IMBRA vs MAXX

[Turboguy]

I happend to read a detailed report about the interveiws under IMBRA.  Let me start off with the part that referst to the title I gave this post.

I have always appreciated the valient efforts of Maxx to try and inform people about green card girls and the dangers that the guy can face with faked domestic abuse cases. 

I thought it was interesting that the walls of the interview room are now covered with posters that tell the gals the wait for a green card is two years but it will be waived if they claim domestic abuse.  They are also given a hand out that tells them the same.

Green cards used to take two years of marrige now a wise GCG can do it in just a few days.

I will also add that the questions in the report I read have gone from logical to extreame.

[PeeWee]

I happend to read a detailed report about the interveiws under IMBRA.  Let me start off with the part that referst to the title I gave this post.

I have always appreciated the valient efforts of Maxx to try and inform people about green card girls and the dangers that the guy can face with faked domestic abuse cases. 

I thought it was interesting that the walls of the interview room are now covered with posters that tell the gals the wait for a green card is two years but it will be waived if they claim domestic abuse.  They are also given a hand out that tells them the same.

Green cards used to take two years of marrige now a wise GCG can do it in just a few days.

I will also add that the questions in the report I read have gone from logical to extreame.

Is Maxx's experience simular to that of Shane Neff? Are all of these guys who have been charged with DV taken completly by surprise by this? I ask because I wonder if somewhere in the courtship process that a red flag or two did not alert them to this character trait in her. I would be totally surprised if the lady that I am now communicating with even was capable of thinking of doing something like that. Her moral character seems impecable to me. The that I communicated with prior to the current one was somewhat the gypsy and could con a ruble from a Moscow begger without much effort, and I know that about her, but I would be hard for me to believe that even she could go the DV route. I mean you just have to know a person at least well enough to understand that they are potentially capable of some sort of trechery.

I recall reading a study done a few years ago by an Air Force JAG (lawyer) with regard to abuse claims filed by women then serving in the Air Force. He found that over 60% of those claims were not true or had been embelished to a higher degree. He wondered if this was was indemic of just the AF or if this transended into civilian life. So he continued his study with women who resided in Chicago. He results were the same.

What does this suggest to us? It suggests that a lot of women, everywhere, are perfectly capable of fabricating a story of abuse to further their cause. I would not limit this idea to just FSU women but to women on a more golal nature. In a litigation consious society, like America, the risk of it happening to any of us is even greater.

Peewee

[Sohkay]

Turbo,
Is this detailed report available online?
If so, where?
I, and I'm sure others, would be interested in reading it.

[Turboguy]

It is but I am not sure it is where it would be good to send anyone.  I might be able to cut and paste it here later when I have more time.

[Turboguy]

Here is the post I talked about.   I thought it was very interesting.   The colors and bold are mine to hightlight the points I made.

**********************************************************
I can answer some of the speculation about IMBRA's effects. I've been through the process. I used a marriage agency, and I attended the visa interview in Kiev.

First, the wording of the law says that no extra background checks will be performed. I think the over 1,000 couples who already had visas issued, and then had them invalidated because extra procedures were not followed, would disagree.

Second, can our government use a dropped court case (arrested, but the case was thrown out for having no merit) against you? Yes! Restraining orders? Yes! Innocent until proven guilty? In your dreams. For IMBRA's purposes, an allegation has the same weight as a conviction.

Third, does IMBRA affect applications dated before the March 6 date that IMBRA went into effect? Yes! By implementing IMBRA provisions during the interview, they have, to a limited extent, made the law retroactive.

Our appointment was at 8:45AM on Wednesday May 31. We arrived at the consulate at about 8:30AM and after going through security handed over all the required paperwork from the KEV-1 checklist. The lady at the bullet-proof glass window was friendly and smiled a lot. We noticed other people were getting called into the interview area and then leaving. At about 10:00AM we were told to come back at 2:00PM. We went out to have lunch. I was getting nervous because in the stories I've read, I haven't read of anybody having to come back later in the day.

At 2:00PM there was only one other woman in the waiting area. She was called to the interview area first. She came back to the waiting area and told us her visa was declined. She said it was her second time traveling to Kiev for the interview. The first time, she didn't have one of her documents translated. She didn't know why she was declined this time.

