US Embassy in Moscow - Still Closed

[Totino 18]

2 minutes ago, Varyag said:

It is a little more complicated. All these actions started at the end of 2016 due to alleged "Russian interference" in the election after Trump won and the subsequent expulsion of Russian diplomats, closing Russian government owned compounds, and closings of the San Fran consulate. I can't remember the play by play, but it was a back and forth escalation. In the last few weeks the US State Department decided to only allow Russian diplomats to stay in the US as long as US diplomats are usually stationed in other countries at 3 years. (So Russia would have to follow US policy on diplomat deployment in foreign countries.) Russia answered back that since the Foreign Ministry doesn't employ locals in their embassies, the US can't employ locals in the diplomatic posts in Russia. (So the US would have to follow Russian policy on local hiring for embassy support staff.) Classic #######-for-tat leaving normal folks in the lurch.

 

Btw. the US diplomatic staff quota in Russia currently stands at 455, but there are only 280 accredited employees, so there is room to replace the departing Russian national local staff to get the ball rolling again on various mission objectives like immigrant/non-immigrant visas.

 

It doesn’t matter how it started , because it all comes from the evil nature of the Russian regime anyway. And though we have difficulties in meeting our fiancees , I still support all sanctions against Russian government and even more - I push for more sanctions. We will find a way to meet our loved ones in ANY case. 

[Chauncey 138]

Glad I have lawyers

[Dan&Olga 0]

17 hours ago, Totino said:

What we are thinking to do now is to ask several embassies outside of Russia to let our K visa interview happen on their territory, since the situation in Moscow is extraordinary. If all of them refuse, there will be one way : get married in Mexico and start the process again but with a spouse visa, which again will require a year. 

How does this help though, getting married in Mexico ? Neither type of visa is being processed ?

[Strawberrymermaid 346]

2 minutes ago, Dan&Olga said:

How does this help though, getting married in Mexico ? Neither type of visa is being processed ?

Poland has been taking on interviews for beneficiaries from Russia for IR1/CR1 since late fall last year. It’s still a challenge to get there as you need to secure a schengen visa. 

[Giodude 40]

6 hours ago, Strawberrymermaid said:

Poland has been taking on interviews for beneficiaries from Russia for IR1/CR1 since late fall last year. It’s still a challenge to get there as you need to secure a schengen visa. 

Hey, I would appreciate an explanation and how you got married in Mexico 🙌🙏

[Vero_nica 15]

12 hours ago, Strawberrymermaid said:

Poland has been taking on interviews for beneficiaries from Russia for IR1/CR1 since late fall last year. It’s still a challenge to get there as you need to secure a schengen visa. 

Warsaw also started taking Russian k-1, so I recommend trying this option. And keep trying even they might reject you the first time, because I've heard about successful stories being accepted (basically last week) after a previous refusal.

Edited May 2, 2021 by Vero_nica

[millefleur 5,039]

5 hours ago, Vero_nica said:

Warsaw also started taking Russian k-1, so I recommend trying this option. And keep trying even they might reject you the first time, because I've heard about successful stories being accepted (basically last week) after a previous refusal.

Given the near shut down state that the Moscow Embassy is in coming as of May 12th, I think it's fair for everyone waiting to reach out to all the other embassies again and see. Basically the Moscow Embassy is effectively closed for everyone now (including US citizen services), due to extreme staffing shortages. Here's the latest email I got:

 

Quote

 

Location: Russia

 

Event: Reduction of Consular Services – Effective May 12, U.S. Embassy Moscow will reduce consular services offered to include only emergency U.S. citizen services and a very limited number of age-out and life or death emergency immigrant visas.  These service reductions are necessary due to the Russian government’s April 23 notification of its intention to prohibit U.S. Mission Russia from employing foreign nationals in any capacity.  Non-immigrant visa processing for non-diplomatic travel will cease.

 

Embassy Moscow will not offer routine notarial services, Consular Reports of Birth Abroad, or renewal passport services for the foreseeable future.  If you are resident in Russia and require a new U.S. passport to remain legally present, or if you require an emergency U.S. passport for a demonstrable, life or death emergency (booking travel with an expired U.S. passport does not qualify) please send an email to moscowacs@state.gov and we will work to accommodate your request.  Provision of emergency services to U.S. citizens in Russia may also be delayed or limited due to staff’s constrained ability to travel outside of Moscow.

 

If you are a U.S. citizen present in Russia and your visa has expired, we strongly urge you to depart Russia before the June 15 deadline set by the Russian government.  If you plan to remain in Russia past this deadline, please visit your local Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD) office to start the necessary paperwork as recently suggested by MVD.  Embassy Moscow is unable to answer any specific questions about Russian residency or Russian visas, as this process is managed entirely by the Russian government.

 

We regret that the actions of the Russian government have forced us to reduce our consular work force by 75%, and will endeavor to offer to U.S. citizens as many services as possible. Thank you.

