Moscow Trip Report

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

I actually did not go over for the medical exams. The extra trip to Moscow for the medical exams, was an opportunity for the Princess to visit Дом Книги, and for her son to have some fun at Gorky Park. I will go over when she has the interview in July.

The expenses for this stuff are part of a budget. I usually assemble a fairly conservative budget, then add 20% for contingencies. Document translations were budgeted with a US company's rates, so the Moscow translator was a significant savings. The savings are instantly vaporized, because Olga WILL go to Дом Книги again before we come to the US.

On a serious note, if I has been aware that there was "In House" talent for doing translations here in the VJ community, I would have routed the business here. So, it might be a good idea for the Translators to start a separate discussion thread here.

VJ has rules against advertising, we do not advertise here. In fact, we do not advertise at all. I used to have a note about it in my signature and was told to get it out by "management" (meaning the UK/Canada forum)

At any rate, Alla has plenty of work but will be glad to handle things for VJ members and has done many cases for VJ members. She has also assisted many members in other aspects of the visa process including attending interviews and returning to the US with fiancees.

Tigger has offered to do this for free Though she will find cases where clients wait until three days before their interview, want her to drop everything else and do their Police Certificate translation which they only got 2 days ago because they didn't plan ahead and then Fedex it to them, from Russia....FOR FREE of course, because you SAID FREE! That means FREE (Tigger needs to learn that about Americans...you say FREE it means FREE...for everything...forever) That means 3 years from now when they need another translation certified for their I-751, they will want you to do it for FREE...quickly....like tomorrow...overnight it to me...for FREE.

While Alla has been gone she did TWO "emergency" translations of this sort. She has a stack of regular translations to do when she gets back tomorrow night

Tigger is welcome to doing all of them for free that she wants.

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

This ranks right up there with the "It's so worth the $1500 I paid to my attorney to handle everything for me. I mean, he did it all. The only thing I had to do was have her fill out some papers and then I filled out some papers and then we sent them to him and he sent them in. I feel so much better knowing that he's handling it all for me."

Defective translation? I'm pretty sure my kid brother could translate a birth certificate.

Please, Slim. $25 for a document translation...or $23 or whatever. Are you kidding? In what part of the United States do you get an hours service, copy costs and mailing fees for $23 per hour? That is the self employed rate, you know, which means we must pay 15.65% self employment, have the equipment to do the work and the knowledge to translate in 2 other languages, Ukrainian and Russian. And you begrudge someone $23 for that? How much does a plumber cost you where you live? It is $80 per hour here.

Alla wouldn't even go near your document for $23, sorry, her rate is $40 for one, $100 for 3 and that is less than a third what the big city translators cost.

The above member got a great deal for $23 each

And YES there are defective translations, Alla has done several "re-translations" because they were rejected by the consulate and/or USCIS.

[Advanced Aardvark 82]

You must be in the wrong line of work. 700 rubles x 3 documents divided by the exchange rate is $70. Alla's fee for 3 documents IF she does them at the same time is $100. (Note to moderators, thei is NOT an advertisement, it is a response of Slim's offer for my wife to do this for less than 700 rubles per document)

Her rates ($40 for one, $100 for 3) is FAR less than many translation agencies, FAR LESS. Some in the larger cities charge as much as $250 for a simple document.

700 rubles each is a good deal BUT (the evil Butt Monkey...) Alla has had to "re-translate" some foreign documents because they were rejected at the consulate or by the USCIS because, despite all the official stamps, apostiles, etc. (NONE of which are required) they did not have a "Certification" by the translator. No amount of extraneous BS will make up for something which is needed but absent. Make SURE no matter what else they put on the translation, that is has a "certifcation" by the translator. A personal statement that "I,________________ certify I am competent...." Then, yes, a college student can do this. In fact their is a small business set up at Alla's college called "RussoTrans" in which students there do translations for practice in English and have the translations checked by an instructor. Alla uses their same fee schedule for her work.

For any RUB wives/fiancees interested, if you are adept at English there is a fairly lucrative market for your skills. Alla earns $30-50/hour (minimum one hour) plus mileage payment, for interpretation work and gets enough requests that, with her school schedule, she turns down work in a small city of 50,000...100,000 people in the region. Send your resumes to hospitals, government agencies, refugee organizations, attorneys, law enforcement, etc. One will refer you to another. $40-100 per document/page for translations, depending on type of document (most of her work is for foreign businesses she established before coming to the USA, she has about 12 foreign businesses she still does translations for...payment by cash in advance, Western Union)

The 700 руб rate was per document. A closer reading of the message thread notes that the conversation changed from three documents to pricing for a single document. You do make a good point about the translator certification: Each of our documents includes this certification. In addition, Olga requested, and received a separate certification letter.

