Forum	Title	Content	Member	Sex	Country	Date/Time
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	Alive and Well	I'm happy for you, guys!!!	ONA	Female	Russia	2011-09-27 03:59:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	Pleasant surprise--10 year green card for stepson	Congrats!!!	ONA	Female	Russia	2011-09-28 03:31:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	Vaccinations	Are you sure he's not Russian? No. I've been saying that he is a Russian, who just pretends to be an American since the day we met	ONA	Female	Russia	2011-10-03 10:17:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	Vaccinations	It is through his zipper. Do not be fooled by that old American wive's tale. I thought it was Russian. It exists in Russia anyway.	ONA	Female	Russia	2011-10-02 15:40:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	Vaccinations	Yep, what Gary said. As long as you meet all the requirements, save your money. Buy your husband something nice with it. "The way to a man's heart is through his stomach". I've already spent hundreds of dollars in Russian stores - no, not buying food for me. My husband is weird, he likes caviar and herring salad ("herring under fur coat")	ONA	Female	Russia	2011-09-30 15:46:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	Vaccinations	Thank you, Gary!	ONA	Female	Russia	2011-09-30 08:58:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	Vaccinations	If you have a DS-3025 you should include that in the packet. When you go to the civil surgeon's office he'll basically look over the immunizations to make sure they're correct and then sign off on everything. As others have said, you DO NOT have to have another examination although they'll probably insist on doing something like pulse and blood pressure, listen to breathing - a basic check up. (Don't pay for it! Make sure you have an agreed upon price before going and pay cash only after receiving the documents you need.) They'll give you a packet with all the info in it. It may or may not be sealed. We asked for copies of everything and then sent the originals. Keep copies! I have the DS-3025 and I have all the vaccinations, so we were just thinking aout sending this form in the packet, like others said. We decided though that if we have an RFE - cause as it was also said above, sometimes people get an RFE even if the vaccinations are complete - we're going to a civil surgeon. I'm just a little concerned whether a copy of DS-3025 will be enough for the civil surgeon in that case... I also have my vaccination records in Russian - I guess, I can translateit, if something happens.	ONA	Female	Russia	2011-09-29 16:07:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	Vaccinations	I have a question conserning this. If we send DS-3025 and get an RFE asking for I-693, will a copy of DS-3025 be enough for a civil surgeon? Or shall we send a copy of DS-3025 and keep the original?	ONA	Female	Russia	2011-09-28 10:22:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	Useful items done in Ukraine before arrival?	And they wonder why we love RUB women! Man, I was typing and I thought that somebody would probably post a comment on that phrase Why wouldn't I like it anyway?...	ONA	Female	Russia	2011-09-28 03:35:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	Useful items done in Ukraine before arrival?	Alla said that also. And I have a pickup with a 5 speed so she had her choice but I bought her a used mini-van with automatic. The problem here came in that Vermont is virtually all hills and mountains. The east end of downtown Burlington is 400 feet higher than the west end. Think "San Francisco lite" Which resulted in a lot of awkward moments. Witin a couple weeks she had given up on the idea of a manual transmission. We learned on manual transmissions when I was a young man and it is good to know, no doubt, but it is a bit much I think when you are also dealing with learning to drive, unfamiliar roads, langauge issues (at least for many of the women) Kind of like drinking from a fire hydrant IMO. I say go with the auto trans for now I know, I heard so many agrguments for the automatic transmission, that I agreed. Although, last year I was driving around here in a car with a manual one and I was just fine. Maybe ask him to throw a turbo in the car for you?	ONA	Female	Russia	2011-09-25 15:09:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	Useful items done in Ukraine before arrival?	Olya's international DL (with her Russian DL, of course) allows her to drive here in Michigan as long as the Russian DL remains valid! She was a reasonably good driver already but it was entertaining helping her learn to drive an automatic! She was sure automatics were harder to drive and at first they really were! Now she wouldn't go back to a stick.(I prefer a stick shift) I don't have an experience driving automatics. I'm sure it's gonna be hard for me. I like a stick shift, but my husband wants to get a car with an automatic transmission for me I'm not even excited about getting a car now.	ONA	Female	Russia	2011-09-24 10:24:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	Useful items done in Ukraine before arrival?	