Obtaining a third-country nomad visa to avoid interviewing in Poland for RF beneficiary?

[JPLaw 6]

Hello,

First post here but I've found helpful insights here so far and appreciate that!

 

I am a US citizen with a Russian wife currently living in Tbilisi, Georgia on visa-free status (so no residency status). A decision on our pending I-130 is expected at the end of April (1 month from now). Like many others, we hope to avoid Interviewing in Poland due to the logistical headache. My thought it to quickly apply for digital nomad visas in the Bahamas or Croatia and have my russian wife apply as a dependent. My understanding is that these 1 year+ visas are actually resident permits thus allowing us to transfer our interview there hassle-free.

Has anyone transferred away from Poland through a nomad visa or other temporary residency program? I am assuming an embassy could not turn us away if we hold temporary residency in that country, is that true?

[Dashinka 23,318]

To my knowledge, if your wife has legal residency in another country, the interview can be moved there.  I am not sure if there is a minimum time there to get it transferred.

[DK999 14]

On 3/28/2023 at 2:06 PM, JPLaw said:

Hello,

First post here but I've found helpful insights here so far and appreciate that!

 

I am a US citizen with a Russian wife currently living in Tbilisi, Georgia on visa-free status (so no residency status). A decision on our pending I-130 is expected at the end of April (1 month from now). Like many others, we hope to avoid Interviewing in Poland due to the logistical headache. My thought it to quickly apply for digital nomad visas in the Bahamas or Croatia and have my russian wife apply as a dependent. My understanding is that these 1 year+ visas are actually resident permits thus allowing us to transfer our interview there hassle-free.

Has anyone transferred away from Poland through a nomad visa or other temporary residency program? I am assuming an embassy could not turn us away if we hold temporary residency in that country, is that true?

You know Georgia has a digital nomad visa and the requirements are pretty lax. Any particular reason for the Bahamas or Croatia?

 

We just heard back from the embassy in Bangkok and successfully transferred our case there from Warsaw after enrolling in a school here and obtaining student visas. 

 

If you want more advice on "digital nomad" stuff, there's a whole subreddit about it with plenty of info.

[JPLaw 6]

15 hours ago, DK999 said:

We just heard back from the embassy in Bangkok and successfully transferred our case there from Warsaw after enrolling in a school here and obtaining student visas. 

That's great - did you email the Bangkok embassy using the ustraveldocs email address listed on the embassy website? I ask just because I have never received a response from a US embassy by email and wonder if I'm using the wrong approach or email 😅

 

Georgia is a weird case - we are tax residents here and can stay for 1 year at a time but that confers no 'residency status' for US immigration consideration I guess... we're just tourists with tax obligations. Bahamas is for timezone and processing times - the Bahamas decides Nomad visas within 5 days of applying so we could get it quickly.

We would only move if it entitles us to interview there as well. Just unsure if a 1 year nomad visa would entitle us to be treated as residents in the third-country... I assume it would but would hate to relocate and be wrong. Again, no embassy has ever responded to my email questions so hard to get any assurances. I assume it's similar to a student visa though. I appreciate the insight.

[DK999 14]

59 minutes ago, JPLaw said:

That's great - did you email the Bangkok embassy using the ustraveldocs email address listed on the embassy website? I ask just because I have never received a response from a US embassy by email and wonder if I'm using the wrong approach or email 😅

 

Georgia is a weird case - we are tax residents here and can stay for 1 year at a time but that confers no 'residency status' for US immigration consideration I guess... we're just tourists with tax obligations. Bahamas is for timezone and processing times - the Bahamas decides Nomad visas within 5 days of applying so we could get it quickly.

We would only move if it entitles us to interview there as well. Just unsure if a 1 year nomad visa would entitle us to be treated as residents in the third-country... I assume it would but would hate to relocate and be wrong. Again, no embassy has ever responded to my email questions so hard to get any assurances. I assume it's similar to a student visa though. I appreciate the insight.

I emailed them using the immigration-specific email address listed on their website. Most embassies have an email address, you just have to do a little digging on each one's site. US Travel Docs is just a third party contractor and will not help you here. 

 

We were in the very same predicament as you. I emailed several embassies with "theoretical" questions about what would qualify us as residents in their eyes to be able to transfer. All of them, including Bangkok, sent back mostly boilerplate responses and so we just rolled the dice a bit hoping student visas would qualify as residency. Otherwise there have been people lately having success transferring to Jerusalem or Almaty just by asking, even if they don't live there.

 

As for Georgia, you're right that you're just visa-exempt tourists, but there is a also an actual digital nomad visa that you can apply for. Most nomads don't because there's no reason to (except of course to follow the letter of the tax law and maybe some other benefits), but just google it and you'll find more info. Based on what I've read, it should qualify you as residents of Georgia, partially because you'd be signing up for healthcare with it. 

 

But if you're sick of khachapuri (impossible for me) then any country's nomad visa should in theory qualify you to transfer the interview.