Ira is on a train to Moscow - Interview next Monday

[Misha & Ira 113]

So, Ira boarded a train for Moscow today to attend her interview for a K1 visa. The interview is next Monday. As you can imagine, I am just a bit nervous. Not because there really is anything to worry about...other than the stories I have read here.

I never really properly introduced us and told our story but mostly lurked about reading as much as I could here.

We met over a year ago on a singles site and hit it off fairly quickly. She is a practicing psychologist and I am an engineer in aerospace (my degree is electrical though). We met the first time face to face in Kiev last January. Since then I have made three other trips to see her in her and have tickets to go spend the New Year with her and her family before we board a plane together to begin our lives here.

I have a few red flags from what I have read here...my previous wife of ten plus years was also Russian (it is true...once you go RUB, you never go back) ...I filed the I-129F a month after the divorce became final...I still jointly own a house with the ex so I kind of have two addresses (the market is terrible...we are trying to short sell it as outlined in our divorce settlement but the best offer we have gotten was 140k less than what we owe).

Anyway...Ira has a portfolio made that is 3 inches thick...every required document accounted for, some in multiple formats (tax transcripts and 1040's), plus everything I could dream of. Photocopies of airline tickets, stamped visa pages, phone records, Skype transcripts (I copied the entire history into a word doc in July...it was well over a thousand pages), a photo album filled with pictures, handwritten cards, mail from here to there and vice versa, copies and originals of everything submitted with the original petition...

Ira didn't want to rehearse questions, she told me she has had enough exams in her life to feel confident that she can answer anything they throw at her...and looking at the questions I would have to say I feel confident that she knows as much as a fiancée should...

If I seem to have missed anything or if you have any suggestions, please feel free to comment.

Thanks!

Edited November 22, 2011 by Misha & Ira

[slim 1,525]

Don't sweat the small stuff. Good luck!

[IR5FORMUMSIE 850]

So, Ira boarded a train for Moscow today to attend her interview for a K1 visa. The interview is next Monday. As you can imagine, I am just a bit nervous. Not because there really is anything to worry about...other than the stories I have read here.

I never really properly introduced us and told our story but mostly lurked about reading as much as I could here.

We met over a year ago on a singles site and hit it off fairly quickly. She is a practicing psychologist and I am an engineer in aerospace (my degree is electrical though). We met the first time face to face in Kiev last January. Since then I have made three other trips to see her in her and have tickets to go spend the New Year with her and her family before we board a plane together to begin our lives here.

I have a few red flags from what I have read here...my previous wife of ten plus years was also Russian (it is true...once you go RUB, you never go back) ...I filed the I-129F a month after the divorce became final...I still jointly own a house with the ex so I kind of have two addresses (the market is terrible...we are trying to short sell it as outlined in our divorce settlement but the best offer we have gotten was 140k less than what we owe).

Anyway...Ira has a portfolio made that is 3 inches thick...every required document accounted for, some in multiple formats (tax transcripts and 1040's), plus everything I could dream of. Photocopies of airline tickets, stamped visa pages, phone records, Skype transcripts (I copied the entire history into a word doc in July...it was well over a thousand pages), a photo album filled with pictures, handwritten cards, mail from here to there and vice versa, copies and originals of everything submitted with the original petition...

Ira didn't want to rehearse questions, she told me she has had enough exams in her life to feel confident that she can answer anything they throw at her...and looking at the questions I would have to say I feel confident that she knows as much as a fiancée should...

If I seem to have missed anything or if you have any suggestions, please feel free to comment.

Thanks!

First, I wish you nothing but good luck on this. Ira is well-prepared and these paper pushers only will look at what they want and once they see how much materials that they'll have to wade through, they'll just give up. They want paper, let'em choke on it!

[baron555 934]

Don't sweat the small stuff. Good luck!

Yep, as long as she knows about all those children you sired and all those previous wives and all those crimes against humanity.....you're good to go.

If she has solid evidence of your many meetings, it'll be a slam dunk.

[Misha & Ira 113]

I take it from the sparse number of replies that all seems ok. She is getting up early tomorrow to take care of the medical after settling down in Moscow.

Don't sweat the small stuff. Good luck!

Thanks Slim!

First, I wish you nothing but good luck on this. Ira is well-prepared and these paper pushers only will look at what they want and once they see how much materials that they'll have to wade through, they'll just give up. They want paper, let'em choke on it!

