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Anyone dealt with ZAGS? Married in Ukraine?
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Posted by: freebird

I am planning a trip to get married, I would like to ask about getting married from anyone who has done this before, specifically getting married in Ukraine. Unfortunately, in Canada we don't have the K-1 fiancee visa, so I will have to get a marriage licience before applying to get her a visa. She has asked at the ZAGS office, they say that it is mandatory to wait one month after applying, but some girls on another website said that this can be avoided by paying a ca$h bonus to the registrar. (read - $$$ bribe!) Is this true? anyone been in this situation before?

Apparently i will have to get my documents checked & approved by the Canadian consulate in Kiev to verify that I don't already have wife(s) in Canada, that I'm not an axe-murderer etc. etc. THEN go to apply to get married. All this will take at least 5 weeks, and I can't take that much time off right now. (already was there for almost 4 weeks in July.) Any tips & insights would be helpful! thanks!

Posted by: Longfellow

Quote:

Originally Posted by freebird

I am planning a trip to get married, I would like to ask about getting married from anyone who has done this before, specifically getting married in Ukraine. Unfortunately, in Canada we don't have the K-1 fiancee visa, so I will have to get a marriage licience before applying to get her a visa. She has asked at the ZAGS office, they say that it is mandatory to wait one month after applying, but some girls on another website said that this can be avoided by paying a ca$h bonus to the registrar. (read - $$$ bribe!) Is this true? anyone been in this situation before?

Apparently i will have to get my documents checked & approved by the Canadian consulate in Kiev to verify that I don't already have wife(s) in Canada, that I'm not an axe-murderer etc. etc. THEN go to apply to get married. All this will take at least 5 weeks, and I can't take that much time off right now. (already was there for almost 4 weeks in July.) Any tips & insights would be helpful! thanks!

I have heard, from several sources not just here, that a letter from employer stating this man has X vacation only, no other time to return can be used well to cut off the waiting time.
Have this letter translated and notoraized.
Or, woman can submit all needed documents in your absence.
Only at time of marriage is your presence and passport needed... Ukraine state allows for registration in absence of foreign party given remaining party is in country during the waiting period.

Posted by: AkMike

LMAO, I paid/gave a $100 "gift" to a middleman who knew a woman at the regional level of ZAGS. He took his slice and passed some on to her I'm sure.. Anyway.. She's the one who decided that I really didn't need to wait 30 days after regerstering( being such a handsome, upstanding westerner) She scheduled us for 2 days away. No Problems!
Your gal will know who to get ahold of to work out the glitches!

IIRC In Canada you'll need to get a "letter of Non-Impedement" Probably made out n triplicate and signed in blood , promising your first born if anything is false, with an apostile stamp to boot. Stating that you are NOT presently married. Do a search.. I might have the details wrong. I do know that the US doesn't do these so at the US Embassy I signed a note infront of an embassy employee stating that I was divorced as of XX/X/1986. And I had copies of the paperwork with apostile stamps on everything, including a birth certificate. They really like to see lots of official stamps on the papers.. ( Job Security fo the government)

Posted by: deccie

I also had to get the CNI or "Certificate of No Impediment". And living in a country outside my home country of Australia made it incredibly difficult and painfull.

Just one thing about the 30 day wait. As Mike said about his situation he made a gift to make it happen. It really depends on who you strike on the day in the office. We made 3 visits to get things straightened out and got three different sets of rules each time.

One extra thing I got hit with was my surname was not translated correctly by the translation bureau who we used to get the Russian paperwork. This was a major headache to get sorted out.

Posted by: Longfellow

I was able to get CNI yesterday at our Recorders Office of County Clerk... esssentially a request for marriage records that returns a certification of no record found.
Saved me a trip to Embassy in Kyiv and made my girl happy that I was being proactive.

Posted by: AkMike

Quote:

Originally Posted by deccie

One extra thing I got hit with was my surname was not translated correctly by the translation bureau who we used to get the Russian paperwork. This was a major headache to get sorted out.

They use a translation software to change it to cyrillic and back. MAKE SURE to see if it changes it back to latin correctly!!! Fight tooth and nail to have it changes correctly if it doesn't. It'll cause all sorts of problems if you wind up with a wife with a different last name when it's time for the visa's I'm sure.
Tanya had a major 'discussion' with a supervisor to get it fixed.

Posted by: jeffs

I don't know about Ukraine, I was married in Russia, I had to pay a $100 bribe to get the document I could prove I was married. But it sounds pretty rationale that you should be able to do the same. Also, check and make sure that you actually need to be there at ZAGS to set the date.

Posted by: firemansam

I watched CSI once, it was pretty good...

OOOpppssss Sorry

Well, we spoke to ZAGS in Tyumen (Not Ukraine) and honestly, it seemed like there was no opportunity to offer gifts to come to the front of the que even if you were that way minded. Thay were very to the point of 30 days waiting and as far as we could see, there was no way around this...

Our impressions.....

Sam and Mrs Sam.

Posted by: AkMike

The "gifts" weren't offered to the dweeb at the front counter. It was very behind the scenes and at a higher level. All the arraingments/appointments were made by this 'facilitator'. He knew who to contact and how to get anything done.

Bribes/gifts are wrong but they work so good!

Posted by: deccie

I think that is a good point Mike that the way "gifts" are presented is important.
The very first time we went to ZAGS my lady's mother presented a gift to the ZAGS woman. I watched with interested to see how it was done.

Posted by: pharmrep2

Hi all,

I know it has been a very long time that I posted, and was just checking the forum today, and reading the different threads. This one I decided to reply because I thought it might be helpful to talk about my experience. Yes, there is a 30 day wait period. But there is exceptions with foreigners it could be done in the next week or two, with the proper documents (CNI, and letter of x vacation time, and airline tickets). Plus it doesn't hurt to provide a gift in terms of foreign chocolates and if you want/need to attach some $$. I didn't the box of chocolates did the job for me. Just remember the Head of the ZAGs is the one that has the final say of when you can marry. Oh by the by I went to ZAGS without the CNI because it need to be authenticated or stamped by a russian govt. agency and it would take a week. The lady at the ZAGs just said bring it when it is ready. Hopefully it goes well with you but give yourself at least a few weeks of vacation just in case.

Dax