Finally here!!! Approved for Moscow!!!

[Vox]

Just days ago my fiancee got approved for Moscow by Vermont after about two weeks (she is from Tashkent).
I owe some trip report, (we met and got engaged in Bucharest this Sept., had a wonderful time together!), but did not have the time to do it, hopefully as soon as I get some time and be in mood to get a nice report.
Having been so busy with all things involving me at this stage did not have time to post or participate recently.
Now I need to concentrate on helping her with this, and honestly don't know much about this, as much as I was prepared and knew about the first stages, getting to deal very well with sensing the true souls, correspondence, etc, etc. and above all found the right person, a unique, genuine match !!! Did excellently, superbly there!!! )

I'm interested to hear something from the ones who were recently approved,
in Moscow,
and also, in regard to how soon the visa is given after the interview in Moscow.
I know it's not big deal in the last instance, but I need to correlate all our next actions (she is in the last year in school, with the last exams, also going back to Tashkent after interview and THEN come here is not very convenient!)
They cabled her information to Moscow and we don't know yet the date for interview.
Whan can I do in the meantime, what are the next things they'll do?
Etc.

[robobond]

... in response to Finally here!!! Approved for Moscow!!!, posted by Vox on Nov 18, 2002

Vox,

I can hear your frustration and confusion re: dealing with what I view as an upcoming and inevitable beaurocratic nightmare.  That's the part of this whole AM/RW process that scares me the most.  I am not so good when it comes to dealing with paperwork crapola. Many of us aren't.
 
I successfuly started and ran my own business.  I   concentrated on scoring touchdowns, slamming deals together, and 'bringing home the bacon' while hiring very good people to do the rest.  I could no more do what they did very well than they could do what I did very well.  It all worked.  Now I'm retired and living solo but I still want to live in the same lifestyle that I did when I was married... what a shocker this has been!  I've got no backup to help me do this - it's a long, slow process reassembling a 'team' - meanwhile, I gotta cook, launder, clean house, entertain, garden, shop, be a single parent (to my basset hound, Elvis), etc. - never again will I under-estimate what a good wife does - but, still the paperwork backs up.  And I'm talking normal paperwork here -  dealing with the INS and foreign languages and such puts the fear of God in my soul like no big business deal ever did.

I'm starting to go on a rant here so pause while I go back to 'GO' w/o my $200...

I think you've come to the right place for assistance so there is hope!  Many on this board seem particularly good when it comes to putting INS form "8276390 (tab 'A')" into "INS form 0009r56987 (slot 'b')" which seems to be blowing your mind right now.  My thinking is that the people on this particular board are all here to both take and receive.  You put in and you take out.  Ask for help, and well-meaning and knowledgable people will literally come out of the woodwork offering their experiences, advice, and thoughts and they will want help from a different angle in exchange.  You'll get all the guidance you need from this group - just post a trip report or two or some advice in exchange.  That way the system goes on.  Kapish?

I think the most important thing that you have in your life right now is that you seem to have found the right companion to spend the rest of it with.  Congratulations and I truely envy you.  I guess the price tag for this is the horse pucky you're now gonna have to go through to get her here!  No free lunch in life...  and now I'm starting to rant so I yeild to the resident experts who will gladly answer all of your questions...

Best of Luck & let the wind be at your back.

Bob

[Vox]

... in response to Re: Finally here!!! Approved for Moscow!..., posted by robobond on Nov 18, 2002

By the way, I'm not new to this board at all, for some two years I watched it a lot, and know the "players" really well, more than I would like to!!! )
Been here during some real wild times in the past!
I used to post once in a while too, but the serious business took the better of me ...
I admire guys who can be regulars all the time, but not all have so much time on our hands.

[davet]

... in response to Finally here!!! Approved for Moscow!!!, posted by Vox on Nov 18, 2002

Go the Moscow embassy website.  There is a page listing the interview dates but you need an approval number to access the listing.

Another page has the listing of required items for the interview.  Read that over and start putting those items together ASAP.  The page is also available in Russian so your fiancee can read the same list if she has computer access.  The packet from the embassy should arrive about 2 months after approval.

Delay of the visa after the interview seems to be decreasing and may be non-existent for a resident of Ubekistan.

IMHO

[Vox]

... in response to Re: Finally here!!! Approved for Moscow!..., posted by davet on Nov 18, 2002

Thanks!
I saw that list, now when is the # given?
Is it with the package which comes after 2 months? Why so long?
Also how can be understood "the information" (not very clear) about calling the Moscow embassy telephone line (charged on the visa) to set up an appointment? Is that for visa or medical exams?
Isn't that set up by the embassy itself?
Wrote to the embassy but they did not answer yet (on the internet as they say is the best way to do it).
Told my fiancee to get the things from the list of things she needs for the interview.
Anything else we need/can do at this time?

