AVMNUSA

On 5/24/2023 at 9:51 AM, AnaBanana12345 said:

Hi everyone, any updates on interviews? From what I hear, people are able to pick up passports the next day after their interview, which is great. Was this the experience of people here?

 

Also, FYI, for those Belarusians who prepare to immigrate. There was a new form of police certificate approved in March 2023 and now it has to contain information about crimes and administrative misdemeanors (rather than just crimes as before), so be aware. 

 

 

I have a final update: I finally was able to Skype with my wife after after her 17 hour bus ride back to Ukraine.  My wife's interview was June 5 at 8:20 AM.  She received a message Wednesday afternoon saying her visa was ready to be picked up.  If she had been in Warsaw she could have picked it up late Wednesday afternoon.  When she  received the message she was at her Sister's house which is a two hour train ride to Warsaw.  She ended picking up her visa Friday afternoon.

On 6/9/2023 at 10:07 AM, AVMNUSA said:

 

 

My Wife’s visa interview was Monday morning at 8:20 AM.  Before my trip to Warsaw, I had read the same post you were referring to about the couple that picked up their visa the next day at the Mail Boxes Etc. store on Wiertnicza.  Even though my wife didn’t receive a message stating that her visa was ready we went to the Mail Boxes Etc. store right before they closed on Tuesday  hoping her visa would be there.  Unfortunately her visa was not there.  An employee at Mail Boxes Etc. said that visas are dropped off at his store only once a day at 3:00 PM.  Wednesday morning I left Warsaw to return to the United States and my wife took a train to her sister’s house which is a two hour train ride from Warsaw.  Early this morning (Friday 12:09 PM Warsaw time) I received a message from my wife saying that she was on her way to pick up her visa.  I don't  know yet when she received the message saying the visa was ready to be picked up.  When I find out I will let you know. 

I have a final update: I finally was able to Skype with my wife after after her 17 hour bus ride back to Ukraine.  My wife's interview was June 5 at 8:20 AM.  She received a message Wednesday afternoon saying her visa was ready to be picked up.  If she had been in Warsaw she could have picked it up late Wednesday afternoon.  When she  received the message she was at her Sister's house which is a two hour train ride to Warsaw.  She ended picking up her visa Friday afternoon.

1 hour ago, KESA said:

My husband's interview was also June 5th (maybe we saw you guys in line outside the consulate 😂) his visa was issued June 7th. Have you tried emailing them to check in? 

 

@AnaBanana12345 they didn't ask for our AOS documents - my husband brought an updated version to the interview (we applied to the NVC ages ago - so we had updated financial information by now, so our lawyers recommended we fill out a new AOS document and bring it just in case). But they never asked for a copy of the original or the new one we had filled out. We brought copies of both just in case though.  

 

For our interview: 

• His appointment was 8am, we arrived in line at 7:20am and were 4th in line 
• The windows opened at I think 7:45am and if you were applying for an immigrant visa, you were instructed to go to window #2 
• At this window they looked at the print out of his confirmation page from the embassy (the sheet that says if you elected to have the visa delivered vs. to pick it up) and his passport 
• After that you move to the side and wait for the doors to open at 8am 
• Once the doors open: they won't let you in until your phone is off and they won't let you in with any bag larger than an 'A4' size - so anyone with backpacks got asked to leave their bags outside the embassy (my husband gave his to me, the guy in front of us was alone - so he went across street where I think there was a storage facility or something -- it meant he was further back in line though so delayed him a bit) 
  • There was a lady with a tote bag that was let through, they just did a quick search but she was allowed to take it inside 
  • cameras, laptops or any larger electronic devices are also not allowed 
• With all that, my husband was through the doors at 8:05am 
• He handed his phone to security, who gave him a ticket to pick it back up when he left 
• He then went to a counter where they gave him a ticket with his number/place in line to be interviewed 
• That same person at that counter called his number and did his preliminary interview. For him, he says he only waited about 10 minutes between getting his ticket and getting called back up (he says people that came later had to wait longer since there were more people / a longer line by then)
  • He handed her his passport 
  • She asked the following questions: name of his sponsor, is this your first or second marriage, do you have any kids, how many times have you entered the US, what was the duration of the longest stay, have you committed a crime
  • She asked for the following (original) documents: marriage license, birth certificate, police clearance certificates, 1 photo 
  • The entire exchange lasted 5 minutes (some people that weren't prepared with all the correct documents took as long as 20 minutes for this interview) 
• After that he went to sit back down and wait to be called for his secondary interview - this was the longest part. They didn't open the interview window until 9:30am, so he ended up waiting for about an 1hr-1:15hr to be called for this interview 
• Once he was called for the second interview - this took about 5 minutes 
  • Very friendly - handed back all documents that the first interviewing officer had taken (the marriage license, birth certificate, etc.), excluding the police clearances, which she kept 
  • Questions: how did we meet, when did we get married, where did we get married, what do you do (career-wise), what is your wife's job / position
  • She also asked to see my updated W2s (we had applied through the NVC back in early 2021, so we had two years of updated W2s that she wanted to see

