NVC discrimination against Russian applicants or simply incompetence?

[Master5 12]

I'm preparing my 4th document submission to NVC and I wonder if other people having similar experiences? NVC keeps mishandling my submitted documents, both financial and civil. For example, they improperly titled one of the the documents and now asking for its re-submission. Also, I attached my most recent W2 form that covers Poverty Guidelines many times over and then they ask for my 1099s. It just feels unreal. Every re-submission takes 2.5 months to review, I have my whole family stuck in Russia because of this. On top of that they no longer have a phone line to call them.

 

Anyone having the similar experience with them? Is it discrimination or just incompetence?

Edited August 13, 2022 by Master5

[Loren Y 2,748]

I have no love for the NVC for sure, but they have drop down menus to classify your documents, and you name the files yourself, I don't think they name them. They did me dirty the same way when I sent in complete tax transcripts, and then they came back and wanted every W-2 and 1099( shouldn't have been needed with transcripts), Finally got DQ and now it's another 3 month wait for the embassy to get the docs from NVC I'm sure. Welcome to the inefficient/incompetent US government.

[Boiler 43,859]

They discriminate equally.

[Dashinka 23,423]

Or more specifically, they are incompetent equally.

[Peter1025 7]

My wife's application with NVC was marked DQ back on May 11 2022 (now August 13 2022).  When they marked it DQ and sent the email, the IV application is still showing "incomplete" because they relabeled her divorce certificate as "other divorce termination documents" and it left the required document as though it had not been submitted.  Now there is no phone number to call.  We have waited over three months since DQ now and have received no appointment for interview.  So now we are planning to use the money we saved for a trip to Poland for a vacation in Turkey because we haven't seen each other in so long.  It is my opinion that NVC is discriminating against Russian applicants.  I am an American citizen and this application is for a cr1.  The chat group my wife is in has other Russian wives that have applied and this month there were no Russian cr1 or ir1 applicants who received an interview appointment.  That is unusual for this chat group.  Also there were two in the group that received interview appointments one was CR5 and the other N21.  Both of the cases had been waiting between and 2-3 years.  We don't expect to get in for an interview at this point for at least another three months, but without any phone contact to NVC there's not even a way to check if our DQ notice is valid when the IV application shows "incomplete." We don't know what to do.  Europe is probably going to stop issuing Schengen visas to Russians before we can get an appointment.  Maybe they'll be forced to process russians somewhere they are still able to get a visa.  Poland already doesn't issue Schengen to Russian citizens.  This already seems like an unfair and prejudiced location to host these interviews.

[Master5 12]

2 hours ago, Peter1025 said:

When they marked it DQ and sent the email, the IV application is still showing "incomplete" because they relabeled her divorce certificate as "other divorce termination documents" and it left the required document as though it had not been submitted.

Yes, they relabeled my wife's passport biographic page like that and now asking for a new one  Also, her original police certificate is now expired (valid for 6 months only) and now we'll have to submit a new one together with translation. Something is going on here, I'm sure on my next re-submission they will come up with something else. At this point I have no hope of getting my family to US any time soon.

Edited August 14, 2022 by Master5

[FJinSD 14]

Leaning toward intentional anti-Russian bias.  Look at the decision to move the consular process to Poland - WITHOUT special assurances or a 'carve out' type visa for Russian citizens to attend the interview.  It's obvious to anyone with a brain that the process is intentionally difficult.  Add to that the seemingly sudden spate of administrative "#######?" type of questions and requests that many applicants and petitioners are receiving.

 

Although anecdotal in nature I've read of numerous accounts of requests for misc. documents while at the same time telling someone that their case is "DQ".  Additionally - there seems to be a spate of determining ex-post facto that an petitioner/applicant doesn't meet the financial guidelines for support, etc.

 

Specifically in our case (I'm a U.S. citizen petitioning for wife/step-daughter - both Russian citizens - child is 13).  Wife's CEAC account listed as her as "DQ" on July 22nd 2022.  Follow up e-mail stated that the case would be sent to the embassy for admin. processing. CEAC shows that it is still at NVC.  Along with that came the infamous "FE" note stating that we don't meet the financial criteria.  Not flexing but I meet that criteria X 5+.  In addition on 13's case notes they asked for copies of my 1099's AND a copy of our marriage certificate but not on the wife's.  ####### is that about?  If they accept the FULL 1040 - the 1099's are included.  Additionally - why in the WORLD would that ask via my step-daughter's account to show a copy of a marriage license?  After all - would the case EVER get to the NVC for processing if USCIS had questions about this?  If nothing else this seems like deniable harassment.  Responding to an FE essentially resets the clock at least 60 and usually 75 days due to the mind numbing way in which cases are processed.  Again - I see this as 'deniable' harassment - disguised as incompetence.

