K1 September 2014 Filers (TSC)

[Mewbear 20]

I pray for you Mewbear. I hope you get approved soon (and everybody else waiting as well).

Thank you, when we first sent the application we thought it was going to be an easy ride, foolish fools!

Rich is leaving July 10th for work and I fear I won't even get to see him before he does

Hope you get your interview soon! I read a lot about Paris' embassy and it sounds like it will be a relatively stress free time

[br9k 23]

Got a form reply both from the senator and the congressman - they "forwarded my inquiry to USCIS and will keep me posted". Whatever that means. Well, thanks for that, I guess.

[av8or1 246]

Got a form reply both from the senator and the congressman - they "forwarded my inquiry to USCIS and will keep me posted". Whatever that means. Well, thanks for that, I guess.

Glad to see that you reached out to contact someone. The answer you got from your respective representatives is typical, so don't let that get to you. The real question is what those respective offices will do once the reply comes back. And BTW, did you send in some type of privacy release form so that they can inquire about your specific petition?

[br9k 23]

Yep, they both had special privacy release/request forms.

Not really hopeful it will make much difference, but at least it feels like I am doing something.

Glad to see that you reached out to contact someone. The answer you got from your respective representatives is typical, so don't let that get to you. The real question is what those respective offices will do once the reply comes back. And BTW, did you send in some type of privacy release form so that they can inquire about your specific petition?

[av8or1 246]

Yep, they both had special privacy release/request forms.

Not really hopeful it will make much difference, but at least it feels like I am doing something.

Yeah, well ultimately it will depend on how much your senator and/or congressman's office gives a cr@p about these issues, unfortunately. That said, did you explain your situation, ergo how long you've waited, the processing time imbalance and the fact that you're officially outside the "normal processing time window" BS? If so, and IF one of those offices gives a hoot, then they should be able to spring into action for you and get something done. Again, it depends entirely on the office....so let us know how it's going.

Still rooting, praying and keeping fingers crossed for all remaining September filers!

[sandra3711 52]

Still rooting, praying and keeping fingers crossed for all remaining September filers!

Your case is at the embassy! Does that mean you guys will make it in time to return together??

[av8or1 246]

Your case is at the embassy! Does that mean you guys will make it in time to return together??

Hey Sandra, yes you are correct. My petition is at the embassy in Moscow. But I kinda feel badly for discussing the subject when there are still those of you who are continuing to wait, even far beyond the amount of time I waited. So I'll make it short; our son David is now an American just the same as any other US citizen. The CRBA on May 7th went well. We are waiting for his US passport to arrive, it should be here by Thursday. Once we have that we can get his Russian International Passport, which will require another two week wait (I paid a ~$300 expedite fee to get the two weeks, otherwise it would have been much longer). With both of those in-hand, David is legal to both depart Russia and enter the USA. I've completed the DS-160, paid the fee and tried to schedule the interview for Elena. But the website stated that they needed to review everything before we can schedule that appointment, so for now we wait. In the end, yes, there is a very real chance that we'll be able to go home together. And *that* is what I fought for so arduously these past few months. So we'll see. Meantime I am staying very busy with general dad duties; I go through various stages of tired, never really sleep enough. The tradeoff for being so tired all of the time is that I'm getting to do way-crazy cool things like teach him about the Roadrunner and Wylie Coyote ... yes I realize that it's absurdly soon for that kind of thing, but why not enjoy it, right?

Ok enough. This was supposed to be short! Again, I'll be around rooting and praying for all of you fellow September filers who have endured so much via such a long wait! You've definitely had it rough! Once everyone is in the US and settled, we all oughta have a meetup somewhere to celebrate the LONG journey!

