ForumTitleContentMemberSexCountryDate/Time
Russia, Ukraine and BelarusEastern European Cuisine

So far, so good, birdnest. The typical RUB forum way of posting is business first, then guns and pie. Now that you've handled "official business" what's your favorite pie and what kind of guns do you shoot?

Welcome to the forum.

P.S. I had the "joy" of living in Minot for two winters.


Hello Slim. So if you are from Ohio, what brought to North Dakota? Then you are possible familiar to Lake Audubon. Between Bismarck and Minot. Lake Audubon is my winter home (ice house). If you have a wnter hobby, the winters in North Dakota can be wonderful. Next to ice fishing, my favorite thing to do in the winter, is to go somewhere warm, like the Caribbean.

My favorite pie is one that some has baked for me. The love in it is better than the fruit, but as far as the filling, apple is best, all pies are good, I have never tasted a bad one, and I am a expert when it comes to judging the taste of a pie.

I shoot a Remington 870 12 gauge for Pheasants and a Winchester 243 for deer. You can’t beat a warm fall day out in the field, just park the truck and walk. Lots of game if you know where to look, and Pheasants are great for the table.


http://www.fishingbu.../lake_audubon_0
birdnestMaleUkraine2010-07-22 13:51:00
Russia, Ukraine and BelarusEastern European Cuisine

I keep promising to cook some of his receipes for Alla, but she is not too wild about spicy food, I guess I can dial back the heat a little. She does not like chili.

He also gave me recipes for really wild sounding casseroles (he made these for hunting camp as they can be cooked all in one pan) "Frogmoor Stew" and "Dragon Stew" are my favorites. He also adopted my father's recipe for "bean casserole". You won't find these on the restaraunt menu though.


Hello everyone with ties to Eastern Europe. I usually am able to avoid the temptation to respond to these strings, but I could not avoid this topic. I love food, good food that is. Reading this string made me salivate. I think I need to make another trip to Kiev. First of all, I saw that salty fish stuff in the grocery stores, I just plugged my nose and picked up the pace. Catch a fresh Walleye to fry.

My vote is for Borsch. My mother make the best, with chunks of beef in it, and dill. I have not had my wife’s yet, she claims she make it often. Someday, but probably not very soon, it seems we may never get through this visa journey. My ancestors are Germans from Russia. (Odessa Area) They did bring to North Dakota some very good recipes. I was impressed by the selection of breads in the grocery stores in Kiev, the meats are big time thumbs down, but very good sausages, I guess that is what you can do with poor quality meats.

The Vareniki is very good, love it with cherries inside. Here in North Dakota Vareniki is known as cheese buttons. Here in North Dakota there is a group of Ukraine women that mass produce it and sell it in the grocery stores, as Vareniki, stuffed with cottage cheese, cabbage or potatoes.

It has been fun reading this post. I hape I responed to this post in the proper way?

birdnest
birdnestMaleUkraine2010-07-19 13:21:00
Russia, Ukraine and BelarusSending a laptop to my Fiancee in Ukraine

My Ukrainian fiancee (soon wife I hope) has a busted laptop, so I just bought her a new Acer Mini laptop and was going to ship it off tomorrow express mail via USPS. However, I got to thinking that maybe it isn't the most efficient way to send it. What do you all recommend? Think it is safe to send through USPS? Would hate for a 300 dollar laptop to vanish... I think the USPS only insures up to 100 dollars anyways, so I'd take a 200 dollar hit which would suck.

Any safer ways to send it? Think it is ok? Its going to Kiev.

David



Make sure it will operate on 230 volts.
birdnestMaleUkraine2011-04-29 15:37:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Process & ProceduresOriginal copies

DS-230 - http://travel.state..../info_3190.html
I-864 - http://travel.state..../info_3730.html
General NVC stuff - http://travel.state..../info_1335.html

in general, all 'documents' submitted with I-130 are to be PHOTOCOPIES,
and then ORIGINALS or CERTIFIED COPIES (certified by issuing authority, never a notary) submitted to NVC, for the DS-230.

So - some of those originals were to be submitted into NVC with the DS-230 Visa Application form. Yours got sent in with the I-130 petition submittal. You'll have some issues, but when the casefile is at NVC, ask the Tele-Operator to have a supervisor request an 'eyeball review' of documents in the I-130 casefile, pull out the birth certificate and marriage certificate, bring forward to the DS-230 file.

Good Luck, and welcome aboard !



Thanks Darnell for the help. This Lawyer had me submit the I-864 and DS-230 with our I-130. I do not know why he did that. This Lawyer is located right by the Embassy in Kyiv, so I figured he must know what he is doing. Now that I am reading and getting this all figured out, I am pretty sure I know more about this visa process than he does. Now I need to figure out how to get his mess straightened out. I am hoping this can be done without any RFE's. Maybe I supplied more information than is required, so maybe this would not prompt a RFE? This process is complicated enough with having things all messed up, I was hoping for this process to go smooth because my wife and I just want to be together as soon as possible. Am I correct to assume that our original documents could end up where they need to go and all could be fine? I have had my wife send me a completed and signed copy of the DS-3032. Is there anything I can do now, or just wait for our I-130 NOA2. Should I be working on acquiring new original documents?

