Status of Visa's??

[Jack]

John F, if you are reading this, could you clearify as to if this lady did, or did not, receive her visa?

I am not aware of any visa's being issued since July 23. The last day I know of any person getting a visa from Moscow was July 23rd and this lady was from Uzbekistan! A spokesperson for a local congressman here has told one man that he thinks the visa's will begin to be delivered on about October 9th, 10th or 11th.

The hold-up on these visa's do not apply only to K-1's! There is one couple here in North Texas, Charles and Svetlana. The have a daughter Anastasia. The first of July the family travels to Omsk to visit Svetlana's mother. After two and a half weeks Charles heads back home as Svetlana was wanting to spend another week or two with her family. The first week of August Svetlana and baby fly to Moscow to head home. They cannot leave. They are caught up in the same visa snafu as all the other ladies awaiting K-1 visa's. She is a Russian woman, does not matter to the officials that she is married to an American man. Svetlana went back to Omsk and is still there today!  Charles is going ballestic! He has also been told by goverment officials
that visa's should begin to be issued around October 10th.

[John F]

... in response to Status of Visa's??, posted by Jack on Oct 3, 2002

Jack, this guy said his fiancee did in fact receive her visa.  He also posted that he asked her to scan it and email the scan to him as he could not believe she had gotten it.  He did post that his fiance was from Kyrgyzstan.

Someone else on the newsgroup asked him to email a copy of the scanned visa so he could post it on a Yahoo group.  The guy has not posted a reply, and he may or may not have just sent a copy of the visa without posting.  Should I see any more I will post it.

This came directly from the man whose fiancee received the visa, not an "I hear of a guy who" account.

[Stevo]

... in response to Status of Visa's??, posted by Jack on Oct 3, 2002

Jack said:

(The hold-up on these visa's do not apply only to K-1's! There is one couple here in North Texas, Charles and Svetlana. The have a daughter Anastasia. The first of July the family travels to Omsk to visit Svetlana's mother. After two and a half weeks Charles heads back home as Svetlana was wanting to spend another week or two with her family. The first week of August Svetlana and baby fly to Moscow to head home. They cannot leave. They are caught up in the same visa snafu as all the other ladies awaiting K-1 visa's. She is a Russian woman, does not matter to the officials that she is married to an American man. Svetlana went back to Omsk and is still there today! Charles is going ballestic! He has also been told by goverment officials
that visa's should begin to be issued around October 10th.)

Are you saying this couple went to Russia and the wife didn't have Advance Parole or a green card?  I don't get it.  Why on earth would she need a visa??  If she did travel to Russia without the proper docs, then they (she) have no one to blame but themselves.  I don't see the relationship of that issue with the K-1 problem. Maybe you could clarify.

Stevo

[Jack]

... in response to Don't understand your post..., posted by Stevo on Oct 3, 2002

The wife had everything, ALL required documents. They usually travel back to Russia one or twice each year as they also do missionary work in the Omsk region. Charles is besides himself! He is angrey, upset, called Congressmen and Senators and wrote a letter to President Bush.

His Svetlana is just caught up in the middle of all this. All her documents and papers were suppossed to be in good order. They have neen married I guess a little over three years. Her AOS was done a few years ago, conditional green card, etc. As I said, they normally travel over twice a year and with no previous problems.

[Stevo]

... in response to Don't understand your post... Imagine ho..., posted by Jack on Oct 3, 2002

was the problem?  Are you saying the airline refused to let her on the plane?  Who is preventing Svetlana from returning to the USA and how is this being done?  The situation you described makes no sense unless you (or they) are leaving out something very critical.  You (or they) are implying that if a RW goes to Russia for a visit she is then being prohibited from returning even with a green card.  I don't believe this for a minute.  You still haven't explained what is happening here...something is fishy.

Stevo

[Jack]

... in response to Again, I still don't understand.  If you..., posted by Stevo on Oct 3, 2002

Here are the known facts Steve. The last of June Charles, Svetlana and Anastasia leave DFW airport for about a three week to one month trip to Omsk where Svetlana's family lives. Charles is also a preacher and has married many AM/RW couples thru-out the DFW metro-plex. In addition they do missionary work in and around Omsk. Before every trip many of us gather used children's clothing, shoes, etc, and they will take all they can with the existing weight restrictions and give to needy children.

Originally they were going to come back together but Svetlana decided to spend in extra two weeks with her mom and family, so Charles came back to Dallas alone.

About two weeks later Svetlana flies from Omsk to Moscow on her trip back home. At the Moscow airport they do not allow Svetlana and Anastasia to leave. Who denies this, the Russian officials, the American officials, I do not know.

