US Embassy in Moscow - Still Closed

[Chauncey 138]

16 minutes ago, Totino said:

Sorry but it is NOT so. It is the Russian government that asked the ambassador Sallivan to leave, and forbid the USA embassy in Moscow to hire Russian people. Which simply led to shortage of staff for interviews. There are 200 people left at the embassy instead of 1200 in 2015. It is not the American government that doesn’t want to issue immigrant visas, it is Russian government that expelled 75% of American diplomats from Moscow . 
https://www.google.ru/amp/s/amp.dw.com/en/us-embassy-in-moscow-cuts-staff-and-visa-services/a-57385581

 

so the lawsuit is simply a waste of money... USA is not responsible for unfriendly actions of third countries ...

You can believe what you'd like. Good luck!

[OliaNaumchuk 20]

whats the moscow embassy's email? I can't find it online 😕

[DaveAndAnastasia 2,079]

8 hours ago, Totino said:

I’m sorry to put put my word in, but you have no chance in mass lawsuit against who? It’s not the problem of American embassy , it is Russian government that expelled American ambassador and cut 75% of American embasssy staff. Who are you goi g to sue ? For what ? What is the requirement to the embassy you want to pose?  It is not that American embassy doesn’t want to interview , it is that Russian government expelled diplomats from Russia and there are simply 200 people at the embassy left. 

Yeah; I was very surprised that the initial K-1 lawsuits had any success, but the grounds that worked for EU countries won't fly for Russia, where completely different (and non-pandemic-related) factors are in play.

 

At this point we think the next time we see my wife's family in person it's probably going to be in a third country in 2022. If we can find somewhere we'd actually like to go to that's letting Americans and Russians in.

[Caboose29 172]

8 minutes ago, DaveAndAnastasia said:

Yeah; I was very surprised that the initial K-1 lawsuits had any success, but the grounds that worked for EU countries won't fly for Russia, where completely different (and non-pandemic-related) factors are in play.

 

At this point we think the next time we see my wife's family in person it's probably going to be in a third country in 2022. If we can find somewhere we'd actually like to go to that's letting Americans and Russians in.

Turkey? Armenia?

[Corp668 16]

13 hours ago, Totino said:

I’m waiting to talk to my fiancé later today after that news and I don’t know what to do next .. I mean, there is no chance that political situation will change in Russia for at least 5-10 years, maybe longer. What we are going to do? K1 visas are not transferred to other countries . So we have no chance ?  Can you wait 10 years ?? 

I am in a similar situation as you.  This whole thing is untenable... I have a child with my fiancee and I haven't seen them in almost a year and a half.  My daughter is growing up and I am missing it... first it was COVID, now the deterioration of US-Russia relations.

 

I don't know how long this situation will last and I don't even know what options I have.  What are you thinking in terms of options?  My partner is open to moving to another country but I don't know where Russians can move to and quickly/immediately be citizens.

[Giodude 40]

F@#$!!!
This is terrible news to hear 😩😩
First the pandemic and now this?! Thank God I was able to see my fiancee in Turkey recently.
Damn, I don't even have words...

Maybe we can get married in Mexico? I guess the best option is to cancel the K-1 and instead get married somewhere else, right? My head is spinning. We have been waiting so long just to hear this awful news! I've been on this forum for almost 2 years now and still in the same place. The only comforting thing is that I am not alone in this. We are so many people that are stuck together. 😫
Does the embassy not care about separating families/couples?

[Strawberrymermaid 346]

35 minutes ago, Giodude said:

F@#$!!!
This is terrible news to hear 😩😩
First the pandemic and now this?! Thank God I was able to see my fiancee in Turkey recently.
Damn, I don't even have words...

Maybe we can get married in Mexico? I guess the best option is to cancel the K-1 and instead get married somewhere else, right? My head is spinning. We have been waiting so long just to hear this awful news! I've been on this forum for almost 2 years now and still in the same place. The only comforting thing is that I am not alone in this. We are so many people that are stuck together. 😫
Does the embassy not care about separating families/couples?

Just heartbreaking. If you do decide to get married in Mexico, I can offer some advice. We just did that in February and was pretty easy. Hardest thing now will be finding a flight there since flights through Istanbul are so limited 

[Totino 18]

2 hours ago, Corp668 said:

I am in a similar situation as you.  This whole thing is untenable... I have a child with my fiancee and I haven't seen them in almost a year and a half.  My daughter is growing up and I am missing it... first it was COVID, now the deterioration of US-Russia relations.

 

I don't know how long this situation will last and I don't even know what options I have.  What are you thinking in terms of options?  My partner is open to moving to another country but I don't know where Russians can move to and quickly/immediately be citizens.

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. 

[Totino 18]

1 hour ago, Strawberrymermaid said:

Just heartbreaking. If you do decide to get married in Mexico, I can offer some advice. We just did that in February and was pretty easy. Hardest thing now will be finding a flight there since flights through Istanbul are so limited 

Could you please offer some advice as to how to get marry in Mexico ? We are an American national and a Russian national. We would really appreciate to know your experience

[Giodude 40]

1 hour ago, Strawberrymermaid said:

Just heartbreaking. If you do decide to get married in Mexico, I can offer some advice. We just did that in February and was pretty easy. Hardest thing now will be finding a flight there since flights through Istanbul are so limited 

Hey, thanks for your offer! I am definitely leaning to go this route. I would appreciate more detail please. I don't think our K-1 visa will advance anytime soon. So maybe, this might be the only way. I need to see progress. 🥴

[Caboose29 172]

40 minutes ago, Totino said:

Could you please offer some advice as to how to get marry in Mexico ? We are an American national and a Russian national. We would really appreciate to know your experience

@Strawberrymermaid

[TBoneTX 43,326]

1 hour ago, Totino said:

offer some advice as to how to get marry in Mexico

Maybe she can start a new thread in this forum -- Mermaid, you're welcome to copy & paste insights that you may have posted in earlier threads.

 

To all:  the situation is horrible, but where there's a will, there's a way.

[Jessystar16 20]

Me and @Strawberrymermaid did this.. maybe we can both share experience

[trader_joe 1]

OK, so this bites, and everybody is emotional. And for a good reason—some have been waiting and suffering for a long time. But it was hard to complain since closed embassies had an excuse—Covid. Now, if one (Moscow) embassy is completely closed to visa processing, the State Dept. should live up to their own recent declarations about prioritizing K-1s by transferring them to open embassies. I have tried talking to the State Dept. in DC. I don’t have the leverage. Who does? The press. Any government agency is afraid of the bad press. So, anybody who has been waiting for a year may want to think about contacting their local TV news. This story has everything that local news love to feature: love, covid, suffering, uncaring bureaucrats. Once the word gets out, the State dept will be forced to act. We have all seen government agencies act very quickly once such criticism goes public. Contacting lawyers and senators may be useful too, but slower. In any case, there are plenty of useful tools. No time for despair.

[Varyag 0]

21 hours ago, Totino said:

Sorry but it is NOT so. It is the Russian government that asked the ambassador Sallivan to leave, and forbid the USA embassy in Moscow to hire Russian people. Which simply led to shortage of staff for interviews. There are 200 people left at the embassy instead of 1200 in 2015. It is not the American government that doesn’t want to issue immigrant visas, it is Russian government that expelled 75% of American diplomats from Moscow . 
https://www.google.ru/amp/s/amp.dw.com/en/us-embassy-in-moscow-cuts-staff-and-visa-services/a-57385581

 

so the lawsuit is simply a waste of money... USA is not responsible for unfriendly actions of third countries ...

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.