 

Regarding the suggestion that Russian citizen interviews are being not being scheduled for CR/IR-1 in Warsaw - it's difficult to day.  The report is anecdotal from one small group. Nevertheless I find it SIGNIFICANT.  I've determined that this slow processing is apparently WORLDWIDE.   But where's the evidence you ask?  Look here: https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/legal/visa-law0/visa-statistics/immigrant-visa-statistics/monthly-immigrant-visa-issuances.html

 

Look for Foreign State of Chargeability Visa Class Issuances  >>> Immigrant Visa Issuances >>> by Foreign State of Chargeability June 2022 (FY 2022)

 

I've found this site to be somewhat useful regarding issuance of visas worldwide. The data can be seen by two methods. One is by place of birth and the other is by which "post" issued them.  Unfortunately the first is NOT consulate specific for the place of birth (i.e. unknown which post handled which nationality). 

 

As with most government agencies the data is stale (only through June 2022) but it shows trends.  In the screenshot example you can see that in June there were only a total of SEVEN CR-1's issued worldwide for Russian citizens, ONE CR--2 , 17 IR-1's and 12 IR-2's.  The Philippines in contrast issued over 400 of the previously cited categories in the same month.

 

Finally - we will pass the 500 day milestone next week re: submission of our petition - and as with many on this forum - there is NO end in sight.  Not to dilute the above points - but approximately 2.5 million illegals have entered the United States in the 500 days since we submitted out petition - and as a group we're being nitpicked over 'stale' documents and already submitted tax returns and marriage certificates - and people wonder why we are frustrated and angry at the process.

 

That is all.

[Boiler 43,859]

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/aug/13/europe-russians-tourist-visa-ban-ukraine-war

 

Thousands of Russians have flocked to Europe on short-term visas since the country invaded Ukraine. Some sought an escape from repression, while summer has brought Russian tourists just looking to escape to the beach. Now some European politicians are calling for an end to the short-term visas that allow Russians to holiday in the EU as the war in Ukraine rages on.

Countries including Ukraine, Estonia, Latvia, Finland and the Czech Republic have called for the EU to limit or block short-term Schengen visas for Russians, in protest at their country’s invasion of Ukraine.

After six months of war, the proposal echoes widespread frustration with a Russian public that seems either unable or unwilling to mount a meaningful resistance to the war being waged in their name. The situation has been aggravated by high-profile incidents including a Russian woman harassing two Ukrainian refugees in Europe.

[Simplytex 387]

@FJinSDjust wondering if you have been in contact with ombudsman or congressperson to try to get anything actioned?

[FJinSD 14]

Yes,

Both a U.S. representative and a U.S. senator

[Lynxyonok 316]

It is definitely challenging to have to face one request for evidence after another. Frustrating, I both get it and feel it.

 

However, let's look at this as an educational moment. Every NVC submission is to be over-flooded with documents. Anything that a forum member had to submit, is to be submitted in advance. And any copies of a passport be submitted in multiples. Overkill? Perhaps. But what else do we all have on our hand besides undying hope?

 

Correct. It's lots of time.

[Master5 12]

On 8/14/2022 at 7:04 AM, Peter1025 said:

My wife's application with NVC was marked DQ back on May 11 2022 (now August 13 2022).  When they marked it DQ and sent the email, the IV application is still showing "incomplete" because they relabeled her divorce certificate as "other divorce termination documents" and it left the required document as though it had not been submitted.  Now there is no phone number to call.  We have waited over three months since DQ now and have received no appointment for interview.  So now we are planning to use the money we saved for a trip to Poland for a vacation in Turkey because we haven't seen each other in so long.  It is my opinion that NVC is discriminating against Russian applicants.  I am an American citizen and this application is for a cr1.  The chat group my wife is in has other Russian wives that have applied and this month there were no Russian cr1 or ir1 applicants who received an interview appointment.  That is unusual for this chat group.  Also there were two in the group that received interview appointments one was CR5 and the other N21.  Both of the cases had been waiting between and 2-3 years.  We don't expect to get in for an interview at this point for at least another three months, but without any phone contact to NVC there's not even a way to check if our DQ notice is valid when the IV application shows "incomplete." We don't know what to do.  Europe is probably going to stop issuing Schengen visas to Russians before we can get an appointment.  Maybe they'll be forced to process russians somewhere they are still able to get a visa.  Poland already doesn't issue Schengen to Russian citizens.  This already seems like an unfair and prejudiced location to host these interviews.