Thanks IR5. I certainly hope that is the case,

Yep, as long as she knows about all those children you sired and all those previous wives and all those crimes against humanity.....you're good to go.

If she has solid evidence of your many meetings, it'll be a slam dunk.

The kids and ex's were some of the first things she knew....I didn't tell her about the time I poached a deer when I was 17 though...

She does have ample evidence of our meetings...she has all the originals of my boarding passes and visa registrations etc. Pictures....receipts for gifts...

You know....I am not usually the sort that sweats these things...

[Misha & Ira 113]

Would a temporary restraining order that was not made permanent be considered a crime against humanity? My first ex filed one 15+ years ago as part of our divorce as a ploy to get custody of the children. There was no arrest or conviction and it was dismissed after a hearing.

Edited November 24, 2011 by Misha & Ira

[baron555 934]

Would a temporary restraining order that was not made permanent be considered a crime against humanity? My first ex filed one 15+ years ago as part of our divorce as a ploy to get custody of the children. There was no arrest or conviction and it was dismissed after a hearing.

Nope, stop it now and just get her ready for about a 2 hour wait and then an approval. If you've met more than once and have all your ducks in a row, Moscow in not a hard Embassy.

[daryl&lada 8]

I don't have any last minute advice for you as we have not completed the interview process. Good luck and I am sure everything will be fine!

[Misha & Ira 113]

Before the interview I called Ira to see how she was...she was standing in line at 7:30am in a mix of rain and snow...she estimated about 100 people in line with her...we didn't speak for long as Ira's hands became quickly cold holding the phone...for two hours and forty-five minutes I waited a little nervously to hear the result of the interview...I popped in a movie to pass the time...I braced myself for the worst...

...at 10:45am local time I heard from Ira again...she was giggling a little when she told me....

VISA Approved!!!

She told me her interview was 2, maybe 3 minutes long. The consul was friendly and he had greeted her with a smile. He asked her for her language preference for the interview...she asked for Russian. (I had tried to convince her to try it in English as she has progressed very quickly and I felt she would be more than capable to answer the questions they had...but she has been a little shy to use the English that she has been studying with me and on her own and insisted that she would rather have a longer interview in a language she understood perfectly than to possibly make mistakes in a language she felt uncomfortable with). The consul obliged her and asked her how we had met...how many times had I been married.....where did I work...and then he pulled out a copy of our Skype chats...we write to each other either when the other is sleeping or on subjects that are beyond our language skills (I speak a little Russian) and we use Google translate. He asked her how do we communicate? She told him my previous spouse was a Russian woman and I had learned a bit of Russian and she had been learning a bit of English. (When I met her she spoke very little English) He said, "Oh really? Let's see" and he switched to English on her and asked her how many times I had come to see her...which she readily answered. He then asked her what we did while I was there...again in English...she stold me that her eyes got a little big when she thought of replying to what we did most of the time we were together...she was about to answer when the consul noticed the small smile and twinkle in her eye and stopped her by asking "You know...like go out...to restaurants, dancing etc?....and to her amazement, the sentences started to roll from her tongue...she described each time we had met and the things we had done and by the time she got to our last meeting in September he stopped her, smiled and told her that her visa was approved. She told me that was a little disappointed that he stopped as she much more to say.

She then asked about her son who she wants to keep in school there until mid June...with a six month expiration on the K visas, she did not want the clock to start until at least the end of December. They told her not a problem, they would hold his passport and issue his visa then. She had been worried that he would have to go to another interview...which would have been problematic for various reasons.

She also told me that there were 6 women applying for K1 visas...she was the 5th to be interviewed. She said that two of the girls were given 221gs, one for more proof of relationship and the other for missing financial supporting documents.

A big Thank You to the Visa Journey veterans for the information to put together a good I-129f petition package and advice for what she should take to the interview. We both went above and beyond what was required...I with front-loading the petition and her with putting a 3 inch thick portfolio and a sack full of pictures.

I am a happy man today...and poor Ira is dead tired and taking an 18 hour train ride back to Volgograd...her choice...she doesn't like to fly.

The next big date is when I fly over there on the 22nd to spend the holidays with her and her family before we start 2012 fresh and together, God willing.

A big "Thanks!" to the regular posters in this forum for their advice through all the threads for the past years....I think I went back as far as 110 pages of threads.

