48 hours of embassy hell, but she has her visa

[viking]

 After 4 years, 5 trips and who knows how many phone calls, emails, and skype messages, it is finally over. My fiancée received her visa this past Tuesday. But the last 48 hours, the final 48 were rough.

For those going thru this process, I will tell you some interviews are a piece of cake and others are not, so be very prepared. Her interview was in Warsaw, which has a very good reputation of being one of the better, nicer places. But you never know.

Bear in mind that she had to travel almost 17 hours by train from her home in Belarus to Warsaw, and needed to get a visa to go to Poland ( a 15 day wait). A bit more than an average RW would go thru.

Her train arrives at 7:30AM Monday and she walks over to the embassy for her 8:45 interview.

She was grilled like a hamburger. Almost 45 minutes. Stuff like the exact month did you meet on the internet? Who remembers this from 4 years ago? And tests her by saying that the embassy has information that I lived with my ex up until November of last year, even though I have lived from her apart for almost 5 years.

A few hours later I get a text message that the CO did not "open" her visa, and she booked a train ticket to go home. She was shocked, angry, and disappointed at the same time. I send her back a text saying to hold on, wait, and do nothing, until I could get to the heart of the matter. Fortunately I was able to get thru to the embassy and further, speak to the woman who did the interview. She was not denied, but they needed more information. She tells me that she wanted proof of our "on going" relationship.

I told this woman that I had provided, new photos, copies of my visa and travel docs from my last trip in October, other receipts, and copies of our phone calls, skype messages and emails.  An updated letter of intent, cover letters and more. Not enough. The CO told her to go home, get the new info and come back.

Come back? Get another visa to Poland; take another 34 train ride, more expense and delaying this for another month? No way.

Turns out she wanted to see the actual emails, the contents, not just the headers that I provided which I thought was enough to show we communicated almost daily. I felt that was enough to show our relationship was “on-going”. Nope. Not enough. She then told me to fax over some of this for her review in the morning, and told me to have my fiancée return back to the embassy the next day at 8:30Am.

I tell her to go to the hotel, chill out, go back at 8:30 and I will handle this.

So I go through recent emails, find out how to get the actual conversation from skype, generate a nice cover letter, 19 pages in all, and go to Staples ( an office supply store) to fax this over. Their fax cannot communicate with the embassy. I tried 5 times.

Time is running out. I am working and have only a limited time to do this. So I go and buy an inexpensive fax machine and take it home, thinking I will just fax this stuff from there. After setting it up, it turns out this fax was a piece of crap, and blew out my phone line. Dead in the water. Now what!

Back to Staples to try again. Four more times. No luck. Now I know I can reach the fax at the embassy because if I call on my cell, the fax answers. I tell the manager maybe his machine simply does not work on over seas calls, even though he said it did. Small argument here. I insist he use their personal office fax and try again. Well…the pages go thru. Thank you god.

I go to work late and come home exhausted. About 3AM, I get another text message!!
My fiancée went back as asked. This woman now tells her I sent TOO MUCH. All she wants are about 3-4 pages. WTF?  She could not take 3-4 pages from the 19 I sent? Nope.
So she sends her outside to make some calls to me and to have me fax over, NOW, these few pages? At 3AM? Where can I go at this hour to find a fax??

Again, fortunately, I was able to raise the embassy again. I asked if I could email this over and was told yes. But the email address goes into a catch all address box with a hundred other emails. How can we separate mine from the others as both this CO and my fiancée are now waiting for this data. And if not received in an hour or so, she will be turned away again. So we agree on my providing specific info on the subject line so they look for it. OK.

I scan some more emails, and send off the package. There is little more I can do, and go back to bed. Cannot sleep. Hell, I really need to know that the email went through. I call again. Only this time it took about 15 tries to get thru, but I did. Got this wonderful woman on the phone who went and made sure my email was received and the attachments printed and personally put them on the CO’s desk. I then asked, now at about 4:30AM, is there anything else the CO needs. Tell me know. Nope, the CO says she now has everything she needed.

A few hours later, I get the message that all was approved, and to come back in few hours for her visa. She is now home, sleeping it off. But it is over.

The bottom line here is that that the embassy is in control, you need to do what they want, and have all your ducks in a row and take no chances.

[JR]

Wow!!! I'll bet the CO was new. She created much too much work and hassle for herself. Way to hang in there Viking and congrats on getting the visa.

[Chicagoguy]

What an ordeal !! Ridiculous, but at least it all worked out in the end.  Congratulations

[Blues Fairy]

Congratulations!
Perhaps this CO was not so simple after all.  Seems like she deliberately made you jump through the hoops to prove your commitment to the cause.  

[tfcrew]

Ukraine used to do the visas in Warsaw.
This time of year is rough on travelers but the fares are lower.
I met my future to be wife with copies of everything.
We both agreed that this is the best demo of sincerity..and a couple of days in Warsaw was memorable.

[OlgaH]

Viking,

sorry to hear about all the troubles.

So you both completed "a course of a young soldier" 

Our sincere congratulations to both of you!

Olga & Robert.   

[Son of Clyde]

Took me 10 minutes to get here. RWD is extremely slow today. Congratulations, good buddy. I had a similar problem where I had to send the same documents over and over. I think some of these Embassy people enjoy reading our personal letters. Sorry you had to endure that treatment. This is a major hurdle, it will be a bit easier for awhile until you have to deal with USCIS again.