Hi Peter1025! We got our DQ recently and sure enough they marked my wife's civil documents as "INCOMPLETE" as well  They relabeled police certificate and photos, then they marked those as missing. I'm not sure now whether to upload those docs again now or not. Any update on your case?

Edited October 21, 2022 by Master5

[Simplytex 387]

I just want to cross-post my amateur analysis of Russia visas that I did this morning. I personally am not so grim about the future prospects of interviews and scheduling (save for the logistical hurdles it will take.)

 

Yes, there probably is a backlog. But no, I don't think DoS is going out of their way to interfere with Russian visas in any quantifiable manner - we have to remember that often it is those with the most troublesome/annoying cases are the ones to speak up - and those who do the process without any issues just move on silently. Same thing with Yelp/Google reviews online for US govt offices, no one thinks to go post "I had such a great time getting my passport renewed" but they sure will go post something like "the clerk had no idea what they were doing!"

 

[Simplytex 387]

On 8/13/2022 at 11:04 PM, Peter1025 said:

My wife's application with NVC was marked DQ back on May 11 2022 (now August 13 2022).  When they marked it DQ and sent the email, the IV application is still showing "incomplete" because they relabeled her divorce certificate as "other divorce termination documents" and it left the required document as though it had not been submitted.  Now there is no phone number to call.  We have waited over three months since DQ now and have received no appointment for interview.  So now we are planning to use the money we saved for a trip to Poland for a vacation in Turkey because we haven't seen each other in so long.  It is my opinion that NVC is discriminating against Russian applicants.  I am an American citizen and this application is for a cr1.  The chat group my wife is in has other Russian wives that have applied and this month there were no Russian cr1 or ir1 applicants who received an interview appointment.  That is unusual for this chat group.  Also there were two in the group that received interview appointments one was CR5 and the other N21.  Both of the cases had been waiting between and 2-3 years.  We don't expect to get in for an interview at this point for at least another three months, but without any phone contact to NVC there's not even a way to check if our DQ notice is valid when the IV application shows "incomplete." We don't know what to do.  Europe is probably going to stop issuing Schengen visas to Russians before we can get an appointment.  Maybe they'll be forced to process russians somewhere they are still able to get a visa.  Poland already doesn't issue Schengen to Russian citizens.  This already seems like an unfair and prejudiced location to host these interviews.

Peter, did you ever get an interview appointment?

[Peter1025 7]

3 hours ago, Simplytex said:

Peter, did you ever get an interview appointment?

My wife and I were in Turkey when EU voted to allow member states to ban Russian citizens who had Schengen visas issued by other Schengen countries.  Effectively this banned Russians from accessing visa appointments at the Warsaw, Poland embassy.  So before we left Turkey we  sent requests to expedite our case and send it to the Jerusalem Israel embassy for processing.  We cited the reason for the request being 1 outside of normal processing time, 2 DQ, and 3 that Poland bad closed their borders.  Our request was quickly approved and I'm not sure of the exact number of days but they sent us the interview appointment scheduling link.  So, I was able to schedule the appointment back in September and then we got in for an appointment the second week of November.  The other Russian wives from the chat group who also followed this approach were similarly scheduled so my wife was able to track with them their progress.  The panel physician in Jerusalem requires 2 weeks to provide results to the embassy, so we had a stay of 20 nights booked in total.  The first wives from the chat group to interview said that at the interview they were informed of a new wait period for visas to be printed of 15 days and not the 2-3 days we booked our trip based on.  Of all the wives my wife was in contact with our case was the only one approved after 1 day.  All the other wives were told they were approved, but they still have not been issued visas and have been waiting an additional week in Jerusalem so far.  We returned home November 12th, on schedule.  We were very lucky.   

 

Tl;Dr yes we got an interview, and expedited, and are now safely at home after a very stressful trip to Jerusalem Israel.