She has made several previous trips between US and Moscow and all her paperwork was in order at those times. This was the first time she made the trip without her husband.

In late June Elena (from Richardson) and her two daughters fly to Moscow. Elena takes the two girls to visit there grandmother and family for one month during the summer, as they have dome for the previous two years. Elena travels with the children, spends a week with mom and family and then flies back to be with her husband Gary. Now for the next month Gary and Elena have no children and they travel, this year they went diving in the Bahamas. Gary and Elena are to go to our Galvaston Beach party the second week of August. The children are to come back the first week of August. The children go to the Moscow airport and are not allowed to leave. WHY?  No one knows even today why the children were not allowed to leave. Grandma calles Elena and tells her they children cannot leave. Elena cannot believe it. There is no difference in procedure or paperwork than from the previous two years. Why this problem now?

They get on the phone, start calling any and everyone! One week goes by and the two girls are still in Moscow with grandma. Gary and Elena cancel there trip to Galvaston. After three weeks Steve, the children are allowed to leave Russia and return home.

You say something fishy is going on, your d@mn right! Does any of this make sense, HE1L NO!  What are these people doing wrong Steve?  Why are they not permitted to leave?

Maybe you (they) know something we don't know. Maybe you (they) knows what is really going on!  Why don't you level with us Steve. If you know why Svetlana and Anastasia are not being allowed to leave, or the other 2500 K-1 ladies waiting to leave, if you know why these two children were not allowed to leave Russia for almost three weeks (with all there paperwork being in order), then I suggest you tell us what is going on Steve!

[Charles]

... in response to Maybe you can tell us Steve?, posted by Jack on Oct 3, 2002

Jack, this IS a very unusual situation, and I have to agree with Steve that this sounds very "fishy".  My wife and her son traveled to Ukraine via Moscow in August with her green card with no problems.  While much has been written about the Ukraine "exit visa" issue, I have never seen anyone write about this being a problem for a Russian citizen with a valid passport and green card.  Maybe she just got a bad passport control officer and should try to leave again.

[Jack]

... in response to Re: Maybe you can tell us Steve?, posted by Charles on Oct 4, 2002

I wonder why the children from another seperate family were not allowed to leave for three weeks?  All doucments in order, no problem with the paperwork as it was the same as the two previous years.

Charles, I just hung up the phone from the Charles here in Texas whose wife is stranded in Omsk. I will post in a new thread what he just told me.

[Stevo]

... in response to Maybe you can tell us Steve?, posted by Jack on Oct 3, 2002

bottom of your original post, that's all.  Your original post implied that Svetlana was getting caught up in the same 'visa' problem as the K-1 ladies (your words).  Which is why I was asking why she needed a visa in the first place.

It would have been much clearer if you had told all of us from the get go that her problem was not being allowed to board the airplane (by whomever) even with a green card.  This has the potential to affect many on this list whose wife might be travelling to Russia in the near future, that's why it is important to clearly explain where the problem is occurring.

Now we know by your explanation that it is not a visa problem...it is something else.  Maybe retaliation by Russian officials in response to our delays at handing out visas to their citizens?

Stevo

[JimmyUSA]

... in response to Now don't get cranky on me.  I was just ..., posted by Stevo on Oct 3, 2002

I have a wife currently in Ukraine waiting for a K-3 visa.  She has been told by some folks there that she will need an exit visa to be allowed to come to the USA when she gets her visa.  This "exit visa" allows her to leave the country of Ukraine ensuring that all is well that is left behind.  I understand that this not always the case being applied to all persons leaving Ukraine but I have heard that if they (Ukrainian Officals) know that you will be immigrating to the another country that they apply the "exit visa" rule to that person.  This exit visa is very difficult to obtaiin and requires alot of paperwork.  Exactly what paperwork I don't really know but I can find out.  This rule is not part of any USA immigration requirement.  There are not any USA immigration or customs officals at any Ukrainian or Russia airport and I don't see how they have any jurisdiction in these countries not allowing someone to exit.

Best Regards,

JimmyUSA

aka

Jimmmy
Ukraine

[RW]

... in response to Exit Visa Possibly, posted by JimmyUSA on Oct 3, 2002

I think Exit Visa relates only to Ukraine. I haven't heard anything about it in Russia.

On another note, I just came back from Russia couple weeks ago and had NO problems at all. Of course, I was not flying through Moscow which is known by customs/immigration hassles. But I did not encounter any problems getting on my flight out of Russia.