Kristian's application for a tourist visa was denied....we aren't sure why. They guy at his embassy interview just said he had to apply for a marriage visa. Evidently, if you're a foreigner married to an American, you can basically forget about visiting your spouse's country. You've got to either move there or just be happy parking your butt in your poverty-stricken former-communist homeland!
Well, that's our Christmas plans down the drain, plus the $140 visa application fee and the 300-euro cancellation fee for our plane tickets. In true American fashion, I consoled myself and my husband by going to the mall and buying him some pants.
On the plus side, when I contacted the embassy about his immigrant visa, I discovered that the process is
highly streamlined for us because we can apply at the embassy instead of USCIS. The woman at the embassy seemed to think that Kristian's visa would be approved by this summer--far better than the 18 months to two years my book about marriage visas had led me to believe. Applying at the embassy bypasses a lot of mail and a lot of bureaucracy: my initial petition for his application will be hand-delivered to the embassy and approved that same day instead of being mailed to USCIS and languishing there for up to a year.
I'm so sorry to hear that your Christmas plans aren't going to happen! So it's basically easier to MOVE to the US than try to visit? That seems crazy!
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