here to see her fiance but here to stay forever.

Sorry Satelite, I was aware of that but perhaps just did not word my response very well. You do run that risk anytime you are coming to the USA to visit your fiancee. I highly doubt if you went into the embassy for an interview and said you wanted to visit your fiancee that you would get a visa even if you had family, a job and property because they would fear exactly that. Same thing on immigration. If you are at the POE and say you are visiting your fiancee you may have some problems. I am sure some sail right through. So much of what we deal with in the K-1 process depends on people decisions which are never totally predictable.

Yes, if you apply for a tourist visa and say you always wanted to go to disneyland you may get a visa. Yes, if you are entering and say you are going to disneyland you may get in. Still if they pick up that there is a K-1 pending there is risk.
TurboguyMaleRussia2007-03-17 16:21:00
Russia, Ukraine and BelarusVisitor's visa while K1 pending
My information was just based on spending way too much time here and reading way to many posts. I won't say I can't be wrong and that is is possible for a fiancee to visit but I am fairly sure I recall one case even where she got the tourist visa and said as she came through customs that the purpose of her trip was to visit her fiancee and she found herself on a plane back home.

My observations for what little value they are totally agree with Slim. I have only seen one case of a fiancee from Russia successfully visit her SO in the USA and in that case it was real nip and tuck at immigration.
TurboguyMaleRussia2007-03-17 10:43:00
Russia, Ukraine and BelarusVisitor's visa while K1 pending
I have never tried it to know first hand but they don't mind if the US citizen visits his/her foreign fiancee but If there is a K-1 pending and the foreign fiancee enters the country on a tourist visa they belive the real object of the trip was to visit the fiancee and not to be a tourist. Therefore it is immigrtion fraud and grounds for denial and banning. I am sure if the case could be established that the purpose of the trip really was as a tourist and that they were not going to visit the fiancee then they would not have a problem.

Never did it to know for sure but that is the word that floated up to my ears.
TurboguyMaleRussia2007-03-16 13:26:00
Russia, Ukraine and BelarusVisitor's visa while K1 pending
I think they look a little more kindly on someone who files again for the same fiancee. Both my first filing and my fiancee's are our second (different) fiancee.

I don't usually talk about why my fiancee's first K-1 did not work out but after they guy got her here, he confided in her that he also liked men and said he hoped she did not mind sharing him with his boyfriend. She said, buy me a ticket back to Russia.

I think it is tough for a woman to be away from her family and if there are health problems to deal with I can easily understand why she wanted to go home. I am sure it will work much better this time and I wish you the best of luck.
TurboguyMaleRussia2007-03-15 23:11:00
Russia, Ukraine and BelarusVisitor's visa while K1 pending
Not the same thing MPG. The fiancee visited in June and 3 months later in September they filed the K-1 visa application. Visiting while a K-1 is pending is considered Visa fraud as I understand.
TurboguyMaleRussia2007-03-15 21:01:00
Russia, Ukraine and BelarusVisitor's visa while K1 pending
I would not panic yet. It does seem to take a couple of weeks. I think they do these things in piles and leave them sit for a while. Give it another week or so and it will likely be there.

Satellite,

No, it is my second K-1. Hopefully I learned from the first one. I am quite sure this time I have a very good gal.

I think if my past K-1 was the problem it would have caught up to me in Vermont not at NVC. They approved my petition in Vermont with a waver for multiple filings within less than two years. (22 months actually). If I had to guess what the snag is I would guess because it is also the second K-1 for my fiancee. I have a feeling her name came up as having been here on a K-1 before and they are looking into the circumstances and making sure she did not overstay her visa which she did not. Other than that I have no idea why it ran into problems but it sure is a pain.

Edited by Turboguy, 15 March 2007 - 07:32 PM.

TurboguyMaleRussia2007-03-15 19:31:00
Russia, Ukraine and BelarusVisitor's visa while K1 pending

Are you talking about having her visit the USA? Not a good idea. They are not supposed to allow it and even if she gets the visa she could be turned away at the POE.

If you are talking about visiting Russia, that is not a problem. If my ap stays in limbo for another month or two I am going to move to Russia till it gets through if it ever does.



if by AP you mean Advance Parole then I must ask you if you are aware leaving the US before it is approved that the USCIS considers that abandonment of your AOS paperwork...right?

If you mean something else then I appologize :o

to the OP, I have heard that you can try but it is highly unlikely that a Russian citizen can qualify for a visitor visa....best of luck to you though.