 

Assistance:

 

U.S. Embassy Moscow

Bolshoy Deviatinsky Pereulok No. 8
Moscow 121099, Russian Federation
Telephone: +(7) (495) 728-5000 or +(7) (495) 728-5577
Emergency After-Hours Telephone: +(7) (495) 728-5000
Fax: +(7) (495) 728-5084
Email: moscowacs@state.gov

 

 

[Strawberrymermaid 346]

11 hours ago, Giodude said:

Hey, I would appreciate an explanation and how you got married in Mexico 🙌🙏

I made a new topic in this forum. Sorry it took me awhile. ❤️

[millefleur 5,039]

5 minutes ago, Strawberrymermaid said:

I made a new topic in this forum. Sorry it took me awhile. ❤️

Thank you for that! I will request for it to be pinned.

[Giodude 40]

Thanks to @Strawberrymermaid for the post on how to get married in Mexico. Now I have a question. Is it possible to request our K-1 to get transferred to Mexico? 🤔 I just want to make sure I checked every possible option before cancelling our K-1 in Moscow. It seems like both Poland and Kazakhstan is hit-or-miss. Because if they can't transfer our case, I'm thinking I should cancel our K-1, meet in Mexico, get married there, apply for the CR-1 and spend a few months living there together while everything is being processed. Am I thinking correctly?

[Caboose29 173]

39 minutes ago, Giodude said:

Thanks to @Strawberrymermaid for the post on how to get married in Mexico. Now I have a question. Is it possible to request our K-1 to get transferred to Mexico? 🤔 I just want to make sure I checked every possible option before cancelling our K-1 in Moscow. It seems like both Poland and Kazakhstan is hit-or-miss. Because if they can't transfer our case, I'm thinking I should cancel our K-1, meet in Mexico, get married there, apply for the CR-1 and spend a few months living there together while everything is being processed. Am I thinking correctly?

While I certainly wouldn't think you're thinking incorrectly, I'm wondering what the State department will have to do to accommodate CR1/K1 applicants.  From what I've been hearing from a lot of these immigration lawyer streams is that just because the embassy in Moscow is essentially closing for the time being doesn't mean the State department can just refuse us.  I'll be watching the Siskind Moscow embassy lawsuit closely.  They are very confident they will win the suit.  The only question is, what will the resolution look like?  If the embassy staff says, "Look, we're sympathetic to USCs, but we are physically unable to adjudicate these applications here", then I'm thinking the judge will compel them to come up with an alternative solution.  I think transferring applications to other embassies would be the likely outcome.

 

We should learn more in the next couple of months.  I couldn't join the suit because I'm still awaiting my NOA2.  Hopefully by the fall there will be a working solution in place.  So to answer your first question, I think it could be possible, albeit remotely.  Does any CO there (Mexico) speak Russian?  Besides, how backed up is the Mexican embassy?  My lawyer seems to think moving the interview to Armenia is a good choice all things considered.  She's had good results there, but for now there's nothing to do but wait....  Let us know what you decide.  Changing to a CR1 may be the route I end up taking as well.

[Giodude 40]

@Caboose29 yeah I might consider filing for the CR-1 instead. I do have the option to live in Mexico. I live in SoCal anyway. I just want to be together already. We'll see.

[Vero_nica 15]

7 hours ago, Giodude said:

Thanks to @Strawberrymermaid for the post on how to get married in Mexico. Now I have a question. Is it possible to request our K-1 to get transferred to Mexico? 🤔 I just want to make sure I checked every possible option before cancelling our K-1 in Moscow. It seems like both Poland and Kazakhstan is hit-or-miss. Because if they can't transfer our case, I'm thinking I should cancel our K-1, meet in Mexico, get married there, apply for the CR-1 and spend a few months living there together while everything is being processed. Am I thinking correctly?

Did you try Poland first? I don't want repeat myself, but try. They agreed to take tons of cases yesterday.

[Giodude 40]

15 hours ago, Vero_nica said:

Did you try Poland first? I don't want repeat myself, but try. They agreed to take tons of cases yesterday.

Just did a few hours ago, thanks!
Did a little prayer and now crossing my fingers 🙏🤞
I hope I used the correct email. I first wrote to ImmigrantVisasWarsaw@state.gov but then got an automated response stating it's doesn't answer emails. It's just an auto-respond email address. So I used the other email they provided which was PublicWaw@state.gov

How many days to get a response?

[Vero_nica 15]

5 hours ago, Giodude said:

Just did a few hours ago, thanks!
Did a little prayer and now crossing my fingers 🙏🤞
I hope I used the correct email. I first wrote to ImmigrantVisasWarsaw@state.gov but then got an automated response stating it's doesn't answer emails. It's just an auto-respond email address. So I used the other email they provided which was PublicWaw@state.gov

How many days to get a response?

It's better to write to immigrantvisas ...email.

It's ok that u got automatic response, it's not an error and you dont need to answer it. Just wait a response from consulate, they answer within a day or even couple hours.