To_the_moon

I have mentioned our timeline in this post:

Save enough money for this trip! When I say Israel is expensive, I really mean it. And I am myself from California. 😉

Well...we were planning to spent 2 weeks in Israel as tourists too! But it's really exhausting to live in ambiguity without ANY information. You just don't know how much "extra time" you will have to wait. Days, weeks, months? Not to mention that Tel Aviv is one of the most expensive cities worldwide. We wouldn't mind if they told us right away that it would take 1 month, so we could make appropriate plans. But they told us it would take a couple of days..And no, no one explained why it took so long. It was also very upsetting to see other people getting their passports back within days while we were waiting for weeks.

Update on our case! Received the passport back today, December 5th. Interview was on November 8th...

The medical examination in Jerusalem is scheduled 2 weeks before interview. But we chose an approved doctor in Bethlehem who does same-day results. So our medical exam was on November 7th, interview in Jerusalem November 8. BUT My fiancé has still not received his passport back. The Jerusalem embassy is super weird. People who had interviews after us received their passports within DAYS. But we are stuck here for almost a month now. It will be 4 weeks on Tuesday since the interview day. The interview itself went well, visa was approved and no additional documents were requested. The consular officer told my fiancé that his passport will be returned in a couple of days. But here we are. They don't reply to emails or phone calls. So anyone considering a transfer to Jerusalem should keep that in mind. It's super random. Our case was the simplest and we did not get into AP. No previous marriages, no children, no military background or T.A.L. related issues. So plan accordingly and find a reliable place to stay. We had to move 4 times and cancel our flights.

We transferred when our case was already received by the consulate in Warsaw. We didn’t have to go through NVC. Our case is K1, it’s a little different than CR1/IR1.

A few days

Yes, we have personally transferred our case to Jerusalem from Warsaw. And no, no family ties are required.

Israel is much more prospective. Consider transferring your case there if you need a consulate that is willing to accept Russian cases. No documentation/reasons are needed. You just request a transfer and they will accept it.

When I was a child(16) and immigrated under the IR2 visa, I had to get all of the missing vaccines here in the U.S. because I had the same waiver due to “limited availability”. So basically my home country did not have all of the necessary vaccines available. Maybe the logic is the same for spousal visas, since IR2 is also an immigrant type.

If I understand correctly, having an "incomplete" medical status will require you to file form I-693 to be able to receive a green card upon arrival. This form is basically an RFE that you have to send to USCIS in order to receive your green card. Therefore, filing form i-693 will require you to complete all vaccinations with a panel physician. But I might be wrong on that. This is just what I heard from other people. I am more knowledgeable about the K1 visa😁

https://www.cdc.gov/quarantine/order-safe-travel/technical-instructions.html#anchor_1635183089047 Scroll down to Table 4 "List of Foreign Countries with Limited COVID-19 Vaccine Availability" As you can see, the list is very limited and Russia is not on it. But you were right, if immigrant visa applicants (i.e wives/husbands) do the medical exam in Moscow, they will get the COVID waiver for limited availability of the vaccine. Their visas would have a note saying they are allowed to board the plane to the US without vaccination. However, non-immigrant applicants (fiancés/fiancées) would still need to get vaccinated somewhere else, as this waiver does not apply to them. Let me clarify the process for medical examination in Moscow for immigrant and non-immigrant applicants: For immigrant - You must have all vaccinations prior to immigrating to the US, if you don't have the WHO approved COVID vaccine, you'll get an "incomplete" status on your medical examination and COVID waiver to board the plane, due to limited availability, as mentioned earlier. This "incomplete" status does not affect the visa but when your wife arrives in the U.S. she'll need to complete her medical examination and get vaccinated in the U.S. For non-immigrants - They get "complete" status even without WHO approved vaccine, Sputnik is enough. My fiancé had his medical exam in Moscow and it was marked complete with the Sputnik. However, he's getting a Pfizer vaccine in Turkey so that he can board the plane to the U.S. Note that this applies to the medical exam done in Moscow, if you will be completing it somewhere else, the rules will be different. For example, Israel will require you to get WHO approved vaccine prior to completing medical examination there for immigrant visas, because they cannot grant you the waiver for limited availability (Israel does have Pfizer). On the other hand, for non-immigrant visas Sputnik is enough. They will mark you "complete". But you'll still need to get it yourself to board the plane😁 This is ridiculously complicated.

All Russian immigrant visa cases go to Warsaw, Poland but your mother will not be able to obtain a Schengen visa directly to Poland, nor would anybody holding a Russian passport with a scheduled interview in Warsaw.. Your mother needs to apply for a Schengen visa to another country, not Poland, and then travel to Warsaw by train or car. Air travel has been controversial lately, so I would recommend choosing land transportation. EU countries that are still issuing visas to Russians include Spain, Italy, Greece, Hungary, Germany. So do your research on which country would be a better option for your mother. Once she's in any of those countries, she will be able to enter Poland because it's a Schengen zone. In case your mother will not be able to obtain a Schengen visa (not to Poland), you will need to transfer to another country, which also requires additional documentation and time. The only easily accepting country right now is Israel but keep in mind that transferring the case and scheduling a new appointment will add additional few months. Kazakhstan will not accept your case with 99% probability. You cannot just pick and choose which country to transfer to. There is only a limited number of embassies that accept Russian immigrant case transfers.

I'm pretty confident that's not the case for immigrant visas, at least not yet. Though, they only let you reschedule 3 times, after that you will need to pay the consulate fee again. So anyone can get an earlier spot, as there have been a lot of cancellations lately. Believe me or not, most of the appointments are taken by people who have not yet received their NOA2s... That's one of the most disturbing things that drives me crazy about local Telegram chats, which recommend scheduling appointments way too early, hoping to get their approvals on time. But as you know, USCIS does not seem to be punctual or improving their processing time, so that is the result we get. Appointments get cancelled within the unrealistic timeframe, with little chance for other people to reschedule and get to Poland in time. I wish the Warsaw consulate did something about that and closed free-scheduling for people without approval notices. That would just make the situation much better.

Sputnik V vaccine grants the completion of the medical exam in Moscow, but you will need a WHO-approved one to board the plane to the US...