Kiev - Original Documents VS Copies for Interview

[CinnamonToast 25]

Hey guys, 

 

Anyone have any experience with Ukraine K-1 process in where they ask for originals vs copies. We've been sitting on the completed documents for little over 5 months and now that we got accepted for an interview we're seeing/hearing that the financial portion of the documents need to be "Original w/ Wet Signature"? She called this morning and they gave her an earful mention that ever single financial document needs to be original with wet signature. She then told her we have (in our case) an I-134f, 2 years worth of taxes, 2 years worth of W2's, Property documents from the county, and a letter of from our VP of HR for employment verification. She then asked the lady working at the Embassy if in fact these 5 documents needed to be all original with wet signature and she told her "YES...ALL THESE FIVE DOCUMENTS ONLY ORIGINAL WITH WET SIGNATURE OR ELSE!!! " 

 

Being that our interview is now 14 days away....Postal mail from US to Ukraine generally speaking these days will not make it in time for me to send originals and honestly I don't really feel comfortable sending tax documents that include SS numbers for everyone. 

 

1. anyone have knowledge about what they really allow (I've read through the documents online on the Embassy site and i can't see anything needing to be "Original with wet signature"...except MAYBE the i-134f. I can't see why a property tax deed to an estate i own needs to be signed by someone important...except the woman on the phone said i would)

2. What do you guys use for fast postal mail...i see my.meesst.us is a contender, i did call them today and she told me that it would take 4 weeks to ship documents from Florida > NJ > Ukraine 

 

Thank you guys!! 

[gregcrs2 1,778]

Use DHL

 

[CinnamonToast 25]

46 minutes ago, gregcrs2 said:

Use DHL

 

Thank you!! 

[CinnamonToast 25]

18 hours ago, CinnamonToast said:

Hey guys, 

 

Anyone have any experience with Ukraine K-1 process in where they ask for originals vs copies. We've been sitting on the completed documents for little over 5 months and now that we got accepted for an interview we're seeing/hearing that the financial portion of the documents need to be "Original w/ Wet Signature"? She called this morning and they gave her an earful mention that ever single financial document needs to be original with wet signature. She then told her we have (in our case) an I-134f, 2 years worth of taxes, 2 years worth of W2's, Property documents from the county, and a letter of from our VP of HR for employment verification. She then asked the lady working at the Embassy if in fact these 5 documents needed to be all original with wet signature and she told her "YES...ALL THESE FIVE DOCUMENTS ONLY ORIGINAL WITH WET SIGNATURE OR ELSE!!! " 

 

Being that our interview is now 14 days away....Postal mail from US to Ukraine generally speaking these days will not make it in time for me to send originals and honestly I don't really feel comfortable sending tax documents that include SS numbers for everyone. 

 

1. anyone have knowledge about what they really allow (I've read through the documents online on the Embassy site and i can't see anything needing to be "Original with wet signature"...except MAYBE the i-134f. I can't see why a property tax deed to an estate i own needs to be signed by someone important...except the woman on the phone said i would)

2. What do you guys use for fast postal mail...i see my.meesst.us is a contender, i did call them today and she told me that it would take 4 weeks to ship documents from Florida > NJ > Ukraine 

 

Thank you guys!! 

**EMBASSY EMAIL UPDATE**

 

They answered my email after 3 days and this is what they said:

 

"I-134 and your financial documents can be copies - no need for originals."

 

 

Best Regards,

 

 

Immigrant Visa Unit

Consular Section

U.S. Embassy, Kyiv, Ukraine

[jandn_ukraine 11]

That is a relief. We have interview in 4 days and just have copies

[CinnamonToast 25]

23 minutes ago, jandn_ukraine said:

That is a relief. We have interview in 4 days and just have copies

She had medical exam today and spoke to two woman and they also mentioned that they were told copies are ok. Good Luck on the interview!!! 

[sweetlana 11]

@CinnamonToast and @jandn_ukraine, when you are done with the interview, please share your experience as we also gonna go through it soon. Thank you and good luck! 🤞

[CinnamonToast 25]

On 10/19/2020 at 11:38 AM, sweetlana said:

@CinnamonToast and @jandn_ukraine, when you are done with the interview, please share your experience as we also gonna go through it soon. Thank you and good luck! 🤞

@sweetlana Did you already go for interview? I hope everything goes well!!!! 

 

For us, she was on time but she had to wait over 2.5 hours while others behind her went first. Full interview was about 25 min, they asked about 20 questions. restaurants were closed around embassy so had to wait outside in the freezing cold. The gentlemen that interviewed her was super nice. We got approved! ❤️ We saw roughly 8 individuals going for visa's and from what we could see by the paper color only 2 got approved.   most were handed sheets of red. I can go into detail about questions if you haven't already gone.

Edited November 3, 2020 by CinnamonToast

[CinnamonToast 25]

On 10/16/2020 at 9:02 AM, jandn_ukraine said:

That is a relief. We have interview in 4 days and just have copies

Congrats on the approved!!!! ❤️ 

[sweetlana 11]

10 hours ago, CinnamonToast said:

@sweetlana Did you already go for interview? I hope everything goes well!!!! 

