K-1 and Apartment Ownership - Problems with keeping the property and immigrating?

[b_fowler 0]

My fiance was asking me about the circumstance of her owning an apartment and moving to America. She is worried the Russian customs officials will turn her away because she has not gotten the notification in her propiska that she will be living somewhere else. She does have a document of ownership, but is worried about what she needs to do, if anything. Her sister is telling her she should go to the immigration service and get a stamp, I assume that is the ПМЖ, that i have read about on here. Many have not done anything, but I do not specifically remember if there was any property ownership, only that one individual's mother owned the apartment, and the daughter was still registered there. Anyone else have circumstances similiar to this? It may be that we sell the apartment after the two year conditions are removed, I just do not want to jeopardize her having a place to go if something was to happen to me before that two year period!!

[mox 298]

My fiance was asking me about the circumstance of her owning an apartment and moving to America. She is worried the Russian customs officials will turn her away because she has not gotten the notification in her propiska that she will be living somewhere else. She does have a document of ownership, but is worried about what she needs to do, if anything. Her sister is telling her she should go to the immigration service and get a stamp, I assume that is the ПМЖ, that i have read about on here. Many have not done anything, but I do not specifically remember if there was any property ownership, only that one individual's mother owned the apartment, and the daughter was still registered there. Anyone else have circumstances similiar to this? It may be that we sell the apartment after the two year conditions are removed, I just do not want to jeopardize her having a place to go if something was to happen to me before that two year period!!

She won't be stopped by Russian customs officials. Think about what the procedure was when you went out of Russia. You went through baggage x-ray, and then you went through immigration where they looked at your passport, checked in the computer that you're not a criminal, and then sent you on your merry way. They know (or at least care) nothing about what kind of visa she's exiting the country on, and they're not looking in their computer to see if she has property. She will have no problems leaving the country.

[b_fowler 0]

That's what I thought, but her sister has got her worried that some official in Russian customs will give her a hard time when she leaves, because of the type of Visa she has!! I told her I would ask on here because so many people hav eleft Russia with so many different levels of experiences!! Thank you for your input!!

[slim 1,530]

My wife owns her mom's flat back home. She had zero problems leaving. Like mox said, it's not like they "punch her into the computer" to see if she owns property. From this point on, tell your wife to stop listening to folks back home and only listen to what's said here on VJ. VJ Russia Forum is like gospel.

[b_fowler 0]

I complety understand, but she still has a week before she gets here and I can't keep her from talking to her family about such things!! At least until she gets here, lol!! She checked with ФМС and they did inform her that it is only required for unregeristering the address if she has received am immigration visa. She at least checked into it, but I came here to the forums becuase I know there is a vast amount of knowledge available here so I definitely think I will always ask questions here!! Thank you for your replies!!

[mox 298]

I complety understand, but she still has a week before she gets here and I can't keep her from talking to her family about such things!! At least until she gets here, lol!! She checked with ФМС and they did inform her that it is only required for unregeristering the address if she has received am immigration visa. She at least checked into it, but I came here to the forums becuase I know there is a vast amount of knowledge available here so I definitely think I will always ask questions here!! Thank you for your replies!!

To help set her mind at ease, remind her that the K1 is technically a non-immigrant visa.

[b_fowler 0]

Thanks MOX, I guess I failed to mention or clarify that she did confirm that with ФМС, and knows her visa is a nonimmigrant, she is no longer worried, but thanks for the input and support it is greatly appreciated!!

[Neonred 3,645]

I complety understand, but she still has a week before she gets here and I can't keep her from talking to her family about such things!! At least until she gets here, lol!! She checked with ФМС and they did inform her that it is only required for unregeristering the address if she has received am immigration visa. She at least checked into it, but I came here to the forums becuase I know there is a vast amount of knowledge available here so I definitely think I will always ask questions here!! Thank you for your replies!!

To help set her mind at ease, remind her that the K1 is technically a non-immigrant visa.

It's funny, but the US Embassy in Moscow lists the K-1 as an immigrant visa.

[mendeleev 68]

My wife also owns her apartment and has no trouble leaving Russia. She's left Russia 4 times now on two visas and will soon leave Russia on her green card.

A former supervisor of mine lived in the States for 15 years, and even became a US citizen before he got around to selling his Moscow flat. He never had a problem. He even took advantage of his flat to arrange somehow for his new Russian passports to be issued from Moscow rather than some consulate here.