RUS K interview in a third country

[antalia 0]

We have put down Ankara initially as out consulate over a year ago when I filed the K petition. My fiance ia a Russian male, so there was no option to do the interview in his home country from the get go, also he’s been waiting for the visa hanging around the world, due to the possibility of getting drafted if he waited back home. Now, he’s been in Georgia for a while, and we are about to be at the NVC stage, so I messaged the Georgia US embassy and they said their visa services are only for the local residents. Are there any Russians who are not taking the Warsaw route with no residence in other countries - where do you do the interview? Anyone a third country citizen doing the interview at the Ankara embassy successfully?
 

To apply for a Schengen visa he would have to travel to Russia, risking getting drafted/not allowed to leave. Also I hate the idea to lie all the way starting with fake bookings, because the entrance country would not be Poland, of course, and then hope the 1-2 weeks window they give is enough for everything. So I think this route is a narrow gamble also substantially more expensive and I would really avoid it if at all possible. Just want to look into potential options if Ankara turns us down at some point as well.

[Geekitana 4]

Hey! I'm a Russian citizen currently living in Moscow. We got our NO2 just a bit over a month ago and are gonna try to transfer our case to Jerusalem because apparently it's the only embassy right now accepting cases when you're not a resident there. 

 

I have heard that some people are having issues at the border, I'm not sure how common this is but there's a chance of getting denied at the airport if they suspect that you have an intention to stay illegally, and banned from entering Israel. I don't know if mentioning the interview at the US embassy helps or not, gonna ask around on Russian forums.

 

But right now this is our plan since getting a Schengen visa seems even more of a gamble and requires more steps with traveling to another country before flying to Poland.

 

As far as I know, Ankara only accepts cases if you're a resident there (from what I've read on this forum).

[ah-no 27]

7 minutes ago, Geekitana said:

Hey! I'm a Russian citizen currently living in Moscow. We got our NO2 just a bit over a month ago and are gonna try to transfer our case to Jerusalem because apparently it's the only embassy right now accepting cases when you're not a resident there. 

 

I have heard that some people are having issues at the border, I'm not sure how common this is but there's a chance of getting denied at the airport if they suspect that you have an intention to stay illegally, and banned from entering Israel. I don't know if mentioning the interview at the US embassy helps or not, gonna ask around on Russian forums.

 

But right now this is our plan since getting a Schengen visa seems even more of a gamble and requires more steps with traveling to another country before flying to Poland.

 

As far as I know, Ankara only accepts cases if you're a resident there (from what I've read on this forum).

Yes, people do get turned away. All I can say is that, last time I was there in Tel Aviv with my Russian wife, they asked if she was there for the interview, I believe referring to US immigration. Also, the agent specifically and explicitly stated that they were allowing her to enter because I, am US citizen, was there, and we had been to Israel and exited previously. 

[Geekitana 4]

My fiance will travel to Israel to support me so we'll be staying together but arriving separately, that makes me nervous. So I guess I should mention the interview and that we'll be there together.

 

This K1 process is hard as it is but being Russian doesn't help at all. I'm already exhausted and we still need to get through the final step. 

[Ailene and Ali 9]

Ankara embassy handles Iraqi and Iranian citizens, and I am sure other nationalities. My husband was assigned to Ankara due to Baghdad embassy being closed. He just had to obtain a Turkish visa for entry which was good for 30 days to go for his medical and interview. 

[BenNomad 86]

4 hours ago, antalia said:

To apply for a Schengen visa he would have to travel to Russia, risking getting drafted/not allowed to leave. Also I hate the idea to lie all the way starting with fake bookings

Totally understand your not wanting your fiancee going back to the RF to apply for a Schengen visa. As mentioned already, Jerusalem may be the only option at the moment for transfers. Hopefully they don't close the door on that like Almaty did.

 

It's a matter of choosing the least bad option. Other choices? Get married abroad. Seek political asylum via Mexico. Wait until the war is over.

 

 

[ah-no 27]

10 hours ago, Geekitana said:

My fiance will travel to Israel to support me so we'll be staying together but arriving separately, that makes me nervous. So I guess I should mention the interview and that we'll be there together.

 

This K1 process is hard as it is but being Russian doesn't help at all. I'm already exhausted and we still need to get through the final step. 

Can you possibly change it to arrive together? 

[Geekitana 4]

11 hours ago, ah-no said:

Can you possibly change it to arrive together? 

It's too early to book anything but we'll try to make it happen, definitely.

[ah-no 27]

1 hour ago, Geekitana said:

It's too early to book anything but we'll try to make it happen, definitely.

For peace of mind, I would strongly suggest doing this. Based on my personal experiences with my Russian spouse (I don't even know if I'd try entering together if we weren't married), I couldn't imagine ever flying to Israel separately, ever -- unless maybe she had a green card in hand, or a US passport. Now, that's not a 100% from me saying your case wouldn't work out, especially if you could show documents, but it's so damn nerve-racking I just wouldn't put myself through it.

Again, not trying to be a fear-monger here, this is just based on my 2 experiences entering Israel. To give even more context, we came with a bunch of Russians (pretty sure, 1. I could hear them 2. we flew from Turkey, a notable Russian destination even more-so these days and they were mostly very white people). The level of questioning and scrutiny everyone else was getting was very unnerving for us in the line... and we had heard of people being turned away. I did see most being allowed in, but I did see one single girl pulled away personally, not sure if she made it. When it was our turn, I showed my passport and it was a breeze. We were surprised and laughed about how easy it was (out of nervousness). It wasn't the case for others, for sure.

