Passport photo

[CamIrwin 0]

From the USCIS instructions:

Passport-style photos must be 2" x 2." The photos must be in color with full face, frontal view on a white to off-white background. Head height should measure 1" to 1 3/8" from top of hair to bottom of chin, and eye height is between 1 1/8" to 1 3/8" from bottom of photo.

Sounds close enough to me.

[slim 1,525]

I was just trying to speed things up a little. It took over a year to get signed documents from her. The picture looks a lot better when printed out and cut down to passport size.

You should do a K-1 with another woman and when this one asks, "hey, what happened to our whole visa/engagement thing?" you can tell her the other woman got the signed documents AND photos to you before she got around to sending her pictures. "Guess you'll be quicker about it next time, huh?"

Seriously? A year to get the documents? If that's any indication of her motivation level for travel, I'm sure she'll be pretty motivated to work and take care of herself once here too. Probably be pretty dedicated to a good healty relationship as well. Just sayin.

I don't know specifics of your situation and I'm not judging at all, but you've been around long enough to know what this means. Good luck, all the same!

[VanessaTony 3,567]

I can almost guarantee that pic won't be accepted.

Here's the UK US Embassy page with pic example: http://www.usembassy.org.uk/cons_new/acs/p...orts/photo.html you can see the HUGE difference between it and your pic.

I kinda agree with the PP.. she really should be caring more about it. I personally took a day off work to get the photos done right. This is about your future, she really should be working so hard to get everything to you on time.

Good luck.

[Jason-Sasha 1]

Holy #######, Slim. You're still here!?!? You are living in this Russian forum. And giving opinions/advice on others' relationships? How about...less time on VJ.....just sayin'.

[CamIrwin 0]

I can almost guarantee that pic won't be accepted.

Here's the UK US Embassy page with pic example: http://www.usembassy.org.uk/cons_new/acs/p...orts/photo.html you can see the HUGE difference between it and your pic.

I kinda agree with the PP.. she really should be caring more about it. I personally took a day off work to get the photos done right. This is about your future, she really should be working so hard to get everything to you on time.

Good luck.

I kinda cut her some slack when she works 12 hour days for a month without a day off, then cooks for mother and son and cleans flat. And people tell me not to pressure Russian girls.

[slim 1,525]

Holy #######, Slim. You're still here!?!? You are living in this Russian forum. And giving opinions/advice on others' relationships? How about...less time on VJ.....just sayin'.

I DO live on the Russian forum. What's your point? Should I be off spending time with my wife or something instead? As for opinions/advice on relationships, I thought everyone knew I was an expert.

I kinda cut her some slack when she works 12 hour days for a month without a day off, then cooks for mother and son and cleans flat. And people tell me not to pressure Russian girls.

Like I said, not judging at all, just saying a year is a long time, especially considering this is her shot at not working all those 12 hour days. Who's gonna cook for mom and son when she leaves?

And cleaning flat? I know what it's like to work a whole bunch of 12 hour days and then still have household chores to do. It sucks. There's really not a lot of desire to do anything else but sleep. However, I still think somewhere in there she could've made time to get those documents sent. It's almost like she purposefully delayed.

Seems like the same thing is happening with the photos. It's like there's always one more thing to do before it gets sent and that pushes the date back just a little bit more. While I'm not questioning the validity of the relationship, perhaps she's still not 100% sure mom and/or son will be taken care of if she leaves? Have you guys worked out that plan and is she sure about it?

Not trying to be all in your business here, Cam, but if you don't mind talking about it, perhaps maybe we could figure out the real reason for the delay. I don't buy the fact that she's just too busy to stop by the post office. Busy for a few weeks. Yes. Busy for a year... not so much.

[CamIrwin 0]

I DO live on the Russian forum. What's your point? Should I be off spending time with my wife or something instead? As for opinions/advice on relationships, I thought everyone knew I was an expert.

Like I said, not judging at all, just saying a year is a long time, especially considering this is her shot at not working all those 12 hour days. Who's gonna cook for mom and son when she leaves?

And cleaning flat? I know what it's like to work a whole bunch of 12 hour days and then still have household chores to do. It sucks. There's really not a lot of desire to do anything else but sleep. However, I still think somewhere in there she could've made time to get those documents sent. It's almost like she purposefully delayed.

Seems like the same thing is happening with the photos. It's like there's always one more thing to do before it gets sent and that pushes the date back just a little bit more. While I'm not questioning the validity of the relationship, perhaps she's still not 100% sure mom and/or son will be taken care of if she leaves? Have you guys worked out that plan and is she sure about it?

Not trying to be all in your business here, Cam, but if you don't mind talking about it, perhaps maybe we could figure out the real reason for the delay. I don't buy the fact that she's just too busy to stop by the post office. Busy for a few weeks. Yes. Busy for a year... not so much.

