Renwing her Ukrainian passport

[aikorob]

I noticed the thread that Vaughn opened last month---turns out that N. is going to have the same problem next year in Ukraine.
She is debating whether to go ahead and get it done in the spring when she visits Odessa, or in the summer of 09 when it actually expires. She is very worried that if she waits, she will be strapped for time when we go for removal of conditions (Nov 09). She knows of several girls in the Atlanta area that let both their greencard and visa expire.
She does not want to get the exit stamp in her passport (she is keeping her property). Anbody else been through this?
Can we go through the Ukrainian Embassy here, or will it be easier for her to do in Odessa?

[Leslie]

Hi,

We went through this a while back.  The straightforward way is to renew the international passport whilst your wife is in Ukraine.  My wife paid the official $100 barysh and got her red passport renewed in 2 days.  (without the bribe it could take several weeks...) No change was made to her Blue (domestic) passport.

Problem with using a consulate is they will ask questions about your wife's immigration status.  We live in UK but the situation may be the same in US.  It is the blue domestic passport which is important.  If this gets stamped as "living abroad" it can have implications for property ownership etc.

Natasha now has a British and a Ukraine foreign passport as well as a domestic Ukraine passport.  Under Ukraine law Natasha should renouce her Ukraine citizenship.  The Ukraine consulate will charge us £100s to do this so we just won't bother...

[aikorob]

Thanks Leslie,
After her asking on the ladies forums, we've come to the same conclusion. If anyone has more recent experience, we would love to hear it.