Which Documents Should You Never Leave Russia Without

[Gator]

Sabina, my divine Moscow friend and woman for six very interesting and delightful years, has received her K-1 visa.

She is now in full grind mode preparing for the trip to Florida.  ETA - 2 weeks.

What documents other than these should be translated and authenticated with an apostille stamp?

Birth certificates
University transcript
University degree

I thought this subject would be in the archives.  I found nothing from going back one year.

[SANDRO43]

Sabina, my divine Moscow friend and woman for six very interesting and delightful years, has received her K-1 visa.

Hey PhilBuck, congrats , I'll drink some Gavi in your honour (can't help you with the visa stuff, though).

[Ranetka]

Sabina, my divine Moscow friend and woman for six very interesting and delightful years, has received her K-1 visa.

She is now in full grind mode preparing for the trip to Florida.  ETA - 2 weeks.

What documents other than these should be translated and authenticated with an apostille stamp?

Birth certificates
University transcript
University degree

I thought this subject would be in the archives.  I found nothing from going back one year.

divorce certificate? Just a thought, if she had been married before

[BillyB]

She is now in full grind mode preparing for the trip to Florida.  ETA - 2 weeks

Congrats Gator, does this mean we're going to lose you?

I think Jet knows a little something about apostilles

[Blues Fairy]

Congratulations!!! 

Make sure she brings a copy of the vaccination record from her medical, it will be useful for her I-693A supplement that you'll have to submit with AOS application.   

Divorce/custody docs, if any, plus all possible medical records.

When's the big day?

[Jet]

Make sure she brings a copy of the vaccination record from her medical, it will be useful for her I-693A supplement that you'll have to submit with AOS application.   

This is a biggie! Much easier to spend a day or two hunting down info from childhood hospitals now, than going through the vaccinations again!
She can translate the vaccination records herself, if she's up to it. She can go here and scroll halfway down the page to "Vaccination and Medical Examination before the interview" and find a table with translations between English & Russian for the required shots.

Birth Cert. wouldn't hurt to have an apostle stamp stamp for, just in case, but it's not required for immigration and everywhere else generally accepts the Int'l passport for ID. (I would get her a FL ID card or D/L as soon as SS card is in hand though - it will only be issued for validity period of visa, and mailed to her later)

As far as University documents, an apostle stamp is just wasting money - DO bring original transcripts and Diploma though, Evaluation Svcs. do not accept copies, only originals.

I think the rest would be "at her discretion"

One last important point, when Lil came, it was just over 6 months before she was able to secure AP and travel back. If Sabina will be leaving any type of assets behind, she would do well to execute a limited power of attorney with someone she trusts OVER THERE before she leaves, in case of emergency. We had a hell of a time executing one here, getting it apostled here and then her father trying to get it accepted there!

[catzenmouse]

Gator,

 Fantastic! Congratulations on this awesome news for you both. Only document I can think of to add here would be her "Get Out Of Gator Jail Free" card...

Ken

[Gator]

Thanks everyone!

My road has been a long one.  Thank God for her patience.

Sabina is already working on the vaccinations.  She has the vaccination documents for the children but not herself.   Her records were not retained by her childhhod clinic because, "The government considers me "too old" to need them." 

She is a resourceful woman.  That, plus not wanting to be vaccinated again, will mean that she will arrive with some form of an acceptable document.

Jet, the power of attorney is a good idea.  She has a valuable apartment in Moscow but does not plan to sell it until she has US citizenship.  Nevertheless, it is good to be prepared.  I like your Visa Services webpage - very informative.

Visa Interview

Your webpage reminded me of the interview at the Embassy.  It went quickly without problems.  The CO was pleased that she answered in English because his Russian was so-so.  She said, "I prefer to answer in English because it is the language of my new country." 

The Embassy requires that children attend the interview, and the CO asked her 11-yo son his opinion regarding me.  Her son said I am a "nice man," an answer that made the CO smile.

The CO never asked for photos, travel documents, phone records, etc. She kept asking him to review them.  He responded to her request only during the fingerprinting step (which had a problem that day)  by asking tourist questions about Punta Cana and her other favorite places, never looking at the photos.

When's the big day?

 

Nothing planned other than it will be a small affair, very small.   I am planning an annual trip to visit my fraternity brothers for a weekend in late April (all-male party), so it will probably be in May.  She says we should marry a few days after her arrival.  Gentlemen, place your bets!  I have already lost the Great Dane vs. any other breed of dog.  RW are strong women, something that I relish.  Perhaps better stated as – I respect them and do not feel threatened.

