Wouter

Hello everyone! Today we got an email from NVC with our interview date scheduled for November 2nd in Warsaw! It’s so soon and very exciting! Now we are rushing to get a schengen visa and we’ve scheduled my husbands medical exam for the 25th of October in Moscow. 

Hi,
The transfer definitely doesn't go automatically.
You will have to email to US embassies that are likely to accept your request for a transfer. In theory any embassy can accept your request but in practice only certain embassies have been willing to take on Russian cases: Warsaw, Kazakhstan, Kiev, (anyone any other?); typically countries that have a connection with Russia and border on Russia.
For transfer to Warsaw or other EU countries the applicant has to have a Schengen visa.
I emailed US embassies in Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, Czech Republic, but none were willing to take our case, only Warsaw approved the request.
Then next I wrote to the NVC through the Public Inquiry to tell them I wanted to transfer the case to Warsaw and included the approval email from the Warsaw embassy.
 
 

Hi, I can imagine you would be relieved to get the police report. Every step of this process seems to come with its own problems.
Yes, we managed to get my wife's case transferred to Warsaw so that's where she did the interview last week. She still had a valid 2 year multi-entry Schengen visa from Switzerland so that made it a lot easier to get to Poland.
I also flew to Warsaw to support my wife through the whole ordeal but I was not allowed to be at the interview and it was definitely not required to be there. She went into the embassy alone while I waited outside until she finally came out with a big smile on her face 😀. Too bad your son can't go to Tbilisi with his wife but I am sure she will be fine.
My wife and I got married in February 2020 and filed the I-130 the same month but then the Covid pandemic hit and we weren't able to see each other for six months which was hard and much longer than we planned. I was not able to travel to Russia because it was almost impossible to get into Russia at that time and to this day I have actually never been to Russia. When it was finally possible to travel again in August of 2020 we decided we never wanted to be apart that long again so we did a trip to a vacation destination in another country about every three months (Turkey/Greece-Aug 2020, Dubai-Oct 2020, Maldives-Feb 2021, Switzerland-May 2021, and then Poland-Sept/Oct 2021) which was nice but in the end you don't want to live a vacation life but you want to have a normal life together, so we are really glad we can start our (hopefully) normal life soon.
Good luck to your daughter-in-law and son and please don't hesitate to ask me any questions, I am happy to help.
 

Hi, I can imagine you would be relieved to get the police report. Every step of this process seems to come with its own problems.
Yes, we managed to get my wife's case transferred to Warsaw so that's where she did the interview last week. She still had a valid 2 year multi-entry Schengen visa from Switzerland so that made it a lot easier to get to Poland.
I also flew to Warsaw to support my wife through the whole ordeal but I was not allowed to be at the interview and it was definitely not required to be there. She went into the embassy alone while I waited outside until she finally came out with a big smile on her face 😀. Too bad your son can't go to Tbilisi with his wife but I am sure she will be fine.
My wife and I got married in February 2020 and filed the I-130 the same month but then the Covid pandemic hit and we weren't able to see each other for six months which was hard and much longer than we planned. I was not able to travel to Russia because it was almost impossible to get into Russia at that time and to this day I have actually never been to Russia. When it was finally possible to travel again in August of 2020 we decided we never wanted to be apart that long again so we did a trip to a vacation destination in another country about every three months (Turkey/Greece-Aug 2020, Dubai-Oct 2020, Maldives-Feb 2021, Switzerland-May 2021, and then Poland-Sept/Oct 2021) which was nice but in the end you don't want to live a vacation life but you want to have a normal life together, so we are really glad we can start our (hopefully) normal life soon.
Good luck to your daughter-in-law and son and please don't hesitate to ask me any questions, I am happy to help.
 

That's great! Glad it worked out.
Yes, that is also my wife's experience: if one person says they can't help you then just move on and try another, even at the same police station, until you find someone who is willing to do it and then it usually only takes a few days.

Indeed, so few Russians that I have interacted with have ever traveled to America (or even abroad at all) due to cost and difficulty of getting a visa, most of them just assume the entire country is like Florida and LA climatewise. Even when my sister-in-law visited for the first time here, she went on a trip to Cleveland, OH and NYC in February. I tried to explain: "You need to take winter stuff, there's going to be lots of snow!" But she absolutely refused to believe me, insisting the US was some year round sunny paradise, until she arrived and almost froze to death here in her summer clothes!
 
