Danichek

I appreciate the information given here. My concern at going to the airport is that someone might try to put stress on my pregnant wife. She has a state issued driver's licence that expired with her visa. I do not want a security screener try and detain her and risk a miscarriage or premature labor. Thank you for your advise and suggestions!

My wife and I are wondering if she can fly to Dallas to visit with her friend. We are going through the AOS process where we also applied for EAD and travel permission. She has already had her biometrics appointment as well. The thing is that by all appearances, she is in this country illegally. This is even though we have applied for the AOS before her visa has expired.

If she were to go to an airport and be asked to show identification, her visa will show that it is expired. We are wanting to travel to Dallas for her friend's wedding. Is there anything the USCIS can give to show that my wife is here legally while pending approval of the AOS? Or will the airline let her on even with an expired visa? I do not want to drive the 10 hours with a pregnant woman, so the advise about just driving there is not a good option at this point.

Congratulations to Austin_Volgograd My fiancee got here a week ago and it feels like we are newlyweds. I wish the best of luck to you. I know you were cutting it close with getting the visa before your travel date.

I agree with Jim, things should go quicker now. You should be looking at around 2 months from now for an interview, depending upon the case load at the Moscow Embassy. You can start to prepare documents now for that day. Tell your fiancee to not worry too much about the interview. The interviews have been easy as of late. Also congratulations to Jim & Tonja on passing the interview

I have seen 2 or 3 recent articles on this subject. With the growing immigration debate, I wonder what the future of immigration may look like in another 10 years. Although IMBRA has not hindered marriage to law abiding citizens to this point, will Congress try to put a cap on how many petitions will be approved in the future? If illegal immigration were not such a problem, would people like this sick woman even be heard? It almost feels like we are going through the McCarthy era or Salem witch hunts once again, and villifying or accusing people of doing something they are innocent of out of simple ignorance.

Fortunately for all of us, we are still able to marry the person we love, even if they are from a different country. My big concern is for the people yet to go through the journey that we are going through. How difficult will it be for these people to marry the person of their dreams regardless of national boundaries?

I think you need to take a more positive attitude now. Even this past week I was thinking how nothing went smoothly in my own life. It felt as though I had to fight for everything I wanted. Then on Thursday my fiancee had her visa in her hand. It was like a big weight being lifted off of my shoulders.

If the NVC now has your approved petition, start getting prepared for the interview. You will need to send her a complete copy of your K-1 petition, the NOA-2, and I-134 affidavit of support. You will need to send all the supporting documentation as well.

You can also begin work on the DS-230, DS-156, and DS-156K. Your fiancee will not get the packet 3 or 4 letter until about 3 weeks before the interview. The Embassy told us to just have the forms ready in case we never get the letter. Also try to get the Police Certificate at least a month before the interview. This was one potential heartbreak for us as the police officer delayed my fiancees report as he tried picking her up.

As far as I know, answering yes to question 1 does not affect your chances of approval. You just need to provide detail information on the agency. As far as questions 2 & 3 go, just leave them blank. With me, we met through an Internet dating site. I answered no to question 1 because I felt that the agency charged the same fees to both Americans and men from other countries. Also they had a couple of mens profiles on the site, so I assumed they charge American women the same fee.

We were approved post-IMBRA. The Moscow Embassy interview was easy for all of the women that my fiancee went into the interview with. They asked her how we met, and she told them that we initially met through the Internet. My fiancee gave no further details except when we actually met in person.

This reply is mainly for travlnmannn, so congratulations to the two of you. You have a date to mark down on your calendar! Our fiancee's had interviews on October 16 and passed. Three days later, my fiancee sent me a text message saying she had her visa in hand. It was like a weight being lifted off my shoulders after a 7 month journey so far. So I wish you the best when she arrives to Chicago.

As for the original post, I hope that Cam is joking in some way. Leaving the woman you love and not knowing when you will meet again is a very touching moment. I still remember seeing Irina for the last time as she saw me off at the Moscow airport before taking the 12 hour train ride back to where she lives in Cheboksary. It is a memory I will cherish forever. I thank him for this post by giving me the chance to remember my last sight of Irina. It is a nice, warm thought as I await her arrival to me on Thursday October 26, just a few days away.

We were in the same situation that you are currently in. Irina finally got packet 3 about 2 weeks before the interview. What we did was use the US Embassy website and gather all the information we needed.

They list 5 different medical clinics. Simply call one of the clinics and set up an appointment. No documents needed from the US Embassy. You will need to provide 2 passport size photos for the medical exam.

Remember that you can work on the other forms now instead of waiting for the letter from the US Embassy. You can prepare the forms DS-230, DS-156, and DS-156K now without waiting for the letter. good luck to you.

I also found out by emailing the US Embassy in Moscow. I emailed them one week after the petition left the NVC about my fiancee's change of address. I got an email back from them 2 days after I emailed them with an interview date in the reply. As others have mentioned, you can also check the appointment schedule.

Congratulations to a fellow member with a Russian fiancee. My petition was received one day after yours. I cannot wait to read about the joy you will feel being approved by the US Embassy. I can tell you from first hand experience how happy it is. Good luck to you on the rest of the journey!