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

Before the interview I called Ira to see how she was...she was standing in line at 7:30am in a mix of rain and snow...she estimated about 100 people in line with her...we didn't speak for long as Ira's hands became quickly cold holding the phone...for two hours and forty-five minutes I waited a little nervously to hear the result of the interview...I popped in a movie to pass the time...I braced myself for the worst...

...at 10:45am local time I heard from Ira again...she was giggling a little when she told me....

VISA Approved!!!

She told me her interview was 2, maybe 3 minutes long. The consul was friendly and he had greeted her with a smile. He asked her for her language preference for the interview...she asked for Russian. (I had tried to convince her to try it in English as she has progressed very quickly and I felt she would be more than capable to answer the questions they had...but she has been a little shy to use the English that she has been studying with me and on her own and insisted that she would rather have a longer interview in a language she understood perfectly than to possibly make mistakes in a language she felt uncomfortable with). The consul obliged her and asked her how we had met...how many times had I been married.....where did I work...and then he pulled out a copy of our Skype chats...we write to each other either when the other is sleeping or on subjects that are beyond our language skills (I speak a little Russian) and we use Google translate. He asked her how do we communicate? She told him my previous spouse was a Russian woman and I had learned a bit of Russian and she had been learning a bit of English. (When I met her she spoke very little English) He said, "Oh really? Let's see" and he switched to English on her and asked her how many times I had come to see her...which she readily answered. He then asked her what we did while I was there...again in English...she stold me that her eyes got a little big when she thought of replying to what we did most of the time we were together...she was about to answer when the consul noticed the small smile and twinkle in her eye and stopped her by asking "You know...like go out...to restaurants, dancing etc?....and to her amazement, the sentences started to roll from her tongue...she described each time we had met and the things we had done and by the time she got to our last meeting in September he stopped her, smiled and told her that her visa was approved. She told me that was a little disappointed that he stopped as she much more to say.

She then asked about her son who she wants to keep in school there until mid June...with a six month expiration on the K visas, she did not want the clock to start until at least the end of December. They told her not a problem, they would hold his passport and issue his visa then. She had been worried that he would have to go to another interview...which would have been problematic for various reasons.

She also told me that there were 6 women applying for K1 visas...she was the 5th to be interviewed. She said that two of the girls were given 221gs, one for more proof of relationship and the other for missing financial supporting documents.

A big Thank You to the Visa Journey veterans for the information to put together a good I-129f petition package and advice for what she should take to the interview. We both went above and beyond what was required...I with front-loading the petition and her with putting a 3 inch thick portfolio and a sack full of pictures.

I am a happy man today...and poor Ira is dead tired and taking an 18 hour train ride back to Volgograd...her choice...she doesn't like to fly.

The next big date is when I fly over there on the 22nd to spend the holidays with her and her family before we start 2012 fresh and together, God willing.

A big "Thanks!" to the regular posters in this forum for their advice through all the threads for the past years....I think I went back as far as 110 pages of threads.

Misha, post your review for the Moscow consulate so others can benefit from your experience! Congratulations!

[baron555 934]

Congrats.....twinkle in her eye? You DA MAN !!!!

The upcoming trip will be very special. Enjoy.

Edited November 28, 2011 by baron555

[Misha & Ira 113]

Misha, post your review for the Moscow consulate so others can benefit from your experience! Congratulations!

Done!

Congrats.....twinkle in her eye? You DA MAN !!!!

The upcoming trip will be very special. Enjoy.

Thanks Baron! 3 weeks... Da....that is the truth....she is a very special woman.

(I had bought the tickets for both us 3 weeks ago Aeroflot is not too bad to change dates with....but still...it was another reason to sweat a little)

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

She is a practicing psychologist....

I can see this is one visa journey that should be interesting. Keep us updated please.

[Misha & Ira 113]

I can see this is one visa journey that should be interesting. Keep us updated please.

When I first knew what she did, I was a little apprehensive...and she promisded that she would know me better than I know myself....a promise she is making good on...

and I have to say....

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

Have you checked int what she will need to do to practice here? Please tell her to bring ANY and ALL educational transcripts and diplomas, certifications, lisences, etc. You can have them translated here and evaluated so she can use them to qualify for positions here. It is often difficult for profesionals to get their credentials recognized, so check into that. Highly educated professional people are not going to be satisfied or happy doing work that does not use their training and education and that is understandable. Alla would love to be a teacher and will probably be one someday, for now she is quite happy doing her interpretation business as it does use what she has been taught and keeps her working with other professionals, she gets to wear nice clothes, etc.

Good luck