How long can this process continue? Forever?!

It seems like this process will last forever with the California Processing center that we were unfortunately forced to go with.
When I first heard that our petition was being processed by the USCIS California Service Center, I was rather excited because it was supposedly the quickest in processing I-129F petitions. It was advertised that they completed the process within less than 6 months.
Our petition was received on October 22, 2012.
Unfortunately, now it does not seems that the California is the fastest. After almost six months of waiting, the Vermont Service Center is advertising that they are currently working on October 2012 Petitions. I checked nearly two months ago that the California Center was still processing petitions that were submitted on July 18 2012. I checked last month and they had updated the information and they were processing July 18th applications. In fact this is the same day they told me they were processing when I called them two weeks ago.
Today, I checked again and they updated their website again yesterday for the 2nd month, indicating that they are still processing pettions that were submitted on July 18th.
How can it take 30 days to process petitions submitted on July 18th of last year while Vermont is processing October Petitions?  At this rate, Anna and I can look forward to our application being approved by this time next year. You do the math. If it takes them 30 days to process petitions filed on any given day, we can expect they will process 1 day of received petitions every 30 days. So in the next month we can "hopefully" expect them to process the July 19th date.
As the vermont Center processes October petitions currently, the California Center will process ours in (92 days until October 22nd) * (30 days it takes to process a single date of received petitions) days? I think that may be another year give or take a few days.
Oh, and to make matters worse, Anna sent me a link to a forum that indicated the California Service Center may have lost or severely destroyed 48,000 petition requests due to a "plumbing problem". Click here to read it for yourself.
I used to be optimistic, but I am guessing ours is one of those that were lost or damaged. I think Anna's original estimate of 120 years is closer to my estimate.
Needless to say, we are both extremely disappointed and frustrated (among many other couples waiting). But neither one of us will give up. In fact we have considered having me apply for a visa to Russia again and we could get married while I was there and then we both would live in Russia together. Both of us agree, it does not matter where we live. The only thing that matters is that we are together in the end.

A radio conversation on Immigration with Nate Shelman

Yesterday, on my way home from work, I tuned into AM 670 KBOI as I often do to listen to one of my favorite commentators, Nate Shelman. His topic of conversation was Immigration Reform which seems to be a very popular topic these days.
He was asking for people to call in to voice their opinion and as most of you know this is a very frustrating issue with me and Anna after almost six months of waiting for an approval of our I-129F petition for an Alien Fiance.
I must say I rather enjoyed the conversation even though he was rather skeptical and very pessimistic about my relationship with Anna. Unfortunately there is a stereotype that exists regarding foreign brides that come to marry someone here in the United States. This stereotype comes with good reason. Many foreigners in the past have come to America only to disappear shortly after the wedding. They were only motivated by the opportunity to come here to the United States. Nate addressed this point very well.
After a year and a half and nearly 3000 pages of correspondence through Skype, I know Anna quite well and I will never question her motivation. She trusts me and I trust her.
I think by the end of my conversation with Nate, he realized Anna and I may not fit into this category. In fact in closing to our conversation "Let me know when the wedding is. I might DJ it. If she sticks around long enough."
I am sure we will have an excellent DJ for our wedding! Thanks Nate!
I was able to download a copy of his podcast at https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/nate-shelman/id602386970. Feel free to listen to his commentaries. As I said before he  is one of my favorite commentators.
I was also able to create an edited copy of the 5 minute conversation we had. You can download it and listen to it here https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BySiYH4DyME6ZkRvbUZZbnBSU1E/edit?usp=sharing
I can't say I like the sound of my voice on the radio but I enjoyed the conversation.

How slow can it go?...

Over five months have passed since Anna and I filed our petition and I am finally able to call the USCIS to check on the status. I must admit I was rather excited to be able to talk with a real person during the phone call, but I have to say it was disappointing to say the least.
Our expectation was always a five month average that we had been hoping would be the length of time we would have to wait. Unfortunately, my phone call revealed that the average time was not as accurate as advertised. :( I was told that the USCIS was working on applications submitted in July of 2012. Our application was submitted in October of 2012.
Needless to say, it will be at least another 3 months before our application is reviewed.
I can't even begin to say how disappointed we are and how much Anna and I wish things could happen more quickly. But, unfortunately government doesn't seem to be very efficient. Especially when it comes to legal immigration.
It seems Anna and I will continue to reside on separate sides of the planet until who knows when. There seems to be no end to our torment.

Hopefully one day soon the U.S. Government will approve our petition and we can finally begin our lives together. Until then, How slow can it go?...

