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| Ukraine |  Review on August 4, 2009: |
Rating:  | Review Topic: IR-1/CR-1 Visa
This is a horror story and kind of long. We received our appt letter on May 12th for an appt on June 10th at 8am. Our case is very unusual. My husband and I were married in the States over 2 years ago. When we filed for adjustment of status in the states we found out he was subject to the 2 year foreign residency requirement (section 212e) because he came as an exchange student to the states for one month 11 years before. So in order to complete the adjustment of status he would need to complete 2 years abroad in his home country. Forturnately he was home for 15 months before returning to study at a university, so ONLY 9 months to complete.
My husband was born in Ukraine but has Russian citizenship since he was living in Siberia when he was 16.
Somehow are appt was in Kiev, so we show up, we are the first ones back to the immigrant visa section and had to turn the lights on for Igor. He sees my husband is russian and asks why he is in Kiev (only speaking Russian), well we only showed up to where we were asked to come to. So he has to go ask someone else if this is okay that they conduct the interview in Kiev, turns out okay since it says so on the paper, duh. Then Igor continues to look at every page in the folder about 5 times each. He is asking me if I have ever been to Russia, if it my first time in Ukraine, if I am still working in the states. Igor starts asking for my husbands I-20's, his proof of enrollment in college. We did not have these since we only brought what the appt letter told us to bring. He asks for the military records, which states on the appt letter that it does not pertain to our case, BUT Igor still wants them even though he saw on the page that we were not asked to get this doc. Then he asks for the Russian police certificate and the Ukrainian police certificate. We were not required to get the Ukrainian police cert since my husband has not lived in Ukraine since the age of 8, but we still got it. But now Igor needs this translated into English even though it states on the State Dept Website "Note: All documents not in English or in the official language of the country in which the interview takes place MUST be accompanied by a certified translation into English. Translations must be certified by a competent translator and sworn to before a Notary Public." http://travel.state.gov/visa/immigrants/info/info_3741.html
I thought Ukrainian was the official language of Ukraine but Don't trust that! Igor also needed the Ukrainian birth certificate translated too. We stood there for 45 mins before we took a seat. Then 15 mins later this fake blondy calls us back to the window with Igor and tells my husband with great glee that he is subject to the 2 year foreign residency requirement, he tells her that he is aware, which is why we are here and shows her the entry/exit stamps in his passport, so she shut up. So I asked what is the problem here? Are you trying to find out if he was ever unlawfully present in the states? She says, "we are trying to see if he was ever illegal in the states" (I think a simple Yes would have done) So i said, well it would have been nice to know to bring all other documents instead of the ones we were only told to bring. She says, "Well you should have inquired" Not sure what to think of this response, I could have inquired about a million things. My husband did have his college transcript, but blondy says, (in a proud voice) "Well I STUDIED IN THE STATES TOO and I had friends who did not register at school, blah blah blah, which is BS, since after 2001 all I20's were barcoded making it almost impossible to be legally present in the states as a student without being in school. So evidently now in Ukraine one girl's personal experience is policy.
We sat down, waited another hour, watching the video tape loop, we have no idea what is happening. Then he got called for his fingerprints and then he gets called back to the actual Immigration Officer, who is American, I walk back with him, but he said "It will just be us talking", so I was like okeedokee, so i went back to my seat, but from where I was sitting I could hear everything, because nothing is private in this place. And this guy was asking about the number of credit hours Dmitry took 10 years ago, some of which were not showing full time since he failed a couple of classes and it was transfer credits from a different school, he asked why he did not come home after he graduated (because we got married), meaning these people did not have any idea that we previously filed for adjustment of status in the states. It's a shame that USCIS, the NVC and the embassies have no idea what the other is doing. But dont trust anything that the NVC says, we called 3 times about the Ukr police cert and they said we did not need it. If you can get a doc, get it! And don't get Igor! So to conclude, the American asked him to get the Russian military record, Ukrainian police cert translated and birth cert translated. They kept his passport, we went outside paid for the courier service. A month later, after my husband went to russia to get the military record, when all the docs were ready, he turned them into the guard station and a week and half later we got a call saying his docs were ready and they would be in Zhytomyr, so we had to go pick them up from this guy waiting in his car with all the documents laid out infront of him and my husbands passport in his hand, kinda sketchy, but the VISA inside! We are going home in 2 days!
Rating of 1 only for the American working there 
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #4810