[Shadow]

Took me 10 seconds. But gcongratulations anyway 

[Turboguy]

Congratulations Viking but wow what a story and what an ordeal.  If is amazing how much the interviews can vary.  You hear of some where the only question they ask is "How are you today? and others that want to know the name of you best friend in kindergarden. 

You have had a lot of struggles and at least this phase is over and hopefully you will soon be the happiest married man on RWD.

[groovlstk]

I tell her to go to the hotel, chill out, go back at 8:30 and I will handle this.

If any of you newbs wonder what RW mean when they admire a "strong man," here's the perfect example. It's not about being domineering but about resolving a difficult situation without whining or putting the responsibility back on her shoulders. Viking's rep probably went up 30 points in his fiancee's mind after this 

[RussianWind]

Viking, you are a hero 

Bearing in mind that all those consulate officers have to change countries every 5 years, I bet it is the same fat bitch what worked 10 years ago in St. Petersburg. She hated everybody and everything in Russia.

My congratulations!

[ECOCKS]

Grats Viking!

That's the important part, now look forward to planning on her arrival and your new life!

Thanks for the blow by blow on the interview too.

[Gator]

Viking,

Congratulations!

As Groovlstk and RussianWind wrote, you are a strong man, a hero.

Hero?  Isn't that a Soviet term of the highest distinction, complete with a gold star medal?  RussianWind you are disclosing info about your age, unless you have been listening to your mama's stories about the past.

[Ludmila]

My sincere congratulations to you and your fiance, Viking! What a relief, after such an ordeal!

I was trying to figure out why so. Is it your SECOND K-1 ? If so, can THIS be the reason?

[Vaughn]

Viking - dude - WAY TO GO !!!

Mere mortals would have tucked tail, sent her home - only to scratch their
collective heads, trying to figure out their next strategic move.

You closed the deal, or I should say - enabled it to close. I cannot recall an
accounting of a successful interview that involved so many curveballs.

I say we take up a collection to help Viking with his next phone bill. 

[OlgaH]

Hero?  Isn't that a Soviet term of the highest distinction, complete with a gold star medal?  

Yes.
Hero of the Russian Federation is also a gold star
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hero_of_the_Russian_Federation

As Viking's fiancee is from Belarus we will give him... also a gold star  
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hero_of_Belarus

[Rina_G]

Viking!
My congrats for you both too
Let it was the biggest and last trouble in your life
and long long HAPPY END!

[Kuna]

Viking, you are a hero 

Bearing in mind that all those consulate officers have to change countries every 5 years, I bet it is the same fat bitch what worked 10 years ago in St. Petersburg. She hated everybody and everything in Russia.

My congratulations!

Made me laugh...  wasn't expecting that.   

[Kuna]

Viking...  Congrats on getting through the process successfully.

I assume you'll get revenge when they send you the Customer Satisfaction Survey form out???      

[I/O]

I bet it is the same fat bitch what worked 10 years ago in St. Petersburg.

RW: Pleased to see you haven't lost your form. You always did have a "way" with words.

[Son of Clyde]

Maybe we need to start having a zero tolerance no BS attitude with the Embassy.
If its anything like our experience in the states, you can have a different experience with each interviewer. The guy we had for the removal of conditions said very little and never changed his dour expression. We left the interview thinking we had failed and a few days later the letter of approval arrived. The interviewer across the hall was laughing and joking with the couple and from what I heard, the couple were flatly denied at the interview. Or maybe some interviewers see the couple as individuals but are looking at the big picture. Who knows what these interviewers are thinking?

[Simoni]

Great job, Viking!  You did it and proved to your woman that you are a man!

I think newbies reading this will have a better idea of the hurdles one has to jump to make bringing her home a reality.  Thanks for sharing.

~Si

[RussianWind]

Made me laugh...  wasn't expecting that.   

Glad that you laughed. But when I was writing this, I was absolutely serious. Saw her at work and heard stories from our friends - veterinaries who cured her dog. She was absoltely horrible. She speaks Russian, so I wouldn't be surprised if she landed somewhere in Warsaw now. Poor applicants!

By the way read yestarday an interview with John Beyrle the US Ambassador to Russia. Looks like a very nice intelligent man to me 

[viking]

I want to thank everyone for their warm wishes. Spasibo.

I do not consider myself a hero. Not by any stretch. Just a regular guy who wants his woman here and did what I had to do. I spoke with her today and she did not have a good time of it. What I went thru was nothing compared to her. Imagine lying alone in a hotel in a foreign country, having once been sent away, praying that all will turn out ok the next day. She had no sleep, could not eat, and "red eyes".

I did earn some points from her, in a round about way, when she told me "you get no sleep this night, imagine the time, but is execellent". I guess that works. I did not go into the details. Not important. We can talk about that when she is here.

Tickets just about booked. She will be here March 16. I'm going to go to Kiev and bring her home. Arriving on a Monday and leaving on the next day.Just enough time for some shut eye.

I have learned a lot here over the last almost 5 years or so. I think I have my ducks pretty much lined up, except the the big one in the middle that keeps breaking ranks. Maybe its a Russian duck?

Russianwind. the womans name was Elizebeth. Ring a bell?
Kuna.Survey returned by post office. Too hot to handle!
Gator. I'm not really into medals unless it comes with some shares of Gazprom.

[brave girl]

I'm going to go to Kiev and bring her home. Arriving on a Monday and leaving on the next day.

I do not want to offend.
Why not go to embassy to support your beloved??
My beloved was at USA embassy with interview in Moscow!!   brave girl