Picking up passport from courier office in Kiev

[Olya2007 0]

Please can you share your experience and details about the following situation?

My husband lives in Odessa. He plans to go to interview in Kiev and do not return back to Odessa. He have nothing to loose in Odessa , not a job, nor a house. He practically done with all ties and preparations long time ago, and now just counting days until he returns back to America again. See my signature for explanations

He will fly from Kiev anyway. My questions:

1. What courier service Kiev Embassy uses to send passports with visas?

2. Is it possible to arrange to hold his passport in their office so he can pick it up rather then they deliver it to some address?

3. Will it be faster then in any other way, I mean if they deliver it to Kiev address or send it to Odessa?

4. Anyone who lived in any other city , not in Kiev, tried that?

Thanks in advance for your answers!

[Brad and Vika 129]

My fiance' is from Kherson, and we want to leave Kiev immediately after the interview also, if her visa is granted. I have read other posts here that say the delivery service will allow you to pick up at the office in Kiev, or have the passport/visa delivered to an address in Kiev if you want. You can apparently put any address on the deliver address. Good Luck!

[Brad and Vika 129]

#######. I meant put any address on the delivery label - not address

Edited October 19, 2008 by Brad and Vika

[nyhazmat 2]

My wife is from Cherkassy and she picked up the package at the FedEx contractor in Kiev. They do not answer their phone> So you may have to just show up. After the interview we asked that the package be held due to the mail "service" in Cherkassy. Good luck.

[johnichka 0]

Olya,

The Kiev Embassy uses Federal Express to deliver the passport with the visa.

It is possible to hold the passpsort at the office and you can pick it up rather than having it delivered.

My Ulyana lived in a small village in the Carpathian Mountains. Fedex would only go so far as to having it delivered to the office in Ivano-Frankvisk (about an hour's drive away by car from her village). She was notifiied about 6 days after our interview that there was a package at the FedEx office for her in Ivano. She drove over and picked up the package at the local Ivano FedEx office.

When she opened the package, she found someone else's passport, visa, and documents in the FedEx envelope along with hers. Scary.........

She gave the other persons documents back to FedEx and went on her way. She arrived in America on September 6th.

Good luck to you...

John

[1HappyGuy 45]

My fiancee, now wife, was lucky enough to live in Kyiv. But, it still took 5 days from the interview for the embassy to issue her visa. She made sure to ask at the embassy which office of FedEx they would send her passport. You can call and arrange to pick it up directly at the overnight service, but the delay after the interview can be a problem. The embassy does not allow you to pick it up there.

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

They use Fedex. He can specify an address in Kiev for delivery. They will give him a number to call and then they will send a tex message when they have the package to deliver, but don't count on it. They will have the oackage at the Fedex station in Kiev before sending it anywhere else. He can call Fedex the next day and ask if the package is there and he can pick it up in the Fedex office in Kiev. But you have to call them every day and when they have it, ask if they can hold it there for him. A bit risky. Best to specify an address in Kiev and then try to pick it up at the office which will speed things up by a day. If he misses the package at least it will go to his address in Kiev. My wife had her interview on Thursday and the visa package was delivered to her home in Donetsk on Monday, she never got a text or anything even though she tried to call several times.

I have also heard it is possible, only possible, the consulate will allow him to pick up the visa there. He can ask. We tried but to no avail, but I have heard from people who did this. They told us they could not know when it would be ready and said it takes "up to 10 days" but we received ours in 3 days, so give it try. I costs nothing and hurts nothing to ask.

Gary

[Olya2007 0]

Thanks a lot for everyone who responded!!!! It helped a lot to see the possible prospective in our estimates!

Will stick to the plan of waiting for his passport with visa in Kiev hoping that it could save couple of days rather then returning back to Odessa and wait for it there. You would not believe but in our particular situation every day is counted...I know a bit ricky...but that second time around in that the same process the hardest part...

Thanks again and good luck everyone!

[Brad and Vika 129]

Thanks a lot for everyone who responded!!!! It helped a lot to see the possible prospective in our estimates!

Will stick to the plan of waiting for his passport with visa in Kiev hoping that it could save couple of days rather then returning back to Odessa and wait for it there. You would not believe but in our particular situation every day is counted...I know a bit ricky...but that second time around in that the same process the hardest part...

Thanks again and good luck everyone!

What do you mean by "second time around"

[payxibka 10,045]

Thanks a lot for everyone who responded!!!! It helped a lot to see the possible prospective in our estimates!

Will stick to the plan of waiting for his passport with visa in Kiev hoping that it could save couple of days rather then returning back to Odessa and wait for it there. You would not believe but in our particular situation every day is counted...I know a bit ricky...but that second time around in that the same process the hardest part...

Thanks again and good luck everyone!

The savings will be just one day, and your wait will be 3-6 days in Kiev or 4 - 7 days in Odessa....

[Olya2007 0]

Thanks a lot for everyone who responded!!!! It helped a lot to see the possible prospective in our estimates!

Will stick to the plan of waiting for his passport with visa in Kiev hoping that it could save couple of days rather then returning back to Odessa and wait for it there. You would not believe but in our particular situation every day is counted...I know a bit ricky...but that second time around in that the same process the hardest part...

Thanks again and good luck everyone!

What do you mean by "second time around"

Brad, "second time around" means that we've applied for K1 and got it a year ago, he came here, we've got married. applied for AOS, but then emergency happened to his son in Ukraine , he needed to return urgently, before Advance Parole doc arrived. He took care of everything, but he could not just return back, it considered that he abandoned his status, and K1 visa-just one time entry. So we've started everything over again. This time applied for CR1 visa(since we were already married). And he just waited in limbo in Odessa until everything got approved again. Very hard time... Without his place to live, without job, registration (propiska).. Finally it's getting to the end. He successfully passed his interview today , and now waiting for passport with visa in Kiev. We just took that risk. Will see how it will turn out....

[Brad and Vika 129]

Thanks a lot for everyone who responded!!!! It helped a lot to see the possible prospective in our estimates!

Will stick to the plan of waiting for his passport with visa in Kiev hoping that it could save couple of days rather then returning back to Odessa and wait for it there. You would not believe but in our particular situation every day is counted...I know a bit ricky...but that second time around in that the same process the hardest part...

Thanks again and good luck everyone!

What do you mean by "second time around"

Brad, "second time around" means that we've applied for K1 and got it a year ago, he came here, we've got married. applied for AOS, but then emergency happened to his son in Ukraine , he needed to return urgently, before Advance Parole doc arrived. He took care of everything, but he could not just return back, it considered that he abandoned his status, and K1 visa-just one time entry. So we've started everything over again. This time applied for CR1 visa(since we were already married). And he just waited in limbo in Odessa until everything got approved again. Very hard time... Without his place to live, without job, registration (propiska).. Finally it's getting to the end. He successfully passed his interview today , and now waiting for passport with visa in Kiev. We just took that risk. Will see how it will turn out....

Sorry to hear about all that. Thanks also for pointing up probably one of the biggest flaws in the system. The only possible solution I have read here is early parole - and how would you know in advance that you would need it? Any way, it looks like you are back on track now - I wish you both the best of luck.