 

For us, she was on time but she had to wait over 2.5 hours while others behind her went first. Full interview was about 25 min, they asked about 20 questions. restaurants were closed around embassy so had to wait outside in the freezing cold. The gentlemen that interviewed her was super nice. We got approved! ❤️ We saw roughly 8 individuals going for visa's and from what we could see by the paper color only 2 got approved.   most were handed sheets of red. I can go into detail about questions if you haven't already gone.

@CinnamonToast Thank you for the feedback. I really appreciate it.
We have just recently been approved by USCIS. So, I haven't had my interview yet. I was just curious to know what to expect when the time comes. Saying that there were 8 individuals going for visas, do you mean that they all were applying for K-1?
Also, did your fiancee receive the package from the embassy with the checklist and etc. prior to the interview or did she just follow the instructions provided on the website?

[CinnamonToast 25]

1 hour ago, sweetlana said:

@CinnamonToast Thank you for the feedback. I really appreciate it.
We have just recently been approved by USCIS. So, I haven't had my interview yet. I was just curious to know what to expect when the time comes. Saying that there were 8 individuals going for visas, do you mean that they all were applying for K-1?
Also, did your fiancee receive the package from the embassy with the checklist and etc. prior to the interview or did she just follow the instructions provided on the website?

Awesome! Welcome on the approval of your first steps!!! ❤️ @sweetlana

 

Ok for us... we actually never even received NOA2. But here's the process for us. After 797, you should get a NOA2. I suggest your fiancé in Ukraine call the embassy about 2-4 months and ask if there is any update on status. I would be kind on the phone and only ask for updates (that's what we did) 

When we did this...the lady on the phone provided us with our Case number. After you have your case number this when you can schedule your interview. we never received package from ukraine...and actually we already had our case number and would log into the website to check if appointments were available before embassy even notified us that our case was ready.  here's roughly what happened (sorry not good at explaining) 

 

1. March - filed I129f

2. June - Got approval notice from lawyer - you can see this by going too https://egov.uscis.gov/casestatus/landing.do we never got a document though. just an email she said.

3. August - She called embassy to ask for case number by providing her passport number (different then USCIS number) this case will start with KEV if you're doing yours in Kyiv. After getting your case number you can check its' status here (https://ceac.state.gov/CEACStatTracker/Status.aspx?eQs=o/iS8zDpeAKjMWCuebHqOw==) make sure to select the right option.

4. August around the end we saw status changed to READY (can't remember date close to the end of the month)

5. September - start doing your Ds-160  - https://ceac.state.gov/genniv/  -  I RECOMMEND BEFORE YOU'RE DONE...at the end it gives you like a "REVIEW" page of everything you've done. I would do print screen of each of those pages so you and your fiancé can go over the answers...some of the questions on this page were asked by the interviewer. Copy the confirmation page, download it, print it, email it...(everything) LOL

September 25 - still no package from embassy. 

6. https://cgifederal.secure.force.com/ApplicantHome    --- this is the MAIN site you want to check. Here is where you create a profile and put all your information and check to see if interviews are available. This is where you can find out before the embassy tells you. Now...you have to make sure that #4 says ready...your case i believe has to say ready in order to schedule an appointment. in Step #4 our case said ready so that's why we started going to this site.

7. Once you log in on the left side it gave me a little notice like " INTERVIEWS AVAILABLE AS EARLY AS NOV 2ND!" when i logged in one day randomly i saw that and proceeded to go to the appointment calendar. That's when i was able to select my day and time. It only gave me one day option (nov 2nd) and there was only about 10 slots available, after 2 min the slots started to disappear as others were on the site taking appointments too...so you have to be fast)

8. checklist is pretty simple - this is what we used  https://photos.state.gov/libraries/ukraine/181364/visa/kev1eng.pdf

9. Make sure to have your fiancés financial documents perfect. We submitted 2 tax years (full), 2 w-2, Letter head of employment stating how long i've been working there including my yearly salary, any property you might have ( i did print screen of tax collector website for my county to show the house in my name), the most important i-134, copy of bank statements (just the front pages to show accounts and savings) 

10. Remember the I-129F form....expires 4 months after you submit it. Because of coronavirus and everything going on if your case is delayed you will need to make sure you send an email...the Petitioner in United states will have to send the email as they're the ones that created the I-129F form...KyivIV@state.gov   tell him/her to send email here and just say.  

 

"My case number is this and i submitted my documents at this time. This is my passport number and my fiancé passport number...we would like to formally request an extension of our possibly expired I-129F form" 

In a couple days you should get an email back from them saying we will add your request to your case. Make sure to do this before your interview. 2 people that day got RED page because everything was good except their I-129F form was expired and Petitioner in the US had to send an email to the embassy. 

