Getting down to the wire...

Today after some minor difficulty with www.expedia.com and my bank, I was able to make the flight reservations for Anna and the children. With Anna's passport due to arrive next week, we decided I would book the flights for them.
It was very difficult to find prices that we could afford on our budget. We searched various websites, some in Russia. In fact last week Anna had found the best prices online on a  Russian website so I was prepared to wire her some money to purchase the tickets. But the next day the tickets were no longer available.
It was difficult to find a flight with only one stop at a price we could afford. Anna did not want to have more than one stop. Can you blame her? I can't. It will be difficult enough for her to drag her two children halfway across the world in 24 hours.
Finally I was able to find some tickets that we could afford through Expedia using Aeroflot-Russian Airlines. With her current reservation her flight leaves Russia on July 23rd. It leaves early Tuesday morning from Moscow and has a five hour layover in New York before she leaves for her final destination in Seattle. When all was said and done it cost me almost $3,000.00 for their tickets.
I just hope her passport arrives in time or I will have to pay an additional $200.00 per ticket to make any reservation changes. So we are hoping the passport arrives early next week.
Now, while Anna tries to tie up any loose ends in Russia, I need to make additional arrangements to meet her and the children at the airport in Seattle when she flies in. I am having difficulty deciding what to do. I don't really want to take my car for that long drive so I am trying to decide whether I should rent a car for the drive there and back or I could fly there and rent a car to drive back. My friend has offered to fly me in his private airplane there and fly us all back. But it really depends on the weather in Seattle on that day. I am considering taking him up on his offer and renting a car just in case the weather turns out to be bad. But I have not decided yet. I need to decide soon though because she will be here in 11 days. After all the waiting we had to go through over the past year, time seems to be passing quickly now. In fact it is moving faster than Anna and I were prepared for. We had originally hoped to get a flight a little later in the month to give Anna more time to take care of things but there were no tickets within our price range through the end of the month. We had to take what we could get.
Needless to say, Anna and I will be very busy within the next couple of weeks. I will be busy preparing the house for their arrival while Anna packs up everything she has to come here. We can't wait for it all to be over. It has been exhausting for both Anna and I.
Please feel free to comment.

Another interview with Alan Dein

Today after I spoke with Anna, I spoke once again to Alan Dein with the BBC 4 radio network in London for an upcoming episode of "Don't Log Off". It was the third time I had spoken with him.  The last time we spoke was almost six months ago. You can listen to one of our brief conversations on an episode titled "Hopes and Dreams" on his website.
Today we spoke for about 30 minutes and had a good conversation. He is very interested in our story. He asked me many questions about my ongoing relationship with Anna and our future plans. I told him about our experiences during this long drawn out process that Anna and I have had to go through. I also told him our plans for the future. He seemed surprised to learn that she will be coming here so soon. He told me to keep him up to date with the latest news and he is looking forward to talking to Anna and I after she arrives.
Hopefully you will be able to hear some of our conversation in a future episode of Don't Log Off.
Things are happening fairly quickly now and we expect Anna to get her passport back from the US Embassy in Moscow with the visas inside. Yesterday she called the Embassy and they told her that they were still "processing" (I have really grown to hate that word) the visas but today she received an email from the embassy saying "Your visa is in final processing. If you have not received it in more than 10 working days, please see the webpage for contact information of the embassy or consulate where you submitted your application.". We hope this means that she will receive her passport within the next week.
We are already getting prices for 3 plane tickets from Russia to Seattle and we are considering having her and the children here before the end of the month. The prices for tickets seem to be going up every day so the sooner she gets the passport the less it will cost us. At least I hope...
Both Anna and I are very excited and everything seems so surreal for us. We are both finding it difficult to believe that this is finally happening . It is happening fast too.  Anna still has a lot to do there in Russia and we are hoping she will be here within 3 weeks. There seems to be too much to do and too little time to do it for Anna especially.
Our waiting period will soon come to an end and we will finally be able to begin our new lives together. It has been a long, drawn out process and we are looking forward to it coming to an end.

