Forum	Title	Content	Member	Sex	Country	Date/Time
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Case Filing and Progress Reports	January 2010 K-1 Filers	Hey yeah Congratz!! You're on the move!! I called NVC everyday for two weeks while we were stuck there in Additional Processing. The NVC CSR rep (who recognized my name..and BTW they are as nice as they can be) on the last time I called gave me the Manila Embassy number and said..yee hee now you can call them everyday and bug them into submission.... he he he...the woman at the NVC, who was very nice, also gave me the phone number for the Embassy. I also took this to mean , :Hasta la Vista, Baby!"	Tim & Olga	Male	Russia	2010-05-12 23:07:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Case Filing and Progress Reports	January 2010 K-1 Filers	Tim FYI, the K1 Visa doesn't get input into the NVC automated voice response. You have to call and wait for a CSR and ask for status. Something about the K1's not staying at NVC long enough for them to bother putting it into their AVR. Good luck. Johnny, you were right on target. I just spoke with the NVC, and they said my file was sent to Moscow on 4/30. There was an extra bit of interesting information: The NVC sends files electronically, in advance of mailing the documents. So, this means that applications are in queue at the Embassy immediately! Now, when I call Olga, I can be like a kid in the back seat of a car on a long trip...."Is it there yet? Is it there yet?"	Tim & Olga	Male	Russia	2010-05-12 19:05:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Case Filing and Progress Reports	January 2010 K-1 Filers	Tim FYI, the K1 Visa doesn't get input into the NVC automated voice response. You have to call and wait for a CSR and ask for status. Something about the K1's not staying at NVC long enough for them to bother putting it into their AVR. Good luck. Ah! That is a very handy piece of information! So, I should be patient, and wait for an operator! Thank you!	Tim & Olga	Male	Russia	2010-05-12 18:50:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Case Filing and Progress Reports	January 2010 K-1 Filers	Hang in y'all, I mailed mine on 1-24-10, just got my text and email from VSC, approved! Things are going to get crazy from here on in..... Good luck to all, and many thanks to VJ, and to all of you! Today is a happy day! Now if we can get past Juarez, we home free. Wonderful news! Be prepared for the NVC news to be a bit slow. My NVC letter is dated 5/1, and the case number is still not in their automated system. I sent an email to day, requesting status. Hopefully, you will sail through the NVC processing.	Tim & Olga	Male	Russia	2010-05-12 13:56:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Case Filing and Progress Reports	January 2010 K-1 Filers	... and I "think" my man cave is clean.. At least when I came home from work today, I had to take a double look to make sure I was in the right home... he he he...I am wondering if I can convince Olga that cultivating "dust bunnies" is either a hobby or a competitive US sport! Edited by Tim & Olga, 11 May 2010 - 11:46 AM.	Tim & Olga	Male	Russia	2010-05-11 11:45:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Case Filing and Progress Reports	January 2010 K-1 Filers	Tim & Olga, Congrats on your NOA2! While this in fact IS an election year, you need to have a compelling reason for your Congressman to intervene on your behalf. It sucks that Moscow is setting interview dates so far in the future but each Embassy has the authority to schedule interview dates based upon their caseload and convenience. Also, keep in mind that the Embassy is under the jurisdiction of the DOS who is not beholden to Congress for its funding. A Congressional inquiry carries some weight at the USCIS or NVC levels but not as much at the Embassy stage. I hope your inquiry will move things along for you to expedite your interview date, but if you have no legitimate hardship in waiting for the next available date then the odds of the Embassy accomodating you is pretty low. Good luck and keep us posted. Alan Hi, Alan The Senate does have more policy influence with DOS; however, the house holds "the power of the purse". All government funding must be approved in the house, including the DOS budget. My Congressman is completing his seventh term, so he has some seniority and horsepower. It will be interesting to see if his letter has any measurable influence on the process. Tim	Tim & Olga	Male	Russia	2010-05-09 01:11:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Case Filing and Progress Reports	January 2010 K-1 Filers	After receipt of our NVC letter on May 6th, I decided to call my Congressman's office. I inquired about the possibility of the Congressman sending a letter, requesting an expedited interview date. Currently, it looks like Moscow interviews are being issued in early August. It will be interesting to see if the requested letter has any effect. When your Congressman is expecting a bruising reelection campaign, they really seem to want to help.	