On the flip side, Americans think that Russia is a frozen wasteland the entire year. Not realizing that especially Moscow and Southern Russia get really hot and sunny in the summer.
 
Obviously OP's wife isn't like this, but a lot of Russians have no clue about what it's really like over here! My husband explained to me that this is because in Soviet films, they always showed just normal people with normal apartments. Soviet movies were extremely representative of an "average" life there: smallish apartments, no luxury items, etc. Whereas so many Russians only learn what America is from mass market sitcoms and Hollywood movies (which show everyone living in absurd fictional lifestyles, such as owning huge apartments in NYC or living in extreme luxury in LA...but the character is presented as 'middle class' or even a struggling, dreamer type etc) that Russians just assume those films are also just showing the "average" life of how things are in America. It amazes how much pop culture influences things.
 

This has been a very educational thread for those of us who have no dog in the fight but are reading it nevertheless!  

A buddy of mine (from SA) got a B1/B2 visa while his i-130 was pending (and he had a denial beforehand). They asked why he couldn't wait for his CR1 to come through and he told them the reason for his visit. He gave convincing evidence on why he wouldn't adjust status (job, housing contract, other strong ties to SA). I believe he wasn't given a 10 year visa but a shorter term but he did receive a non-immigrant visa after that interview.
Your spouse should be totally honest with the interviewer about why he needs to be with you and show that he will indeed return to SA after the surgery/ recovery. 

@Wouter I wanted to mention, see if there's an option to get insurance on your items when you find a shipping company. Since some of them are more on the expensive side, might be a good idea.

I don't think the cost of the item matters if they are personal items of clothing. Pretty sure shipping companies just go by weight, just like everywhere else. The only items that are extremely difficult to ship out of Russia are antiques, significant historical artifacts and real works of art, and not because of the shipping company, but because the Russian government will not allow them to leave the country.
 

Obviously she wouldn't be wearing fancy clothes on a daily basis, but they are very special and dear to her so they definitely will have to come over so she can wear them on those date nights 😀
I think UPS could be a good option. They even supply packing material and they can do door-to-door pick up and delivery, so that may be the way to go.
Thanks everyone!

Not knocking thrift stores - they can have some pretty nifty stuff.
 
This suggestion would not go over too well with a Russian woman.   I would like to get a ringside seat for a such a discussion.
 
They spend a significant portion of their income on quality and/or designer clothes.  My wife would gladly pay $100+ for Diesel jeans rather than $20 for a wrangler, for example.
 
@Wouter, It seems Russian Post is probably the best option.  About $40 per 10 kg or so.  
 
Can your wife store her things with relatives?  Bring the items she needs for the time of year and location you are in, and keep the rest to bring back on a later trip.  Also, TJ Maxx, Marshals and Nordstrom Rack may be a big hit for her.  My wife loves those stores. 
 
Also, as @JSWH mentioned, your wife may decide not to bring any of them.  After she adjusts to the way people around her look and dress, she may want to tone down her wardrobe. 

Let us know how it goes and if UPS works out!

Obviously she wouldn't be wearing fancy clothes on a daily basis, but they are very special and dear to her so they definitely will have to come over so she can wear them on those date nights 😀
I think UPS could be a good option. They even supply packing material and they can do door-to-door pick up and delivery, so that may be the way to go.
Thanks everyone!

Sounds like she's going to be very overdressed compared to how most Americans dress!
 
Back to the question: when we moved to the States from Russia, my husband and I shipped a bunch of our winter shoes and some other items via Russian Post EMS. It was completely fine and they even provided a tracking number which was updated regularly. My mother-in-law regularly sends us boxes of stuff from Russia and she even sent us a document via UPS last month. Apparently UPS Russia is a thing now so you might want to look into that? That was in Saint Petersburg, though, so might not be available where your wife is.

Not Russian, but Mrs.-T-B.-to-be arrived from Ecu with one small suitcase.  She was amazed at the concept of thrift stores (alien to Ecu).  She soon had a very full closet of designer stuff.
 
