WOO HOO! K1 approved in California!

[Zoidberg]

I just looked up our case and we were approved from the California Service Center! It was a LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG wait. Our first NOA was Aug 7 and Feb 23 was the approval day! I know we still have longer to go but it is all downhill now.

Not long ago I asked some questions about Svetlana's name having one letter wrong in the translations. Some people said to do nothing, others said to change it. We decided to change it to make everything match. It didn't delay us at all and 1 week after they got the new birth certificate with the correct spelling we were approved. Also we only sent in exactly what they asked for on the website with our original application. Nothing more and I didn't bind it all together or anything. I put my letter on the front and had all the paperwork filled out below that. Nothing fancy, just exactly what they asked for they got.

Good luck to all those that have to use the California Service Center as it slowed down to a crawl recently but started to pick up again. I hope all of your waits are much faster.

Z

[MarkInTx]

... in response to WOO HOO! K1 approved in California! , posted by Zoidberg on Feb 24, 2004

Glad things worked out for you.

FWIW, Victoria has had all kinds of spelling problems... I even mis-spelled her last name on her K-1 application -- and no one batted an eye.

The fact is that there is no "right" spelling in actuality. After all, the letters in our alphabet are different, so who is to say what the right spelling is?

The spelling for my wife's name is officially: Viktoriya. At first we wanted to have it changed to the more English: Victoria, but we never bothered.

Its on all of her IDs and bank cards here, and we have actually both grown to really like it that way. Many a sales clerk has complimented her on the spelling, saying it was "cool."

The important thing, after all, is that she gets here :-)

Congrats again!

[Jack]

... in response to WOO HOO! K1 approved in California! , posted by Zoidberg on Feb 24, 2004

best to you Z and Svitlana, or is it Svetlana now? Know you must be excited.

[Zoidberg]

... in response to Re: WOO HOO! K1 approved in California! , posted by Jack on Feb 26, 2004

Thanks Jack! It's now Svitlana! She has to get used to it also but I asked her what she wanted so she said it doesn't matter. It's only the spelling so we did the easiest. Thanks for yours and Galina's advice. I'll be talking to you soon about a flat in Kiev.

Z

[Cold Warrior]

... in response to Svitlana is her new name... , posted by Zoidberg on Feb 26, 2004

These misspelt names reminds me of the many Europeans that passed through Ellis island and had their names changed.

[mudd]

... in response to WOO HOO! K1 approved in California! , posted by Zoidberg on Feb 24, 2004

wow, long time!!!!! hopefully some time this year, ill be doing the same. what agency did you use in Dnep?

[Zoidberg]

... in response to Re: WOO HOO! K1 approved in California! , posted by mudd on Feb 25, 2004

Hi mudd,

I bought Sveta's address from AFA but didn't use them for much more than that. They did two letter translations for us and then we used Jack & First Dream for some services. For both of my trips over there to see her we set up the trips ourselves. Sveta even got a flat for me the first time but we did use Eugene (refered to us by Jack) for our trip to the Crimea area.

Good luck to you and hope the service center speeds up the process by the time you have to do it.

Z

[mudd]

... in response to Re: Re: WOO HOO! K1 approved in Californ..., posted by Zoidberg on Feb 25, 2004

i also will be using jack "AKA" cindy agency in Dnep. happy to hear that somebody that used AFA, actualy met somebody and it worked out.Stay dry, going to pour cats and dogs here in SD tonight, so they say :-)

[AJ277]

... in response to Re: Re: Re: WOO HOO! K1 approved in Cali..., posted by mudd on Feb 26, 2004

zoid and mudd-

I met my wife from Dnepro- her contact info from AFA.
trip logistics,(Jack)
initial meeting and translator was by FD (Galina)

Ive used Cindy agency many times there in Dnepropetrovsk
, for many things, and highly recommend them also!!

Zoid- one letter in my wives "new" Surname is what is our hold up at the moment.She went to the interview, was approved her visa, but they would not let her pick it up because one letter in the surname was off.
We have to gte the passport correcxted ,then he can pick up her approved visa in Warsaw.

So be glad that you corrected it

For a timeline- filed the I 130 in Kiev on September 4 2003
Packet 4 arrived December 16
Interview January 5.

New ,improved, passport due back today

[Cold Warrior]

... in response to WOO HOO! K1 approved in California! , posted by Zoidberg on Feb 24, 2004

Great news Nobby. I though your Sveta was here already.

[Zoidberg]

... in response to Re: WOO HOO! K1 approved in California! , posted by Cold Warrior on Feb 24, 2004

It's been so long it seems like she should have been here already! We're still waiting but I think the first step is the difficult part. Now we know it's almost over. I called Sveta at our usual time of 7 am her time. I wake her up with my calls and she is always sleepy for a few minutes. I told her our good news right away and she was wide awake immediately.