Due to one of my friend's curiousity I will try to write about the immigration process we went through before we came to the US. I wish there was somebody to tell me what to do before we started.. Oh well.
So in the beginning... We got married!! And although we really enjoyed our ceremony in the backyard of our church, the legal part of that wasn't nearly as pleasant. In Ukraine you are supposed to file for the legal ceremony 30 days in advance... Well in the time frame that we were in, we just couldn't make it in time with our wedding ceremony, so we got married (legally) after we came back from our honeymoon. (I know, heathen... =)
So after the paper with our names on them has been handed to us and a lady with a harsh voice made us kiss in her office, the REAL craze begins. (Unless you want to change your name to your husband's, then you need to change your Ukrainian passport, THEN make a new international (zagran) passport in your new name... Takes around 1,5-2 months...Unless you have tons of money =D )
Even though you get married legally, back in America your husband is still viewed as a bachelor. Since you don't want that, you have to go to the American Embassy (your husband can go there anytime and this time you can come in with him without an appointment) and fill out a bunch of fun papers, then rush (with the papers) to a nearest bus (or taxi) to get to the Ministry of Foreign affairs. There put your husband in the line (be sure the line will be loooong) and start filling out all the other papers they have for you - because they can't wait for you to do that at the window directly. If you are lucky enough (we were simply blessed by God that day) and manage to get to the window before 12 AM, (that means that you have to get to the Embassy before 10, or you won't make it) then they will process your case and give back the papers after 4 PM with a lovely stamp on the back. Your hubby is not single anymore!
After this you can finally start the immigration junk! Yeeyy...
The way the American Embassy works is through appointments that you have to schedule WAAAAY beforehand. To schedule the appointment, go to a nearest AVAL bank and ask for a pin code for the Am embassy. I usually paid around 60 Hr, and that was enough for appx 8 min... (yeah it's like calling America... except in Ukraine). So you get the little slip of paper with a pin code on it, and the next day you can call the embassy (the phone # is on the slip, too). The first appointment is for the American citizen to present a petition about his/her immediate relative's immigration, so you don't even have to show up at the embassy. Your time will come later, he he...
After your hubby comes back from this exciting trip, he will have the list of documents for your case. Most of them are not so hard to obtain, it will be a bunch of papers to translate, but also there's a medical exam and a form about your sponsorship... That one gave us lots of unpleasant moments. I don't remember what it's called now, but it basically states that you won't be a bum once you enter the country. Therefore, your husband or someone from the States has to sign that paper saying they will be your sponsors if you hit the bottom. But for them to do that, they have to prove that they actually have the means of sponsoring you. That's why my husband, being a poor missionary, had to ask his dad to do that. And his dad had to get some papers stating his and his wive's annual income, fill out some forms (of course) and FedEx it to Ukraine.
WE made one mistake that I believe, originated from the Embassy staff, as they told us that we needed to get this sponsorship form BEFORE the first appointment. As it took about 2-2,5 months to just get it done and shipped, and the appointment scheduling takes not less than a month.. that's 3,5 months of just sitting on our hands.
But once you get the papers and don't tear them trying to open the envelope (I still remind Will of that =) you can go ahead and schedule the 2nd appointment. It's your turn now! There will be the medical exam left, and you can come any day, no appointment, but get prepared to spend literally the whole day at the clinic, as they first take all the blood samples and Xrays, and then process them. Also take some dollars along, as they accept only foreign currency. They charged me an extra $20 for an additional X-ray, which I never found out why exactly, but oh well. Also, on the Embassy website they say that you need evidence of all the vaccinations you have had, well I lost my medical records when I was a kid and it wasn't a problem, they ended up giving me 2 shots that protected me from 6 illnesses, handy huh? Although the nurse told me that one of the shots was very strong, so I couldn't get pregnant 3 months after I had it. Oh well, we weren't planning on it anyway =)
The day of the appointment was EXTREMELY stressful. I fell asleep in the train having nightmares about forgetting some papers.... Horrible. But we made it on time, rushed to the office, submitted the papers and.... waited for 3 hours without daring to go out.(that's one of those cases when you rush to wait...) So get prepared for that and eat at least SOMETHING. During that 3 hour period they called me out once to take my fingerprints. Then finally they called out our name, and a friendly balding guy asked: " Is all the information correct? So Will is a missionary and that's how you met? Can you raise your hand and swear you are saying nothing but the truth?"... Well all my knowledge of English could have been founded on a single word "Yes" and I would have been good =) He slipped a pink piece of paper under the window and our immigration story has ended. We got my passport with the visa in it couple days later via the same FedEx.
Now, that was the long way (which took us a year and a half and a little more than one grand). Of course you can get out of the country with a temporary visa for around $300, but you will still have to go through the process in the US, which will probably be even more expensive. The advantages of the long way are that within a couple of weeks since we came I got my SSN and my permanent resident's card, which gave me an opportunity to start working right away. So I prefer the long way, but of course situations are different.
Hope it helps at least somebody... or just makes up for an entertaining reading =)