Tim & Olga	Male	Russia	2010-05-09 00:20:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Case Filing and Progress Reports	January 2010 K-1 Filers	I am a little late in posting about our progress. Doing a bit of a Woo-Hoo dance today! The packet is probably already in Moscow! Edited by Tim & Olga, 06 May 2010 - 05:54 PM.	Tim & Olga	Male	Russia	2010-05-06 17:53:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Process & Procedures	Locked out os USCIS website?	Their system is still locked. It just warms my heart to see tax dollars hard at work like this...	Tim & Olga	Male	Russia	2010-05-12 14:01:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Process & Procedures	No joint sponsor, assets not enough... What now?	All the people i know don't qualify to be a joint sponsor, my husbands a student and our assets are no where near to requirements. What can i do now ? ?? These last 6 months have been painful.   This is really a question of priorities.  If family is the priority, your husband can defer his studies, or change to part time, and go to work.  If education is the priority, then family life will be deferred.	Tim & Olga	Male	Russia	2014-02-03 08:47:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	Pictures	Hi how are you? I met my fiance in the US in 2004 in the USA. She was in the US with a J1 visa. She returned to her country about 2 years later. My question is should I show pictures from when she was in the USA as well eventhough it was more than 2 years ago? What should I put in the picutres? Where should I put the pictures in a zip lock bag or paste them in a blank paper? How many pictures is a good number? What if I have my flight itenerary but not my boarding pass is that good enough? Thanks for your response. I really appreciate the help. Hi, They really want to see evidence of a current relationship. This includes documentation that you met during the last two years. Baggies are a good way to keep your documents together. My photos were all digital, so I just grouped the photos by date, and printed them with a color laser printer. Copies of plane tickets are not really necessary. Your passport will show stamps entering and leaving your fiancees country. This demonstrates when you were there, and the photos show that you were together. I would list on the back of each photo, the date, and place where the photo was taken, as well as who is in the photo. For my photos, I printed this information on the same page as the photos. This method was OK. I believe that my I-129F had about 7 or 8 photos. But, I also included copies of hotel bills (with both of our names). Good luck!	Tim & Olga	Male	Russia	2010-05-19 01:00:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	Personal Letter	Oic thank I got it.. so just a copy of it with envelope..this is much appreciated..thanks.. Generally, they recommend that you send copies; but also note that it may be necessary to show the originals at a later time. So, send a copy, and put the original in a file folder for your interview. Good luck!	Tim & Olga	Male	Russia	2010-05-23 11:00:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	evidence of ongoing relationship	RE: topic of phone records for Visa Interview purposes. Many folks skimp out and get the cheapest way possible to call honey pie. But they do not consider the record keeping aspect of the call for USCIS purposes. THen, it comes time to printing out evidence to show USCIS that you have been communicating to Buttercup. I gladly paid my cable co phone rates (lowest possible as designated by Phil. Mobile Phone Rates) to have professional phone logs arrive in the mail to me each month, and then just file it away in a folder (DONE). I loved the convenience, and forgot that I could have saved .03 cents/minute by using the El Cheapo Phone Card Co. What good are the calls, if they don't come with complete documentation proof? Too bad you did not use Skype. Calling rates to land lines or cell phones are much less than cable, and CDRs (Call Duration Records) are available online for free.	Tim & Olga	Male	Russia	2010-05-24 08:04:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	They Cashed My Check Already	Yeah, it's kind of a bummer that we won't know when our petition makes it back to the original service center (Vermont in my case). I just hope it doesn't sit around at the Texas center collecting dust before they send it back. Oh well, nothing I can do about it! If it is any consolation, after sending in our I-129 to Vermont, the VSC fell one month behind in processing, as compared with CSC. Now, they are only about two weeks behind. So, VSC is clawing their way back to parity with CSC. Maybe they are worried about bragging rights at the 4th of July company picnic? Good luck! My Sweetie goes for her medical exam next week, and then for the interview on July 6th! Edited by Tim & Olga, 04 June 2010 - 01:20 AM.	