Home Sweet Home

Finally after almost four long days in Moscow followed by a twelve hour bus ride, Anna returned home. It had been four very long days and I could not communicate with her.
I did manage to talk to her once on the phone. I could not understand most of what she said but she told me she was okay and told me the children said hi. We spoke very briefly before ending our conversation. I was glad to know her and the children were okay. I was getting so worried.
I was very surprised to get her call on Skype. I was expecting her to be home a day later. I thought she had told me her interview was on July 2nd but she had it on the first of July.
I was playing pool inside my garage with a friend when I received her call. I had to apologize to him as I sent him quickly home.
I was so excited to see her. It felt like an eternity since I had seen her.
She was very tired after the long bus ride. She told me that she and the children had done a lot of walking around the city. She also told me they had difficulty sleeping in the hotel room because the bed creaked.
Then she proceeded to tell me about the interview. The interview was 4 hours long and there were nearly 400 people in the embassy at the same time. The person conducting the interview asked her many about us. They asked about how we met and where we met. They asked her questions about me. She was also asked why she wanted to marry an American man and why she thought I wanted to marry a Russian woman. She told them that she asked me this question, but didn't receive a definite answer. I told her that I had no choice but to find her in Russia. If Anna lived in Africa, I would have went there. If she was from Australia I would have met her there. In fact Russia is the only place in this world I could have found Anna. I think I told her this once before but she may have forgotten.
We are both very excited. Now all we need to do is wait for her to receive the visas and schedule her flight home. She still has many things to do before she can leave. There is a lot of packing that she needs to do among many other things that have to be done before she can leave.
Now we are trying to find affordable plane tickets for her and the children and we are trying to decide if she should fly into Boise or if I should go to meet her in Seattle. I have a friend who may be able to fly me there in his private plane to meet her at the Seattle Airport. Then Anna and the children can fly with us back home.
We are still exploring all the options and trying to work out all the details. If you have a suggestion, please feel free to comment.

Sleepless in Russia

Anna had a difficult time sleeping last night while she anticipated the busy day today.
After getting very little sleep she had to go to work a full day before she could return home to prepare the children for the long bus ride to Moscow. She only had about 5 minutes in the evening to talk on Skype. She had to be on the bus at 6:00 PM.
It is approximately a 12 hour bus ride from where she lives to Moscow. In fact while I make the blog post she has probably already arrived to Moscow. Then she will need to be at her appointment for a medical examination at 8:00 AM Moscow time and that is 9:00 PM Mountain time here. Her and the 2 children need a medical exam prior to the interview. They will need to bring the results in a sealed envelope to the interview with them.
Due to the fact that it is Friday, she will have to wait until early next week to have her interview. So she will have to stay in Moscow over the weekend with the 2 children (God Help Her). Fortunately she was able to find a good hotel at an affordable price and it is at a central location.
After her interview she should receive the visas. I am not sure how long she will have to wait but I hope she gets them on the Fourth of July. It will give me another reason to celebrate the upcoming holiday.
But unfortunately I will not be able talk to her on Skype while she is in Moscow. I may be able to send some text messages to her but she was certain her phone would not work. She will try to find a new sim card that will allow it to work temporarily while she is in Moscow. But at this time I have not received a reply from her yet. I could call her on the phone but we still have difficulty understanding each other even after I have been learning to speak Russian and Anna is learning English.
Hopefully I hear from her soon. I want to hear she arrived or I may start to worry. It saddens me that I was unable to be there with her to help her but I was could not afford to fly there to be with her at this time. I have been trying to save a little bit of money so that we can cover the extra expenses when she gets here. But I am sad I couldn't be there with her. She should not have to do this alone. At least her mother agreed to meet her in Moscow during the weekend so she will have someone to talk to.
Fortunately it will all be over soon. In fact she may be able to catch a flight out of Russia as early as the 18th of July. This is the day Anna chose so she could have plenty of time to tie up all the loose ends and give her employer two weeks notice. I know she will be here very soon but patience has never been my strong point so I want her here yesterday. Until she is here, I am "Sleepless in Idaho".

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Finally good news from Moscow!!!

Today Anna told me she was finally able to call the Embassy in Moscow to schedule her interview. She has it scheduled for the first week in July. Who knows, she may even get the visas on the Fourth of July.
We are both very excited to get the news but there is still much to do. Anna still has to fill out numerous forms and gather many documents that she will need for her interview. She also needs to get a complete medical examination for her and the children. She will need to bring the results of the examination with her to the interview.
She is also getting prices for the plane tickets here. She is hoping to make reservations for the third week in July, but she still needs to wait until after the interview to make any reservations. But we are trying to plan everything as much as we can. I am trying to make arrangements to meet her in Seattle, Washington so that she does not need to try to navigate that huge airport to find a connecting flight to Boise. I plan to drive there and pick her and the children up at the airport and take her home from there.
Now we will just need to wait for her interview and it is all downhill from there. Hopefully she will be on her way here within the next month. I can't wait to see her again.

