I just returned from Ukraine a few days a go. It was a hectic trip. I arrived in Kiev on a Friday, we left for Germany the next day at 0600, and spent the next two days in the car. The Ukraine/Poland border crossing was a pain. It took about 2.5 to 3 hours each way.
We spent 5 days in the Wuerzburg and Nurnburg area. I was checking out a potential job. That is not going to happen at this point. I would want some type of guarantee that this job will exist for at least 3 years instead all I heard was that the hospital might be closed in a year. I am not ruling this out completely, just placing it on the back burner for a while.
Upon arrival back in Kiev, it was time to get busy making the arrangements to get married this February. We will be doing this in Kiev and going the DCF route. This process actually went quite smoothly. I was surprised having seen the Ukrainian bureaucracy in action in the past.
We had dropped off everything required at a translator prior to leaving for Germany. I spent about 2 hours dealing with the US Consulate, dropped off the "letter of non-impediment" at the Ukrainian department of legalization and picked it back up at 4pm all in the same day.
Two days later we picked up all of the translations, had them officially notarized and took everything to the Ukrainian department of vital records or ZAGS as it is called there. They found some sort of discrepancy on one page of the translation in regards to my middle name, so it was back to the translator again, followed by another stop at the notary, and then ZAGS once more. This time they accepted everything and we made an appointment to return in two days to finalize things.
The finalization process also went smoothly. Then it was time to go to the Metropolitan's offices at Pechersk Lavra to petition the Orthodox Church to allow us to get married at the Church of the Holy Trinity in Kiev. This process also required a second appointment.
At the second appointment we submitted a written request and I was asked about my baptism and what church I belonged too (Lutheran). The major area of concern revolved around the issue of children. They want assurance that any children will be baptized in an Orthodox Church. Having children is not an issue in our relationship so no problem. We were given a certificate giving us permission to get married we took this to the priest at the Church of the Holy Trinity. There was one other requirement. Portions of the wedding service must be translated into English so it will be necessary for us to pay a small fee to the church for this service.
So, we are all set to get married this February. There will be 2 services. One at the church followed by the official ceremony two days later at ZAGS in Kiev. We will be having a reception at the Hotel Kiev after the church ceremony. Our plan is for me to submit the I-130 petition directly to the US Consulate shortly after we get married. I will be spending a month in Ukraine at that time. Alla plans on coming to the US at the end of July.
There is one potential problem. Alla lived and worked in Cuba for a few years. The Cuban Embassy says it will take about 6 months for them to issue a police report. We requested this in September so it should be close. Even if this hasn't been issued by February we have a couple of potential work arounds with the worst case scenario requiring me to make another trip to Kiev in the spring after this police certificate has been issued and submitting the petition at that time.