We (my fiancée, her son, and me) were called to the interview window. The consular officer who did the interview was an American man with red-hair and a beard. He asked if I was the petitioner and I said yes. I was asked how many times I've been to Ukraine, and I said this was my fourth trip. He asked if I spent all four trips with the same woman, and I said yes. He asked if this was my first visa application and I said yes. He asked if I have ever been arrested. I said yes and yada yada yada… He asked about the restraining order that was filed, and I said that it was also filed the same day as the divorce. He said that my record was confusing about what I was convicted of and my sentence. I told him I wouldnt plea-bargain, so it was a misdemeanor (not domestic violence) and my sentence was 40-hours helping out at the local animal shelter. He asked for my passport, looked through it, and handed it back. He thanked me for the clarification and told my fiancées son and me to return to the waiting area.

He asked my fiancée if she knew about the incident he asked me about, and she said yes. He asked her for her interpretation of what I had told her about the incident, when I had told her, and if my story to him was different than what I told her. She said that I had told her about this early in our relationship because I had explained about green card girls claiming abuse, and that many American men are worried about that, because many American women do the same thing to gain leverage in a divorce. She also said that I had told her the embassy might give her a booklet on how to claim abuse and get an automatic green card. He asked why she loves me.

He asked her to name where I worked, what is my profession and my salary, and if I had any children. He asked how many men she had met through the agency, how many people knew that she was planning to leave the country, and if I was friends with the owner of the agency. He asked how many times I had visited her and the dates of each of my visits. He also asked if she knew my birthday.

I could hear her interview from the waiting room, but it was in Russian. Fortunately, her 11-year old son could also hear, and translated each question and answer to me as the interview progressed. The consular officer handed her the domestic violence book without comment, and said congratulations.

Take note of a few things. Your fiancée might be asked how many times you have visited her country and if you saw only her each time. It would be embarrassing if the interviewer tells her something different than you've told her.

If youre a newbie, make sure you're truthful and complete about what ever information an agency asks about your background. It won't be good if what your fiancée has been told doesn't match what the government knows about you (and they know everything). Our interviewer had about 20 pages of computer printouts about us. Although it's not a consequence of IMBRA, I didn't like the question about my salary. My salary isn't much in SoCal terms, but it'll sound like a diamond mine to someone in the FSU, and I think it creates some expectations which I have tried to avoid. Let your fiancee know about the domestic violence booklet beforehand. There are various postings in the waiting room about the two-year wait required for a green card. These same postings also have in parenthesis that the two-year wait is waived if you claim abuse.
Taken as a whole, my fiancée said that the interview experience created a sense of apprehension about American men in general and about me specifically. It's created unease where there was none. I think IMBRA is doing exactly what its supporters hoped it would do. This law has the guise of gender neutrality. But would it have been passed if it primarily affected women, and required them to tell a man every place they lived since age 18, the ages of their children, and the circumstances of their divorce, before the first meeting, and if the man was under no legal obligation to share any info until after the engagement?

[BC]

Sounds like a pretty balanced interview.

His only real objection seemed to be that she knew his income.. jeez they want to be married and he wants to keep hiding his payslips?

Ok.. he was a bit bashful about admitting what happened in his past to his fiancee.. so what?  Should a fiancee not know her future husbands criminal past?.. She had to submit her police certificate so what's the difference?

Surely she should know her rights.. who would want to deny this knowledge to their wife?

I see no 'beef'.

A couple with a real relationship should have no problem.

All is well.

[Turboguy]

My concern with it BC is that it encourages false domesic abuse charges more than anything.  It sounds like the interviews are getting tougher as well but that guy had some problems and he did get the visa. 

[Rvrwind]

My concern with it BC is that it encourages false domesic abuse charges more than anything.

Yep, nothin' like giving them step by step instructions on how to screw a man over & get legal status at the same time. Is it just me or am I missing something here. If they handed such a pamphlet to my wife I'd take it from her & throw it right back in their face. Never heard of anything so stupid or ignorant perpitrated by your own government, what a bunch of a-holes.
If the shoe was on the other foot & they gave a pamphlet to the men you can bet your skinny white tooshy that the womens rights groups would be up in arms over it. But we are men & born to be discriminated against. Gotta love a fair system,  .

[Maxx2]

The media is catching on

http://www.wtvt.com/investreptr/russiawithoutlove.html

I have been contacted several times by them and I direct them to various men who have a story to tell.  I am working on a way to get them to dig deeper and show the origins (USCIS rules and the VSC) of the problem.