Tim & Olga	Male	Russia	2010-06-04 01:20:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	K1 interview fee: 350 a pop	What makes the visa application fee "fair" is that it represents the cost of processing the visa application (including the interview). What would be "unfair" is to continue to have this cost supplemented by tax dollars from people not requiring the service. That we don't like something, does not make it unfair. That one thing costs more or less than another thing results in unequal costs, not unfair costs. The idea that from filing to green card, the fiance process has higher total government fees, so it's "unfair" is ridiculous. The process isn't the same, so the fees are different. I would call the difference in petition filing fees "unfair" in that the service is the same but the fee is different. I expect the I-130 filing fee to go up soon too but these things tend to happen independently. I agree completely. You know the costs before the first documents are filed.. The only surprises in this process are the results of medical examinations, interviews, and somewhat variable processing intervals. Asking people to pay for the services they consume is infinitely more equitable than the alternative. Think of it this way, you will only pay for your K1 interview, not for mine or the countless others that will follow. On a more sunny note, I hope that everyone gets full value for their fees!	Tim & Olga	Male	Russia	2010-06-08 10:12:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	Church marriage after having K-1 visa in hand	You are correct that the GOVERNMENT of Ukraine does not recognize ANY religious wedding. Absolutely true. However the government of the UNITED STATES recognizes ALL religious ceremonies as a legal marraige. The OP would be able to apply for AND RECEIVE a CR-1 visa based on a Ukrainian church wedding ONLY. If it is VALID to receive a spousal visa, then it is equally as valid to negate a K-1 visa. By the same token, the Ukrainian government does not recognize ANY marriage in the US unless it is registered with ZAGs. Ukraine also has some strict residency requirements for a marriage. Unlike the US where anyone can get married any time, in Ukraine you must meet residency requirements, though such things can usually be avoided with a bribe. while it may be true "if no one knows, what difference does it make?" it is a dis-service to the OP to say it is "OK" to do so, it is not. Mmmmmm...In most US jurisdictions, it is necessary to have a civil marriage license. This license is usually obtained from your local or county government. Religious clergy are permitted to perform marriage ceremonies; however, they also need to complete and file the official marriage license. Sooooooooooo, religious weddings are recognized in the US, but a civil marriage license must be executed too. I remember laughing about the fact that my marriage license was only $2.00, but the dog license was $8.00 ...	Tim & Olga	Male	Russia	2010-06-23 20:37:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	Yay Passed the interview =)	Congratulations!	Tim & Olga	Male	Russia	2010-06-28 18:10:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	What to do next after K1 refusal?	any congressman or senator can only make an inquiry of the embassy and get a quick response, but can't change anything. House members have the "power of the purse". They "guide" and "influence" public sector policy and action by controlling appropriations. The last thing any Ambassador wants is to have his budget "squeezed" by the House. This tends to make them quite "responsive" to inquiries from House members.	Tim & Olga	Male	Russia	2010-06-29 09:18:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	What to do next after K1 refusal?	You're in Texas? Was it the vaunted #1 assistant to Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison who said this? Infuriatingly worthless, both of them. Try your Congressman -- any responsiveness is better than none. Exactly! Your Congressman/woman/thing is a better choice than the Senator. Representatives must seek election every two years, so they are much more responsive to their constituents. This was a design consideration by the Framers of the Constitution. This election cycle, Representatives seem to be quite responsive.	Tim & Olga	Male	Russia	2010-06-29 09:12:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	Gifts for Proof Ongoing relationship	Is it okay to attach the receipts of Western Union to complete of our Proof Ongoing Relationship?. My grandfather used to say, "It is better to go into the woods loaded for bear, and to meet a rabbit, than to have it go the other way around." Go to the interview loaded for bear.	Tim & Olga	Male	Russia	2010-06-28 18:37:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	How much longer till I recieve NOA2	From your timeline, I would say that it looks like you are fine. You and I filed in the same month and the timeline data seems to be accurate. You might be able to get a more accurate idea by looking at other timelines for the same country your finacee is in. One interesting phenomenon I observed was that as people entered their NOA2 received dates, my predicted NOA2 receive timeline started to move up in dates (was quite surprising and exciting). Narrowing the timeline search parameters is an excellent idea. Processing for some countries takes longer than for others. Over the winter, VSC processing times lengthened considerably. (There is a rumor that all of the Snow Bunnies from VSC were hanging with Gary and Alla...). When my doucments were submitted, the NOA1 - NOA2 interval was about 77 days. This slipped to about 101 days. By narrowing the search to Russia and VSC, the number dropped to 91 dAys. The actual interval was about 88 days. (I think processing speed improved after the free beer was cut off.) So, definitely refine your timeline search, as this will get you closer to an accurate number. Good luck!	