Forum	Title	Content	Member	Sex	Country	Date/Time
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	moscow embassy affidavis of support	Yes, you should have three recent pay stubs and a letter from your employer outlinging your job, title, duties, pay and prospects for continued employment.	Turboguy	Male	Russia	2006-09-01 23:24:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	Russian Language Self-Study	I like the Rosetta stone and can learn words faster with it than most other ways. I think my brain processes what it sees faster than what it hears. The big problem is you have to devote speical time for it. Pimsleur for me is a very slow way to learn. I have to I learn words with it at about the rate of one every 4 hours. The nice thing is you can do it while you drive and not have to devote special time. I think if you check your prices a little closer you will find full list on the pimsleur set is more in the $ 300.00 range. You are right about Ebay. You can save some money. I just bougth Pimsleur Russian 3 for $ 125.00. Usually on Ebay it goes for $ 175 or so. There is also a place called Cheap Pimsleur that sometimes advertises on Ebay and otherwise has on online store. Another thing I really like is a book called Berlitz Essential Russian. I can learn more, faster with it than anything. It only sells for $ 10.95 and you could get it cheaper on Amazon. I would not recommend it if someone was starting with absolutly no knowledge. Perhaps about the time you finish Pimsler 1 or the equivilent. There was and probably still is a tape/book set in the book stores called Russian Fast and Easy. It is not too bad and is only something like $ 39.00 It was the first thing I tried. You do need to use the book with the tapes or you will get nowhere. Slim--- I love the Russian Phrasebook by lonley planet. It does not help me learn Russian. I do like it as sort of a joke. Did you ever notice the strange phrases in there. It is full of them. I was killing time in a book store and laughed so hard I had to buy it. A few of the milder examples. yazykom use your tongue ni astanvlivaysa Don't stop aden prezervativ Use a condom Klakkssnaya popka Nice behind That is enough to give you the idea.	Turboguy	Male	Russia	2006-03-18 22:58:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	aeroflot...finally	I will agree with you about the food. The only problem is trying to fit the food tray in between your stomach and the seat 2" in front of you. After cramming myself in that tiny space I about need a wheel chair when I get off the flight. I have seen some transatlanic flights that had lousy movies but my aeroflot flight had no movie. That too is a first. Of course it is a lot better then when I flew with them in 1996. The state department had a travel advisory not to fly with them. Domestically it was not uncommon to have pigs or dogs running up the aisles. I was in the exit row and they had about 10 suitcases piled up blocking the exit. Those were the days you had to use the special Intourist office to fly out of because they didn't want you mixing with the natives. To me, Delta and KLM are my choices and Aeroflot is at the bottom of the list with Air France above it. I may pay a little extra but it is the best money I could spend.	Turboguy	Male	Russia	2006-11-08 17:30:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	Interview, finally!	Congratulations Mike! It is a big high when you get the date isn't it. Hopefully yours will not be too far behing Ed.	Turboguy	Male	Russia	2006-11-08 17:21:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	Interview on Tuesday.	Crossing the street is risky, especially in Moscow. A Sunday medical for a Tue interview sounds to me like it should be an acceptable risk.	Turboguy	Male	Russia	2006-11-12 12:05:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	Interview on Tuesday.	Last year when my fiancee at the time went through it there were two Clinics Medico gave the results the next morning and charged $ 100.00 MOM gave the results the same day and charged around $ 80.00. The people at Medico were nicer than the ones at MOM. I think both required an advance appointment.	Turboguy	Male	Russia	2006-11-10 22:49:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	Police certificate for minors	It might make sense to start the process of getting the police certificate. If it is not needed you can always throw it away if you don't need it but if it takes a month whatever time it is applied for before the interview will be that much less time wasted after waiting. If you are in a hurry anyway.	Turboguy	Male	Russia	2006-11-18 15:15:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	Any recent interviews in Moscow ?	I hope they don't mess with her pay. If her final pay is 4 grand she must do a lot better than most gals. My former fiancee has to work for 3 years to make that. Yes, I agree, when I did my last one this site was great. The answers I got were always accurate and complete. When I file my next one which if all goes well will be in 3 weeks I will have to do the waver bit which really makes me nervous. I don't feel like twiddling my thumbs for 3 months waiting for the 2 years to be up though.	Turboguy	Male	Russia	2006-11-08 23:56:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	Any recent interviews in Moscow ?	Groovstk, Did you get lost. First time I have seen you over here. I will agree with Groovstk. I have flown through Frankfurt probably 18 times and have never had to go through customs or immigration. She has nothing to worry about. As long as she isn't thursty. A small bottle of coke there is $ 5.00 if I remember correctly. Groov, I like your timeline. You must be living right to have sailed through so fast.	