I'm not sure about Ukrainian DL, but Russian international DL is basically a book with translations of Russian DL to all kinds of different languages and it's not valid without the actual DL. I have it. I was driving around with it last year. I never used it this year, cause I don't have a job and if I'm going somewhere, I share a car with somebody else. It depends on a state, cause in Maryland you're only allowed to drive for 60 days with an out-of-state DL. And if you never have been licensed in the US you have to complete some kind of short educational program, it doesn't matter for how long you've had your out-of-country license. So basically the only benefit of having my DL for almost 2 years now is that after taking the knowledge test and the driving test I'll be able to get the actual Maryland DL, skipping the learner's permit and the provisional license stages. As for the training - it's good if the driving school is good. My biggest problem was that I was trained to drive in the city and sit in traffic, not speedy driving on a highway It's also hard to get used to some differences in rules, for example, in Russia there's no turn on red, never... and in the States you're allowed to take a right turn on red. Stuff like that confused me a lot.	ONA	Female	Russia	2011-09-23 08:12:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	Useful items done in Ukraine before arrival?	Have her get any medical treatment she needs. Believe it or not, the doctors are so much better there. (Or so I've been told.) Not always better (depends on a doctor, really), but always A LOT cheaper. Seeing a dentist, at least, is a good idea. As for the university transcripts... I've been reading a lot about it... And as far as I understood, the supplement, which comes with the diploma (?????????? ? ???????) is usually enough - it has all the information on the disciplines studied. Also, if she wants to do the evaluation of her degree, she will need her Ukrainian high school diploma (????????) - sometimes people lose it, so it's better to make sure that she has it. I had a couple of copies of my birth certificate translation signed and stamped by a professional translator. Also what I personally did was giving my mom a letter of attorney (??????????? ????????????), so she can do whatever on my behalf, including getting all kinds of paperwork done for me if I need something else, and selling my stuff (and that is why if your fiancee wants to do that, she should pick a person she can trust).	ONA	Female	Russia	2011-09-21 07:48:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	interview language?	When I had my interview in Moscow only me and one more girl spoke English to the CO, everybody else spoke Russian. The CO basically was speaking the language people greeted her with - since I greeted her in English, she started speaking English to me, when people greeted her in Russian, she would speak Russian to them. Anyway, COs know that English is not applicants' 1st language. I've read some people reporting that spoke a mix of Russian/Ukrainian and English at their interview and got approved.	ONA	Female	Russia	2011-10-04 16:25:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	Travel question once VISA approved	Just to clarify, you can transfer once you get into the US, so you don't really need a direct flight to Fort Lauderdale. You just need a flight into the US. The K1 absolutely doesn't require a round trip ticket. She's here to stay. However, you probably won't find much of a price break buying one way instead of round trip. In my case a one-way ticket cost $3000, while a round-trip was about $1000 I couldn't believe my eyes when I looked up the prices for the first time, this is ridiculous.	ONA	Female	Russia	2011-10-12 15:25:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	A Breath of Fresh Air	Russia has ####### districts? Yep But a "####### district" in Russia has nothing in common with a "####### district" in the USA. In Moscow... Chertanovo, Kapotnya, Biryulyovo etc. can be considered bad neighborhoods. But I don't like Moscow in general...	ONA	Female	Russia	2011-10-21 09:21:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	Timing from NVC and Moscow Embassy Procedures	according to the recent stats from Russian immigration forums it's 3-4 weeks on average between NVC and the interview. It's a lot better than it used to be, cause before that it was 1,5-2,5 months.	ONA	Female	Russia	2011-10-22 21:02:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	CS and form I - 693	I have heard of people getting an RFE for this and know of one in particular. His wife actually had all the vaccines and he sent the DS3025. He got an RFE and he wrote back with another copy of the DS3025 that she had all the vaccines. They denied his wife's AOS!!!!! I got in contact with Senator Leahy who jerked some knots in people at USCIS and came to find out she did have all the vaccines but the form did not have the "vaccinations complete" box checked! They sent her green card within a week after he contacted them. This is what got us working with him to change the law, unfortunately the change got put into a mega-immigration bill that will probably never pass the way it is written. He has said he will try to offer the change as an amendment to some other bill in the future. At any rate, you are correct, they may still get an RFE but we did three AOS's with just the DS3025 and had no problems. And so have many other people That's interesting, mine doesn't have the "vaccinations complete" box checked either.	ONA	Female	Russia	2011-08-18 05:46:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	My Lady Has Been Approved	Congrats!	