Tim & Olga	Male	Russia	2010-06-28 08:30:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	Letter certifying intent to marry.	Does it have to be notarized? I've heard so many things. Some say you need to, some say you don't. Please, could you shed some light on this one? Many thanks! The sample letter from VJ works. Just make a copy from you, and a copy from your Sweetie. Do both letters in English. It is not necessary to have a notarization.	Tim & Olga	Male	Russia	2010-07-01 08:32:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	Letter of Intent K-1	OK - I guess my random answer would be - what? impossible to get foreign fiancee to handwrite something, sign it, then send it to you, even via international postal mail (slow boat version) ??? pardon? I'm lost, I guess. We used an approach similar to this. We review the letter content while on a phone call. Then I emailed the document to Olga. She printed the letter, signed it, and sent it to me via snail mail. The letter took two weeks to arrive, but that was OK, because I was assembling other documents to front load the I-129F petition. My goal was to have a complete petition, to reduce the potential for processing issues.	Tim & Olga	Male	Russia	2010-08-28 11:15:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	Guys, don't forget May 9	Actually the thread began with a reminder not to forget about May 9. It's unfortunate that we always have to turn these things political, maybe next time Easter or Christmas rolls around I'll start in with a rant about Christian oppression and how Jesus urged us to kill our children. Er...you know...more than I have already. Yes, and let's not forget to mention what the Druids have been doing to shrubbery for millennia!	Tim & Olga	Male	Russia	2010-05-11 11:51:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	Guys, don't forget May 9	Some people ar elike that. It would be like some southerners never forgiving the north for invading. some haven't, but they are generally considered anachcronistic ignoramuses, or just plain morons. The main lesson is not to give government so much power, it is inevitable what will happen. The governemnt of Russia is not what it was in the 1930's. I guess we could all "not forgive" Germany, Japan, Austria/Hungary, or whoever we want to hate forever. It would be just as silly. And NO I am not defending Stalin or the Soviet Union. I am saying he is gone, the Soviet Union is gone. People should move on as most of the world has and always remember what happens what when you ask the government to fix your problems. In a effort to bring this thread full circle, the thread began with a question about whether there might be violence in Ukraine, if Russians were participating in the celebrations. The short answer is, there are Ukrainians who still have strongly negative feelings towards Russia, so violence is always a possibility. This evaluation does not pass judgement about the rationality of the hostile feelings; rather, it simply notes that these sentiments exist, and violence is possible. The relationship between Russia and Ukraine is long and complex. Conflicts and attitudes that have festered over many generations are unlikely to be fully resolved in only a generation or two. The good news is, at least 50% of the people reading this thread find Russians and Ukrainians to be simply adorable!	Tim & Olga	Male	Russia	2010-05-10 23:06:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	Guys, don't forget May 9	Yes, and the new Ukraine leader just made a speech downplaying the Holdomor...saying Ukrainians were not deliberately targeted by Stalin. That other areas of the USSR also starved, as if that makes it OK. The truly tragic part of this is, the Ukrainians required about 10 million metric tons of grain to survive; they produced 12.5 million metric tons that year. Stalin appropriated something like 7 million metric tons, thereby leaving the Ukrainians with about half of what they required. There was no famine in Ukraine, until Stalin created one. Estimates vary, but the median number of starvation deaths attributed to the Holdomor is 7 million. To put that in context, Hitler was responsible for killing 6 million jews in his entire Third Reich: Stallin starved 7 million Ukrainians in one year. There will continue to be very strong feeling about this until everyone touched by it has passed.	