Legal immigration vs. Illegal Immigration

There is so much talk in politics right now regarding immigration reform. It seems that everyone wants to make it easier for people to immigrate to the United States. Unfortunately, these talks only refer to the people that came here illegally and are already here in America. There is nothing said about how difficult and time consuming it is to come here legally.
It is sad that Anna could not have crossed our border illegally from Mexico because I think everything would be much easier and cheaper. The U.S. government requires so much money and so much time to come here legally, it seems easier to have Anna go to Mexico and come across illegally. In fact, it may be faster and cheaper to go that route than it is to go through the legal method. But unfortunately Mexico protects its borders and Anna is unable to go to Mexico.
I have to say it is beyond frustrating to try to bring her over legally. It cost me $340.00 just to file a request for her to come here as my fiance. We have heard nothing from the US government for 5 months. If they approve our petition (And that is a big IF), I will have to pay an additional $2500.00 after we are married just to get her and the children green cards so that she can get a job if she wants and her children can attend our schools.
It is unfortunate that she cannot cross the southern border illegally because I would not have to worry about all these things. It seems that illegal aliens (people who don't file for visa's and cross the border illegally) have it easy and these are the people our politicians cater to. It seems they can attend our schools for free and get jobs without having to wait 5 months and pay $340.00 for a chance at a visa. Most don't even pay taxes.
Is it immigration reform or is it amnesty? You be the judge. If it was immigration reform, they would make it easier to immigrate legally. But unfortunately all the talk is about making everyone that came here illegally, legal citizens. It doesn't make immigration easier, it only rewards people who did not follow the rules.
Anna and I are doing it the legal way and it is nearly impossible.
That is my rant. We are still waiting for forever!

Waiting for forever...

It has been seven months since I visited Anna in Russia and almost five months since we submitted our I-129F petition for alien fiance with the USCIS. When we filed the petition, they stated on their website that it was an average 5 months for approval.
Today I checked and the average has risen to 5 1/2 months. It seems that the longer we wait, the longer they prolong it. How long can this go on? If the service was free, I might understand this, but this service did not come free and I had to pay $340.00 to submit this request. Anna tells me it will take 120 years for the process to end, but I have remained optimistic but now I think she may be right so it seems.
Both Anna and I are getting extremely frustrated while we still wait for any response on our petition.
Unlike most couples who can talk on the phone at their leisure, Anna and I are limited to the moments we can speak on Skype. During weekends we can speak for nearly 2 hours as we communicate over Skype.
Weekdays are limited to an hour, now cut short to 45 minutes due to some complications that have arisen.
Every day seems to be an eternity as we wait for our brief moment we can talk to each other. The sad part of this arrangement is the fact that Anna is tired and ready for bed when I can talk to her during the week.
In fact, Anna was so tired the past 3 days, I could not even talk to her because she was so exhausted from work and the constant demands of the children. Now it seems our conversation is limited only to 4 hours during a weekend. I can't say this is the best situation, but even though we are frustrated, it will not stop us. We hope that within the next month we will have our petition approved and that will enable her to apply for the visa to come here to America and finally be with me.
Obviously she cannot immediately come here after our petition is approved but at least I can say she will be able to apply for the Visa. We will have to wait for another 2 months before she can even get her interview. If all goes well during her interview at the U.S. Consulate in Russia, she will be allowed the Visa to come here as my Fiance.
The time seems to crawl as we wait and now each day feels like a year while we wait to see each other for a brief 45 minutes.  I hope soon our suffering will be over, because I must admit, this situation is nothing short of torture for us and it feels like we are waiting for forever...

A happy Valentines Day?

While most couples celebrate Valentine's day together, Anna and I celebrate our 17 month Anniversary on separate sides of the world. It was seventeen months ago, on the 14th day of September 2011 that I sent Anna the first message, "Privet Anna".
Unfortunately today also marks the second time we have to celebrate Valentine's Day separately.
I can't say that it was the best Valentine's Day for us, but at least we are one day closer to the day our petition is approved and hopefully we won't have to spend another Valentine's Day apart.
I will look forward to the day that I can bring home Anna's favorite flowers (Chrysanthemums) and a delicious box of chocolates on Valentine's Day. Perhaps, I can even convince her to go out for dinner to a nice restaurant.
Regardless of our unfortunate situation today, we both want to wish all of the lovers out there a Happy Valentines Day (С Днем Святого Валентина).

Stay Tuned and Don't Log Off!