Edited May 17, 2015 by av8or1

[Mewbear 20]

Hey Sandra, yes you are correct. My petition is at the embassy in Moscow. But I kinda feel badly for discussing the subject when there are still those of you who are continuing to wait, even far beyond the amount of time I waited. So I'll make it short; our son David is now an American just the same as any other US citizen. The CRBA on May 7th went well. We are waiting for his US passport to arrive, it should be here by Thursday. Once we have that we can get his Russian International Passport, which will require another two week wait (I paid a ~$300 expedite fee to get the two weeks, otherwise it would have been much longer). With both of those in-hand, David is legal to both depart Russia and enter the USA. I've completed the DS-160, paid the fee and tried to schedule the interview for Elena. But the website stated that they needed to review everything before we can schedule that appointment, so for now we wait. In the end, yes, there is a very real chance that we'll be able to go home together. And *that* is what I fought for so arduously these past few months. So we'll see. Meantime I am staying very busy with general dad duties; I go through various stages of tired, never really sleep enough. The tradeoff for being so tired all of the time is that I'm getting to do way-crazy cool things like teach him about the Roadrunner and Wylie Coyote ... yes I realize that it's absurdly soon for that kind of thing, but why not enjoy it, right?

Ok enough. This was supposed to be short! Again, I'll be around rooting and praying for all of you fellow September filers who have endured so much via such a long wait! You've definitely had it rough! Once everyone is in the US and settled, we all oughta have a meetup somewhere to celebrate the LONG journey!

Amazing news! I really hope you, Elena and David will be able to fly back together! I'm assuming David is a dual-citizen now? (you said American but later talked about both passports so I was just wondering). Rich and I want to go fo dual-citizenship for our future kids, so I've been looking a lot into it.

Great job on showing your son the finest in this world! I can't wait to raise my children to old school Looney Tunes and Peter Rabbit

Also thank you for still sticking around as you said you would! I can't talk for everybody, but it's really awesome to see that not every VJer are dropping the thread like a hot potato as soon as they get approved

Enjoy the daddyhood! They grow up too fast

[av8or1 246]

Amazing news! I really hope you, Elena and David will be able to fly back together! I'm assuming David is a dual-citizen now? (you said American but later talked about both passports so I was just wondering). Rich and I want to go fo dual-citizenship for our future kids, so I've been looking a lot into it.

Great job on showing your son the finest in this world! I can't wait to raise my children to old school Looney Tunes and Peter Rabbit

Also thank you for still sticking around as you said you would! I can't talk for everybody, but it's really awesome to see that not every VJer are dropping the thread like a hot potato as soon as they get approved

Enjoy the daddyhood! They grow up too fast

Thank you mewbear! Really hoping that y'all are amongst ALL other September filers who receive their approvals this week!

Yes, David will be a dual citizen. We haven't filed for the Russian citizenship yet because they will keep the original Russian birth certificate. And you MUST have the ORIGINAL birth certificate for the CRBA and when applying for the Russian International Passport. So once we have those secured, we'll apply for Russian citizenship; but not until then. You and Rich can certainly do this too, if you want. Elena and I had researched it and if David had been born in TEXAS as we had originally planned (thanks TSC!) then we would have filed at the Russian embassy in Houston. However thanks to the TSC we were given the opportunity to do the reverse; and at a *considerably* higher expense I might add! I realize that each country is different WRT how they view the whole dual citizenship thing, but from what I recall most are open to it in these situations. In our case, both countries would have preferred one or the other, but they were willing to accept our son having both. So he will.

Yeah the Looney Tunes are the best. Roadrunner was my favorite, but I liked them all!

Absolutely, I am here for y'all, FWIW. Like I say once all is said and done we must do a meetup!

[br9k 23]

AFAIK a Russian citizen born in Russia is considered a Russian resident, which affects how he is treated by the consulate in US in terms of continued passport availability (which you will need to deal with in 5 years). Those not "permanently living abroad" need to wait considerably longer for a new passport.

Also, I am sure you are aware - but just in case, don't forget the whole new Russian "dual citizen registration" thing. Can't leave the country without it, children included.

(I know, offtopic here - but there isn't much to say on-topic right about now)

Edited May 17, 2015 by br9k

[vickie1974 1]

8 months 2 day, god I pray our approval will be this week !!!!!

[av8or1 246]

AFAIK a Russian citizen born in Russia is considered a Russian resident, which affects how he is treated by the consulate in US in terms of continued passport availability (which you will need to deal with in 5 years). Those not "permanently living abroad" need to wait considerably longer for a new passport.