Tim & Olga	Male	Russia	2010-05-09 16:36:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	Guys, don't forget May 9	Yes, also Mother's Day! Has anyone else heard the rumors? My mother in law told me the other day they are very concerned about a "civil war" in Ukraine. Seems the new government has invited the Russian and Belarussian military to join in the May 9 Parade in Kiev! After all they WERE one country at the time. On the surface it would appear no more offensive than having a British or Canadian military unit in one of our Memorial Day Parades...but in Ukraine it is not that simple. Her mom is afraid if the people from western Ukraine "go crazy" and shoot at the Russians the Russians will shoot back and the parade will turn into a battle. Seems a bit over the top, and my MIL, bless her soul, can be a bit over the top. Alla is due to leave for a visit next Saturday and her mom is warning her to be careful. Anyone else heard of this? Many Ukrainians will never forgive Russia for the Holdomor, the famine Stalin caused in 1932 - 1933. Millions of Ukrainians starved in one year, because Stalin appropriated a significant portion of their grain production. Google "ukraine starvation stalin" for an ample list of references. It is not hard to imagine why very strong feelings about this still exist: there are people living who remember these events.	Tim & Olga	Male	Russia	2010-05-09 14:54:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	Moscow Medical Exams - 2010	vkontakte.ru is also decent. It's pretty much a direct copy of the old facebook before the upgrade. Thank you. I can see that the Princess will be busy surfing the internet after returning from Moscow! Olga's son, Kirill, has been very good during all of the waiting, prodding and poking, so tomorrow she will take him to Gorky Park as a little reward. He thoroughly enjoys the rides.	Tim & Olga	Male	Russia	2010-06-08 15:19:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	Moscow Medical Exams - 2010	Good review. Glad to hear that MOM was businesslike for your fiance. And odnaklassiki.ru is a good networking site my wife uses a lot, too. Well. MOM wasn't like Mom, but they were certainly businesslike. Thank you for the referral of odnaklassiki.ru. I will pass this onto Olga.	Tim & Olga	Male	Russia	2010-06-08 14:06:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	Moscow Medical Exams - 2010	Olga and her son had their medical exams today at Moscow IOM. They arrived at 8:45 AM. The clinic begins work at 9:00 AM. It was necessary for them to wait until 11:00 AM to submit their completed documents. Then, they were directed to go to the medical clinic for the actual medical examination. The medical clinic was a bit of a commute from IOM. From the clinic, this involved a five minute walk from IOM to the nearest Metro Station, three stops on one Metro line, a change of train and then two stops on the next line. The medical clinic was about a five minute walk from the Lenin Library Metro Station (near Red Square). So, it was about twenty minutes from IOM to the Medical clinic. The medical exams required about three hours to complete. There was a long wait for Olga's chest X-ray. Based upon Olga's description, the medical exam was OK. Blood was drawn from her, and not from her nine year old son. There was the usual looking in ears, eyes and listening to heart and lungs. Review of vaccination records was cursory. A physician interviewed Olga about the medical histories of she and her son; this was also brief. The entire process process lasted from about 11:20 AM until 2:40 PM. Olga was advised that the results would be ready after 4:00 PM. She returned to the clinic at 3:15 PM (She is compulsively early: This is going to kill me, as I am a procrastinator!), and the envelope for the embassy was ready. Two people at the medical clinic told Olga that her blood work was OK. This gave her sigh of relief. The fees charged by IOM matched the rates on the US Embassy web site: $160 for adults; $120 for children. There was an extra charge of $20 to have the vaccination record for the child translated into English, and put on a card that is acceptable for US school systems. Olga inquired about purchasing a copy of the medical exam results. I thought this would be a good starting point for the family Doctor in the US. It would also eliminate the need to repeat the blood work over here. The clinic advised that this was possible until October of 2009. At that time, someone from the Embassy advised the clinic that copies of the test results were NOT to be made available. I will send an email to the Embassy and inquire about this. Based upon the current push in the US to eliminate duplicate medical procedures, this seems like a questionable policy. It seems there may have been an 'incident' last October that induced the change in policy. I will pass along any reply from the Embassy. In summary, the medical examination process through IOM was "routine"; however, it did consume most of one day. Fees were in line with the Embassy web site, and results were available the same day. Your other half should probably bring a good book, as there will be considerable waiting time. Edited by Tim & Olga, 08 June 2010 - 09:37 AM.	