US Immigration from Russia

Hello all,

I need a little help trying to get some answers for my wife(applicant), who is the Russian citizen, I am the American US born citizen (petitioner)trying to bring her here to the US. My apologies in advance for the long post but thought maybe better to have one post versus posting 7 different ones trying to collect the needed information.

We have met all the documentation requirements well over a year ago for her IR1 visa/immigration to the USA. Our NOS I-797 priority date is 6/21/2019. We have been legally married in the US for over 3 years now. All the fees have been paid (to this point) and the NVC has acknowledged we have met all the documentation requirements as of November 2020. We're just waiting for over a year now for the interview to be scheduled.

THEN COVID hit and everything came to a halt.

To avoid being called off base too long, we have both been logging in to CEAC at least once a month to 'stay in touch'. I have sent 4 inquiries during the last year using the ASKNVC system. I get only canned responses it seems.

The US embassy in Moscow closed due to COVID, all but one of them in fact it seems have closed in Russia. Recently the US embassy/consulate in Moscow re-opened but they are no longer processing immigration visa's it seems. Those operations have just been moved to Warsaw Poland. Why would they move this operation to another country? Anyway....my wife is hammering me with questions now and I am trying to get answers to via the ASKNVC, but I'm basically getting canned responses after 10-14 days that don't actually answer the specific questions. All I get is a canned response "you have met all the documentation requirements, you will be contacted for an interview in Moscow". I'm hoping maybe another sage VisaJourney member might have some of the answers. So...we've been waiting over a year for the interview that was going to be in Moscow.

We just this week (December 15th) got an email from NVC/CEAC that the interview has been moved to Warsaw Poland and they also gave us a NEW case ID number. This email arrived just days after she finally got through to a human in the Moscow embassy. It seems that after her voice inquiry with a human, the case was sent to Warsaw almost immediately.

The questions are:

1. Does anyone know how long after a case arrives at the Warsaw embassy how long before we might expect to get an interview date?
2. Her original international passport, the one that was used during the application process expired during our wait. She has received her new international passport. Should we submit this copy of her new passport to the CEAC system or hold it till it is requested? We don't want to delay the process by submitting documents that might reset the clock, nor do we want to come up short if it needed to be update in the application. The askNVC response was "you have met all the necessary documentation requirements"
3. She is required to get a police and criminal report, which we did. It is now over 6 months old and I remember reading that the criminal report had to be no older than 90 days old...I think it was 90 days. Should she get a new report now, wait for an interview date to be set and communicated or use the one already obtained?
4. Will the interview in Poland be conducted in English, Russian, or Polish? My wife speaks intermediate level English already but she is VERY concerned she's not quite good enough and will want/need an interpreter. She has questions about the language used in the interview and how to obtain the interpreter. I researched this a bit and it seem that an interpreter is common, the immigration office/embassy does not provide interpreter services, but they do have information how and where to get one for the interview, either in person or via a telephone conference call I assume. So what language is used in the interview?
5. A medical exam is also required. Will she have to have this medical exam in Poland or in Moscow Russia? I would think in Moscow and the results would be sent to the office in Warsaw or given to her to submit as part of the interview.
6. COVID vaccine requirements. She just got Sputnik vaccine, both doses. It was rough, but Sputnik is not (yet) recognized by the World Health Organization. If it never is and there are news reports that it should be WHO approved in January 2021, will she simply get a WHO approved vaccine in the US or have to take a vaccine excursion to another country to get a US approved/WHO approved vaccine before entering the US?
7. Is there any point in trying to reach the Warsaw embassy to ask these questions and get a non-automated reply? It seems that the process would cause us to think that only AskNVC is the way to communicate.

Thanks in advance for any sage, current advice.

Best wishes,

StevenInAtlanta

I am in the US starting from 2010. I applied for political asylum in 2010, had one interview, but the case was denied. They froze the case (PD) and they never got back to it.