A Mountain of Paperwork.

Anna has been very busy working on gathering all the necessary documentation as well as paying all the necessary fees for the visa. In fact Anna had to pay nearly 25,000 rubles ($740.00) for 3 visas. Now she is waiting for the official receipt of payment from the U.S. Embassy so she can call to finally schedule her interview.

We are hoping she will get it scheduled this week and hopefully she can get in early this next month. But until she has her interview there are mountains of paperwork she needs to fill out and sign so she can bring them to the interview with her.

One of these forms is the Form DS-230 Application for Immigrant Visa and Alien Registration. It consists of two parts. Part one is Biographical Information. They need to know everything about her, her parents, her children, her second cousin's best friend's sister's pet gerbil and the number of hairs on everyone's head. But seriously, she has to provide a lot of information.

The second part of the form is a sworn statement. I could not help but laugh as I read through the questions. They are 12 simple yes and no questions and of course all applicants are warned if they answer yes to any of the questions they will be denied the visa. Many of the questions are quite laughable so I am posting the questions here on the blog for everyone to get a laugh out of them.

United States laws governing the issuance of visas require each applicant to state whether or not he or she is a member of any class of individuals excluded from admission into the United States. The excludable classes are described below in general terms. You should read carefully the following list and answer Yes or No to each category. The answers you give will assist the consular officer to reach a decision on your eligibility to
receive a visa.

Except as Otherwise Provided by Law, Aliens Within the Following Classifications are Ineligible to Receive a Visa.
Do Any of the Following Classes Apply to You?

1. An alien who has a communicable disease of public health significance; who has failed to present documentation of having received vaccinations in accordance with U.S. law; who has or has had a physical or mental disorder that poses or is likely to pose a threat to the safety or welfare of the alien or others; or who is a drug abuser or addict.
2. An alien convicted of, or who admits having committed, a crime involving moral turpitude or violation of any law relating to a controlled substance or who is the spouse, son or daughter of such a trafficker who knowingly has benefited from the trafficking activities in the past five years; who has been convicted of 2 or more offenses for which the aggregate sentences were 5 years or more; who is coming to the United States to engage in prostitution or commercialized vice or who has
   engaged in prostitution or procuring within the past 10 years; who is or has been an illicit trafficker in any controlled substance; who has committed a serious criminal offense in the United States and who has asserted immunity from prosecution; who, while serving as a foreign government official, was responsible for or directly carried out particularly severe violations of religious freedom; or whom the President has identified as a person who plays a significant role in a severe form of trafficking in persons, who otherwise has knowingly aided, abetted, assisted or colluded with such a trafficker in severe forms of trafficking in persons, or who is the spouse, son or daughter of such a trafficker who knowingly has benefited from the trafficking activities within the past five years.
3. An alien who seeks to enter the United States to engage in espionage, sabotage, export control violations, terrorist activities, the overthrow of the Government of the United States or other unlawful activity; who is a member of or affiliated with the Communist or other totalitarian party; who participated, engaged or ordered genocide, torture, or extrajudicial killings; or who is a member or representative of a terrorist organization as currently designated by the U.S. Secretary of State.
4. An alien who is likely to become a public charge.
5.  An alien who seeks to enter for the purpose of performing skilled or unskilled labor who has not been certified by the Secretary of Labor; who is a graduate of a foreign medical school seeking to perform medical services who has not passed the NBME exam or its equivalent; or who is a health care worker seeking to perform such work without a certificate from the CGFNS or from an equivalent approved independent credentialing organization.
6. An alien who failed to attend a hearing on deportation or inadmissibility within the last 5 years; who seeks or has sought a visa, entry into the United States, or any immigration benefit by fraud or misrepresentation; who knowingly assisted any other alien to enter or try to enter the United States in violation of law; who, after November 30, 1996, attended in student (F) visa status a U.S. public elementary school or who attended a U.S. public secondary school without reimbursing the school; or who is subject to a civil penalty under INA 274C.
7. An alien who is permanently ineligible for U.S. citizenship; or who departed the United States to evade military service in time of war.
8. An alien who was previously ordered removed within the last 5 years or ordered removed a second time within the last 20 years; who was previously unlawfully present and ordered removed within the last 10 years or ordered removed a second time within the last 20 years; who was convicted of an aggravated felony and ordered removed; who was previously unlawfully present in the United States for more than 180 days but less than one year who voluntarily departed within the last 3 years; or who was unlawfully present for more than one year or an aggregate of one year within the last
   10 years.
9. An alien who is coming to the United States to practice polygamy; who withholds custody of a U.S. citizen child outside the United States from a person granted legal custody by a U.S. court or intentionally assists another person to do so; who has voted in the United States in violation of any law or regulation; or who renounced U.S. citizenship to avoid taxation.
10. An alien who is a former exchange visitor who has not fulfilled the 2-year foreign residence requirement.
11. An alien determined by the Attorney General to have knowingly made a frivolous application for asylum.
12. An alien who has ordered, carried out or materially assisted in extrajudicial and political killings and other acts of violence against the Haitian people; who has directly or indirectly assisted or supported any of the groups in Colombia known as FARC, ELN, or AUC; who through abuse of a governmental or political position has converted for personal gain, confiscated or expropriated property in Cuba, a claim to which is owned by a national of the United States, has trafficked in such property or has been complicit in such conversion, has committed similar acts in another country, or is the spouse, minor child or agent of an alien who has committed such acts; who has been directly involved in the establishment or enforcement of population controls forcing a woman to undergo an abortion against her free choice or a man or a woman to undergo sterilization against his or her free choice; or who has disclosed or trafficked in confidential U.S. business information obtained in connection with U.S. participation in the Chemical Weapons Convention or is the spouse, minor child or agent of such a person; or who has ever engaged in the recruitment of or the use of child solders.