As for my line of work, I retired from the private sector at the ripe old age of 46. I wish you the same level of success.

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

Yeah, I probably should've rememebered anyone who has the cash to make an unnecessary trip probably has cash for unnecessary fees too. My bad.

But seriously, next time send them to Alla. Hell, I'll do them for $20 per document.

Send them to Slim for $20 each. Alla will return them, she doesn't need the $20 as much as Slim does.

Slim, your posts are bordering on insulting now. For the time involved to do a proper translation, the fee charged is not unreasonable compared to ANY OTHER personal service. Your wife pays more per hour for a manicure, a plumber is twcie is much, the consulate charges $12 for an 8 minute phone call! That's $90 per hour.

Get with the program Slim, personal service and work in the US costs a lot of money. I won't even go nto the education required to do this, because it really isn;t required, but there is a unique skill required and Alla is charging the same rates as the college students you mentioned earlier, that is where she based her rates.

Incidentally, she gets $500 for 4 hours of modeling and $800 for an 8 hour call. She got $750 and a new high designer ski outfit for serving Russian vodka to a convention of businessmen in a walk in freezer in Boston for 2 HOURS!!!! (and she did it for the ski outfit! )She was paid BIG BUCKS for most of those photos I use for my avatar, my friend. $30-50 per hour for interpreting at doctors appointments, USCIS interviews, government agency interviews, etc. If any RUB wife is making less wiping tables or mopping floors, then whose fault is that?

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

The 700 руб rate was per document. A closer reading of the message thread notes that the conversation changed from three documents to pricing for a single document. You do make a good point about the translator certification: Each of our documents includes this certification. In addition, Olga requested, and received a separate certification letter.

As for my line of work, I retired from the private sector at the ripe old age of 46. I wish you the same level of success.

Yes, I understood the price was per document, and that is a good deal.

Thanks for the wishes of good luck, I think I am already there. I more or less retired at at age 49. I work part time and get paid an obscene amount of money for what I do. But they will pay me, or I won't do it because I really don't give a #### if I make another nickle or not. I actually did retire, but then was "hired back" by the company that had been my best client and they keep me busy 20-25 hours per week and THAT IS ALL. I do not want more, refuse to start work before 10 am and refuse to work past 3pm. Alla's earnings go into her desk for fun money. It is used to buy extravagant stuff we have no need for, new furniture on a whim, write checks for sports cars, pay for European vacations (2-3 per year if I don't have heart attacks and by-pass surgery)

Once Alla gets her citizenship and masters degree in teaching English it is our plan to live in exotic foreign countries where she will earn big bucks teaching English (other countries actually pay teachers of English lots of money) provide a home for us, a living expense stipend and I can sit on the beach at Impanema and NOT look at other women while Alla teaches 4 hours per day. We will come back to the US whenever we want and visit our children who will be working...too bad, so sad. I will collect my retirment in US dollars and live where the costs of living are 1/10th what they are here. We will keep our homes in Vermont and Ukraine, why not?

[Advanced Aardvark 82]

Please, Slim. $25 for a document translation...or $23 or whatever. Are you kidding? In what part of the United States do you get an hours service, copy costs and mailing fees for $23 per hour? That is the self employed rate, you know, which means we must pay 15.65% self employment, have the equipment to do the work and the knowledge to translate in 2 other languages, Ukrainian and Russian. And you begrudge someone $23 for that? How much does a plumber cost you where you live? It is $80 per hour here.

Alla wouldn't even go near your document for $23, sorry, her rate is $40 for one, $100 for 3 and that is less than a third what the big city translators cost.

The above member got a great deal for $23 each

And YES there are defective translations, Alla has done several "re-translations" because they were rejected by the consulate and/or USCIS.

An additional data point: I used a CA company to translate Olga's divorce decree for the I-129F filing. That was $80 for a single document and $30 for Express Mail delivery. The entire transaction was very professional, including a review of draft translations. But as indicated above, this is a rate that reflects all the overhead of a business. It was a premium price for a premium service.

Olga was travelling to Moscow for the medical exams and recreation, so the cost to drop off documents and collect translations was four Metro rides (Her son just loves the Metro...). This was a good deal, especially since this agency has previously done translations that were accepted at the US Embassy. These translations were in hand about one month before they were required.

