Fiancee in St Petersburg needs help with forms

[jft 12]

My finacee's English is not the best and she finds government forms like the DS-156 and DS-230 very confusing even outside of the language difficulty (can't say as I blame her I had to read them several times and look at the examples myself). I've tried emailing her completed PDF files but somehow either my Mac or my email program formats them in a way that she can't open on her PC (she's not the most tech savvy either). We're about 2 weeks out from having the police report which is the only thing besides the forms holding things up. I probably should have filed out everything and sent the completed forms to her with the I-134 but I didn't and I think it would be a lot easier getting help for her than it would be to FedEx her the forms. Is there anyone in the city that might be a good resource for help in completing the forms? Or perhaps is there a detailed online instruction set in Russian I could send her a link to? Any help would be much appreciated!

[1HappyGuy 45]

Have her go to the U.S. Embassy website for Russia. She should be able to get the forms and instructions in Russian. Otherwise, you will need to help her with answers line by line. Try the website first. Maybe find the link to the forms in Russian and send that to her.

[jft 12]

The forms themselves are English-only and the Russian-language help page only states that you need to complete the form (she has seen the page). I've tried the line-by-line explanation but I think I'll need to translate the accompanying explanation part ("enter all your employers for the last 10 years", stuff like that) into Russian or figure out a way to wrangle a PC so I can send her a completed PDF she can open and print.

[baron555 934]

My finacee's English is not the best and she finds government forms like the DS-156 and DS-230 very confusing even outside of the language difficulty (can't say as I blame her I had to read them several times and look at the examples myself). I've tried emailing her completed PDF files but somehow either my Mac or my email program formats them in a way that she can't open on her PC (she's not the most tech savvy either). We're about 2 weeks out from having the police report which is the only thing besides the forms holding things up. I probably should have filed out everything and sent the completed forms to her with the I-134 but I didn't and I think it would be a lot easier getting help for her than it would be to FedEx her the forms. Is there anyone in the city that might be a good resource for help in completing the forms? Or perhaps is there a detailed online instruction set in Russian I could send her a link to? Any help would be much appreciated!

I did the forms here and printed them out and sent them with the package which included my updated letter of intent and the 134 and documentations. Then she only had to sign the documents.

If you can't figure out the emailing of pdfs, then FedEx is your answer......or send to someone else in St. Pete and have her pick them up.

Note the DS-156K is in Russian and can only be downloaded from the Embassy website.

[vbtwo 54]

They link to the English DS-156K now even on the Russian embassy site.

I'm sure you should be able to find both DS-156 and DS-156K in Russian somewhere. DS-230 as far as I know never had a Russian version and is only in English.

Keep in mind that Russia wants you to fill the forms out in English so if you find the Russian version of the form, she should still fill out the English version in English and only use the Russian as a reference to the questions.

For Ukrainians, I have links to DS-156 and DS-156K in Ukrainian (Kiev embassy doesn't link to these anymore for some reason, though they used to). If your fiance doesn't know Ukrainian, don't know how useful it will be.

Ukrainian versions here:

http://photos.state.gov/libraries/ukraine/213088/pdf-files/DS-156_ukr.pdf

http://photos.state.gov/libraries/ukraine/213088/pdf-files/DS-156K_ukr.pdf

[baron555 934]

If your fiancé can not understand the firms as they are in English then you need to help her through them..... However it's done

[xoxoJ 6]

My finacee's English is not the best and she finds government forms like the DS-156 and DS-230 very confusing even outside of the language difficulty (can't say as I blame her I had to read them several times and look at the examples myself). I've tried emailing her completed PDF files but somehow either my Mac or my email program formats them in a way that she can't open on her PC (she's not the most tech savvy either). We're about 2 weeks out from having the police report which is the only thing besides the forms holding things up. I probably should have filed out everything and sent the completed forms to her with the I-134 but I didn't and I think it would be a lot easier getting help for her than it would be to FedEx her the forms. Is there anyone in the city that might be a good resource for help in completing the forms? Or perhaps is there a detailed online instruction set in Russian I could send her a link to? Any help would be much appreciated!

http://russian.moscow.usembassy.gov/iv-fiancee.html

not sure if this link will help but worth checking out

[jft 12]

I thought originally that I could fill the forms out for her and deliver them by email but it appears that the PDF files are locked and can't be saved so that option is out. That leaves either talking her through completing each form which is going to be difficult, finding someone who can help her or filling them out myself and mailing the printed forms to her by FedEx which is going to be expensive. Should have talked to her about this before I sent her the I-134 but at the time I thought that she had figured out the forms and that it would not be a problem.

Any other suggestions before I do the forms myself? Surely there has to be a video in Russian somewhere explaining the forms? I found one in Ukrainian but nothing in Russian.

[Asia 2,498]

You can print the PDFs, fill them manually, then scan them and send them to her as the example of what should be written where.

She could just print the bare PDFs and fill them using your example.

[jft 12]

You can print the PDFs, fill them manually, then scan them and send them to her as the example of what should be written where.

She could just print the bare PDFs and fill them using your example.

That will work for the DS-230 but not for the DS-156 which can only be submitted online and then printed after submission. I've thought about her simply printing the scans and then submitting those but that depends on the quality and configuration of the printer at the internet cafe she uses.

*Sigh*, sometimes it feels like Russia is the moon when it comes to completing the paperwork...

[P A U L 14]

i filled out all the forms my fiancee needed to take to the interview and mailed her a giant packet. it was giant.

[vbtwo 54]

That will work for the DS-230 but not for the DS-156 which can only be submitted online and then printed after submission. I've thought about her simply printing the scans and then submitting those but that depends on the quality and configuration of the printer at the internet cafe she uses.

*Sigh*, sometimes it feels like Russia is the moon when it comes to completing the paperwork...

Fill out DS-156 for her and email her the PDF it gives you. You do not submit the DS-156 online, just fill it out and it generates a filled-in PDF for you. They might save the submissions somewhere tied to the auto-generated barcode, but you can fill it in any amount of times that you want and it doesn't matter who does it. If you want an empty form PDF, just don't fill in anything and submit and it'll give you a blank form you can print out too.

[baron555 934]

That will work for the DS-230 but not for the DS-156 which can only be submitted online and then printed after submission. I've thought about her simply printing the scans and then submitting those but that depends on the quality and configuration of the printer at the internet cafe she uses.

*Sigh*, sometimes it feels like Russia is the moon when it comes to completing the paperwork...

WRONG....the DS-156 is filled out online and then printed from online.....BUT....there is no submission on line. It doesn't go anywhere except on your computer screen. Don't be confused.

You CAN fill it out yourself, print it out and send it for signature and to give at the interview. That's what most folks do.

Fill out DS-156 for her and email her the PDF it gives you. You do not submit the DS-156 online, just fill it out and it generates a filled-in PDF for you. They might save the submissions somewhere tied to the auto-generated barcode, but you can fill it in any amount of times that you want and it doesn't matter who does it. If you want an empty form PDF, just don't fill in anything and submit and it'll give you a blank form you can print out too.

Yes, but you still need to have the barcode inserted and that only occur when someone fills it out and then prints it after it renders itself.

[vbtwo 54]

Yes, but you still need to have the barcode inserted and that only occur when someone fills it out and then prints it after it renders itself.

I see the barcode on the screen after you click submit and it generates the PDF. You can save the generated PDF and email it and it still has the barcode.

[jft 12]

Anyone have any ideas on how to save the DS-230 form so I can email it? It appears to be locked or perhaps Acrobat is getting in the way somehow and preventing me from saving it. Or maybe it's just because I have a Mac perhaps?