The Kyiv Beat......

[payxibka 10,047]

Hey a question regarding the SSN. Is it better to wait until after Marriage to apply? This way would avoid the name change situation later. Any thoughts? Wisconsin doesn't require a SSN for the Marriage license.

While it shouldn't matter when you apply for the SSN (as long as it is BEFORE day 76 after her arrival in the country). There have been stories that the name change gives the SSA incredible "heartburn' because it no longer matches what is in the system. Bite the bullet and do it before. Anyways you need to go back to SSA when AOS is approved informing them of change in immigration status, so do the name change then....

Edited August 17, 2007 by fwaguy

[etripke 0]

Hey a question regarding the SSN. Is it better to wait until after Marriage to apply? This way would avoid the name change situation later. Any thoughts? Wisconsin doesn't require a SSN for the Marriage license.

While it shouldn't matter when you apply for the SSN (as long as it is BEFORE day 76 after her arrival in the country). There have been stories that the name change gives the SSA incredible "heartburn' because it no longer matches what is in the system. Bite the bullet and do it before. Anyways you need to go back to SSA when AOS is approved informing them of change in immigration status, so do the name change then....

Ok, sounds good. I knew I'd get a reply from you...you haven't let us down yet.

Thanks

[RobandTania 1]

Hey a question regarding the SSN. Is it better to wait until after Marriage to apply? This way would avoid the name change situation later. Any thoughts? Wisconsin doesn't require a SSN for the Marriage license.

I had Tania get her SSN as soon as possible to open a bank account, use her name for cable service, and to be ready if work she wants becomes available. This is all because of Tania's very independent nature. She's always worked and contributed to the household, and has been working as a book-keeper for years. She will be in charge of paying the bills and so on.

The name change is a non-issue, I think it can be done via mail very easy.

Rob & Tania

Edited August 18, 2007 by SkyMas

[Leeinatlanta 0]

Hello all..

Well this is my first post, so let me catch everyone up.

We (Vika and myself) have been working on this for about 5 months so far. Today she had her medical appointment in Kiev. Not bad, although she had a very long round-trip by train from Kharkov.

The interview is scheduled for Sept 17. I will be meeting her in Kiev so that I can accompany her.

So, things are finally getting exciting. I guess the only thing I am worried about now is all of the paperwork that we need for the interview. Any suggestions on organizing it would be appreciated.

I am planning on returning to Kiev in 2 weeks to bring her America. I had a question about immigration at JFK. I have read some posts, but as I recall, U.S. Citizens are sent to one side, and everyone else to the other side. I am a little worried about sending her alone.

In any case, I have been reading everyone's posts for a while, and I appreciate all of the information!

-Lee (and Vika)

[bcartr 0]

Hello all..

Well this is my first post, so let me catch everyone up.

We (Vika and myself) have been working on this for about 5 months so far. Today she had her medical appointment in Kiev. Not bad, although she had a very long round-trip by train from Kharkov.

The interview is scheduled for Sept 17. I will be meeting her in Kiev so that I can accompany her.

So, things are finally getting exciting. I guess the only thing I am worried about now is all of the paperwork that we need for the interview. Any suggestions on organizing it would be appreciated.

I am planning on returning to Kiev in 2 weeks to bring her America. I had a question about immigration at JFK. I have read some posts, but as I recall, U.S. Citizens are sent to one side, and everyone else to the other side. I am a little worried about sending her alone.

In any case, I have been reading everyone's posts for a while, and I appreciate all of the information!

-Lee (and Vika)

Lee,

First of all congratulations so far on where you are at in the process.

We recently came from Kiev and JFK so I can tell you about our experience.

When you arrive in Kiev (the embassy) you will not be able to accompany her in the interview. Although I do believe you can go into the embassy and wait for her. The key here, is that you have all the documents in order, if you do, they will ask her the least amount of questions. They asked my Anya Zero questions

Here is a topic that might be of interest to you as well.

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.ph...49639&st=75

You may want to read it from the beginning, but it is specific to Kiev.

I did not accompany Anya to her interview, instead I went there for her trip to get to the USA.

In JFK, yes there is 2 lines, one for the US Citizens and one for all others. The left is for US Citizens and the right for all others. (but it could change as I could swear a few months back it was opposite.

It took her about 1 hour just to get through the line and meet a immigration agent. When she did get there, they asked her for the envelope (the one your not supposed to open). They said NOTHING to her, spent about 10 minutes with her, then accompanied her to a "second immigration control check" which is a room directly behind the immigration post.

You could go in there, but dont test your luck, I was told off when trying to leave to check on the luggage.