[I/O]

Gator: You are about to depart the ranks of the "Hopeful" and join the ranks of those with "No remorse". As a very dear friend once advised me, do take a moment, every moment, to enjoy the moment.

I/O

[Serebro]

congratulations, Gator!
...but 6 years!!!!!
why didn't you do that earlier

[Turboguy]

Congratulations Gator.  I can always remember the excitement at that stage when we got our visa.   Golf your butt off before she arrives you may find your clubs gathering dust before long.  I think I recall you saying she golfs so perhaps not.  I need to teach VWRW to golf or find a nice storage place for my clubs.

[Blues Fairy]

\Sabina is already working on the vaccinations.  She has the vaccination documents for the children but not herself.   Her records were not retained by her childhhod clinic because, "The government considers me "too old" to need them." 
She is a resourceful woman.  That, plus not wanting to be vaccinated again, will mean that she will arrive with some form of an acceptable document.

Here's what I did in the same situation. I went to the children's clinic in my home town to which my school was attached, and asked if they could help me recreate my vaccinations history. The head of the clinic turned out to be a very understanding and cooperative lady and she quickly filled out a typical vacc. report for me, in English! Immunization shots were uniformly administered to all school kids back then, so she just wrote down a typical vaccinations history for a person my age, with years and all. And since I did not have rubella shots (they were not given before 2001), she had a nurse give it to me on the spot, for free! 

So if your fiancee has access to the children's clinic that was servicing her school, a trip there would be her best course of action.

[MaxxumUSA]

As others said - vaccinations are extremely important.  Gather all records and have her fill in the information on a DS3025 which you can download at USCIS website or here: http://www.visa-talk.com/DOC/Medical-forms/DS3025.pdf

When in moscow you can have this taken care of and made official at:

JSC Medicina
Preventive Medicine Department
10, 2-nd Tverskoy-Yamskoy
Moscow
7-095 250-88-99  phone
7-095 250-91-80  Fax


Thank goodness we spent an extra day in moscow getting this taken care of because if not it would have prevented a quick AOS.

Of course birth and divorce certificates - translated in english.

Another biggy believe it or not is HIGH SCHOOL diploma.  In order to attend any additional college or even technical training she will need her high school diploma.  Just because she has college from russia it will not necessarily count as a high school diploma.

I know this from experience as my wife started beautician school yesterday.

Oh...  and congratulations!

[Shadow]

Congratulations Gator.
What about her passport ?
Seems obvious but it is the best I can think about. 

[Jet]

As others said - vaccinations are extremely important.  Gather all records and have her fill in the information on a DS3025 which you can download at USCIS website or here: http://www.visa-talk.com/DOC/Medical-forms/DS3025.pdf

When in moscow you can have this taken care of and made official at:

JSC Medicina
Preventive Medicine Department
10, 2-nd Tverskoy-Yamskoy
Moscow
7-095 250-88-99  phone
7-095 250-91-80  Fax


Thank goodness we spent an extra day in moscow getting this taken care of because if not it would have prevented a quick AOS.

This is not a big deal stateside either, you simply make an appointment with a civil surgeon in your area, there are many find one here. They'll fill out the I -693 vaccination supplement (they'll have it in the office)

Another biggy believe it or not is HIGH SCHOOL diploma.  In order to attend any additional college or even technical training she will need her high school diploma.  Just because she has college from Russia it will not necessarily count as a high school diploma.

This could also be important for the reasons Maxxum stated. We've done a few translations of these for different ladies who wanted to start back to school at Community colleges and technical schools, and it had slipped my mind at the time of my earlier post.

[AnastassiaAsh]

Gator, I have just noticed you said that she has kids, so what about their school and immunization and other documents? Will probably need those too.

[aikorob]

Immigration uses the birth certificate as primary document for name in all of its files---if your lady was married before, or otherwise changed her name; she should bring all papers showing that fact.


Congratulations and good luck!!!!

[Gator]

Anastassia,

Thanks.  Yes, she has all of the documents for the children.

Children's documents are easy.  The problem comes with her vaccination documents because of her age.

At age 16, Russian citizens move from children's clinic to adult clinic.  10 years later, the children's clinic disposes of documents.    Because she is 33, there are no records of her childhood vaccinations.

BluesFairy,

Evidently you are younger than 26, or the clinic at your hometown does not have a staff of nasty and inflexible Muscovites, or you are a natural sweet-talking saleswoman.   

She attempted to bribe the staff at the clinic, a tactic that usually works with Russian bureaucrats.  They balked; evidently there was a recent problem of a Russian becoming ill in America and the US CDC making inquiries of the particular clinic who attested the vaccinations.