Need Advice - Fiancee in Crimea

[Dakine10 5,452]

could she fly to Moscow and then on to Kyiv? and rent flat?

Flights from Moscow to Kiev are currently operating normally. Flights from Kiev to Simferopol are not. My wife is going to Sevastopol, so flying through Moscow is the only option at the moment. We heard the train still runs from Kiev to Simferopol intermittently, but I'm not sure I'd want her to try that. That train is horrible even at the best of times.

[vbtwo 54]

It doesn't matter what the US recognizes it as. You can request to have an interview at any embassy. When you fill out the paperwork, it asks what embassy they should forward the case to after USCIS processes it.

If she's in Crimea, I would request Moscow as she should have an easier time getting there then to Kiev with the current climate.

It will probably take some time for the Russians to grant citizenship to all the citizens in Crimea, then to give them internal passports, and then she would have to apply for an international passport, so I don't know how soon she'll be able to get all this done.

[MikeAndIryna 0]

My In Laws are currently about 90 miles from where the troops are, and they are not letting anyone go to Crimea unless you have a Crimean passport and or Russian passport. Even with the Crimean passport, they want you to convert to Russian. And what ever she does, don't say anything about the referendum and that it's not legit etc. Look what happened to one of the Senators that spoke out and sent a few letters to Poland, Hungary, Romania etc. Not good.

You also mention you porposed in 2012. Have you been back there since so you are keeping current of your 2 year requirement?

[MishaMoose 2]

My In Laws are currently about 90 miles from where the troops are, and they are not letting anyone go to Crimea unless you have a Crimean passport and or Russian passport. Even with the Crimean passport, they want you to convert to Russian. And what ever she does, don't say anything about the referendum and that it's not legit etc. Look what happened to one of the Senators that spoke out and sent a few letters to Poland, Hungary, Romania etc. Not good.

You also mention you porposed in 2012. Have you been back there since so you are keeping current of your 2 year requirement?

That last is part of the pressure. I have not been back since mid-April 2012. I was planning to go again in May.

We need to get the paperwork done, since we had planned on me moving to Crimea at early retirement. Now we are going to try the K1 route as neither of us wants to live in Russia or anyplace that might suddenly “decide” to become Russian.

Hopefully phones will be working when she is done with the current excursion she is leading. Then we can talk and exchange necessary information. If we slide past the 2 year window we will have to arrange for me to go to Crimea or her to someplace in Ukraine, Russia etc.

Many thanks to all for the responses! I expect I wil have more questions as I try to sort this all out.

[Dakine10 5,452]

My In Laws are currently about 90 miles from where the troops are, and they are not letting anyone go to Crimea unless you have a Crimean passport and or Russian passport. Even with the Crimean passport, they want you to convert to Russian. And what ever she does, don't say anything about the referendum and that it's not legit etc. Look what happened to one of the Senators that spoke out and sent a few letters to Poland, Hungary, Romania etc. Not good.

You also mention you porposed in 2012. Have you been back there since so you are keeping current of your 2 year requirement?

Crimea has senators? That's interesting.

What specifically happened?

[Dakine10 5,452]

That last is part of the pressure. I have not been back since mid-April 2012. I was planning to go again in May.

We need to get the paperwork done, since we had planned on me moving to Crimea at early retirement. Now we are going to try the K1 route as neither of us wants to live in Russia or anyplace that might suddenly “decide” to become Russian.

Hopefully phones will be working when she is done with the current excursion she is leading. Then we can talk and exchange necessary information. If we slide past the 2 year window we will have to arrange for me to go to Crimea or her to someplace in Ukraine, Russia etc.

Many thanks to all for the responses! I expect I wil have more questions as I try to sort this all out.

Is she going to opt out of Russian citizenship? Have you heard the time frame for that. We've seen a couple of times that it will be necessary to opt out by next month or else Russian citizenship will be automatic. Hard to verify though as everyone we talk to has heard something different.