 

Because of the updated W2s - we showed her the physical copies, but she said they also needed to be uploaded to the CEAC portal before she could issue the visa. We uploaded immediately after the interview, when there had been no case status change by the following morning - we sent an email to support-poland@ustraveldocs.com asking if they had received the documents and checking on the status of our case. We did not receive a reply, but by the following morning (about 24 hours after we had sent the email, and 48 after the interview had taken place / we had uploaded the W2s) when we checked our CEAC case status it had changed to 'issued'. My husband received an email a few hours later saying that his documents had been 'collected from the US embassy' and when we double checked on the embassy portal website it said the passport was ready for pickup. 

 

We checked our case status at the following links: 

CEAC status link: https://ceac.state.gov/CEACStatTracker/Status.aspx?App=NIV

Embassy Website: https://portal.ustraveldocs.com/SiteLogin?country=Poland&language=en_US

 

Thanks for your message.  My wife’s visa interview was 8:20 AM Monday.  Before my trip to Warsaw, I had read the post about the couple that picked up their visa the next day at the Mail Boxes Etc. store on Wiertnicza.  Even though my wife didn’t receive a message stating that her visa was ready we went to the Mail Boxes Etc. store right before they closed on Tuesday  hoping her visa would be there.  Unfortunately her visa was not there.  An employee at Mail Boxes Etc. said that visas are dropped off at his store only once a day at 3:00 PM.  Wednesday morning I left Warsaw to return to the United States and my wife took a train to her sister’s house which is a two hour train ride from Warsaw.  Early this morning (Friday 12:09 PM Warsaw time) I received a message from my wife saying that she was on her way to Warsaw to pick up her visa.  I don't  know yet when she received the message saying the visa was ready to be picked up.  Congrats on receiving your visa!

On 6/7/2023 at 10:55 PM, AVMNUSA said:

My wife had her interview on June 5.  As of today (June 7) she has not received her visa.  She was told at the interview that it would take 3 to 5 days to get her visa.

My Wife’s visa interview was Monday morning at 8:20 AM.  Before my trip to Warsaw, I had read the same post you were referring to about the couple that picked up their visa the next day at the Mail Boxes Etc. store on Wiertnicza.  Even though my wife didn’t receive a message stating that her visa was ready we went to the Mail Boxes Etc. store right before they closed on Tuesday  hoping her visa would be there.  Unfortunately her visa was not there.  An employee at Mail Boxes Etc. said that visas are dropped off at his store only once a day at 3:00 PM.  Wednesday morning I left Warsaw to return to the United States and my wife took a train to her sister’s house which is a two hour train ride from Warsaw.  Early this morning (Friday 12:09 PM Warsaw time) I received a message from my wife saying that she was on her way to pick up her visa.  I don't  know yet when she received the message saying the visa was ready to be picked up.  When I find out I will let you know. 

10 hours ago, AnaBanana12345 said:

Wow, this is too bad. I thought they give passports the next day or at least in 1 business day to those who are coming from outside of Poland... I know someone whose dad received the passport with visa the next day (the interview was 2 weeks ago), hopefully your wife will get the visa tomorrow! Please keep us posted here, my parent is going to be interviewed next week. 