Maxx

[Rvrwind]

I've told many guys before, you want to find out if she really loves you or is using you. Just tell her you won't be taking her to your country, you are going to move to Russia or Ukraine to retire. If she freaks on you, drop her like a hot potatoe as all she is after is a free ticket outa here, if, like my wife, she says I don't care where we live as long as we are together. Marry her quick before she gets away, & change your mind about moving to Russia, unless like me you are totally serious about moving here.
Its the one sure litmus test that has never failed. I had 3-4 that I met that failed this test with flying colors but when I asked my Valya & she answered, I knew I had found a woman that loved me for me, not for what I could give her.

[catzenmouse]

I've told many guys before, you want to find out if she really loves you or is using you. Just tell her you won't be taking her to your country, you are going to move to Russia or Ukraine to retire. If she freaks on you, drop her like a hot potatoe as all she is after is a free ticket outa here, if, like my wife, she says I don't care where we live as long as we are together. Marry her quick before she gets away, & change your mind about moving to Russia, unless like me you are totally serious about moving here.
Its the one sure litmus test that has never failed. I had 3-4 that I met that failed this test with flying colors but when I asked my Valya & she answered, I knew I had found a woman that loved me for me, not for what I could give her.

 If I said to Elena that we were moving to her home town this weekend she would be bouncing off the walls with joy!

Ken

[BillyB]

I asked my fiancee how she would feel if I moved to Uzbekistan and that way she wouldn't have to be far from her friends and family. She was thrilled that I would change my life for her. So thrilled that I had to start thinking of excuses why I shouldn't move there such as: I don't know the language and I probably couldn't get a decent job and our kids wouldn't have as good an opportunity as would be in America.

[Rvrwind]

So thrilled that I had to start thinking of excuses why I shouldn't move there such as: I don't know the language and I probably couldn't get a decent job and our kids wouldn't have as good an opportunity as would be in America.

If I said to Elena that we were moving to her home town this weekend she would be bouncing off the walls with joy!

At least you know they love you for you, not your wallet or a ticket to the land of plenty.

I don't know the language

I don't either but I been here 3= years already!!

I probably couldn't get a decent job

Didn't think I could either but that didn't stop me from trying & succeeding. All depends on what you consider decent I guess.

our kids wouldn't have as good an opportunity as would be in America

Now that I can't argue with, but times they are a changing & opportunities are opening up everywhere for those with the gumption to go for it.
I guess I'm a rare bird, as I seem to survive & thrive no matter where I go. I've had a couple of setbacks lately but I hold fast to my principals & now things are starting to turn in my favor again. It is not a move I would recommend for the meek thats for sure. You need gonads to pull it off & come out on top!

[catzenmouse]

We're still looking at this for the future. First order of business is to get her flat fixed up the way we want it then to do the same to Mama's flat, then for the dacha. Figure the best way to do this (financially) is to stay here and sink our extra income into the upgrades there. We have a 10 year plan in mind for this with more time in country towards the end and finally being able to live there full time if and when we choose. By then Sergei will be 16 so we may hold off a bit until he finishes school and goes off to college or whatever. Even if we decide we don't want to live there full time it will still give us everything we want or need for any time we decide to go. In the mean time I do keep my eyes/ears open for any opportunities to work/live there full time that will give us a similar ability to make the upgrades we want.

Ken

[Muj]

Well my fiancee passes the lets live in Ukraine test. Actually wasn't testing just casually conversing.....

[rodsteel]

BillyB - from what I saw, importing a few big pieces of US construction machinery and setting up a Western style contracting firm might be a lucrative business ;o)).

Rod

[BillyB]

I've thought about that Rod but I'm sure one needs to have connections and maybe pay for protection. Also, I don't think I'd want to work in a country where the economy is unstable. From the construction I've seen in Russia and Uzbekistan, it's done at a slooooooow pace. I'd probably work myself out of many jobs based on speed. With Capitalism in the U.S, low bid gets the job so one needs to do things efficiently to make money.

[rodsteel]

BillyB - that was what I noticed (slow and shoddy ;o))

A local "partner" might take care of the "safety" issues. However, when more Western companies invest in the area, the demand for "speed" should increase (setting up an effective company now would be risky but the future potential could be quite good).

Cheers,

Rod