Holy cow did you have a long wait! Our petition was sent back in April, today we got the visa approval. I can only congratulate you for finally being approved after such a long wait. I hope the rest of the process is speedy for you.

Hi to all! I posted under the consulate section, but I am also posting here to let you know about the interview at the Moscow Embassy.

Irina has her interview today. She SMS me when she passed. She told me that all of the women that were interviewed passed. It only lasted about a couple of hours for the 10 of them. This should be encouraging to the rest of you. Basically, be prepared to answer how you met. They surprised me by asking about our age difference. I am 10 years older than Irina.

Other than that, as long as you have your documents and money, be prepared to be issued a visa. She described the wokers as being very friendly as well. It was nice to hear that they made a stressful process easier for her and the other women. Good luck to the rest of you going through this long journey

--I talked to my fiancee. She told me the questions that were asked at her interview. She also told me that 10 women were scheduled at the same time with other people scheduled every half-hour after that.

-- She was asked four questions: How did we meet; How many times have we met; Is a 10 year age difference a problem for her; and she was asked jokingly to whom was she married before (she got divorced 5 years ago).

-- The way she described the process to me, the embassy employee first asked to see all of her documents. They took one picture of the two of us together, looked at the phone records and a couple of emails, and just noticed the stack of bank statements. They really didn't go through the financial documents. I think she mentioned them looking at the 2005 tax return but that was about it. After looking at the documents, they asked her to pay the $100 fee. At that point, she knew that she would pass the interview.

-- I hope this will help some of you. It was encouraging to know that all of the women that went in for the interview passed. It did not take any of them long.

I feel for you. You had the fond memories of your first visit, and you had high expectations of your second visit. However, you do have to remember that once you leave, she still has the same problem. How is she going to support her child and herself? Being a single mother is not easy, especially when you have no job.

What you might want to do is be supportive of her. You could do such things as go food shopping together or even make dinner for her. By showing what is in your heart, it can speak volumes. People do act differently when they are under a lot of stress. If you show some compassion, it should be rewarded in the end.

I cannot imagine how it has been for the two of you. I am looking at seeing my love in a couple of weeks while you are still waiting to just get the petition out of California. I do pray that everything will be smooth sailing from here. These long distance relationships really suck after a while. Good luck!

I agree with what was said. The best thing is to go to the interview without the police certificate. The Embassy should should postpone issuing the visa until you submit the police certificate. It is not the end of the world right now.

Also she needs to go to her local police office to get the police record. She cannot get in in Moscow. This means that she will need to travel to her hometown, pay the bribe, get the police certificate and either DHL or hand the police certificate to the US Embassy.

I know how you feel about lawyers. I hired one when I shouldn't have. After our approval from the USCIS, the lawyer has been pretty much useless. It took knowledge on my part to prepare for Irina's interview on Monday. Good luck with everything!

My father is deceased, so that is what I put for City and State of residence. With the address, my fiancee lives in an apartment, which is very common in Russia. Your fiancee may live in a small village, but if she lives in an apartment as most Russians do, just put the street, house and flat number. The next line you write down the city, republic and 6 digit postal code. The last line is the country. If you want an example, look at the US Embassy in Moscow address. It can be found by going to their website.

I guess it is a small world. My fiancee's interview is also on October 16. I think there are 15 interviews scheduled for that day, or at least according to the embassy's website. We have her medical scheduled for Thursday October 12. We are not worried about the interview since Irina is fluent in English, and we have plenty of documents supporting our ongoing relationship and the income requirements. I also heard that as long as you can convince them of the ongoing relationship, there is nothing to worry about. Good Luck!

I was approved by not answering the question. There is no space for no or N/A. I left it blank.

I did not check anything on my RFE and got approved. I did however send my RFE back using certified mail. This way I knew they got it and who signed for it. I hope this helps you. Good luck!

This whole process sucks for me. It has really tried my patience. USCIS knew about IMBRA for months, yet did nothing about it. There is also a big disparity between the processing times between the service centers and now at the CSC itself. I thought they would go by first in- first out. Now you see that they could care less about the lives they affect. I am just glad that I am now dealing with the State Department. They have proved to be easier to deal with.

I would be upset if I were in your shoes. You filed the petition back in January. Now you are being told that maybe next January you will have your interview. I guess there is nothing else you can really do but wait. At least you are seeing each other in the mean time. Keep your spirits up, and hopefully in the future you will look back and appreciate what your love had to survive.

I am not sure if your birth certificate was issued by the hospital or the state you were born in. If it was issued by the hospital, the birth certificate is unacceptable. If it was issued by the state, it should have a file number and raised seal. If you need a state issued birth certificate, go to www.vitalcheck.com. This may have been the problem.

I went ahead and signed your petition. It absolutely sucks that the California Service Center is taking so long. Not only that, but they are also being random in who they approve. I seen a few applications from May being approved where March and April petitions are still waiting. I would not mind the wait as long as they were treating people equally. The fact that Vermont approves most applications sooner than California is also another sore spot. If Vermont is so far ahead, why can't they transfer some California applications over there?

By the way David, I noticed that we had very similar timelines up until my NOA-2 on August 1. I pray that you are approved soon. I know that the holidays are right around the corner. When I first applied for the K-1, I was estimating her arrival to be in early September, not 2 months later. Best of luck with the petition and thank you for your effort.