US Immigration from Russia

I do not know if this is the correct place for this, but I couldn't find another one.

My wife and our family were forced to flee where we were living and she is effectively a political refugee. She has received advance parole authorized by the USCIS International and Refugee Affairs Division (IRAD). We are trying to find information about Advance Parole but all we can seem to find is about people using it to return to the US while on another visa. She does not yet have a visa as the consulate is holding up approval of her IR-1 and we cannot send her passport to them now. We are specifically trying to find out information about the process, especially after entering the US; what we can do regarding her immigration case after she enters the US; How she can remain in the US; how we go about getting her a permanent resident status; etc. She cannot return to her home country and returning to this hemisphere will also be impossible. I assume we would have to transfer her case to a country near the US or just send her passport to the consulate handling the IR-1 as she has already interviewed and done her medical but it expires at the end of August and she cannot get a new police certificate from her home country either.

Any information or advice is appreciated!

My wife's Russian passport expired and we are waiting for AOS, anyone know if there is there a way to renew it in the US? I heard of an agency that does it. I think its around $1k to do but she doesn't have any other ID so kind of in a bind. Any advise would be really helpful!

Starting a new thread for those who have been assigned to Warsaw and haven't been able to transfer their cases elsewhere.

*** If your case is IR-5, you can transfer to Almaty (if it hasn't been transferred there automatically) ***

I'm sure most people are very familiar with the current situation, but here's a quick summary:

- Poland does not issues visas to Russians, and Russians cannot enter Poland directly through an external border. In other words, you can get to Poland only by entering another Schengen country first, and then travelling to Poland from there.

- Generally speaking, Schengen visas are being issued for the exact dates of your intended travel (how strict this is varies by Schengen country and the applicants visa history)

- You can apply for a Schengen visa only in your home country or a country where you have residence (your residence in that country should be valid for at least three months after your planned return from the Schengen zone). Keep in mind that if you have residence in a country where there's a working US Embassy, you should be able to transfer your case there.

- The stated purpose for your travel is most likely going to be Tourism, and therefore it is NOT recommended to mention in your Schengen application that you are planning to go to Warsaw for a visa interview.

An excellent source of info about getting a Schengen visa is "Forum Vinskogo" (in Russian language).

The country most often recommended to try for is France, because apparently France is less strict than other Schengen countries. However, it's very hard to get an appointment to apply for a French visa. In fact, some Russians are running a business booking appointments automatically using a bot. Seems like the price is around $70-80 to use a bot. Because of those bots I wasn't even able to create an account on the French visa center website.

Another one to try for is Italy, with a lot of success stories of people going there.

My wife and I have decided to try for Greece. From what I've read, Greece makes their visa decisions relatively quickly (around 2-3 weeks I think). It's also closer geographically to us. We don't know yet when our Warsaw interview date is, and we don't want to guess at travel dates, so we decided it's best to wait for the interview letter before applying for the visa. That means she's in Russia with our kids (and without me) until we get the interview letter. I don't like that our family has had to separate just for the sake of getting a visa to travel to the Warsaw interview, but I'm not going to preach to the choir here

Another reason why we decided on Greece is the possiblity for me to get a residence permit through the Digital Nomad program. If I can get a residence quickly, then my wife could apply for a long-term national visa through "Family Reunification" (ie, not a Schengen visa). And that would allow us to travel freely in the Schengen zone. I don't know how long it takes, but I'm flying to Greece next week to start the process. I figure it's better to be working on an alternate plan as long as we're just waiting.

A related question here is how to send money to Russia to support a family member. My wife was able to withdraw $2000 from an airport bank machine on her way back to Russia, but that's not much money to live on if we still have a month or so to wait for the interview letter. We left very little money in her Rusisan account when we flew out last year, not thinking that we'd be back any time soon. I heard that UniCredit bank is the last remaining bank that can take transfers in USD or Euros (without enormous fees). Has anyone made USD transfers to Russia recently?

Hello!

We will be having our interview in Jerusalem once we get through NVC.

I heard from someone that the US embassy in Jerusalem only accepts criminal records that are mailed directly to them from the country where the record is obtained; and that they will not take records handed to them or uploaded to them by the applicant.

Is this true? Does anyone have experience with criminal records in Jerusalem? Kind of freaking out because I am not even sure how we would have the country mail it directly to them.

Thank you so much for your help!

So it seems the government has removed all COVID vaccine mandates except for AOS. Does anyone know if they will remove this requirement or am I stuck filing a I-601? Does the I-601 add time to the AOS process? Also, what sequence is the best way to do this? File for AOS along with I-603 and let them know you filed the waiver at the medical exam? Not thrilled to have to pay almost another $1k for a waiver but it is what it is.