Russian applicant with a Warsaw interview and no Schengen (yet). What to do?

[BenNomad 86]

46 minutes ago, ah-no said:

• So, it has to be a Russian bank account? It can't be like, a foreign bank account of my wife's? 
• And so, it's OK to buy one way tickets like that? I'd like to do that to cancel.
• We planned to do 14 days, and to do the medical exam in Moscow to save time as much as possible. I've heard some people request up to 22 days. Have you found any data about how long it takes the embassy to return the passport?
• Oh, do you know if she actually have to enter from a route that originates in Russia? Or could you hypothetically buy those tickets for the visa, then get ticket from Georgia to Athens for entry. (I'm in Georgia)

Never heard the multiple country thing. Let me know how your case proceeds, I'm very curious!

Foreign accounts (like USD, EUR) in your wife's name are good too. 

 

You can buy the tickets separately. 

 

If it's not difficult for your wife to get to Moscow for the med exam, I think 14 days is more than enough for Warsaw (unless the case goes into administrative review for some reason). We scheduled the med exam in Warsaw 5 days before the interview and that works great for us. 

I registered on US Travel Docs per instructions from the Warsaw Embassy and you have to indicate how you want to get your passport. You can pick up at Mail Boxes etc. and they say 3-4 working days, or you can pay $60 for a UPS courier delivery but they don't say how fast that is, and you need an address. There are other posts here from others who did the interview who said they got the passport back in 1-2 days. Whether the courier delivery makes it faster, I don't know.

 

I don't think she is required to have a plane ticket originating from Russia in order to apply for the visa. But I would suggest directing questions like that to Forum Vinskogo. 

[ah-no 27]

11 hours ago, BenNomad said:

Foreign accounts (like USD, EUR) in your wife's name are good too. 

 

You can buy the tickets separately. 

 

If it's not difficult for your wife to get to Moscow for the med exam, I think 14 days is more than enough for Warsaw (unless the case goes into administrative review for some reason). We scheduled the med exam in Warsaw 5 days before the interview and that works great for us. 

I registered on US Travel Docs per instructions from the Warsaw Embassy and you have to indicate how you want to get your passport. You can pick up at Mail Boxes etc. and they say 3-4 working days, or you can pay $60 for a UPS courier delivery but they don't say how fast that is, and you need an address. There are other posts here from others who did the interview who said they got the passport back in 1-2 days. Whether the courier delivery makes it faster, I don't know.

 

I don't think she is required to have a plane ticket originating from Russia in order to apply for the visa. But I would suggest directing questions like that to Forum Vinskogo. 

Well, she has to go to Russia for the visa, I figure, go to Russia, go to Moscow, do the med exam, then apply for the visa. It depends on how fast the result turnarounds are. The med exam should be good for six months, God willing, we'll be done within that window. 

As for US Travel Docs.... I didn't quite understand. Mail Boxes? Do you mean Mail Boxes located at the embassy? I'd prefer to get it direct to the source as possible. We won't have an address. I've heard they are fairly quick at Poland, 5 days being around max time. 

As for the plane ticket originating from Russia -- my wife seems to think this is the case, but my question was more like, if you have the visa in hand, do you actually have to fly from the issuing country, or can you enter from a third country. She seems to think the latter is the case. Yeah, I'll refer to the forum a bit closer to the time. We're still waiting for NOA2, but should be within the next few weeks.

I'd feel more comfortable with as long as a Greek visa as we can apply for without being rejected... I think 14 days is what we're going to do. Our plan is to fly into Athens, then just fly right on to Berlin, then take a car to Warsaw, basically with no breaks. 

[Wash Caps 0]

Can one of you gentlemen explain to me how did you get a medical exam in Moscow scheduled (rather than in Warsaw)? Thank you.

Edited September 3, 2023 by Wash Caps

[BenNomad 86]

38 minutes ago, Wash Caps said:

Can one of you gentlemen explain to me how did you get a medical exam in Moscow scheduled (rather than in Warsaw)? Thank you.

All the contact info is here on this pdf (this is from the US Embassy in Warsaw):

 

INSTRUCTIONS FOR IMMIGRANT VISA APPLICANTS (usembassy.gov)

 

Page 3 has the Moscow info

[BenNomad 86]

3 hours ago, ah-no said:

Well, she has to go to Russia for the visa, I figure, go to Russia, go to Moscow, do the med exam, then apply for the visa. It depends on how fast the result turnarounds are. The med exam should be good for six months, God willing, we'll be done within that window. 

As for US Travel Docs.... I didn't quite understand. Mail Boxes? Do you mean Mail Boxes located at the embassy? I'd prefer to get it direct to the source as possible. We won't have an address. I've heard they are fairly quick at Poland, 5 days being around max time. 

As for the plane ticket originating from Russia -- my wife seems to think this is the case, but my question was more like, if you have the visa in hand, do you actually have to fly from the issuing country, or can you enter from a third country. She seems to think the latter is the case. Yeah, I'll refer to the forum a bit closer to the time. We're still waiting for NOA2, but should be within the next few weeks.

I'd feel more comfortable with as long as a Greek visa as we can apply for without being rejected... I think 14 days is what we're going to do. Our plan is to fly into Athens, then just fly right on to Berlin, then take a car to Warsaw, basically with no breaks. 

The flight from Russia to the third country (Georgia/Turkey) does not have to be on the same ticket as the onward flight to the Schengen zone.