I found many of the questions quite amusing. I am curious as to how many people would honestly answer yes to any of those questions, especially knowing it will disqualify them from getting a visa.

I am confident that Anna can answer no to all those questions so I am sure she will not have a problem.
Anna will call the embassy tomorrow and try to schedule the interview.



The End is in Sight

Yesterday, Anna informed me that she finally received the package I mailed her over 1 month ago. Soon after she received the package, I was sent an email from the US Embassy in Moscow acknowledging that they received our documents from the Department of State. Within the email they gave us instructions on how to proceed.
Here is the email I received from them:

Dear Petitioner:

Please resend the letter to your fiancé(e).

Dear Applicant:

We are pleased to inform you that the Immigrant Visa Unit of U.S. Embassy Moscow has received your approved visa petition and that your case is ready for processing.

You should now visit http://www.ustraveldocs.com/ru to complete the following steps: 1) arrange payment of the $240 visa fee; 2) enter an address to which the visa will be delivered; and 3) schedule your interview appointment.  Once you pay the fee and specify the delivery address, you may schedule your interview for any available appointment slot.  Please ensure that the date you select falls within four months of the date on which the visa petition was approved.  Failure to do so may impact the validity of your visa petition.

All applicants for fiancé(e) visas must comply with the processing requirements detailed at http://moscow.usembassy.gov/iv-fiancee.html. This page provides the most accurate and complete information needed to prepare for your interview including a list of required documents.  Thank you.

Immigrant Visa Unit

U.S. Embassy Moscow

Dear Petitioner:

Please resend the letter to your fiancé(e).

Уважаемый заявитель!

Мы рады сообщить, что Отдел иммиграционных виз Посольства США в Москве получил Вашу одобренную петицию и готов продолжить рассмотрение Вашего дела.

Пожалуйста, зайдите на сайт http://www.ustraveldocs.com/ru ,  чтобы узнать как: 1) оплатить визовый сбор $240; 2) указать адрес, по которому будут доставлены Ваши визовые документы и 3) назначить собеседование. После оплаты и регистрации адреса доставки Вы сможете выбрать любую доступную дату собеседования в течение четырех месяцев  со дня одобрения петиции.

Заявители, назначенные на собеседование, должны придерживаться правил и инструкций, которые можно найти на сайте http://russian.moscow.usembassy.gov/iv-fiancee.html. Эта страница содержит наиболее полную и точную информацию, включая список требуемых документов.