Tim & Olga	Male	Russia	2010-06-08 09:34:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	Moscow Medical Exams - 2010	Its a pity that AOMedisina lost their certification and, one would hope, they get it back soon. My wife is unusual inasmuch as we did both a K1 and a K3, so she had two medical exams. MOM was terrible. It was several years ago and hopefully the offending doctors have been dismissed. I don't read that MOM continues to have the pattern of abuse they did 3-5 years ago. (And if you experienced that sort of abuse, it would make you pretty negative about them, too.) AOMeditsina, which is run by a Swiss firm, was quite efficient and business-like. They did give my wife a rubella vaccine that, strictly speaking, wasn't required since she was over 50 at the time. So they may have been interested in racking up fees, much like some American physicians. But overall she had a much better experience with AOMedisina than MOM. Thank you for the information. Yesterday, Olga spoke with the IOM (MOM) clinic, to verify fees and appointment availability. The person answering the phone was rather "busy" and rushed Olga off of the phone. Interestingly, the rate quoted for children, under the age of 14, was higher than what was posted on the Embassy web site. I sent an FYI email to the Embassy about the apparent discrepancy. Tim 44 days, and counting down to the interview!	Tim & Olga	Male	Russia	2010-05-21 22:41:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	Moscow Medical Exams - 2010	Sounds like odnoklassniki.ru My wife spends some time on there to reconnect with old friends. Thank you. I am sure Olga will be happy to receive this information.	Tim & Olga	Male	Russia	2010-05-10 23:10:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	Moscow Medical Exams - 2010	My wife uses one of those small electronic translators. She's been here almost two years (just submitted the Removal of Conditions as a matter of fact) and I still can't keep batteries in it. I sometimes wonder if I shouldn't "loose" it to take away the crutch...especially for her English classes. BTW, as far as forums for the ladies go, my wife does enjoy some popular website to find old classmates and childhood friends, etc. from Russia. She has connected with a lot of her old friends and also crosses paths with people she talks to regularly, so it must be a good social networking site. If anyone is interested, I'll get the URL. Yes, please. The URL would be welcome. I got an iTravl electronic translator for me to learn Russian. It works OK for a dictionary, but is a disaster for the speaking part. Twice in just over one year, the sound system fried. They replaced it the first time under warranty, but want me to do a trade in to remedy the second failure. The device helped me with travel in Russian speaking countries, and it was a good way to pass the time on long flights. But I would not recommend the iTravl series of translators, because they are still selling the same flawed hardware design. When Olga and I are together, we use a pocket sized Lagenscheidt's dictionary, and it is adequate. A couple of times each week, we use theOxford Picture Dictionary for lessons. We have two copies, and just work the pages together. This helps with her English. My Russian still sounds like I am from Mars!	Tim & Olga	Male	Russia	2010-05-10 15:33:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	Moscow Medical Exams - 2010	When my wife was in the US, I tried to get away with convincing her of some crazy social habits of the American people that I made up. She believed me only once maybe. Now when I tell her anything, I just get the "you're full of #######" look. Nice to see I'm not the only one with a warped sense of humor though he he .. My sense of humor is helping with her English. Now, when I try something like this, I add a new word or two of vocabulary, and I can hear the flipping of the dictionary pages before I hear, "???!"	Tim & Olga	Male	Russia	2010-05-10 14:27:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	Moscow Medical Exams - 2010	Tell her to be careful about what she reads on these other forums. I know that Alla did a lot of "research" on these types of forums during our visa waiting process and she read a lot of "horrible movie" stories of other Russians' experiences while living in the US. I was always able to counter these stories and she did her own "verification of the facts" but she may be bombarded with negativism. If she wants/needs, I can have Alla get in contact with her (email or Skype or phone) if she wants to talk to someone live and "been through it". Phil Understood. Generally, I find most forums follow a "bell curve" with respect to opinions. 10% are ecstatic and walking on air, 10% are feeling used and abused; the rest of us are somewhere in the middle. Some of my friends in Russian and Ukraine are quite fatigued from encounters with the many ????? Men. It is a hard fact, but many men are taking advantage of women in Eastern Europe, so a portion of the negative opinions are certainly justified. I will advise Olga about the spectrum of opinions, and welcome any discussions that follow. Right now, Olga is having fun with some of the "opinions" about life in the US. For about a week, I had her convinced that she would be a "Soccer Mom", and there was a rule that Soccer Moms were required to drive mini-vans. My brother quashed that, when we were having a chat on Skype.	