Turboguy	Male	Russia	2006-11-08 17:38:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	police report for Moscow embassy	Documents need to be translated. I was under the impressin the police report is not considered a document. That you need the birth certificate and divorce decree transalted. That you do not need the police report translated. I did a K-1 with the Moscow Embasy last year with a police report that was not translated and had no problems. However if they say it needs to be translated then they should know. Perhaps the regulations have changed. Edited by Turboguy, 20 November 2006 - 10:06 PM.	Turboguy	Male	Russia	2006-11-20 22:04:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	Engineering an Empire	Darn the games those Networks play. There goes the ratings for Monday night football. It does look like a good program and I plan to watch it.	Turboguy	Male	Russia	2006-11-20 17:47:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	Moscow Embassy	In terms of forms only the I-134 You will also need a letter from your bank. A letter from your employer. Your tax returns ( 1 year employed, 3 years self employed) Any evidence of a continuing relationship. (copys of e-mails, letters, phone bills, photos, etc. Your last three paycheck stubs.	Turboguy	Male	Russia	2006-11-23 22:29:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	Medical exam in Moscow	Last year the people at AO MEDITCINA were considered to be more caring. The price was a tad higher and the results were avaialble the following morning. The people at IOM (MOM then) were considered a bit less polite, the price was a few dollars cheaper and the results were available the afternoon of the exam. People change so the caring part may not be the same.	Turboguy	Male	Russia	2006-11-27 08:21:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	MOscow interview	They do ask questions that they don't have the answers for. I know in the case of my former fiancee they asked several. I think she is wise in asking a lot of questions. Make sure she knows your address in the USA. They do have that and do ask it and it was one of the questions my former fiancee couldn't answer. One of the others she missed was one they did not have the answer for. I have seen some interviews where the only question was "how are you today" Others can be a grilling with them asking for relatives names (even though they don't have them) zip codes, phone number you name it.	Turboguy	Male	Russia	2006-11-28 18:56:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	DHL Question in russia	It can't be tracked until it is shipped. I think it sounds like the right envelope.	Turboguy	Male	Russia	2006-11-29 10:28:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	Inconsiderate update!!	# 1. Yes, Russians can be a little rude by American Standards. I think it is not so much they want to be rude they are just very direct and say things as they are instead of trying to spare peoples feelings. It is a lot different than here but in a lot of ways it is a better way to do things. If things like that go against what someone can accept they really should be looking somewhere else. However showing a lack of courtesy as described in the opening posts to me is a good sign the gal is not the right one. I think she really just doesn't have a lot of feelings for someone she should be totally enthralled with. # 2. Yes, you can call someone a dumb whatever in a forum and not have to worry about getting punched out but it is far better when someone disagrees with someones ideas and not their person. Anyone who feels a need to call someone a dumb whatever probably does not have the patience to succeed with a foreign bride anyway. # 3. There are two sides to any story. I have often heard a story that almost has you crying for the person and then heard the otherside which was far worse. I think it is not good to judge anyone by one side unless the way they tell the story is admitting they are a creep. # 4. Size is not important. The fact that the guy weighs twice as much as the gal has no bearing. The worst gal I was ever involved with weighted 100 pounds and I saw her make 250 pound guys shake in their boots. Once this gal had her teeth in you they were set more than a lions would be. I spent years trying to get away from her. When I filed for a PFA they had to have 7 cops surround her at the hearing to keep her under control. I had to hide out for a year and a half watching my rear view mirror every day when I went home from work and riding around until there were no cars at all behind me. Humm and what was her nationality? Guess, yep. Second generation though.	Turboguy	Male	Russia	2006-11-12 10:12:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	Less than a week to go	If you don't meet the income standards you won't get an RFE, you will get a blue slip called a 221-G. It basically will mean that you have to show proof of the income before they will issue the visa. You will have about 90 days. Failing that the passport is returned and your file is sent back to NVC where you can file an appeal. The good news is if you have a co-sponsor and he only had an income of $ 10,000 last year and you can show a w-2 for $ 9,000, they should look at the total which gives you over the nearly $ 16,000 you need. Do you have any other liquid assets, They will also allow those to count towards the total but they don't like personal property. I think with the letter from your employer, the co-sponser and the letter from your employer you may be ok. Save the last paystubs and get them to her for the interview. It may make a difference. Send at least 3.	