ONA	Female	Russia	2011-10-26 09:41:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	DS-157 - required in Moscow?	I would've red flagged her needing an attorney on her end. She shouldn't need squat. I hope she didn't need money from you too! Agreed! It's more likely that an RUB will try to convince her fiance to do everything without an attorney in order to save money.	ONA	Female	Russia	2011-10-28 10:12:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	DS-157 - required in Moscow?	Yep, your good to do and all will be fine. We didn't do a 157 form either. It's not required Moscow and you can see that you can do this process all by yourself. DS-157 was a supplement form for a non-immigrant visa for men aged 16-45. Now they have all those questions in DS-160, it was a nightmare to fill out my dad's application for his visitor visa (my parents don't speak English, so I was the one doing it). So there is pretty much no way your wife would need this form, even if she was applying for a tourist visa. Although, you're right, it's not listed on the Embassy website, so I wouldn't bother filling it out.	ONA	Female	Russia	2011-10-04 08:04:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	Here we go!	Gary & Alla, I think you are on the right track, but I also think the advice about not coming with "boyfriend" is sound. To the consulate officer, boyfriend means potential husband which to them means skirting around the K-1 visa requirements. Just have her say a friend from school that lives in America invited her to visit his parents during the winter break and go skiing. Make is sound more like a skiing vacation more than anything. Maybe if they think that she's a rich Russian girl being spoiled by her parents and will spend a lot of money in the USA they might let her come. I think that it's better to have your visa denied than to be caught on lies by the CO. I've heard at least about one case when a K-1 applicant was denied, because when the lady was applying for a visitor visa, she said she was going to see her friend, not boyfriend, but a friend. Guess which CO interviewed her for K-1 visa later? The same one! And for some unbelievable reason the CO remembered her and one of the questions was "Why did you lie that he was your friend?" Plus... I don't know all the Laws and rules, but I don't think that she will be able to adjust her status now since Gary's son isn't a citizen yet.	ONA	Female	Russia	2011-10-31 14:12:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	Here we go!	I don't know what to say... It's always 50/50 - she either has her visa approved or not... It's a little harder to get a visitor visa for a young girl than it is for anybody else, but there always is a chance. BTW, I also heard that Ekaterinburg Consulate is easier, while the one in Saint-Petersburg is the toughest.	ONA	Female	Russia	2011-10-28 18:31:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	Thousands of Russian nationalists march in Moscow	Last year, some 320 ultranationalists were convicted of hate crimes, including several teenage gang members that stabbed or beat to death dark-skinned non-Russians, according to independent human rights watchdog Sova. And they call themselves "political prisoners"	ONA	Female	Russia	2011-11-04 13:46:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	Naked and drunk motorist crashes into 17 cars in Moscow	I will admit our experience in this matter does not include naked car wrecking. Me neither... I never had a drunk driving experience either, but I know that it will cost you about $1000 to keep your license if you get pulled over being drunk.	ONA	Female	Russia	2011-11-04 18:30:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	Naked and drunk motorist crashes into 17 cars in Moscow	I checked with Alla. She agrees he paid but says $100 is "not enough for Moscow" I am used to the cheaper Ukrainian rates. She says probably more like $500 for the cops to get amnesia in Moscow. For naked drunk driving.... hmmm... $500 isn't enough... Even in my city in Russia they would've asked for at least $1000 for amnesia in that case.	ONA	Female	Russia	2011-11-03 21:39:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	1-693 question	The medical examination records were in the sealed envelope that she gave in at POE. Does she have the receipt from IOM? There are 2 things that can be used as a proof of the medical: DS-3025 or the receipt from IOM. They both have the date on it.	ONA	Female	Russia	2011-11-06 15:35:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	Putin hails Russian boy as world's "7 billionth"	So you are the best of both or just half of both? I'll let other people judge Donetsk is one of the venues and our flat is within walking distance of the new stadium! The boys want to be there, I don't really care but I would go. Alla will not go. If we can time our trip right, we may get some tickets. I've always wanted to go! Well, at least, since the day they announced that Ukraine and Poland are going to host Euro-2012. And then I moved to the States and not even sure if I will be able to come...	