Marc, that is my fault. by ap I meant application. Sorry to have confused the issue. My K-1 application got hung up after NOA-2 at the NVC and was taked for Administrative Review so I am in a big black hole. Insted of being forwarded to the Moscow Embassy it is floating around Washington for some unknown reason. It is frustrating to see someone with the same timeline with thier interview set for 10 days from now and mine may not be for who knows when. I heard of one case that was in A/R (administrative review so I don't confuse anyone) for 8 years.
TurboguyMaleRussia2007-03-15 17:03:00
Russia, Ukraine and BelarusVisitor's visa while K1 pending
Are you talking about having her visit the USA? Not a good idea. They are not supposed to allow it and even if she gets the visa she could be turned away at the POE.

If you are talking about visiting Russia, that is not a problem. If my ap stays in limbo for another month or two I am going to move to Russia till it gets through if it ever does.
TurboguyMaleRussia2007-03-15 08:43:00
Russia, Ukraine and BelarusWhen does Russian Citznship expire?
My impression and I could be wrong is that when you get your US Citizenship you swear alegience to the USA and give up your previous citizenship. I think it is possilbe for children born of that marriage to have dual citizenship but I think it is not possible for an immigrant. Someone else can correct me if I am wrong.
TurboguyMaleRussia2007-03-19 08:03:00
Russia, Ukraine and BelarusCan anyone recommend a hotel near the embassy
The Ukraina is within walking distance to the Embassy. I stayed there with my first fiancee when she had her interview and it was about a 15 minute walk.
TurboguyMaleRussia2007-03-23 14:54:00
Russia, Ukraine and BelarusK1 for Russian Fiancee
Welcome to the forum as well. One of the toughest part of this is once we send the packet (barring any RFE's) it is almost totally out of our hands. We can do little except watch and wait and worry and fret and worry and fret.

A lot of times everything goes as smoothly as we could hope and then we say why was I worrying so much. Slim is a great guy who gives great advice so read his post a couple of times. They do like handwritten letters a lot, English or Russian. They do like phone records a lot. I am not sure how you communicate but things like ICQ and SMS do not carry a lot of weight. I had problems with my first fiancee during the interview. I thought our thousands of SMS messages (20 a day often) would carry some weight for proof. They did want more.

During her physical have her try to get a copy of her imunization record. It can save some time and money in the USA later on.

Good luck. You are well on your way. Hopefully you will have better luck than me and fly through NVC in a few days and in just a little over two months it will all be behind you.
TurboguyMaleRussia2007-03-22 07:28:00
Russia, Ukraine and BelarusVisiting Russia
I have been to Russia 15-20 times and have never been asked if I had insurance. I have never had anything special and have no idea if my HMO would cover me there or not. I think this is not something to worry about unless someone has a medical condition to add to the risk.
TurboguyMaleRussia2007-03-11 14:41:00
Russia, Ukraine and BelarusNOA1 Received

Congrats, Milenka!

Hang in there Turboguy!

Thanks Slim, I don't have much choice.
TurboguyMaleRussia2007-03-15 17:05:00
Russia, Ukraine and BelarusNOA1 Received
Click on my assistant on the top bar then find edit signature. The timeline in the posts is part of our signature. Mine is going to have dust on it by the time we finally get our visa.
TurboguyMaleRussia2007-03-14 17:50:00
Russia, Ukraine and BelarusAdvice Before She Arrives
Where I am you would have to make that 75 pounds, baggy, dirty sweet shirt, jeans with holes that were not put there by a designer, have a beer bottle in one hand a cigarette hanging in your mouth when you talk and of course a few peircings and tat's Then of course you walk with a slouched swager and think men are jerks but you don't need them anyway cause she knows she is ONE HOT CHICK!
TurboguyMaleRussia2007-04-11 08:42:00
Russia, Ukraine and BelarusAdvice Before She Arrives
Yep, get a motorcycle, get her some tatoos. a leather jacket, some chewing tobacco and get yourself a shirt that is imprinted on the back saying, "if you can read this the blich fell off" and you can have her Americanized in no time.
TurboguyMaleRussia2007-04-10 14:10:00
Russia, Ukraine and BelarusAdvice Before She Arrives
The first time I visited my fiancee we went riding go carts. She had never driven anything before. She was unable to go 40 feet without needing to have a crew pull her out of the stacks of tires that defined the course for the first 10 minutes. Finally after that she was able to get around the track going about 3 miles an hour while I and everyone else was flying past her.