I used this time to get our luggage and put on a cart. I was able to stand on the backside of the immigration line to watch for Anya as she talked to the immigration folks. I was told by someone else, that I could have gotten in line with her after I passed. So you may want to check up on that as well.

She spent about 30 to 45 minutes in this room, where again, they told her nothing. To me, they sent all K1 visa's to this room. After the wait, they gave her, her passport back with the appropriate stamps, she was then ok to leave. This made us pretty late to get to our plane. Bonus, use this 1 to 2 hours to talk "nicely" to the agents near the baggage claim area. I talked to one about my incident in the room, and fortunately for me, he was the guy that would "check" our bags. He did not check one bag when we left so that was nice.

Anyways, if you have any other questions you can send me a PM or post in the Kiev Beat post.

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=49639

Best wishes to both of you!

T.

[payxibka 10,047]

Hello all..

Well this is my first post, so let me catch everyone up.

We (Vika and myself) have been working on this for about 5 months so far. Today she had her medical appointment in Kiev. Not bad, although she had a very long round-trip by train from Kharkov.

The interview is scheduled for Sept 17. I will be meeting her in Kiev so that I can accompany her.

So, things are finally getting exciting. I guess the only thing I am worried about now is all of the paperwork that we need for the interview. Any suggestions on organizing it would be appreciated.

I am planning on returning to Kiev in 2 weeks to bring her America. I had a question about immigration at JFK. I have read some posts, but as I recall, U.S. Citizens are sent to one side, and everyone else to the other side. I am a little worried about sending her alone.

In any case, I have been reading everyone's posts for a while, and I appreciate all of the information!

-Lee (and Vika)

If you are with her ask the crowd control officer if she can accompany you in the USC line... I did and they allowed it... but it is best to ask to be sure

Edited August 28, 2007 by fwaguy

[bcartr 0]

I think I am going crazy, I could have sworn I put my post above in the January filers post directing Lee here.

I guess I need more sleep!

LOL

[etripke 0]

I called NVC yesterday and was told we were received on Wednesday the 22nd. I now have our KEV number, and when I asked if it had been forwrded to the Embassy was told it is still in "Administrative Processing". This of course didn't sit well with me and I did a bit of searching here about this. From what I gather, everyone goes through it. I guess there seems to be some variation of thought on "Admin Processing vs. Admin Review" as some say they are the same, others say they are different. In any case I'm keeping an open mind to it, and read later that they do not assign Embassy case numbers if it is being held up for some reason.

Any of you guys heard this .....Jon? .....Master of the VJ Ukrainian Information Center??

In any case Lena and I are VERY pleased to have the Embassy number. I see that AP/AR has become fairly common for the Russian Fiancees or anyone who has previous K-1's. Neither of us fall into that catagory.

Eric

[payxibka 10,047]

I called NVC yesterday and was told we were received on Wednesday the 22nd. I now have our KEV number, and when I asked if it had been forwrded to the Embassy was told it is still in "Administrative Processing". This of course didn't sit well with me and I did a bit of searching here about this. From what I gather, everyone goes through it. I guess there seems to be some variation of thought on "Admin Processing vs. Admin Review" as some say they are the same, others say they are different. In any case I'm keeping an open mind to it, and read later that they do not assign Embassy case numbers if it is being held up for some reason.

Any of you guys heard this .....Jon? .....Master of the VJ Ukrainian Information Center??

In any case Lena and I are VERY pleased to have the Embassy number. I see that AP/AR has become fairly common for the Russian Fiancees or anyone who has previous K-1's. Neither of us fall into that catagory.

Eric

AP is something every case file goes through... I relate this to a checklist that needs to be completed... The $100K question is what are the items on the checklist... Do they do name checks on the USC? on the beneficiary? else? If the USC is a law enforcement type does it slow it down? What if the alien fiance(e) had some sort of high powered job in some sort of sensitive area (military, nuclear, else) what if any effect does that have on the speed of completing the checklist.... I do not know. It seems most case files clear in 7-10 days for people filing for beneficiaries in Ukraine.

E, if I were a betting man I would bet your case file is completed and processed by the end of the week... I would expect that you should be able to contact the call center and schedule your interview on about Sep 10 and Lena could have her interview on or before Oct 15th...

[etripke 0]

I called NVC yesterday and was told we were received on Wednesday the 22nd. I now have our KEV number, and when I asked if it had been forwrded to the Embassy was told it is still in "Administrative Processing". This of course didn't sit well with me and I did a bit of searching here about this. From what I gather, everyone goes through it. I guess there seems to be some variation of thought on "Admin Processing vs. Admin Review" as some say they are the same, others say they are different. In any case I'm keeping an open mind to it, and read later that they do not assign Embassy case numbers if it is being held up for some reason.

