My fiance' lives in a region not recognized by the US..

[Meghan&Andrey 51]

So, my fiance' is a Russian citizen. He was born in Russia and works in Sochi. About 8 years ago, he bought a house in Abkhazia. He's lived there ever since. He does not have citizenship in Abkhazia. Just lives there. The problem is that the US does not recognize this region as being an independent region. I guess they just still consider it as part of Georgia and don't recognize Russia's annexation of it (like what just happened with Crimea, Ukraine.) So can we put his Abkhazian address on all the forms? He applied for a tourist visa back in November using an apartment address he has in Izhevsk. That's a long distance from Sochi where he works so I guess that combined with him being unmarried & having no kids, and me being unmarried & having no kids just all combined for him to get his denial. He said he also has the option to have someone kind of sponsor him in a registration in Russia. I don't know anything about that but assured me it was legal, but costs. I have a consultation with an immigration lawyer next Saturday. I'm really nervous that this ONE detail (his address) is going push our application from completely normal to high risk & the lawyer will want to have more appointments costing me more money. Right now I'm just planning to see her the one time for the consultation to make sure I have everything in order and ask what address to put on the forms for him. This is kind of a unique situation so I'm not sure anyone on here can help but any advice is welcomed!

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

I don't see what the problem is. I understand that it is unclear what country the area belongs to, but for this stage, you don't need to know that. The NVC will decide what consulate to send the petition to; I am sure they have already thought of this and have protocol to deal with it.

Put his real address on the forms and tell the truth. No problem. Good luck.

[Meghan&Andrey 51]

He's determined he should use the address in Izhevsk but I just think that's asking for trouble. He says that's what it says in his passport and that's what he tells police if stopped. I just don't know what to put. He thinks its best to use a Russian address & isn't that worried about the address being hours away from where he will state his employment is located.

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

I personally think that fake addresses and whatnot is local thinking that should not be used for this. He is living in that area legally. i understand it is a disputed area but that's not his doing, you know what I mean? Why does he need to lie to police?

The consulate can do local checks on him, and if they come to his fake house and he is not there and has never lived there, do you think it will go well for your visa?

[Meghan&Andrey 51]

I completely agree. I convinced him to use his real house for his home address and he says that they use the Municipal Post Office in Russia as their means of receiving mail, not to his actual house. So now we're trying to figure out how to format these address to fit American formats. This is so stressful

[baron555 934]

I completely agree. I convinced him to use his real house for his home address and he says that they use the Municipal Post Office in Russia as their means of receiving mail, not to his actual house. So now we're trying to figure out how to format these address to fit American formats. This is so stressful

It's not. Do the best with the address or refer to a supplemental page if needed. USCIS and especially the Embassy in Moscow deal with this all the time.

[Ashlita2318 0]

He needs to use the address that is in his local and foreign passport.

[Meghan&Andrey 51]

That makes a difference. His Abkhazian address isn't listed in either. His address in Izhevsk is. He can't have an Abkhazian stamp in a Russian passport and there isn't actually an address listed in his foreign passport. Just says Russia. If we say Izhevsk, aren't we lying? And won't that look bad considering his employment is in Sochi?

Edited April 16, 2014 by mgad5347