One of my first projects will be teaching her to drive but I have to say I am scared to death about the prospect of it.
TurboguyMaleRussia2007-04-09 22:51:00
Russia, Ukraine and BelarusPlease PM Me
The best site that I would recommend is Elena's Models. It is where I met my fiancee and I think more people have met their S/O there than any place going. Other legitimate ones are Kerson Girls, Lifetime partners, first Dream, kiev Connections and more.

Stay totally away from Army of Brides, Global ladies, E-700 and Hot Russian Brides. Avoid Lugansk which is the scammer capitol of the world. Yoksur-Ola is also best avoided.
TurboguyMaleRussia2007-04-10 18:01:00
Russia, Ukraine and BelarusNeed CHEAPEST room in Moscow- 2/3 nights.
The apartment I stay in when I am in Moscow is $ 85.00. It is ground floor, very secure, close to shopping, restaurants and stores, fairly nice, tv, washer. It is on the same side of town as the Embassy, a 5 minute walk to the metro.

If you want more info, PM me and I will give you an E-Mail address to see if it is available. I will be staying there if we ever do get to the interview stage and have stayed there 3 times. Nice people that run it too. If you know where the Moscow Zoo is, it is close to there.
TurboguyMaleRussia2007-03-26 22:11:00
Russia, Ukraine and BelarusComing to America
I have a feeling the only reason the Russian economy is growing faster than the Ukrainian one is one thing, oil. Without that I think Russia would be hurting.
TurboguyMaleRussia2007-03-26 00:18:00
Russia, Ukraine and BelarusComing to America
We had a little survey on a site I go to. What it showed was that about 65% of the married guys had wives from Russia. The other part of the survey showed that about 70% of the guys looking to find a wife were going to Ukraine. I think a big factor is when Ukraine dropped their visa requirements for Americans. If the numbers of Russian brides are dropping it is likely the visa situation that has had a big impact.

I am starting to plan a meeting with my fiancee who is of course from Russia. We are going to meet in Prague and a big part of the reason is that I don't feel like fooling with the visa and it's registration. I definately don't see a drop in the number of guys looking for a wife in the former Soviet Union.
TurboguyMaleRussia2007-03-21 20:38:00
Russia, Ukraine and BelarusInterview was a success
Congratualtions and thanks for the nice report and particularly for the questions. Actually as far as covering the whole process that was one of the better ones I have seen. Thanks.
TurboguyMaleRussia2007-03-25 07:22:00
Russia, Ukraine and BelarusFinally here
Yes, that is great news. don't forget to PM us all a piece of wedding cake.
TurboguyMaleRussia2007-03-22 16:26:00
Russia, Ukraine and BelarusGoing Home!

Am I the only one that hasn't been?


St Petersburg? You are missing something special. The city reminds you of Venice. They have the Hermiatage which is great. If you go in mid to late june you get the white nights and Nevsky is one non stop party. They have a war museaum that is awsome and both Petherhauf and the Summer Pallace are amazing. They are both big palaces that were destroyed by the Nazis and rebuilt. Even the fountains and grounds are amazing. There is lots more besides that actaully.

If my fiancee and I ever get out of Adminstrative Review we are going to go there before her interview to spend some time together, then to Moscow for the interview. I have been there two times.
TurboguyMaleRussia2007-04-29 15:44:00
Russia, Ukraine and BelarusGoing Home!
I was just in Sochi a few weeks ago. It is a very beautiful city. Without knowing where you are going or where you have been St Petersburg would also be a great place for a side trip if you have not already been there.
TurboguyMaleRussia2007-04-29 08:00:00
Russia, Ukraine and BelarusBrining my Mom to the USA
If she owns two big apartments, a business and a car she should be able to demonstrate enough ties to get the visa. Did she take evidence of that with her? You might try contacting your congressman.
TurboguyMaleRussia2007-01-08 09:02:00
Russia, Ukraine and BelarusAffordable hotels near Sheremetyevo 2
If the issue is danger, I agree with Satelitte there is none. There are people all over the place and police everywhere. She is probably safer at the airport than in some hotels there.