Tim & Olga	Male	Russia	2010-05-10 12:01:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	Moscow Medical Exams - 2010	Meditsina was taken off the list back in October because the Embassy did not renew their certification. Word was that they would reapply some time this year. I'd email the Embassy and inquire; the Embassy isn't always that swift to update their website. They are the best with nice lobby with piano player; like at Bloomingdales!!! From what I remember from when Alla and Leonid did their medicals last year (Alla got in under the wire at Meditsina) is that Filatov is only doing children (may have changed by now) and IOM was the last resort. Read some of the medical report that can be found around the October - December timeframe last year as there were a few reports from IOM (lots of walking from building to building but not too bad). Thank you. It is interesting, another posting indicated that Meditsina had people visiting many places for additional testing. I will definitely read the posts from the tail end of last year. Half the battle with research is knowing where to look.	Tim & Olga	Male	Russia	2010-05-10 09:36:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	Moscow Medical Exams - 2010	hello there, Filatov's clinic is mainly for those with kids, and in general it has had better reviews. If Olga is interested, she can read the Russian-girls-analogue of VJ http://www.zaokeanom...um/forum24.html But overall, she has nothing to worry about, much as I have read on medicals in Russia, NO ONE has been denied a visa due to medical reasons...or no one posted on such experience . Good luck to you and Olga. Thank you. This information is helpful. Olga's son is enjoying this process. For him, it is a big adventure. He is more excited about meeting my Chow-Chow dog than anything else. Olga is feeling some stress now, because the pace of activity has increased. She will be OK. I will definitely point her towards that forum. Attached Files  Chow-Chow.jpg   241.91KB   1 downloads	Tim & Olga	Male	Russia	2010-05-10 09:29:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	Moscow Medical Exams - 2010	I'd like to know also. I can share my wife used AO Meditsina and they had her running all over Moscow getting extra tests and lab work for no clear reason. When she returned the next day for results they had her do more tests. Ultimately they OKed her results but she almost missed her interview because of them. Maybe they had a racket going on to make more money? But I never heard of anyone else having this problem so I don't know. It was a very bad experience for my wife to say the least. I can imagine the stress level for your wife, and also for you. This is why I thought to ask about the clinics. I'd like to reduce overall stress levels for Olga. She asked me why a medical exam was required, and joking, I told her they are trying to keep out girls with large feet. Her foot size is a little larger than normal. I thought this was funny, but she was not really amused. Olga has a great sense of humor, and it was then that I realized just how stressed she was about the exam and interview.	Tim & Olga	Male	Russia	2010-05-09 16:00:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	Moscow Medical Exams - 2010	You're right about MOM, excuse me. The other clinic was AO Meditsina. Yes, there is another clinic for a different city but I forget which one. I'm guessing most people use IOM due to same day results but maybe that is true for Filatov also. Of all the clinics, it seems Filatov is the least reported on clinic. Not much feedback. I looked at prints from the embassy web site from early last year, and you are correct, AO Meditsina was also a clinic. I wonder why they were dropped? Mmmmmm...foreign intrigue!	Tim & Olga	Male	Russia	2010-05-09 15:13:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	Moscow Medical Exams - 2010	There used to be complaints about IOM but that was a long time ago. Recently things seem OK there and you get the results the same day assuming your lady doesn't have to run around Moscow getting additional tests which is very unlikely. The Filatov clinic used to be hardly used due to limited hours, being hard to reach, and I think more expensive. But recently a third clinic. MOM, was taken off the approved list for some reason. It used to be one of the main clinics. So Filatov has become more used. I'd probably use IOM but I'm not up on recent experiences there and no one has posted much about medical experiences lately. I hope those with recent interviews will share about the clinics they used. Good luck. I think there was a post on VJ (somewhere) that MOM is the Russian acronym for IOM. So, possibly it was just the acronym that was removed. The US Embassy web site (Moscow) lists three clinics, but the third one is for another geographic region. I also hope that there are some postings about recent experiences with these clinics. Olga's stress level about the interview is ramping up, so if I can reduce anxiety about the medical exam, it would be good. Thank you for the reply.	Tim & Olga	Male	Russia	2010-05-09 14:32:00