Turboguy	Male	Russia	2006-11-28 19:11:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	Tourist visa for Russia...	There was a time in my life when I used to change the oil in my car myself. Yes, I could still do it myself but for the $ 25.00 extra I would just as soon not crawl under the car and feel the hot oil running down my arm and do all the fooling around. Yes, I could do my visa myself too. I find it worth the extra money to just go online and have the whole thing done in 10 minutes without worrying about if I have forgotten something. I always have a lot to do. I find my time of more value used elsewhere. Something like doing a K-1 myself, yes, absolutely. No one is an idiot. They just value their time differently.	Turboguy	Male	Russia	2006-12-21 07:47:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	Moscow Interview Dates	MedicalMoose, Looking at your timeline raised a question for me. If you don't mind me asking. Her interview was the 30th of November and she was approved but you are still waiting for your visa 3 weeks later. I hope your long wait is over and congratulations. My question is that. That seems like a really long wait for the visa to be issued after the interview. Were there things that complicated it or have they changed the way they process things? Thanks.	Turboguy	Male	Russia	2006-12-22 09:23:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	That one-way ticket to the US	My favorite site for one way tickets is www.kayak.com They have one way tickets and multi city tickets so if you want to visit more than one place you can. You can also originate anywhere, it does not need to be in the usa. The prices are usually the best I can find. I did a few trips where I thought it was cheaper to buy a round trip and throw away the return. I wasted a fair amount of money that way. On Kayak the one way is usually close to half the price of a round trip. Another site I have been using a bit lately is www.bookingbuddy.com They let you enter the data one time and check 7 major travel sites (including Kayak) The top three buttons there will let you originate outside the us. The bottom 4 will not.	Turboguy	Male	Russia	2006-06-29 08:37:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	Packet from Embassy	You might want to think about going ahead with the police report even though you don't have the packet. Sometimes they take a while to come through. The rest of the stuff you probably have some time with. Make sure too that you get the right kind of police report. There are two kinds.	Turboguy	Male	Russia	2007-01-03 18:04:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	Moscow Interview	Yes, the hispanic guy was the one my former fiancee got and it was my problems that started all that. There were so many guys on VJ contacting thier congressman about that guy that I am sure he had to have heard something of it.	Turboguy	Male	Russia	2007-01-14 11:51:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	Moscow Interview	The CO she gets for the interview makes a world of difference. There are some who are friendly and nice and some that are totally nasty. I have heard of situations where the only question asked was "how are you today" and ones who got the third degee about everything under the sun with bad results if anything looks bad. Most of the time is is fairly routine with 3-4 questions but you never know so it pays to be prepared.	Turboguy	Male	Russia	2007-01-14 00:38:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	Need opinions on African-American staying in Moscow	I don't think you will have much trouble as long as you don't go looking for it which it does not sound like you will do. Blacks used to be rare there but that seems to be changing. I probably saw 30 or 40 on my last trip to Ukraine who seemed to have no problems at all. In Moscow it does not seem unusual at all. I am not saying I feel like I am in Baltimore when I look around but I have seen dozens there who seemed to have been accepted quite well. I am not implying it is nothing to worry about. I do think you will be fine though. Hopefully it will all go well.	Turboguy	Male	Russia	2007-01-13 12:41:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	Left my sweetie for two weeks...	I have to agree with you AK. For the 10 hours or so of chewing on your kneecaps and a savings of a thousand or two I can do it and consider it money well saved. Sure, If I can use frequent flier miles for an upgrade which I have never done, that might be worth it but I don't mind being a little cramped and using plastic silverware. I am more than willing to spend an extra hundred or so to avoid Aeroflot or to cut a layover off the trip but to me when you add 4 figures to the price I will take the money even if they have to have me travel in the baggage compartment.	Turboguy	Male	Russia	2007-01-29 00:31:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	trip to Russia	I hope you have a wonderful trip. I think this has been a mild winter there as it has been in much of the USA. Last year when I went in January it was 30 below. Hopefully you will not run into that. Where are you going in Russia?	Turboguy	Male	Russia	2007-01-16 00:46:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	Sorry to annoy, but how long does it typically take from interview to visa?	It seems like the process has slowed up AK, My former fiancee had her interview about the same time your wife did and everyone could pick it up at the main DHL office the day after the interview. That seemed to be standard operating procedures then but now I don't read about anyone getting one that quickly. From what I read a week seems to be about normal.	Turboguy	Male	Russia	2007-01-25 23:53:00