From a rest standpoint that is another thing. Even with an 11 hour layover, keep this in mind. It may take her an hour to get her bags. It will take her at least an half hour each way to get a cab and get to the hotel maybe more. She will need to be at the airport 2-3 hours minimum before flight time. Add an hour to get something to eat, pack, unpack, check in and all that and you are looking at 5 hours in the hotel room to sleep. She may get more rest at the airport.

On the other hand I have always tried to be more protective of my fiancee. If someone had to sleep in an airport because we couldn't get close arrival times, I always made sure it was me. I will agree, most Russians don't hesitate to do things like sleep at the airport. I would suggest giving her the choice. The price of a hotel room is the average monthy income for many Russians.
TurboguyMaleRussia2007-05-08 07:24:00
Russia, Ukraine and BelarusAffordable hotels near Sheremetyevo 2
I got stuck with an unexpected layover there do to some flight problems. I don't think there are any cheap hotels near there. When I arrived, the few I checked were full anyway. I figured I might get one in the city for $ 150.00 but the cab each way would add another $ 100.00. I camped out on one of the benches for the night. There really were not too bad but stake one out before 11PM or so or they are all taken. There are restaurants (and bars) open all night as well. Actually it was not a bad night.
TurboguyMaleRussia2007-05-07 21:42:00
Russia, Ukraine and BelarusTravel to Hawaii
Actually there was something in the news a couple of days ago about plans to build a tunnel from Alaska to Russia.
TurboguyMaleRussia2007-05-09 20:46:00
Russia, Ukraine and BelarusGoing to Miami
Well, when I went there a few years ago one of the things we did was take a bus/boat tour of Miami. I enjoyed it and got to see some interesting places and get more of the history of where Versache was shot and some of the mobster houses on the waterway with a lot of in depth stories.

It sounds like you have your hotel worked out. We stayed in a fairly inexpensive one that I liked. It was a german run place decorated in cars of the 50's. Another nice thing about being German run was you could pack lighter. The gals only need to bring part of their suit for the pool.

You could run up to Orlando for a day or the space center.
TurboguyMaleRussia2007-05-11 20:53:00
Russia, Ukraine and BelarusSmall question about documents for interview...
There is a DHL office right next to the Embassy. If you are at the North Entrance where you go in for the visa look to the right, setting back just a bit and you will see a buidling that is really a shopping mall. There is a DHL sign there. The DHL office is in that building on the lower level in the left rear. I think it was something like $ 15-16.00 for the prepaid mailer.

There is one other DHL office in Moscow. It is in the center but I was not there to know where it was.
TurboguyMaleRussia2007-05-11 08:03:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarusinterview

Did you check the embassy web site about fees for express mail? I know that in Ukraine the embassy charges $8 - $10 for express mail which needs to be paid at the time of the interview. At this point, you just want to pay whatever it costs. It is well worth the effort.

Good luck at the interview.

DHL is the only option for Moscow. Kiev is FedEx only and you can buy the prepaid mailer at a desk in the Embassy. For those that need to get the DHL office there are two DHL offices in Moscow. One is right next to the north entrance of the Embassy where you go for the interview. There is a shopping center to the right, sitting back a bit with a DHL sign on the side of the building. DHL is in there on the lower level in the back. Pick up is only at the other office but you can get the mailer there.
TurboguyMaleRussia2007-05-14 21:52:00
Russia, Ukraine and BelarusI'm in Russia
So you are there adopting. That is cool. My fiancee would like to adopt a child from Russia in a few years. Perhaps when you get back a thread on the subject might be interesting for some of us.
TurboguyMaleRussia2007-05-12 06:55:00
Russia, Ukraine and BelarusTo whom it may consern...
That sounds like something that would be very fair. I am all for equality and since it is already legal for our American wives to beat us I think our Russian wives should have the same rights.
TurboguyMaleRussia2007-05-21 06:21:00
Russia, Ukraine and BelarusToday's interview: neither YES nor NO
congratulations. I don't know why they have to make this process such a pain to go through. I would trade 10 root canals for this process any day.
TurboguyMaleRussia2007-05-22 07:22:00
Russia, Ukraine and BelarusToday's interview: neither YES nor NO
I wish you luck. I think it will all work out but I know first hand how frustrating it is when you have had such high hopes and complications occur.

I will keep this short. I have to finish packing and am heading for Russia in 4 hours. I hope there is good news soon. Yes, I hope your need for tickets is over before the tickets get too high. I think I will be helping the airlines to increase their profits for a while.
TurboguyMaleRussia2007-04-11 06:53:00