 

Quick unrelated question - did you have to provide the original of your AOS form or would the copy suffice that was uploaded to CEAC? Thanks! 

I got back from Warsaw yesterday night.  I was going to respond to you after I Skyped with my wife today but that will not be for awhile.  Below is what I remember what happened and I will update this if I have anything wrong.  I will also update this to tell you when my wife's visa is available to be picked up:

My wife brought copies of my AOS, this year’s tax return, last year’s tax transcript, my last two 1099-R documents, and an income verification letter, and none of these were collected or even looked at.  She brought originals and translations of her birth certificates, marriage license, change of name document, Ukrainian police report, and her Polish police report and she also brought copies of all of those documents.  They looked at all those documents but only kept the original police reports.  My wife brought two passport photos and they didn’t keep them (maybe they made copies of them but I don’t know that).  My wife also brought photos of us, copies of emails, and copies of Skype calls and none of these were looked at.  My wife was in the embassy for about 2 hours and 15 minutes and she said the interview lasted about two minutes and she was asked about 6 easy questions.  I’ve heard many people say it’s better to be over prepared rather than underprepared I would agree with that.

On 5/24/2023 at 9:51 AM, AnaBanana12345 said:

Hi everyone, any updates on interviews? From what I hear, people are able to pick up passports the next day after their interview, which is great. Was this the experience of people here?

 

Also, FYI, for those Belarusians who prepare to immigrate. There was a new form of police certificate approved in March 2023 and now it has to contain information about crimes and administrative misdemeanors (rather than just crimes as before), so be aware. 

 

 

My wife had her interview on June 5.  As of today (June 7) she has not received her visa.  She was told at the interview that it would take 3 to 5 days to get her visa.

My wife went for her medical exam yesterday.  The computer system was not working so my wife had to stay an extra day in Warsaw and return to the doctor’s office today to finish her paperwork.  Yesterday my wife also had her x-ray done at a different office than the medical exam.  My wife was not given any paperwork or x-rays to bring to her interview.  Everything is sent to the embassy electronically.

6 hours ago, KESA said:

Hi All! For everyone that's had their interview: how far in advance did you guys schedule your medical / how quickly were your results ready? (@aerodnight @MCGH @IvanRi)

My wife’s interview is June 5.  I emailed the medical office for an appointment Friday.  They emailed me back and said the following:

At the moment we can make an appointment for you at the end of May as our schedule for June is not open yet. Would May 31st at 10 AM work for you?  The doctor's appointment consists of a physical and immunization review. If any required vaccinations are missing, they will be administered during the doctor's appointment. After the appointment the doctor refers the applicant to the facility at 9 Ludwika Warynskiego street in Warsaw (no appointment necessary) for a chest X-ray and a syphilis blood test (if age appropriate). The medical documents are submitted to the Embassy via an electronic database within 1-2 days, if none of the lengthy tests are applicable (please see price chart).

From their response it seems like they would have made the appointment even closer to my  wife’s interview date if they were already making appointments in June.  My wife wanted to go earlier so we made an appointment the 2nd week in May.

6 hours ago, MCGH said:

Hey, you go there through register an appointment, choose "Appointment made by NVC", then visa type and etc. , I chose to pick up my passport at Weirtnicza and in the end it gives you a page with the bar code that u need to print. 

Thank You!!!  I had to click the link https://ustraveldocs.com/ instead of Register >> and when I clicked the link https://ustraveldocs.com/ it took me to https://cgifederal.secure.force.com/?language=English&country=Poland and that is where I need to be.  Thanks again MCGH.