Today after I spoke with Anna, I was immediately contacted by Alan Dein with BBC Radio for another interview for his latest episode of "Don't Log Off" in London. It has been nearly 9 months since I spoke with him. He interviewed me in May of last year just prior to the time I visited Anna in Russia.
He has been following our story and will continue to follow our story as it unfolds.
Today he called me on Skype at 4:00 P.M. Mountain time. Unfortunately we had some difficulties hearing each other in the beginning, but in the end we were able to talk.
For those of you who have not heard the episode you can find an archived copy on his website http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/dlo. Our story is told on the "Hopes and Dreams" episode that is archived in the Podcasts on his website.
Hopefully our interview will be broadcast in London within the next 2 months. So, stay tuned and "Don't log off.". You will be able to hear my interview on his website soon after it aires to thousands of listeners in London.
I hope the next interview will be when Anna is on her way here.

A conversation of a million words.

Because every word we have spoken to one another (minus the words we spoke when I was in Russia) has been translated through Google Translator and pasted into Skype, all of our words have been stored in Skype.
I backup our conversation every week by copying our conversation from Skype and pasting it into Microsoft Word for safekeeping.

Today, after a year and 4 months of correspondence, I noticed our correspondence is almost 2,600 pages in MS Word and contains over a million words shared between us. One million words that will one day be edited and added to our book.
I hope soon that Anna will finally be here and we can finish our book. I can't say it will be easy but I think we have a story that is unique and will generate a high demand for our future book. In fact I have spoken to numerous people who think this could become a good topic for a movie. And to be honest I have had two different people that don't even know each other confront me to tell me Brad Pitt should play my part in the movie.
While it is nice to dream of a future that comes with a best selling love story and a movie, it is of little importance to me. My only desire is to finally bring Anna and her children to be here to be with me. That is my goal and that is the only thing I desire and that is all Anna wants as well. Everything beyond that would be icing on the cake as they say.
I only hope that our correspondence will not reach two million words or 5,000 pages before she can come. But unfortunately we are still in the process of waiting. We are halfway from the average time it takes to get our petition approved. We have waited 2 1/2 months of the 5 month average waiting period. I hope it happens sooner but it is completely beyond our control.
I can promise one thing, once Anna and I find out the good news, you all will be the first to know.

Current Status, "Initial Review"

It has been more than 2 months since the USCIS received our petitition and we are still waiting on a decision. I would be pleased to even get a request for evidence from them. But we are on hold.
It is unfortunate that every time I log in to our account to check on the status of our petition. It still shows the status "Initial Review". According to the website, it indicates "During this step, USCIS initiates the background checks of the applicant/petitioner and identifies issues that may need to be addressed either during an interview or by asking the applicant/petitioner to submit additional information or documentation. USCIS reviews the applicant's/petitioner's criminal history, determines if there are national security concerns that need to be addressed, and reviews the application/petition for fraud indicators."
It seems that I have a background that requires more than 2 months to check.
So I decided to check on the statistics that exist on the approval of our I129f petition. It seems the average processing time is 5 months in the nation. Fortunately our petition is being processed by the California office. It averages 5 months while the other offices average 6 or 7 months to process.
After further review, I discovered that the California office received over 27,000 requests for an alien fiance in October. But they made a decision on 4,000 of them in the same month. So it seems they have many people that are requesting the same thing as Anna and I.
Now, as in the past 2 months we still wait. In the mean time, Anna is trying to sell any property she owns in Russia as well as any other assets that she cannot bring with her.
But I must admit, every day is an eternity as we wait for this process to end.

Happy New Year and Merry Christmas!

Today, the new year began in Russia and the celebration begins for the holiday season.
In Russia, they celebrate Christmas and New Years day beginning January 1.
Anna, the children and the entire country of Russia will celebrate during the next 9 days. Tomorrow the children will open gifts from Santa Claus beneath a fur tree just as we do here. Tonight the whole country welcomed in the new year. This time occurred at 1:00 P.M. Mountain time. Anna had to close her windows in fear that a rogue firework would enter her home. It is common that they light off fireworks to celebrate the new year.
We hope that this will be the last New Years Celebration that we will experience apart. In fact we hope we will all be together in a few months. The average time it takes to get and approval on our petition is 5 months and we have already waited over 2 months so we think we are halfway there.
Anna and I have discussed how we will celebrate the future holidays and we have agreed that we will begin the celebration on New Years day as they are accustomed to in Russia. We may celebrate Christmas on the American Holiday but we will also celebrate the Russian Holiday as well.
So today, Anna and I wish everyone a Happy New Year and Merry Christmas.
We will see you next year!