ONA	Female	Russia	2011-11-07 19:15:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	Putin hails Russian boy as world's "7 billionth"	Phew! Awesome vid! Ukrainian girls win! OMG they are hot, I miss Ukraine. We have GOT to find a way to get there more often, once a year does not cut it! I'm confused by the video, since I consider myself half-Russian and half-Ukrainian. Actually, in the last Census (2010) I'm listed as an ethnically Ukrainian (I wasn't at home and my dad just listed me as a Ukrainian), but I have a Russian citizenship... Confusing... Anyway, I hope I'll be able to go to Kiev with my husband for Euro 2012. If we go, it will be his first time in Kiev.	ONA	Female	Russia	2011-11-07 18:03:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	Putin hails Russian boy as world's "7 billionth"	I love to tell people Alla's "full name" with patryonomic, try to say it three times fast! Then I say, "I just call her Alla" Nobody can say mine one time slow here I love my maiden last name, I thought I wouldn't change it, but when I saw people trying to pronounce it here, I figured that I have to take my husband's last name just to make my life easier. My maiden last name is Serbian though, and a lot of people in Russia couldn't write and pronounce it correctly at first either.	ONA	Female	Russia	2011-11-04 18:26:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	Daylight Saving Time	I thing it's neither good nor bad... Well, at least for me. There is a joke that proves that it's a good thing for Medvedev	ONA	Female	Russia	2011-10-11 15:41:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	Flights from Russia to the US	Yeah, I just bought roundtrip St. P>Moscow>NYC for 784$ on Aeroflot for xmas/new yeara holidays. Everything else was well over a thousand dollars. I flew here with a round-trip ticket Moscow-Vienna-Washington DC, which cost a little bit over $900. That was the cheapest price - everything else was about $1200. One-way tickets were about 3 times more expensive I checked millions of times, I thought I went crazy or something when I saw the prices for one-way tickets. That was summer though, the tickets were more expensive in summer.	ONA	Female	Russia	2011-11-10 17:50:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	Flights from Russia to the US	I used russia-visa.com several times in the past. Looks like they have changed their name but the web address still works. You just need to know when you need the visa valid for. If it is a tourist visa it is good for 30 days. Send to whichever visa company you use: your passport along with the a picture, their application and the money. They will provide the "invitation and travel voucher" and take care of all the paperwork. They send back your passport with the visa and some type of travel voucher. I never gave them specific travel plans, just the dates I wanted the visa valid for. No one ever needed the travel voucher or invitation. In fact I always stayed with my then fiancee. Just be sure to register your visa if you stay in Russia for more than 3 days. My fiance used a different address, but the whole procedure of getting a visa was exactly the same. The only thing is that I think they've changed the rules, so now you don't have to register unless you're staying over for more than 7 days. So, I don't really know what's up with Gary and the phrase 'just in case' - it's not that hard to get a Russian visa.	ONA	Female	Russia	2011-05-18 03:00:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	An American's adventures in Ukraine	How many women name Julia are there? lots of them.	ONA	Female	Russia	2011-11-16 22:45:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	Visa Interview in 3 days	My SO got his DHL... but his was a tourist visa. Wow, that's new... It used to be Pony Express long ago for non-immigrant visas (other than K-1)... I got my visa through DHL, since it was before Sept. 1, my parents got their visas through Pony Express (visitor visas). All my previous visas were delivered through Pony Express... Basically, it's the 1st time I hear that a non-immigrant visa (other than K-1) was delivered through DHL.	ONA	Female	Russia	2011-11-10 18:21:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	Visa Interview in 3 days	Wow! thank you so much! my wife's Visa was approved yay!!! Congrats!	ONA	Female	Russia	2011-11-09 19:42:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	Visa Interview in 3 days	Last I heard it was still DHL but it may have switched. Sounds like you're looking at the generic visa instructions and those do go by Pony Express. It was DHL until Sept. 1 2011. Now it's Pony Express. The instructions are valid. I don't know what else to say here, cause I didn't have an experience with the new system.	ONA	Female	Russia	2011-11-07 15:14:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	Lord of The Rings	What you going to NO for? And when you get there make sure to check out Bourbon Street and eat some "dirty rice" with shrimp. I'm not a big fan of rice, but I'll try it I'm going with a friend of ours, she's a NY Giants fan and she had an extra ticket, so I'm coming with her for the game. We wanted my husband to go too and go for a "swamp tour" together, but he can't take off from work	ONA	Female	Russia	2011-11-21 05:08:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	Lord of The Rings	btw Lord of the Rings is going to be on this Friday on EATCN ...all three with no commercials. I want to watch it! But this Friday I'm flying to New Orleans...	ONA	Female	Russia	2011-11-20 21:05:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	Lord of The Rings	In Russia we usually compare him to Dobby from Harry Potter.	ONA	Female	Russia	2011-11-14 21:05:00