 

Yes, all of them were k-1's...some of them walked out crying and some of them didn't look too upset. my advice....bring supporting documents. Bring a book of pictures to show your relationship...our life for 2 years has been over the phone. Our holidays were spent on Whatsup video and we took screenshots of everything...us eating dinner together, us at Christmas, us at Thanksgiving dinner, us at new years with fireworks from 6000 km away.. i made two 40 page paper photo booths...all scanned photos. i took pictures of my passports visiting her and when we went on vacation. receipts of flowers i sent, receipts of hotels we stayed. I painted a picture of my last 2 years with this woman so she could give to a stranger and see what we did for 2 years....i spent days/weeks on it. There was no way they could deny us and honestly thats what you have to do i think. You have to prove to a random stranger that you are in fact legit. 

 

In her interview he asked her What do you love about him and what do you hate about him....tell them, describe to them how your fiancé makes you feel (she did and it won them over...almost had the interview guy in tears) This has been an insane emotional rollercoaster for sure for both of us. In total she was asked about 20-30 questions...she can't remember she was a ball of stress. 

 

I'm attaching our checklist that i modified for us...it's extensive LOL but you're free to use. again...this was serious for us and I wanted to make sure she was armed with everything possible because i've heard about 50 or more different stories and most of them have been scary. Also for the financial documents like the I-134...you can sign them and email them to the person in Ukraine, Embassy does not need original documents for the financial section they can all be copies. So don't worry about sending sensitive original to ukraine via postal service, financial documents can all be copies. If you have questions you can also email them directly 

 

I think i should create a website on our journey and just point everyone to it. @sweetlana I hope this helps ❤️ Let me know if you have anymore questions!  

 

 

KEV-1_English.pdf L & T's Kyiv K1 Visa Checklist.pdf

[sweetlana 11]

@CinnamonToast Thank you very much for such an extensive response. Super helpful. 

[By ftr 1]

Yeah, Thanks a lot! I have just realized that we also need an extension of our I-129 form. We rely on our attorney with the documents, but honestly, there is no point in getting an attorney. He never told us about this extension and I understand that if I had an interview tomorrow I would have been denied a visa... Unbelievable! He also didn't say that all the documents which are not in English, Ukrainian or Russian should be translated into English. I translated them in Ukrainian and thanks God I saw this information on their website. Do we have to send some documents to the embassy via email? It's the first time I hear about it. Can you tell me what exactly do I need to send? A confirmation page of DS-160 and a checklist which is KEV 1? A confirmation of the interview? A TNT registration? 

[CinnamonToast 25]

8 minutes ago, Uli Mey said:

Yeah, Thanks a lot! I have just realized that we also need an extension of our I-129 form. We rely on our attorney with the documents, but honestly, there is no point in getting an attorney. He never told us about this extension and I understand that if I had an interview tomorrow I would have been denied a visa... Unbelievable! He also didn't say that all the documents which are not in English, Ukrainian or Russian should be translated into English. I translated them in Ukrainian and thanks God I saw this information on their website. Do we have to send some documents to the embassy via email? It's the first time I hear about it. Can you tell me what exactly do I need to send? A confirmation page of DS-160 and a checklist which is KEV 1? A confirmation of the interview? A TNT registration? 

HI @Uli Mey!

We too have a lawyer and we are letting them go. I think it's their fault we do not have a NOA2, paid them money and i ended up finding all the information myself. Hey...they started the process for us...i'm okay finishing it together with my fiancé LOL. just needed help with getting the ball rolling. 

 

1. Do not send any documents to embassy via email or mail unless asked too. 

2. We were told to translate (by lawyer) but in fact if you have any documents in Ukrainian, Russian, or English no translation is needed for any documents (YAY Ukraine!! ). I hear Russian Embassy requires translation at least a couple years ago (:( ) ....We translated zero documents. Medical Documents and Police report 100% Ukrainian. My US documents all English. 

3. I would send the embassy the " Please extend our I-129F expiration" email probably 2-3 weeks prior to interview if you can. Email is KyivIV@state.gov   Make sure the Petitioner does it not the Beneficiary. 

4. i don't understand your last questions... " Can you tell me what exactly do I need to send? A confirmation page of DS-160 and a checklist which is KEV 1? A confirmation of the interview? A TNT registration? "

 

 

[By ftr 1]

Oh, the last question was about if I have to send those documents to the Embassy but you have already answered my question that I don't need to send anything unless asked to. But talking about passport registration. As I understand after I schedule the interview I need to call the Embassy a week before the interview and register my passport for the delivery? I remember I have already chosen the place where I will pick up my passport at the website for scheduling the interview. So it's not all? It's not a registration there?

 

Talking about translation, I had 2 police certificates in Dutch so I thought that I can simply translate them to Ukrainian because they except the documents in Ukrainian but no, I asked the Embassy and if the original document is not in Ukrainian, Russian or English it has to be translated to English only and not Ukrainian.

 

One more question about a medical check up. How many days did you wait for the results? Do they test you for Covid? Do they check your temperature in the Embassy?