Also, I am sure you are aware - but just in case, don't forget the whole new Russian "dual citizen registration" thing. Can't leave the country without it, children included.

(I know, offtopic here - but there isn't much to say on-topic right about now)

Hey br9k-

No problem, I agree, not much to talk about, so thank you for the feedback. To speak openly I don't know much about what you have spoken; I am just going by the website and by what they told me during the CRBA. And that is simple: to leave Russia our son needs either an exit visa in Elena's International passport or he needs his own Russian International Passport. We opted to go the latter route. To enter the US, he needs his US passport. Simple. My recollection from the CRBA is that it's a full 10-year American passport, but I could have misunderstood that. When I go to pick it up this week, I'll ask to see exactly what I need to do, if anything, in 5 or 10 years from now. But according to the CO who conducted the CRBA interview, our son is an American, the same as anyone else and can have a passport like anyone else, no restrictions. Again, I'll need to verify that. Never heard of the "dual citizen registration" thing, don't know what that is. It's not on the website and the CO didn't mention it. I specifically asked her if all we needed was the Russian International Passport for our son to be eligible to leave Russia and she said 'yes'. So ... I dunno. I mean the Russian International passport government office knows that he is an American because they said that they'll need to see his passport before they'll issue one themselves. So ... I dunno. Different office where it needs to be reported now? Gonna have to Google it tomorrow as well as ask the embassy this week.

Confused now...

Edited May 17, 2015 by av8or1

[sandra3711 52]

Hey Sandra, yes you are correct. My petition is at the embassy in Moscow. But I kinda feel badly for discussing the subject when there are still those of you who are continuing to wait, even far beyond the amount of time I waited. So I'll make it short; our son David is now an American just the same as any other US citizen. The CRBA on May 7th went well. We are waiting for his US passport to arrive, it should be here by Thursday. Once we have that we can get his Russian International Passport, which will require another two week wait (I paid a ~$300 expedite fee to get the two weeks, otherwise it would have been much longer). With both of those in-hand, David is legal to both depart Russia and enter the USA. I've completed the DS-160, paid the fee and tried to schedule the interview for Elena. But the website stated that they needed to review everything before we can schedule that appointment, so for now we wait. In the end, yes, there is a very real chance that we'll be able to go home together. And *that* is what I fought for so arduously these past few months. So we'll see. Meantime I am staying very busy with general dad duties; I go through various stages of tired, never really sleep enough. The tradeoff for being so tired all of the time is that I'm getting to do way-crazy cool things like teach him about the Roadrunner and Wylie Coyote ... yes I realize that it's absurdly soon for that kind of thing, but why not enjoy it, right?

Ok enough. This was supposed to be short! Again, I'll be around rooting and praying for all of you fellow September filers who have endured so much via such a long wait! You've definitely had it rough! Once everyone is in the US and settled, we all oughta have a meetup somewhere to celebrate the LONG journey!

Don't ever feel bad about talking about your own journey when this really could have happened to anyone of us. I am so excited for you, and so thankful for everything that you have done for the TSC sufferers as a community, and without your efforts I highly doubt any reform within USCIS would have happened. Crossing my fingers that you guys make it in time, and I gotta say, David is sooooo adorable and you guys are very blessed! Enjoy your remaining stay in Russia

Also wanted to wish the rest of us that remain a positive week with hopefully many approvals. And!! Sending good luck wishes to @wbeem who's interviewing in London today. I've been looking forward to hear about your approval and visa-in-hand, Lee Thanks for sticking around with the rest of us!

[wbeem 568]

I'm also worried about making those waiting feel worse but I'm posting because this is the group of people who stood by us While we waited so long for our approval. This essentially became our thread.

I have my interview today. It's been a long road to get to this point but I haven't forgotten all of you who stood by us with encouragement and support. You're an awesome group. On behalf of William and myself, a big thank you!!

[wbeem 568]

Thank you Sandra. I thought I'd quoted you but I messed it up.

I've had lots of coffee - too much in fact - and aside from feeling like I'm going to throw up I'm all ready lol