It is good that this site does not permit advertisements. However, providing a mechanism to advise 'newbies' that other members are certified translators, is very helpful too. As I indicated in an earlier post, I would certainly have preferred that someone from the VJ community receive this business, rather than sending it to an unknown business in CA.

[Advanced Aardvark 82]

Yes, I understood the price was per document, and that is a good deal.

Thanks for the wishes of good luck, I think I am already there. I more or less retired at at age 49. I work part time and get paid an obscene amount of money for what I do. But they will pay me, or I won't do it because I really don't give a #### if I make another nickle or not. I actually did retire, but then was "hired back" by the company that had been my best client and they keep me busy 20-25 hours per week and THAT IS ALL. I do not want more, refuse to start work before 10 am and refuse to work past 3pm. Alla's earnings go into her desk for fun money. It is used to buy extravagant stuff we have no need for, new furniture on a whim, write checks for sports cars, pay for European vacations (2-3 per year if I don't have heart attacks and by-pass surgery)

Once Alla gets her citizenship and masters degree in teaching English it is our plan to live in exotic foreign countries where she will earn big bucks teaching English (other countries actually pay teachers of English lots of money) provide a home for us, a living expense stipend and I can sit on the beach at Impanema and NOT look at other women while Alla teaches 4 hours per day. We will come back to the US whenever we want and visit our children who will be working...too bad, so sad. I will collect my retirment in US dollars and live where the costs of living are 1/10th what they are here. We will keep our homes in Vermont and Ukraine, why not?

I fully subscribe to the 'work hard - play hard' philosophy. After retiring, I dedicated myself to playing hard: It is challenging; but someone has to do it!

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

I fully subscribe to the 'work hard - play hard' philosophy. After retiring, I dedicated myself to playing hard: It is challenging; but someone has to do it!

Try not to have heart attacks...they spoil the fun for several months and I missed a whole ski season because of it.

Alla does draft reviews also and then sends TWO certified translations of each document, which is usually enough, regular copies work fine for most purposes (education, drivers lisence, etc) Extra certified copies are only $5 each (she keeps all her translations on a flash drive for future reference) THIS IS NOT AN ADVERTISEMENT IT IS A DISCUSSION OF THE TOPIC CONSIDERED.

I am all in favor of people making money and think the only thing worse than a minimum wage woul dbe a "maximum wage"

Really it has been fun, but it is summer and I live on Lake Champlain and I have to go fishing. Catch you later.

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

An additional data point: I used a CA company to translate Olga's divorce decree for the I-129F filing. That was $80 for a single document and $30 for Express Mail delivery. The entire transaction was very professional, including a review of draft translations. But as indicated above, this is a rate that reflects all the overhead of a business. It was a premium price for a premium service.

Olga was travelling to Moscow for the medical exams and recreation, so the cost to drop off documents and collect translations was four Metro rides (Her son just loves the Metro...). This was a good deal, especially since this agency has previously done translations that were accepted at the US Embassy. These translations were in hand about one month before they were required.

It is good that this site does not permit advertisements. However, providing a mechanism to advise 'newbies' that other members are certified translators, is very helpful too. As I indicated in an earlier post, I would certainly have preferred that someone from the VJ community receive this business, rather than sending it to an unknown business in CA.

when questions come up regarding the spelling of names on documents, needs for translations, etc. I will metion Alla's experience at translation, not as an advertisement but by way of a "source" and experience other members can use. Sometimes another member will be interested in that. It happens. I do not advertise per se. Really, with Alla's class schedule, her interpretation work and occasional modeling calls, the translation work she gets is enough. Incidently she also does work for other former Soviet Republics, Armenia, Kazahkstan, etc. If people from those areas have Soviet birth certificates, they will be in Russian and she can translate them. She recently interpreted at USCIS for an Armenian woman that was born in the Soviet Union and speaks Russian, there were no Armenian translators available. She has even translated for (and one of her big clients is) an African American Refugee organization...I know, it is Vermont, there are like 23 African Americans here But of those 23, many actually speak Russian! At one time the Soviets were fairly influencial in Africa and left behind their language and Avtomat Kalishnikovs just so no one forgets them.

[slim 1,525]

In what part of the United States do you get an hours service, copy costs and mailing fees for $23 per hour?

I'm not really sure how that's relevant as the poster said he paid that amount in Russia. I was also wondering why he was paying for documents to be translated at the medical interview stage.

Get with the program Slim, personal service and work in the US costs a lot of money.

I understand that, which is why it seemed quite absurd that someone would pay "US rates" in Russia.