On 4/15/2023 at 7:32 AM, IvanRi said:

Hello 
Waited inside about an 1 hour. 
Interview was pretty easy.
Officer ask how long did we know each other? Did i know who is the sponsor? And address in USA. After she said the result is positive. And visa will be in 2-3 busines days. 
Pick up the passport at mail box (Wierniczna)
Visa was ready next day about 16:00

Congratulations on getting your visa.  Thank you for your previous posts on Visa Journey.  We just received our interview letter and I have a question.  When I went to the U.S. Embassy Warsaw, Poland - WRW on Travel.State.Gov it said to register your visa appointment online to provide the embassy with the information they need to return your passport.  When I clicked on the register link it sent me to USTravelDocsPOLAND but I could not find anywhere to register my wife’s visa appointment.  Did you guys register your visa appointment online before your interview or did you just show up to the interview?  When did you choose to pick up your passport at Mail Boxes Etc. at ul. Wiertnicza (before the interview date or during the interview)?

Thank you to those of you who posted your DQ, IL, and interview dates.  That information gave me a a very good idea when my wife would receive her interview letter.  After seeing your postings, I told my wife weeks ago that I think she would receive her interview letter on Friday April 21 or Monday April 24.  She received her interview letter today (April 21).  Below are all the dates that were posted by people on the last few pages of this topic.  Thanks again for sharing your information.

DQ - March 3 

IL -April 21

Interview June 5

1 hour ago, AnaBanana12345 said:

Hi all, if this will help, these are timelines of real people interviewing in Warsaw:

 

DQ - IL - Interview

Dec 2 - Jan 18 - Mar 8

Jan 18 - Feb 24 - Apr 12

Jan 21 - Feb 24 - Apr 3

Feb 15 - Mar 24 - May 16

 

Hope this helps. We were DQ on March 17 and still waiting for IL...  

Thank you for the information.  We were DQ on March 3 and are also waiting for the IL.

1 hour ago, AnaBanana12345 said:

Hi all, if this will help, these are timelines of real people interviewing in Warsaw:

 

DQ - IL - Interview

Dec 2 - Jan 18 - Mar 8

Jan 18 - Feb 24 - Apr 12

Jan 21 - Feb 24 - Apr 3

Feb 15 - Mar 24 - May 16

 

Hope this helps. We were DQ on March 17 and still waiting for IL...  

Thank you for the information.  We were DQ on March 3 and are also waiting for the IL.

Just now, RogerVA8928 said:

@AVMNUSAAre you trying to transfer your case our just sticking with Warsaw?  I'm going to see if I can get case transferred to Israel or Kazakhstan to simplify travel.

My wife lives in Ukraine and is a Polish citizen so we are staying with the Warsaw Embassy.

11 hours ago, RogerVA8928 said:

My wife and I were DQ on 6-March and still awaiting word on interview schedule for Warsaw.  I wrote to both the US embassies in Israel and Turkey to see if they would consider accepting our case to avoid the logistical challenges of getting schengen and coordinating all the travel within a very short window and getting a Schengen visa which takes several weeks to get and only good for 30 days.  Can you please share the letter you wrote to the US Embassy in KZ to get your case transferred please?  I want to be sure I'm citing the correct justifications in hopes we can also transfer our case to a Country easier to get to.  

 

Also,  it was strange that after we were DQ and received notice of such...the CEAC site showed that my wife's documents mysteriously became "incomplete" from "accepted"  I resubmitted the items in question (passport bio page, passport photo, turkey police certificate).  Hope that doesn't impact anything since we are already DQ.  I appreciate your input and suggestions.  Thank you!

 

 

I submitted all of my affidavit of support documents and they were all accepted and the CEAC site said completed.  A week or two later when I logged into the CEAC website to see if all of my wife’s documents were accepted it showed that none of my documents were submitted.  I waited a week to see if my documents reappeared as accepted but they didn’t.  I resubmitted my documents again.  The next day we received an email saying that we were documentary qualified.  After getting the DQ email I logged back into the CEAC website and my affidavit of support documents still said submitted rather than accepted.  I just logged in to CEAC before I wrote this message and my affidavit of support documents still say submitted rather than accepted.  My guess is that I never had to resubmit my affidavit of support documents.  We received our DQ email March 3 and are still waiting for an interview date.

My wife is going Poland and while she is there she is going to get her police report for her IR-1 visa application.  The National Criminal Register in Poland says they give you the report on paper with a signature and an official stamp.  If that stamp is not an apostille, does my wife need to get an apostille applied to the report?  Her visa interview will be in Kiev, Ukraine.