Edited August 17, 2023 by ah-no

[Geekitana 4]

22 minutes ago, ah-no said:

For peace of mind, I would strongly suggest doing this. Based on my personal experiences with my Russian spouse (I don't even know if I'd try entering together if we weren't married), I couldn't imagine ever flying to Israel separately, ever -- unless maybe she had a green card in hand, or a US passport. Now, that's not a 100% from me saying your case wouldn't work out, especially if you could show documents, but it's so damn nerve-racking I just wouldn't put myself through it.

Again, not trying to be a fear-monger here, this is just based on my 2 experiences entering Israel. To give even more context, we came with a bunch of Russians (pretty sure, 1. I could hear them 2. we flew from Turkey, a notable Russian destination even more-so these days and they were mostly very white people). The level of questioning and scrutiny everyone else was getting was very unnerving for us in the line... and we had heard of people being turned away. I did see most being allowed in, but I did see one single girl pulled away personally, not sure if she made it. When it was our turn, I showed my passport and it was a breeze. We were surprised and laughed about how easy it was (out of nervousness). It wasn't the case for others, for sure.

Thank you for sharing this! Now I'll definitely try to make sure that we enter together. I've heard that most Russians are allowed in no problem but then I hear all these stories about people getting randomly pulled into a room with an officer and questioned for hours just to be banned from entering Israel for 10 years, those make me nervous. Don't wanna be one of the unlucky ones.

 

We emailed the embassy in Jerusalem yesterday requesting a transfer. 

[JPLaw 6]

I don't want to create any false hope but perhaps you can uodate your application with the Georgian address he is currently residing at?

 

I am currently waiting for my Russian wife's spousal visa interview in Georgia and just cleared the NVC stage. We were automatically assigned to GE by NVC but never requested it and had Warsaw listed in our application. It might be different since we were married there in GE and we listed an address in Georgia on our application documents. We hold no residency there and do annual visa-runs to stay legal here. My thought would be to update the information/address on your docs before the NVC stage - they assigned us without any inquiries or even asking. NVC was clearly relying on our application information for this decision.

Edited August 24, 2023 by JPLaw
Grammar issues

[antalia 0]

22 hours ago, JPLaw said:

I don't want to create any false hope but perhaps you can uodate your application with the Georgian address he is currently residing at?

 

I am currently waiting for my Russian wife's spousal visa interview in Georgia and just cleared the NVC stage. We were automatically assigned to GE by NVC but never requested it and had Warsaw listed in our application. It might be different since we were married there in GE and we listed an address in Georgia on our application documents. We hold no residency there and do annual visa-runs to stay legal here. My thought would be to update the information/address on your docs before the NVC stage - they assigned us without any inquiries or even asking. NVC was clearly relying on our application information for this decision.

 

Huh, interesting, thanks. I guess the only way to update it at this stage is to wait for the NVC to receive the package? At the moment we are waiting for the Welcome Letter, it's soon two months since we received the i-797 from USCIS. When I emailed the embassy here they said they are only interviewing Georgian and Azerbaijani citizens/residents. Interesting how this works.

[antalia 0]

To anyone reading this topic, just got a number from the NVC (no letter in the mail yet, we've received the USCIS notice Jul 11, I emailed them for this...) with Warsaw listed as the embassy, saying that because he is not resident of either Turkey or Georgia they cannot assign the case there. I will email the embassies around, on a chance they will take us... otherwise I just don't know what to do. It's either this, or he has to go to Russia to apply for Schengen visa, with an extremely high risk of being drafted, as they take anyone these days, the border control just hands you a paper saying that you can't leave and have to report to the military office. Furthermore, Poland does not issue tourist visas to Russians, so he would have to lie to Greece, and then use it as transit point, meanwhile hoping two weeks they gave out for his tourism will be enough. I will also write to my representative/senator, although I am a California resident so highly skeptical about it even being read by anyone at all. Overall, I regret that we haven't chosen the spousal visa, just gotten married anywhere just to get the bureaucracy going, this way one of us could get a digital nomad visa somewhere and bring family along so we could at least hang somewhere securely while we wait for them to process the papers for years.

Edited September 1, 2023 by antalia

[BenNomad 86]

1 hour ago, antalia said:

the border control just hands you a paper saying that you can't leave and have to report to the military office.

It isn't exactly like that, though that may have happened in some instances. The restriction on leaving the RF is only if a person has already been drafted. The problem is, with the new laws about digital draft notices that recently went into effect, a person can be selected for the draft before they even know about it, and they will be automatically forbidden from leaving. The chances that one person out of millions of eligible men would be chosen for the draft are very small. But the risk is there. It's enough of a risk to keep a few people I know from going back for even a few days.

 

At least now with a case number you can contact other embassies about a transfer, like you said. Would defintely be the best option. If nobody accepts a transfer, what about getting married in Georgia? @JPLaw did it. I have no idea how complicated that would be though.

 

 

 

 

 

[ah-no 27]

I got married in Georgia. It is ridiculously easy. I believe your best case would be to either message Israel and prepare to enter the country together if you're accepted, or look into the digital nomad option you mentioned before. Also, you might check out residency options in Montenegro. 

Edited September 2, 2023 by ah-no