If any RUB wife is making less wiping tables or mopping floors, then whose fault is that?

That would be the RUB wife's fault.

An additional data point: I used a CA company to translate Olga's divorce decree for the I-129F filing. That was $80 for a single document and $30 for Express Mail delivery.

This is what got me started on all this. Why would a guy in America pay someone $110 to translate a single document from Russian to English when it can be done in Russia for literally pennies on that dollar?

[Advanced Aardvark 82]

I'm not really sure how that's relevant as the poster said he paid that amount in Russia. I was also wondering why he was paying for documents to be translated at the medical interview stage.

I understand that, which is why it seemed quite absurd that someone would pay "US rates" in Russia.

That would be the RUB wife's fault.

This is what got me started on all this. Why would a guy in America pay someone $110 to translate a single document from Russian to English when it can be done in Russia for literally pennies on that dollar?

The initial US translation was done to get the I-129F out the door. The price was not a factor. Time and dollars are often two interrelated variables in a process. I wanted this done quickly and accurately, and that is what I got. My financial threshold of pain is different from yours. When I rebuilt the engine in my 1966 Porsche, I could have had the heads ported, polished and resurfaced, 30 miles from my home for a reasonable price. A guy I know in CA has a track record for excellence with vintage Porsche engine machining, so he got the work. Price was not a factor there either. Price is certainly a consideration, but it is not necessarily the dominant factor in a decision.

The documents translated in Russia, were done about one month before they were required for the interview. Olga was going to be in Moscow anyway, so it made sense to have the documents done there. From the perspective of the "project", the documents were translated ahead of schedule and under budget. (This is often a good thing... )

[Casper&Diana 0]

I too, like the idea of supporting VJ members when possible. That said, and before I knew about VJ, Diana was taking her documents to the English school where she was studing in Donetsk (UA) for translation. I don't know what she paid but I believe it was a very reasonable price. (They also provided the certification and stamp.) It was convenient for her drop off and pick up the documents because she was already at the school for her English classses.

[slim 1,525]

The initial US translation was done to get the I-129F out the door.

Financial pain aside, I'm wondering why you had to translate documents in the first place.

The documents translated in Russia

This is what seemed odd to me. Typically, there's no more translation required after the I-129F packet is sent. They can speak and read Russian at the Russian embassy.

When you posted that you'd paid somewhere around $75 to have three documents translated in Moscow it kind of baffled me that not only did you have documents translated at that point but also that you paid so highly to have it done.

While I understand you and Gary are rich old guys who have a budget for your import "project" it just seems weird to me that even in Russia you're paying American business prices instead of typical Russian prices.

[Advanced Aardvark 82]

Financial pain aside, I'm wondering why you had to translate documents in the first place.

This is what seemed odd to me. Typically, there's no more translation required after the I-129F packet is sent. They can speak and read Russian at the Russian embassy.

When you posted that you'd paid somewhere around $75 to have three documents translated in Moscow it kind of baffled me that not only did you have documents translated at that point but also that you paid so highly to have it done.

While I understand you and Gary are rich old guys who have a budget for your import "project" it just seems weird to me that even in Russia you're paying American business prices instead of typical Russian prices.

I have a nasty habit of reading official instructions. On occasion, official instructions provide helpful insight into requirements for a process. Here is a cut and paste from the US Embassy in Moscow web site, pertaining to documents required at the Embassy interview:

"Copies and translations of each document into English are required. Translations must be notarized only when the original is in a language OTHER than Russian. (e.g. a translation from Ukrainian into English must be notarized, translation from Russian into English does not need to be notarized). "

Given a choice between following your "guestimate" of the translation requirements, and the actual translation requirements, I'll go with the official requirements. I suspect that you are baffled due to a lack of familiarity with the current official requirements. This will help to get you up to speed: http://moscow.usembassy.gov/fiancee.html

While I do not hold your youth and inexperience against you, (Gary probably does not either...), it does become a tad tiring when you continue to shoot from the hip, and miss, and miss and miss.

[Advanced Aardvark 82]

I too, like the idea of supporting VJ members when possible. That said, and before I knew about VJ, Diana was taking her documents to the English school where she was studing in Donetsk (UA) for translation. I don't know what she paid but I believe it was a very reasonable price. (They also provided the certification and stamp.) It was convenient for her drop off and pick up the documents because she was already at the school for her English classses.

It sounds like that was a very convenient arrangement, especially since it eliminated the need to mail the translations.

I there is an opportunity to send some translations to a member of the VJ community, I will likely do that in the future.