Then I got married to an American citizen in 2016, bona fide, we had a real relationship and lived together. We proceeded with the alien relative form I-130, and then filed I-485 while political asylum case was still open. USCIS approved a I-130, but I got denial for I-485. The reason of I-485 denial was that USCIS has no jurisdiction under the case, because political asylum case jurisdiction belongs to the Immigration Judge.

Then we got divorced in 2021, and my husband didn t do anything to help me to figure out how to proceed with my documents and immigration status, which I was really confused with. In April 2021 I got an email about master court hearing scheduled for May 2021, but then it was rescheduled to December 2022.

I know that my case is really complicated. My lawyer suggested to file VAWA, because I have evidences based on real events. I m not really sure how to proceed and what to expect in the court, so I would really appreciate any advice that can help me with my case or suggest any other possible options.

Our daughter just got notice for an interview on her AOS. SHe has had two Russian Spudnik shots but dont think those are acceptable in thhiere US. Neither CVS or walmart will mix thier phizer with Spudnik. What can we do?

My wife and I are dealing with a frustrating situation due to how poorly local SSA office has been handling the issuance of her SSN. I was wondering if there is a similar option to writing to a local Congressman to get the issue expedited as with USCIS cases that are being held up. Basically, there are a lot of moving parts, to make long story short:

• in 2020, our primary residence (a home I owned) burned down, insurance has agreed to reimburse me but I need to buy a like-kind property within 2 years (1 year has already elapsed, and I need to show submitted 2020 taxes to lenders)
• we filed an extension on 2020 taxes anticipating that she would have her Green Card in the fall
• in summer of 2021 she received her EAD and shortly after (September) we had her interview and she received her Green Card
• we requested her SSN in August using EAD documentation (because like with many others, we did not automatically receive an SSN despite requesting it on the forms we initially filled out), SSA told us not to resubmit the application with her Green card as that would introduce additional delays
• local IRS office has told us that we need to wait until her SSN is issued before submitting our 2020 taxes since she no longer qualifies for an ITIN
• without her SSN, she still can't get paid (even though she can and has started working)
• because we can't file taxes without SSN, we can't make offers on any of the properties on the market because lenders require last year's taxes to be filed (meanwhile the clock is ticking)
• to date, 4 months after requesting it, we have not received her SSN (a process that SSA has claimed would take 4 weeks). Based on SAVE portal, we see that her SSN application got returned twice already to SSA, after calling local SSA office, the reasons seem to be:
  • 1st time SSA clerk forgot to attach a portion of the file (which resulted in a delay until Nov 3, when it was resubmitted)
  • 2nd submission had a discrepancy in the address (because our old primary residence burned down), and this seems to be causing another several-month delay
  • the file was just resubmitted for the 3rd time and we're still waiting for it

Meanwhile, we can't purchase a new home until we get my 2020 taxes submitted (and are running out of time with insurance reimbursement), which we can't do until my wife gets her SSN, and her 2021 income likely won't be paid until 2022, pushing us into a higher tax bracket. Basically, the apathy exhibited by SSA in processing our case is causing real financial harm to us. The only complaint form I see online for SSA seems to be to report fraud, which is not applicable here, if anything this seems more like negligence. What are our options? Can we write to a local Congressman to get them to follow up with SSA as some people recommend with USCIS? Is there another agency we should contact who can expedite the process with SSA? My understanding is that it should never take 4+ months to get an SSN, even in post-COVID world. Thanks.

Hi everyone,

Just wanted to share in case anyone has family or friends trying to figure out how to get the correct vax in order to enter the US. My MIL, who has a US tourist visa she's never had a chance to use yet, is thinking about doing the Greece trip where they offer vaccines as part of the package. Destination is Thessaloniki, Greece.

I just wanted to share a link to such "vaccine vacation" deals if anyone else is interested:

http://tris.travel/tours/794.php

They are also offering Moderna and Pfizer but since those are multi-shot vaccines, you have to go more than once. I figured the J&J is just easier, I hope that the CDC won't change requirements and make J&J a multi-shot.