November 20, 2025 Back in Ukraine, Drones, and Visa Issues

robert gamble
17 minutes ago
2 min read

Friends,

On Sunday night of Nov 16th (our 1 year anniversary!), the city of Izmail, was hit by 27 drones. The above video (57 sec) records our experience. The answer to my question, "What's that noise?" is the resulting fire at the port aboard a ship filled with flammable gas. We see it burning from our kitchen window, at about 200 yards. It's now Tuesday and the port and our apartment still have no power.

BBC NEWS TANKER ON FIRE

In May, we applied for a spouse visa with an I-485 and had an interview with USCIS on Oct 29th. Because our I-94 was soon to expire, we made a trip back to Ukraine in the summer to lead a program in trauma therapy, not realizing we needed permission to leave the States with another form I-131. It’s not a criminal offense, the officer said, but we were told our I-485 application will be cancelled and our business visa will likely be revoked.

I have written to my Governor, both Senators and our Congressman all from North Carolina, asking for help, for an exception in our case, to gain residency and a green card for Olha Balaban. I understand exceptions are sometimes given. We are uncertain if Oli can return to the states, but have found legal help.

On a happier note, we are currently in Romania, buying two heavy batteries to back up our power at the Center and scouting locations for our summer program. Below, we are at the beach in Constanta, the hotel we were looking at is actually called, "Hotel California."