 

I made some screenshots from US Travel Docs, because the site can be frustrating to use. I had made an account for my wife a long time ago and the account was stuck on Russia as our country, and it would only allow me to enter a Russian address for passport delivery. So I had to write a support ticket to get them to change our country to Poland. 

 

From the account home page, click the "continue" button. 

 

 

Then you get to this page with the delivery options:

 

 

I mistakenly wrote earlier that courier delivery is $60. It's 59 PLE, which is only about $14. I'll probably choose courier delivery and use our hotel adress. Btw I highly doubt that the couriers speak only Polish (as is mentioned in the screenshot info). I'll get a Polish sim card when we get there so we have a local number to be contacted by.

[BenNomad 86]

9 hours ago, BenNomad said:

PLE

Oops, I meant PLN = Polish zloty

[ah-no 27]

13 hours ago, BenNomad said:

The flight from Russia to the third country (Georgia/Turkey) does not have to be on the same ticket as the onward flight to the Schengen zone.

 

I made some screenshots from US Travel Docs, because the site can be frustrating to use. I had made an account for my wife a long time ago and the account was stuck on Russia as our country, and it would only allow me to enter a Russian address for passport delivery. So I had to write a support ticket to get them to change our country to Poland. 

 

From the account home page, click the "continue" button. 

 

 

Then you get to this page with the delivery options:

 

 

I mistakenly wrote earlier that courier delivery is $60. It's 59 PLE, which is only about $14. I'll probably choose courier delivery and use our hotel adress. Btw I highly doubt that the couriers speak only Polish (as is mentioned in the screenshot info). I'll get a Polish sim card when we get there so we have a local number to be contacted by.

Wait so, I see “pick up” as an option. I’d prefer to do that. 

[BenNomad 86]

2 hours ago, ah-no said:

Wait so, I see “pick up” as an option. I’d prefer to do that. 

Yes, the pick-up location is "Mail Boxes Etc" located at Wiertnicza 115.

[ah-no 27]

2 hours ago, BenNomad said:

Yes, the pick-up location is "Mail Boxes Etc" located at Wiertnicza 115.

I see now. Thanks. I found the US official page. It says to claim it, you have to have an "original government issued photo ID" .... but isn't that the passport they'll be keeping...

[BenNomad 86]

On 9/4/2023 at 4:01 AM, ah-no said:

It says to claim it, you have to have an "original government issued photo ID" .... but isn't that the passport they'll be keeping...

See the post below. Showing an ID for pickup wasn't necessary, but she could bring her Russian internal passport just in case.

 

 

[ah-no 27]

2 hours ago, BenNomad said:

See the post below. Showing an ID for pickup wasn't necessary, but she could bring her Russian internal passport just in case.

 

 

Thank you. You have been an invaluable resource of information.

[TBoneTX 43,538]

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[BenNomad 86]

Bad news update on the Schengen visa. My wife submitted an application on Friday to the Greek consulate via the local visa center. Since she's in southern Russia, the application went to the Greek consulate in Novorossiysk. My wife got a call from the consulate today saying that they will be calling every hotel, every day of our trip to make sure we have not canceled any of our reservations. And any hotel cancellations will cause her visa to be anulled! WHAT?!? I went on the Russian forum (Vinskogo) and confirmed that this indeed has been their practice for at least the past few years, but only at the Greek consulate in Novorossiysk (Moscow and St Petersburg have no issues). Someone wrote that their visa got anulled last year while in Greece (they simply changed their plans a little and spent more time on the islands instead of in Athens!) but fortunately they were able to leave Greece without problems. The consulate advised them not to travel to any other countries.

 

The consulate sent my wife an affidavit to sign and return, and if she doesn't sign, the visa will be rejected and she can be put on the black list. I can't say I feel like a fool, because this was absolutely unexpected, but the choices we have now almost certainly leave us without a way to get to Warsaw:

 

1. Sign the affidavit to avoid being put on the black list, travel to Greece and have a good time and spend a lot of money unnecessarily, but cancel or postpone the Warsaw interview.

 

2. Sign the affidavit, travel to Greece and keep our reservations intact (and pay for them) but inform the hotel(s) at the last minute that we are not able to come (and sneak off to Poland!). We're afraid that this would cause suspicion and cause the consulate to annul the visa anyway, and possibly even alert the police. Acting suspiciously in Europe while holding a Russian passport is certainly no joking matter these days.

 

3. Sign the affidavit but just cancel the whole trip altogether and inform the consulate in order to avoid being put on the black list.

 

My wife has also been reading that some people HAVE encountered random passport checks at airports within the Schengen zone, despite the fact that officially there are no internal border checks. 

Edited September 6, 2023 by BenNomad

[BenNomad 86]

12 minutes ago, BenNomad said:

The consulate sent my wife an affidavit to sign and return

She just explained to me that it's not actually a signed affidavit, but just an affirmation via email that she is aware of the consequences of changing travel plans. She's going to send the affirmation in order to get the passport back (with the visa I assume) and then we'll have time to decide what to do and avoid black lists for the time being.

[BenNomad 86]

On 9/3/2023 at 5:00 AM, ah-no said:

I'd feel more comfortable with as long as a Greek visa as we can apply for without being rejected

Do not, whatever you do, apply at the Greek consulate in Novorossiysk.