emanresu

http://chancetotrip.com/%D0%B1%D0%B5%D0%B7%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B7%D0%BE%D0%B2%D1%8B%D0%B9-%D1%82%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B7%D0%B8%D1%82-%D0%BB%D0%BE%D0%BD%D0%B4%D0%BE%D0%BD/

Безвизовый транзит с возможностью покинуть транзитную зону аэропорта на период 24-48 часов согласно новым правилам возможен в следующих случаях:

1. если Вы совершаете перелет в США, Австралию, Канаду или Новую Зеландию и у Вас есть действующая виза одной из этих стран,
2. если Вы совершаете перелет из США, Австралии, Канады или Новой Зеландии и въезд в эти страны состоялся не более 6 месяцев назад,
3. если у Вас есть вид на жительство в одной из вышеперечисленных стран, а также в государствах Европейской экономической зоны или Швейцарии, при этом вид на жительство Канады должен быть выдан позднее 28 июня 2002, а ВНЖ США позднее 21 апреля 1998,

The problem is we really don't have that much time. I've also found something in Russian saying that according to new rules if your papers are in order for the final destination, they'll let you transit.

So my fiancee is coming to the US and we're looking at different flights. She doesn't need a Schengen visa if she flies through Milan, but the UK is super-vague about it. Her layover would straddle two calendar days (arrives Heathrow 7 pm, leaves Heathrow 11 am) and the website (https://www.gov.uk/check-uk-visa/y/russia/transit/somewhere_else/yes) says that she'd need a transit visa ... maybe.

I've also heard from Russians who have done this that there's such thing as a 24-hour visa which the immigration officer can issue at his discretion, and which they generally give if the traveler's papers are all in order.

Does anyone know the exact situation?

Just following up here.

I wrote the Kiev embassy an email asking what's up, and they replied telling me that a computer glitch had resulted in the wrong status being posted, and that they had issued the visa, etc.

My fiancee picked up her passport today and should be in the US within a couple of weeks.

Thanks, everyone, for your responses.

I see.

So I guess we don't really have anything to panic about, then.

One weird thing is that the "Case Creation Date" is two days ago.

Yeah, we have the information. It's a long story (my fiancee is Russian from Crimea, so she originally went to Moscow, and they told her to go to Kiev, where it was approved), but initially it said AP, then "in transfer" (when they transferred the docs from Moscow to Kiev), then "ready" (indication to schedule the interview), and then after the interview it went to AP again.

Apparently, according to forums my fiancee has read, no visa applications from Ukraine or Russia are ever out of AP. AP appears to be the default status.

I just don't get why the lady at the embassy said the application was approved.

Thanks. We haven't made any travel plans, because we knew it might take a while, but when the woman said "five days," we assumed that's how long it would be. It was a US consular official saying it, after all.

So how long does it take on average?

My fiancee's visa was approved. I was with her at the embassy interview in Kiev, and the American lady said the application was approved and she should be getting the passport, with the pasted-in visa, back in five business days.

At least, I think she said "in five business days." She might've said "around five business days." I'm not totally sure.

Either way, it's been six or seven days now (depending on whether you count the day of the interview as the starting day for the five business days). I returned to the US because of work, and my fiancee is still waiting in Kiev. Her home town is very far from Kiev and she doesn't trust the mail, so she's waiting in Kiev in a hotel for the notice from the embassy saying to come pick up the passport. She called today and the Ukrainian lady who answered said that actually the approval of the application doesn't come until after the interview, and that review of documents, etc., can take up to several weeks.

That directly contradicts what the American lady said at the interview.

I feel like calling, but I'm not sure how productive that would be.

Can anyone shed any light on 1) whether it's possible the American interviewer's statement that the application was approved could be wrong, and 2) how long it generally takes to get the passport back after the interview?

Thanks!