Birdnest
birdnestMaleUkraine2010-07-13 16:09:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Process & ProceduresOriginal copies

Welcome to VJ! Did you let the lawyer go? If so, you should probably send something to that effect to the USCIS. Someone will chime in and let you know exactly what you need to send. GL on your journey!


This Lawyer helped me prepare my petitions, then I sent them in, he did not sign them, so the USCIS is unaware that I used a lawyer. It was not until after I sent in our petitions, taht I discoverd this site and learned the proper way to do things from reading the forums hare at VJ.
Birdnest
birdnestMaleUkraine2010-07-13 08:08:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Process & ProceduresOriginal copies
Hello everyone in VJ Land. I have recently discovered this great VisaJourney site. I wish I would have found it a long time ago. I am totally green about the visa process. I made a couple trips to Kiev without taking photos or saving my boarding passes. I did not realize getting a green card was so involved, heck, I did not even know what a green card was, until a couple months ago. I married a wonderful woman, and want to be with her as soon as possible. (Yea, like I am the first one to say that on this site.)

I made the mistake of hiring a nearly worthless lawyer, he was good about asking for cash though. He did some things I wish he would not have done, like had me send in a I-129F, which I now regret. He also gave me the wrong box number to send my I-130 to, I sent to Chicago, but not the box number for the wonderful state of North Dakota. I guess he never has done a case for a North Dakota resident. But the USCIS did accept it, makes me wonder if I would have sent it to the proper box number, if I would have been assigned to the Vermont Service Center rather than the California service center? He also had me send in a lot of documents that do not need to be sent yet, like the I-864 and DS-230, and I did not include any cover letters in our I-130 or I-129F. He also said my wife will be with me for Thanksgiving, which I now know is a likely not going to happen. Needless to say, I will not be using a lawyer any longer.

I debated whether I should sign up on visa journey, then decided it is great resource, so here I am. I figured I may need some assistance in the future and I want to get to know the ropes here, so when I need help, I am up to speed on how to ask for help. One comment I do have, is I wish people would not use so many acronyms, It makes it tough for us newbie’s, I finally did find the Abbreviations Appendix. But I still have not figured out what SIF stands for?

Questions:

Along with our I-130 petition, I sent in our original birth certificates, marriage certificate, divorce decree and passport-type photos. Will I get them back before our interview? Or will they get forwarded to the Embassy in Kiev?

What does SIF stand for?

Exactly when will we get our I-130 NOA2? (just kidding)

Thanks in advance for giving me a hand in this loooooong process.

birdnest
birdnestMaleUkraine2010-07-12 14:04:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Process & ProceduresEmbassy documents
I have done a lot of reading and I think I have this immigration visa thing about figured out......Except I am not clear on one item. I need to submit our documents, which are to be original documents to the NVC, along with our DS-230. Then these same documents are required at the Embassy for her interview. The question is...Does the NVC forward our documents to the Embassy, or do we need to bring another set of original documents to the US Embassy in Kiev? Thanks in advance for assisting us through this process.

birdnest
birdnestMaleUkraine2010-07-15 12:34:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Process & ProceduresGood bye, friends!
Hey Loto,

There are lots of silent people out here on VJ that read, learn, and use advice that is posted. I do not post, I am one of the silent people that read posted advice, verify it and utilize it for my own journey. I am quiet because I am not very knowledgeable about the immigration system yet, but I am getting there, thanks to folks like Darnell and you, among lots of others. One day when I learn just a bit more, I will post, but for now I would like to encourage you to shed this off like water off a ducks back and forge on. You may not be right 100% of the time, but I would put it at about 99% of the time.If you decide to leave I want to tell you thank you for your involvement, and you will be missed. Hey after all, you have “lots of patience”.

Birdnest
birdnestMaleUkraine2010-08-18 14:54:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Process & ProceduresMoving On To Second Base
We received a email at 7:18 PM 11/3/2010. Finally after 153 days. Yea Hew!!! The journey continues........

Post Decision Activity
On November 3, 2010, we mailed you a notice that we have approved this I130 IMMIGRANT PETITION FOR RELATIVE, FIANCE(E), OR ORPHAN. Please follow any instructions on the notice. If you move before you receive the notice, call customer service at 1-800-375-5283.
birdnestMaleUkraine2010-11-04 07:25:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Process & ProceduresInterview Scheduled!!!
Good for you Loto. Lots of luck to you.

Birdnest
birdnestMaleUkraine2010-11-12 12:22:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Process & ProceduresNeed advice got SIF today - what to do.
I tried to log on to the NVC today January 20, 2011, and received "sign in failure". What do I do next? Do I wait for the embassy in Kiev to contact me? I understand that with the Kiev embassy we call in and set up an interview date. Can we call the embassy and set up an interview or wait until they receive the information packet from the NVC? Of course I have the KEV number, but I am thinking the documents have not been received at the Embassy? How long can we expect till the packet is received by the Kiev embassy? How long from the SIF until we can expect a interveiw date? Is it time to set up the medical appointment? any help would be appreciated, espically if someone has have an interview recently in Kiev Ukraine. Below is the message from the NVC.

Sign In Failed

Please be advised that the case that you have attempted to access is not eligible for further processing by the National Visa Center at this time. Please click on the Contact the NVC hyperlink if you believe that you have received this message in error.
birdnestMaleUkraine2011-01-20 13:35:00