millefleur

There's been a lot of changes since we last updated this thread. It seems nothing much is going to change unless the US funding goes through. Not that it would lead to huge change either, but I guess it being stalled has really soured the mood. NATO boots on the ground seems fantastical. Apparently Europe is struggling to attract new recruits as well.

Crazy. I too would be very curious to see the snake, but TBone it appears you left out the link to the story? Never been scared of snakes except cobras and rattlers.

Sorry to hear this news. Thank you for updating us. Manila does seem like a very tough embassy for tourist visas.

I'm curious, is it actually logging the info somewhere or is this just some canned message to scare people?

**Moved from Off Topic to Working & Traveling During US Immigration**

Why Poland? From news around here, this is one of the most difficult countries to get a tourist visa to right now. It seems Greece or Italy are much easier. We have a thread on the topic here:

The best and clearest answer would be direct from the source: contact the college(s) you are interested in and ask what California's residency requirements are. It varies hugely from state to state. Usually the Financial Aid office will be able to inform you all you need to know to qualify. They can probably even assist you with filling out the FAFSA.

Are you still planning the "marry in Poland" thing you mentioned in your post from last year? Is there some particular reason why Poland? Many others have had better luck with Schengen visas to Greece or Italy.

**Moved from Off Topic to RUB regional subform; OP is more likely to get relevant answers there**

Yeah, I doubt the case will go far. In general seems like the Epstein case keeps getting buried under other news headlines. The least victims can do is try and keep it newsworthy.

Jeffrey Epstein victims sue FBI, allege coverup NEW YORK, Feb 14 (Reuters) - A dozen victims of Jeffrey Epstein filed a lawsuit on Wednesday accusing the FBI of covering up its failure to investigate the late financier, enabling his sex trafficking to continue for more than 20 years. The victims, using Jane Doe pseudonyms, said the FBI received credible tips as early as 1996 that Epstein trafficked young women and girls, yet failed to interview victims or share what it knew with federal and local law enforcement. Victims said the FBI finally began a probe in 2006, but ended it two years later after Epstein pleaded guilty to a Florida prostitution charge, and kept ignoring tips until his July 2019 arrest. Epstein committed suicide a month later. Read more here: https://www.reuters.com/legal/jeffrey-epstein-victims-sue-fbi-allege-coverup-2024-02-14/

I still haven't experienced it. Using Brave browser, maybe I should try another browser and see if it pops up for me there. What browsers are you guys using?

Getting two wrong seems fair, not everyone has an encyclopedic knowledge of everything. 98/100 would still be an A!

In cases where the USC has lived abroad for many years, it's "proof of intent to re-establish domicile in the US" - basically you need to provide evidence that you will be permanently moving to the US and abandoning your residence abroad. If you have any kind of proof of leaving your current residence in the UK, you can include that. This could be end of contract/letter of resignation from employers abroad, proof you are cancelling your residence permit/long stay visa abroad, end of lease/sale of property. You can also include a letter explaining your situation and plan to move back to the US permanently. Sometimes they just want to make sure you are truly leaving behind the residence abroad, it doesn't hurt to include proof of this especially if you're been out of the US for 10 years.

**One inappropriate post removed.** VJ Moderation

I'm curious, do they always have to give out the slip of paper with the denial reason or do some consular officers just verbally explain it only?

They know. The issue is the Moscow embassy was huge and it's hard for them to find a "replacement" to handle the same capacity (this is the supposed excuse.) I think DoS needs to divest completely from the Moscow embassy and reinvest/expand somewhere else like Almaty because for all intents and purposes there seems to be zero will to strengthen diplomatic ties between Russia and the US, thus meaning the closed Moscow embassy problem is going to linger on for years, maybe even decades? Warsaw was most likely chosen last minute because it's the default embassy for Belarussians, so they probably had Russian speaking staff and some capacity to process the cases there. However, Belarus is tiny and has barely any applicants compared to Russia so it's obviously not a long term solution at all (not to mention the annoyance of the Schengen visa.)

Did they give a paper with the reason for the denial? It's usually 214(b) but it seems they almost always provide some reason why it was denied. Very sorry to hear about this. I hope you can get the legal documents for the sibling, maybe see if there's any way you can get an emergency expedite for those? I totally agree with you on the frustration of the B visa process. I've known plenty of people who got approved who frankly didn't seem like they met any kind of strict requirement for showing ties to their country, it's baffling sometimes. I once had the opportunity to ask a consular officer "How do you make the decision?" and he told me "Some people just look trustworthy" - maybe he was just joking, but sometimes given the seemingly random outcomes of who gets approved and who doesn't, makes me wonder...

It didn't become impossible, it's just that the USCIS field offices abroad closed, which meant they no longer accept USC's who simply live abroad. Now you have to have "exceptional circumstances" and the whole process goes directly via the Embassy, the USCIS aspect is dropped completely. There are still a select few USCIS field offices open but they closed the overwhelming majority of them. Basically, in ye olden days: Be USC living abroad > apply at USCIS field office abroad and do an in-person drop off of the I-130 > wait until the Embassy takes over to process the case. Compared to the current "exceptional circumstances" scenario: USC living abroad contacts Embassy directly and presents case/evidence of "exceptional circumstances" > Embassy accepts case and processes both your I-30 and all other paperwork. It basically went from "open to all USC's living abroad" to "open to select USC's living abroad who meet specific requirements" so that's what happened.

Seconding this. DCF would be the easiest way for sure, it's worth reaching out to the embassy with your job offer to see if they will approve you. To have complete freedom of movement, she'll need to get US citizenship for that. A green card is not for living in two countries 50/50, but for living in the US full time as a permanent resident. Visa runs to reset ESTA sounds like a horrible idea. We've seen it time and time again here on VJ people who use ESTA too much are barred from entering the US and have ESTA revoked.

Sheesh that's intense. Has it always been this difficult to get into Israel or is it something they started more recently?

@Captain Ewok is the site's administrator.

Yep, I was guilty of pre-judging it myself but Istanbul is one of the best airports in the world and my family and friends who've been there have confirmed this.

It always surprized me how lowball the requirements to pass are.

Supposedly Istanbul is one of the nicest international airports out there as well. I've only ever heard good things. Can't say the same for a lot of European hub airports.