My fiance is in Belarus. She has her interview on April 2nd in Warsaw, Poland. She applied for a tourist visa to Poland and was denied. What should she do next?

Thanks,
Vladimir.

Did she show her documents and tell them she had an interview at the US embassy? If yes, then I would contact the US embassy and see what they suggest.

If all else fails you might try doing an I-824 to move the interview from Poland to Moscow. A tourist visa denial is a pretty good reason to move outside usual jurisdictional bounds. But I would get in contact with the US embassy in both Poland and Minsk and ask for advise.

Did she apply for a Schengen Visa? If not, try that. Apply to any other Schengen country, go there first then fly to Poland.


"Citizens of non-EU, non-EEA countries who wish to visit Europe as tourists, and who require a visa to enter the Schengen area, are simply required to get a common Schengen Visa from the Embassy/Consulate of the Schengen country they intend to visit first. After this, they may visit any or all of the Schengen countries as tourists or for business without hindrance. They are not required to get separate visas for all the (Schengen) European countries they wish to visit."

One would think that the US Embassy would have some sort of "working agreement" with the Polish Embassy to allow visa applicants the ability to travel to Poland for this purpose. Did the Polish Embassy completely understand the reason for the request?

Oops... I spoke to soon... Poland does not implement Schengen until 31 Dec 2007... Sorry

This is very strange. My Belarusian wife (then fiancee) and my stepdaughter had no problems getting tourist visas for their interview in 2004. If I remember correctly, my wife had to travel to the border city of Brest to get this visa prior to their interview.

I would send a detailed e-mail to the US embassy in Warsaw informing them of this and ask them how to proceed.

Did your fiancee show the appointment letter from the US embassy to the Polish visa office? This is the letter your fiancee was sent to get entrance into the US embassy Warsaw for her appointment without having to wait in the line in front.

Apply for a tourist visa to visit Peru.

That is a real bummer. I have never heard of that to offer any real advice. I wonder if there is any way to get the interview switched to Kiev.

Why don't you try calling the Polish Embassy in Washington. They may be able to help you.

Update: There were some visa paperwork issues. Its all resolved now...

So did she get the visa, or not?

And by paperwork issues, do you mean they were filled out incorrectly, or did you have to "add" paper to them? ($100)