[MishaMoose 2]

I know she would prefer not to become Russian. BUT her daughter is about to take exams and graduate from 5^th form (a major milestone I am told) so she will not do anything to upset that process.

We have heard nothing more about when. She and her mom were discussing their options Sunday but we have not spoken since Saturday. Phones and internet are ‘inconsistent’.

I will certainly post if I hear something.

[MikeAndIryna 0]

Crimea has senators? That's interesting.

What specifically happened?

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/24/ukraine-crisis-partition-letter-idUSL5N0ML1LO20140324

[Dakine10 5,452]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/24/ukraine-crisis-partition-letter-idUSL5N0ML1LO20140324

Oh from Russia. I never really know how serious to take guys like this, just like I don't take guys like John McCain that seriously. Looks like a lot of them never made it out of the cold war. Still it's disconcerting that there are people out there who think like that.

I originally thought you meant someone from Crimea did that.

[Dakine10 5,452]

I know she would prefer not to become Russian. BUT her daughter is about to take exams and graduate from 5^th form (a major milestone I am told) so she will not do anything to upset that process.

We have heard nothing more about when. She and her mom were discussing their options Sunday but we have not spoken since Saturday. Phones and internet are ‘inconsistent’.

I will certainly post if I hear something.

It's tough - emotions are high all around right now. Things will have to normalize given time.

We know someone in Simferopol who is Russian and her husband and son are Ukrainian. Her husband is going to get Russian citizenship but their son is not. He attends university in Kharkov and travels back and forth to Crimea every week and has never had any issues.

I do think that Russia will try to get as many Crimean's registered as Russian citizens as fast as possible.

[MikeAndIryna 0]

Oh from Russia. I never really know how serious to take guys like this, just like I don't take guys like John McCain that seriously. Looks like a lot of them never made it out of the cold war. Still it's disconcerting that there are people out there who think like that.

I originally thought you meant someone from Crimea did that.

Read this link and then scroll down where it talks about Reshat Ametov,. They already are segregating Crimea. http://www.rferl.org/content/ukraine-crimean-tatars-ethnic-cleansing/25306118.html

[Dakine10 5,452]

Read this link and then scroll down where it talks about Reshat Ametov,. They already are segregating Crimea. http://www.rferl.org/content/ukraine-crimean-tatars-ethnic-cleansing/25306118.html

It's not like the Tatars had it good to begin with.

Nadir Bekir, a lawyer who heads the Foundation for Research and Support of the Indigenous Peoples of Crimea, says the situation has remained unaltered since the early 1990s, regardless of the political sea changes in Kyiv. "The Communists, the Orange governments, Party of Regions -- nobody did anything," he says. The situation, he adds, has left Crimea's Tatars in a legal black hole that the new authorities will find easy to exploit.

Hopefully Putin sticks to his words. Something I'll be watching closely. The Crimean parliament made a lot of promises to the Tatar people too. We'll see if it was all just talk or not.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, after meeting with Ukrainian lawmaker and Crimean Tatar activist Mustafa Jemilev, acknowledged Crimean Tatars had been treated "unfairly" in the past and promised to "restore their rights and clear their good name."

[vbtwo 54]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/24/ukraine-crisis-partition-letter-idUSL5N0ML1LO20140324

You can't take anything that Zhirinovsky says seriously. He's their main clown in parliament. Everything he says is ridiculous and I think the only reason they keep him is so that they can have some fun in politics. I have yet to hear anything remotely normal come out of his mouth.

[MikeAndIryna 0]

You can't take anything that Zhirinovsky says seriously. He's their main clown in parliament. Everything he says is ridiculous and I think the only reason they keep him is so that they can have some fun in politics. I have yet to hear anything remotely normal come out of his mouth.

He's been around a while and in Putin's circle. Clown or not, he spreads his own form of propoganda that some will lsten too. Just like reading Pravda - it's the antithesis to what we read here.