[davet]

... in response to Thanks! Some more questions!, posted by Vox on Nov 18, 2002

1. The appointment list number -- a MOS # -- is presumably assigned when Moscow receives your approval from the INS service center (e.g. Vermont).  The second number after the MOS # is the number assigned to your case by the service center.  In our case it was a LIN # because we were out of the Nebraska Service Center.  Your Vermont number will start out with different letters probably.  Therefore it will be easier to look for this Service Center number as you already know it.  It is in one of the boxes on the top of your approval notice from Vermont.

2. Moscow says it takes 4-6 weeks for the approval from the INS service center to reach the embassy.  Moscow will do NOTHING until they receive that approval notice directly from the embassy.  NOTHING.  Don't ask and don't hope.  Actually you can ask but your wasting your time.  Our approval took 4 weeks out of Nebraska -- no cable request by us.  I personally believe all the approvals are cabled and reach the embassy in about 2 weeks.  Then the embassy does a name check which is supposed to take about 2 weeks.  After that, and only after that, does the embassy assign an interview date.  So calling, emailing, etc before about 4 weeks is a waste of time and money.

3. Calling the embassy.  The operators are sometimes helpful but they are operators, not embassy staff.  They just have information in front of them and they don't make decisions or anything.  Some people have experienced wrong info or wrong interpretations.  I found them ok.  The cost is outrageous and is a waste for the most part.  Email them.

4. You set up the medical examination yourself with one of the clinics listed by the embassy as being approved.  Make the appointment or walk in.  We used the American Medical Center and found it very acceptable.  I don't know whether it is still on the approved list.  The med center approved list is on the embassy web page.

5. The embassy phone number -- charged -- is for visa questions.  They have no connection with the medical clinics.

6. I found the embassy responsive by email.  Sometimes within a day.  Sometimes within a week.  Once or twice they didn't answer so I emailed again.  Remember the various Russian holidays coupled with our holidays.  The K-1 visa questions are probably at the bottom of the priority list also.

7. Have your fiancee get the police report(s) and get them right.  This is the major reason for the embassy to delay the visa and you don't need any more delays.  If you are not going to attend the interview, then get salary info and other background info to your fiancee so she can know as much as possible about you.

[Vox]

... in response to Re: Thanks! Some more questions!, posted by davet on Nov 19, 2002

Now it's clear, now we will wait patiently, as we did so far.

[SteveM]

... in response to Thanks! Some more questions!, posted by Vox on Nov 18, 2002

Unless Moscow has changed its procedures since Sept. 2000, Packet 4 (Moscow does not do Packet 3) will be sent to your fiancee shortly after receipt of your approved petition.  From Vermont that happens relatively quickly; from other service centers experience varies.  However, there are many stories of these deliveries never arriving, so it may be necessary to call/email/write and if feasible, pick it up at the Embassy.

The Packet 4 will include a letter with an interview date.  Some report being able to call and move up the interview date--the delay was only a few weeks when we got approved, so I can't tell you about that.

There are two things that can gum up the process--getting the police report and getting an international passport (if she doesn't already have one).  Both of these can take a short time or an eternity, depending on where she lives (and has lived before) and how easily she can navigate the bureaucracy.  Make sure she gets each police report in every last name she has used--even if she didn't have that name when she lived in a particular place.

The medical exam is usually cursory and can be scheduled fairly quickly; results are usually available the next day.  While the listed vaccinations are not required at the exam, you will probably want to get as many of them done in Russia instead of waiting until she is here to get started.  One warning--many Russians are immunized only against measles (or rubella, I forget which), so your wife may need to get an MMR shot here.

The approval number should be on the approval letter.  The A# there is her alien number, which you will need for AOS.

Hope this helps...

[Vox]

... in response to Next Steps, posted by SteveM on Nov 19, 2002

Thanks a lot!
I told her to get her medical chart (as child) and get it translated also.
Passport she already has (was nec. for the first trip to Bucharest), and a new police report is in order, this one takes normaly four weeks--the one she had was used (taken) by the Romanian authorities. That whole trip (the visa for it for her, the invitation and all process was a long undertaking, but that's another story!
About the Alien # I know having been through the process myself, it's just the K-1 process which is new.

[Oscar]

... in response to Finally here!!! Approved for Moscow!!!, posted by Vox on Nov 18, 2002

.

[Vox]

... in response to Congratulations!  n/t, posted by Oscar on Nov 18, 2002

nt