Richard III

The good news is that my wife's K3 visa was issued on December 5, 2003 and it was sent to her son in St. Petersburg. The bad news is that, because he speaks essentially NO English, he opened not only the envelope containing the passports and visas but, also, the SACRED envelope which is required to remain sealed until it is handed to the immigration officials at the POE.

How in the world are we going to go about getting then contents re-certified and re-sealed? The consulate is closed on Friday for a Russian holiday (Constitution Day). All I can think to do is to have her son appear at the consulate on Monday and turn it over to the ConOff and ask them to take care of it. God only knows how long that might take. My wife cannot appear on Monday, she is in a city 2000 km. away and logistically, it is impossible. Have any of you heard of anything like this before? How was the problem solved? Thanks for your help.

Richard III

sibsie

Great news on the visa Richard.

Is the envelope terribly obviously opened?

Leslie

Holy Cow Richard!!!!! What next? LOL. I'm sure you can get this all sorted out.

My only question is....... Did they issue her visa before or after she showed them proof of medical insurance?

Leslie

Leslie

Well, it looks like you won our little contest.

Richard III

sibsie -

Yes, it was CLEARLY OPENED - bummer.

Richard III

HunterGreen

Congratulations on the visa, Richard! I'm sorry it's getting a bit overshadowed by the envelope trouble though. I have no clue myself, but hopefully someone on here will know what to do!

Elaine

Richard III

Leslie -

This is Murphy's Law in SPADES. It would be funny... if this was a sitcom ;^). Unfortunately, it means that we cannot purchase airline tickets until it is cleared up... so getting reasonably priced fares before Christmas is almost out of the question. This is starting to remind me of something that would have shown up in an "I Love Lucy" episode, substituting Russia for Cuba.

Yes, they issued the visa after "reviewing" the health insurance docs.

Richard III

Richard III

Damn!! - I should have asked if you wanted to raise the bet before I spewed!!

Richard III

Leslie

Murphy was an optimist.

cmstrick

awwww MAN, that SUCKS....can she just call or email the consulate so someone doesn't actually have to go in??

it was obviously a misunderstanding on his part....i mean if she has the visa what could be sooo bad about opening the packet...

anyway, now that it's been opened can you tell us what is inside??

dutchman2001nl

Congrats on the visa. I hope things turn out ok with the envelope....

egipto26

hi, congrats on getting the visa, but i think opening that envelope was a serious mistake. it is only supposed to be opened by the immigration officer at the airport when she arrives in the country.
that is why it says on the envelope not to open it yourself under any circumstances. I hope someone on this board that has experience in this can give u more precise information about this.
i think you should also contact the consulate as soon as they open to let them know about the opened envelope. hopefully they will understand.

Matthew Udall

I had this one come up in a case before (probably around 3 years ago now). My Russian K-1 beneficiary left the brown envelope sitting on her kitchen table, and her Russian Mother saw the official Consulate markings on the envelope and was curious as to what it was. Mother opened it (daughter was not there to stop her).

After conferring with an AILA expert or two (at the national AILA Conference that happened to be going on later that week... I was trying to find someone who had encountered a similar problem before), I simply had her take the brown envelope back to the Consulate and had them put the contents into a new brown envelope. Worked like a charm.

I have a new variation of this problem that just came up last week.

Russian K-1 beneficiary & K-2 child fly to U.S., but she (the K-1 beneficiary) forgets to pack (bring along) the brown envelope. The officer at the POE is not happy, but lets her and the son in anyway. Now I have to decide what to do once the brown envelope is forwarded to my client here in Cal.

My first thought is to have him try to take it to the officer at the airport and let them deal with it (since they routinely take in these envelopes and know what to do with them). If that is not possible, my second thought is to take it in to the District office where the AOS interview will eventually be held and see what they say about this.

I’m actually still thinking this one over… how to best deal with this unique non-USCIS made screw up.

Khadija

Oh Richard! How wonderful your wife's visa was approved!!! And, without having to send in all your evidence! I hope its a harbinger of things to come for Abdo and me!

As for the other matter, I think all you can do is have the son go to the Consulate and "throw himself on the mercy of the court" so-to-speak. I find it hard to believe this is the first time this has ever happened in the history of issuing visas.

Shortly delaying your reunion even more until your wife could do this herself, I think the son has to fix the problem.

So happy for you!!

Patty

Richard III

Matt -

I think that is how it's going to go. Unfortunately, it means that the poor kid has to make the trip to Moscow with the opened envelope, give it to the ConOff and then wait for a week or so while they re-stuff the envelope and re-send the package via DHL to him again. I'm pretty sure that this time he'll know what to do with it.

This whole problem is my responsibility - I knew that my wife was having the package sent to her son in St. Petersburg because the closest they could get it, via DHL, to her home town was about 160 km. away - a whole day by bus, round trip. I had forgotten about the SACRED envelope and the importance of it not being opened until arrival at the POE. Had I thought about it, I could have warned her so she could brief him. I am learning lessons that I will never be able to use. I hope someone else benefits from my mistakes - sorta like going to school on my tuition ;^).

Richard III