С уважением,

Отдел иммиграционных виз

Посольство США в Москве

Anna and I are both very excited to get the news. In fact today Anna logged into the US Embassy's website and paid the fee for the visa. Next week she will call to schedule her interview. Hopefully she can have the interview soon and she can finally buy the airplane tickets and I hope she will be here before the end of the summer. She has a few other things she needs to wrap up in Russia before she can finally come here but she still has plenty of time to get everything done.
It is nice to finally be down to the step of our journey. It has been a long arduous process that I would not wish on anyone. But fortunately we can see the light at the end of the tunnel. The wait will soon be over and Anna and I will finally be together soon.

Another obstacle tries to come between us!

After the entire ordeal with the USCIS and the time we waited for the National visa center to transfer our documents to the US Embassy in Moscow we thought we were home free. But if it wasn't for bad luck, we would have no luck at all.
It seems that anything that can go wrong will always go wrong in our situation.
Anna sent me a link to a news release about a mail embargo imposed on international mail coming into Russia. It seems our letter is among 500 tons of mail that has been put on hold. http://rbcdaily.ru/society/562949987180153. The site is in Russian so you can use google translator to translate it. Or you can read a similar article on this site http://themoscownews.com/russia/20130411/191431278/Mail-embargo-issued-at-Sheremetyevo.html
This embargo occured shortly after I mailed a package to Anna. She needs the documents in the package I sent to her for her interview at the embassy. Now it seems that package is buried at the bottom of a 500 ton pile of mail.
I only hope she gets the package soon or I will have to send the package again using another carrier. And of course it will cost an arm an a leg. We will give it until the end of this next week until I get another package ready to send her. Hopefully we won't have to resort to that option.
Once again we have to wait for things that are beyond our control. We hope this whole ordeal will be over soon so we can finally begin our lives together.

Coming Down the Home Stretch.

Finally, after almost a month of the National Visa Center(NVC) holding our documents hostage while they "processed" our documents, they informed me that they forwarded the documents to the U.S. Embassy in Moscow.
Unfortunately though, I can't say the same for the Russian Customs. Anna checked the tracking number of the package I sent her and it still indicated that Customs still had the package. I hope they release it soon because Anna will need it for her interview.
But at least we have made another step forward and now Anna can communicate directly with the U.S. Embassy and schedule her interview. Hopefully it won't take her too long to get an interview. We both are very excited to know that we can finally start to make preparations for her to come here.
In fact Anna has even mentioned purchasing some suitcases for the trip. But she is not certain of the color she wants to buy. She has not decided yet. Maybe you can help her decide. Just post a comment suggesting a color and I will pass the suggestion on to her.
This is the very last step of the process and we are very much looking forward to this process ending. After her interview she will finally be able to purchase the 3 visas and make reservations for her flight home. I can't begin to say how much we are both looking forward to that day. It has been almost 10 months since she kissed me goodbye at the airport in Moscow and I can't wait to see her again.

From one government bureaucracy to another.

After waiting 6 Months at the California Center of the USCIS our paperwork was transferred to the National Visa Center (NVC) which is a division of the Department of state. The NVC is supposed to "Process" our paperwork which includes putting it on someone's desk and waiting for 2 weeks to a month to transfer the documents to the U.S. Embassy in Moscow.
They seem to serve no other purpose than to make us wait longer. In fact, I called the NVC last week asking them if they did any actual processing of the documentation there. They told me "No, we just wait.". Here seems to be another good use of taxpayer money, NOT!!!
We hope that within the next week all our documents will be transferred to the US Embassy in Moscow so that at least some type of processing can happen. At least after that Anna can call the embassy and schedule her interview.
We are also waiting on the Postal Service to deliver all of the documentation that I was required to send Anna for her interview. I mailed it on May 2nd and the U.S. Postal Service processed it through the sort facility in Los Angeles, California on the 6th. Today I called the USPS and they told me they cannot provide tracking information for the package. Even with a tracking number they provided, they are unable to track it now for some reason.
But fortunately Anna is very resourceful and she managed to track the package down in Russia. It is currently in Russian Customs. Hopefully it will not remain there as long as Anna's letter to me. It was tied up in US Customs for over 10 days.
We hope all of this waiting will end soon and Anna can purchase the visas and plane tickets and finally come here.