Any of you guys heard this .....Jon? .....Master of the VJ Ukrainian Information Center??

In any case Lena and I are VERY pleased to have the Embassy number. I see that AP/AR has become fairly common for the Russian Fiancees or anyone who has previous K-1's. Neither of us fall into that catagory.

Eric

AP is something every case file goes through... I relate this to a checklist that needs to be completed... The $100K question is what are the items on the checklist... Do they do name checks on the USC? on the beneficiary? else? If the USC is a law enforcement type does it slow it down? What if the alien fiance(e) had some sort of high powered job in some sort of sensitive area (military, nuclear, else) what if any effect does that have on the speed of completing the checklist.... I do not know. It seems most case files clear in 7-10 days for people filing for beneficiaries in Ukraine.

E, if I were a betting man I would bet your case file is completed and processed by the end of the week... I would expect that you should be able to contact the call center and schedule your interview on about Sep 10 and Lena could have her interview on or before Oct 15th...

Thanks Jon, I'll call NVC on Friday and see where things are at. I hope and pray you're right about the interview I'd really like her to be here by Thanksgiving.

E.

[bgreed 0]

Need some info I leave on Tuesday next week to get married in Ukraine. I know we have to go to the US Embassy to get my no impediment paperwork, but for some reason I cannot remember the name of the office we need to go to for Ukraine permission to marry. Anybody know ?

[JoeMama 0]

Quick POE review/experience. Landed at Chicago O'Hare. Got to Customs/Immigrations. An officer directed US citizens to one line, immigrants/visa holders to another line. I asked the officer about K-1 visa holders, he directed my fiancee' to a line. He told me by all means, certainly accompany my fiancee'. I was happy that I didn't have to ask. Waited to together in line for about 5 minutes. Got the next available immigration officer. Karolina gave her the sealed envelope from the embassy. Officer looked at them, asked us 3 questions:

1) How did you meet?

2) To Karolina: Do you have any children?

3) When is the wedding date?

After sorting through to make sure all the documents were there, she said "Welcome To America" and sent us on our way. 10 minutes total time. Grabbed our luggage from the carousel, ran through the scanner, out the door we went. No problems at all. Very fast, efficient, professional.

[bcartr 0]

Quick POE review/experience. Landed at Chicago O'Hare. Got to Customs/Immigrations. An officer directed US citizens to one line, immigrants/visa holders to another line. I asked the officer about K-1 visa holders, he directed my fiancee' to a line. He told me by all means, certainly accompany my fiancee'. I was happy that I didn't have to ask. Waited to together in line for about 5 minutes. Got the next available immigration officer. Karolina gave her the sealed envelope from the embassy. Officer looked at them, asked us 3 questions:

1) How did you meet?

2) To Karolina: Do you have any children?

3) When is the wedding date?

After sorting through to make sure all the documents were there, she said "Welcome To America" and sent us on our way. 10 minutes total time. Grabbed our luggage from the carousel, ran through the scanner, out the door we went. No problems at all. Very fast, efficient, professional.

Glad it was a non event for both of you.

Welcome to America, now go have some fun!

Regards,

T.

[bcartr 0]

Need some info I leave on Tuesday next week to get married in Ukraine. I know we have to go to the US Embassy to get my no impediment paperwork, but for some reason I cannot remember the name of the office we need to go to for Ukraine permission to marry. Anybody know ?

I believe that office in Ukraine is called Zaggs, but I will clarify when I get the chance.

T.

[etripke 0]

Quick POE review/experience. Landed at Chicago O'Hare. Got to Customs/Immigrations. An officer directed US citizens to one line, immigrants/visa holders to another line. I asked the officer about K-1 visa holders, he directed my fiancee' to a line. He told me by all means, certainly accompany my fiancee'. I was happy that I didn't have to ask. Waited to together in line for about 5 minutes. Got the next available immigration officer. Karolina gave her the sealed envelope from the embassy. Officer looked at them, asked us 3 questions:

1) How did you meet?

2) To Karolina: Do you have any children?

3) When is the wedding date?

After sorting through to make sure all the documents were there, she said "Welcome To America" and sent us on our way. 10 minutes total time. Grabbed our luggage from the carousel, ran through the scanner, out the door we went. No problems at all. Very fast, efficient, professional.

Good Deal Joe, glad you made it ok. Now get some rest and begin your new life!