Her son is coming with her. Don't know what mom is going to do, maybe find a boyfriend. Guess I could try a little more pressure. Got an email about 2 weeks ago saying documents and photo was mailed. Maybe an honest mistake, she forgot or something.

[Turboguy 6]

We just applied for a new tourist visa for my MIL to visit from Russia. They have changed the photo requirements for a tourist visas and no longer take the printed 2 x 2 photos as in the past. Now they only accept digital and you have to email it to them. My reason for mentioning this is that the passport photo places are all set up do do digital photos. You could have her get the digital variety, send it to you and you could print it out. It would be to spec's, she could have it to you in a day and the cost would be low. Yours just isn't going to fly and why take the risk.

[CamIrwin 0]

We just applied for a new tourist visa for my MIL to visit from Russia. They have changed the photo requirements for a tourist visas and no longer take the printed 2 x 2 photos as in the past. Now they only accept digital and you have to email it to them. My reason for mentioning this is that the passport photo places are all set up do do digital photos. You could have her get the digital variety, send it to you and you could print it out. It would be to spec's, she could have it to you in a day and the cost would be low. Yours just isn't going to fly and why take the risk.

Thanks for the info. She still has to drag her butt down to a photo shop.

[slim 1,525]

Her son is coming with her. Don't know what mom is going to do, maybe find a boyfriend. Guess I could try a little more pressure. Got an email about 2 weeks ago saying documents and photo was mailed. Maybe an honest mistake, she forgot or something.

I bet she's worried about her mom. If you were to work out some type of plan that could give her reassurance that mom will be OK once she's gone, I bet she'd be a lot more on the ball about getting all her stuff done.

We've seen several wives on here who've worked something out where they'd send back a few hundred bucks a month to take care of mom. While I'm not suggesting that, maybe that's what she's looking for. Have you guys talked about who's going to support and take care of mom once she's gone?

[CamIrwin 0]

I bet she's worried about her mom. If you were to work out some type of plan that could give her reassurance that mom will be OK once she's gone, I bet she'd be a lot more on the ball about getting all her stuff done.

We've seen several wives on here who've worked something out where they'd send back a few hundred bucks a month to take care of mom. While I'm not suggesting that, maybe that's what she's looking for. Have you guys talked about who's going to support and take care of mom once she's gone?

Haven't talked about mom. A few hundred bucks YICKS!!!!!!!!!!! I was thinking more like $100.

Guess we should talk about it huh? I just assumed she got some kind of goverment pension.

My fiancee has never said anything about mom. I know she has a dead beat brother that comes

around once in a while.

Edited February 17, 2010 by CamIrwin

[CamIrwin 0]

Haven't talked about mom. A few hundred bucks YICKS!!!!!!!!!!! I was thinking more like $100.

Guess we should talk about it huh? I just assumed she got some kind of goverment pension.

My fiancee has never said anything about mom. I know she has a dead beat brother that comes

around once in a while.

Probably just piss her off.

[eekee 182]

If she's of age she gets a government pension. But almost no one can survive on the pension alone. It's usually not much more than 100$ a month.

[shikarnov 7]

Sounds close enough to me.

I don't mean to belittle your Photoshop efforts, but as a graphic designer, I can tell you with 100% certainty that nobody is going to accept that photo. It looks terrible on screen, and will look a lot worse in print.

And I don't mean to make light of your lady's work/home situation, but if she can't find an hour to go take care of something this simple, I think you should start wondering how she's going to make time for other important parts of the process -- like getting the police report, assembling her immunization records, tracking those processes and following up if there are unusual delays, etc... I know you don't want to pressure her, but it sounds as if she may need a reminder that this process is a serious one and will help decide your future.

Edited February 17, 2010 by shikarnov

[slim 1,525]

Haven't talked about mom. A few hundred bucks YICKS!!!!!!!!!!! I was thinking more like $100.

Guess we should talk about it huh? I just assumed she got some kind of goverment pension.

My fiancee has never said anything about mom. I know she has a dead beat brother that comes

around once in a while.

I bet this is a major source of her delay. And while it may piss her off at first, just knowing you care could be enough to hasten her along. Assuring her you're marrying her so now her mom is your MIL and you'll do whatever it takes to make sure she's taken care of will be a great relief.

She probably gets something like $100/month pension and that's not nearly enough. If you're going to send $100/month as well, that'd effectively double it and that's a great start. (Although she's probably thinking more like $500/month is what mom needs because we're all rich Americans and money grows on trees here.)

Have the serious conversation and also realize you may have to kick in $300 or more when she first leaves to jump start mom's care. Once she gets here and starts working she can send as much of her money back there as she wants - and you can send less. Yes it sucks, but there are some guys on here sending upwards of $500/month back to Ukraine/Russia for MIL care. Be careful you don't fall into that money pit, but also be careful you don't have her delay indefinitely because she's not sure who's going to provide for her mother once she's gone.