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You gotta love corruption in its pure form

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extremevx
  2/17/2016 07:25 EST

Ok. Here is the run down on me getting my ukraine permanent residence permit. Since my wife is a russian national but has lived in ukraine since she was 11 and has a ukrainian permanent resident permit also, then I get to bypass the temporary resident permit and go straight to a permanent like her. Don't k ow if this is the way it's supposed to be, but it's what the lady at the ovir office says ans I'm not about to argue. We started this process a month ago and had to put on hold until the new 2016 immigration quotas came down from kiev. Since then I have shelled out about $100 in bribes and other necessary monies to make the process faster and smoother. First I had to go to 3 different hospital departments. One for a blood test. The doctor asked my wife if I really wanted to give blood and wait 10 days for the result, or pay 300 grivna and get the paper with her stamp on it with instant results. Ofcourse I chose to pay the 300 uah, duh! Then there was the chest xray to see if I had tuberculosis, 100 uah for instant processing. Saved a week. Then there was the 500 uah bottle of premium cognac and a box of chocolates and premium coffee to the lady at the ovir office so that we wouldn't have to make a trip to the ukraine embassy in Moldova to get an immigration visa stamp in my passport. Then there was the 300 uah to the doctor at another hospital so she would have to really examine me which means running her finger up my butt for a prostate exam and wait a week for the results. Then there was the extra 150 uah to pay in order to get my police record from the ukraine police in 5 days instead of 2 weeks.
All in all I am wondering now if I shouldn't have done what others have done and just go pay a lawyer. Might have come out even or ahead by doing that. But it was still a lesson learned in how things work in ukraine.

NA67
  2/17/2016 09:09 EST

Ukraine will always be Ukraine, EU or not. This way of doing business, is just a normal way of life there in Ukraine)))

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extremevx
  2/17/2016 09:18 EST

It has its perks. You almost don't want it to change once tour used to it. If the us came in I think it would make russiofile go back to Idaho

Russophile
  2/17/2016 09:43 EST

This is the way most of the world has been working since Mankind invented money. Then somebody said, "I have a better idea". That idea evolved into a body of men and women that can't get anything done.

NA67
  2/17/2016 10:33 EST

I think after the last 20 years in the Middle East, USA might want to stay at home and mind their own business. US GOV. seems to fail miserably at sticking our nose in others affairs!!!

cbm65
  2/18/2016 00:46 EST

HI can i ask! did you have to get a police record check from your home country?

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extremevx
  2/18/2016 06:21 EST

Yes, but don't go through the FBI to do it. It's not necessary and take too long. What I did is what the American embassy in kiev told me to do and it's the same for people adopting children from ukraine.
Go to the website of your state police and see if you can get a notarized copy of your criminal record. Alot of states you can get this document online and emailed to you but it needs to be certified with a notary seal. For instance, I lived in Pennsylvania, so I paid online and had then send it to me in the mail since it had to come out of Harrisburg. You can do this in any state if you have lived there before as long as it's the state that your driving license is in because you need to show that to the lady at the ovir. If you have a criminal record, just make sure to get your record in the state where you don't have a record as state criminal records only show records from that state. That's why you may not want to go the FBI route as this will be national. Anyways, ukraine doesn't care about your criminal record per say, they just need to have the document.
When you get this document, you need to send it or go to your state's secretary of state and have it apostilled for use in ukraine. You will need all your documents apostilled such as your divorce decree if your getting married here as well as your birth certificate. When you get to ukraine you need to go to a notary and get all certified translations of all your documents. This included your passport, drivers license, divorce decree and birth certificate. This cost me about 600 uah in kiev. Not much. Letter of non impediment to marriage is no longer needed from the embassy nor will they give it to you. Instead, they give you a copy of the new ukraine law stating you don't need it. Now bear in mind not all ovir offices do everything the same so you may need to check to see what documents they want as there is no real standardisation in ukraine.

MichaelTryn
  2/18/2016 09:31 EST

I just wanted to add: After I told my wife what you posted about bringing a good bottle of whiskey and chocolates to the clerk, she said "THAT is the way business has always been done." The same with our politicians. If any of you have watched "Empire Boardwalk" series. The senators were taking envelopes, nothing has changed. "You want a new hwy, what can you do for me?"

kkmail
  2/18/2016 11:12 EST

I kind of like it myself too..Before starting to build the last house I asked my corrupt builder about permits and he said after, after, hahaha.. Like it !! It was like if you want to build a house that falls down, be my guest, you don't need to show us your plans ! And then us give you a permit to do it, hahaha..Plus a lot easier than what you posted to the guy asking about a background check, !! I think I must have paid many moons ago, if I even had one done, cant rememememeber !!

extremevx
  2/18/2016 11:14 EST

About the background check, my wife said if in were not able to get one before I came to ukraine, the woman probably would have dismissed it for 100 grivna.

extremevx
  2/18/2016 11:21 EST

Background check from host country is new. It's ukraine attempt to make it look as if they are on par with the European Union as far as diligence in security screening so that Europe will except them into the shenegan zone for visa free travel.

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