We arranged entire weekend trips around visiting thrift stores in nearby cities, in fact, which was good for sightseeing and getting out of the house.
 
Once, she was especially pleased with a Banana Republic item that she found, and I burst out laughing and had to explain the concept of a banana republic to her.  She said, "Bananas ARE one of Ecuador's largest exports!"  

If you find a solution please share. I may be in the same situation several months from now. 

Congrats!
 
We have used Meest to ship to and from Ukraine.  They also ship to Russia.
 
https://us.meest.com/services/service/delivery-to-russia
 
I was not able to find direct information about shipping from Russia to the US.  Perhaps you can call them to see if it's possible.

No, nobody else is allowed to go in (except perhaps if you bring your own official interpreter).
There is a bus stop across the street from the embassy consular entrance and that is where I and several other American husbands were waiting for 3 hours.
(It was amazing to meet total strangers and share the same experience of going through the same stressful immigration process, exchange stories about the challenges along the way, and sit there sending positive vibes to our wives inside the embassy while just waiting one hour after another.)

Final update: my Russian wife had the interview on Monday, October 4th and all went well and we could pick up her passport with the CR1 visa at the embassy in Warsaw yesterday, October 5th. Most other applicants we talked to also got fairly short notice of their interview appointment, only about 20 days ahead of time, so like us everyone had to scramble to arrange their travel to Poland and to get the medical exam done.
Everyone with an interview that day got invited for the interview at 8:30 or 9:00 AM and then everyone was kept in the waiting area in the embassy until their turn. For my wife it took about 2.5 hours of waiting. (Very interesting: during the waiting the applicants all get pamphlets to read about human trafficking, protection against abuse from their spouse, and their rights in the US. I think this is really great that they actually inform and protect the immigrants and not just see them as a number that is approved or refused.)
The actual interview was very short, perhaps 2 minutes. Questions were:
- how did you meet your husband?
- where does he live?
- when was the last time you saw your husband in person?
- you have been to the US for studies? (She has had an F-1 visa in the past)
Before the interview at a check-in window they looked at the original birth certificate, marriage certificate, police report, sealed envelope with medical records, and they took in the passport photos. During the interview they did not look at any documents (so they didn't look at the original I-864 or any proof of the relationship we brought)
She was told she was approved right away at the end of the interview and that she could pick up her passport with the visa the next day at 12.
She was out at about noon so the whole thing took about 3 hours.
The next day it was very quick to pick up the passport with the visa. Interestingly: there is no sealed envelope (IV packet) with immigration documents anymore. Apparently, they have switched (since 2018) to an online system to collect, review, and process the required documents previously contained in the IV packet. So we did not get the famous 'sealed envelope' but her visa says at the bottom "IV Docs in CCD".
 

No, nobody else is allowed to go in (except perhaps if you bring your own official interpreter).
There is a bus stop across the street from the embassy consular entrance and that is where I and several other American husbands were waiting for 3 hours.
(It was amazing to meet total strangers and share the same experience of going through the same stressful immigration process, exchange stories about the challenges along the way, and sit there sending positive vibes to our wives inside the embassy while just waiting one hour after another.)

No, nobody else is allowed to go in (except perhaps if you bring your own official interpreter).
There is a bus stop across the street from the embassy consular entrance and that is where I and several other American husbands were waiting for 3 hours.
(It was amazing to meet total strangers and share the same experience of going through the same stressful immigration process, exchange stories about the challenges along the way, and sit there sending positive vibes to our wives inside the embassy while just waiting one hour after another.)

No. Sputnik will never be recognized by the CDC, I don’t mean to go down some political rabbit hole but it simply never will be accepted in the US. Note that Europe doesn’t even accept Sputnik, save for few countries (like Greece and Hungary) who either imported the vaccine early on or want to encourage tourists from Eastern Europe.
 
Further, it appears as if the rules state a WHO approved vaccine for medical, though the jury’s still out on what vaccine you’ll need to get on the plane. Sputnik being approved by WHO isn’t as unrealistic as approval by the CDC (which chance is virtually 0 imo), but considering Sputnik was the first COVID vaccine, I wouldn’t hedge your bets on it. I presume you have no access to Johnson/Janssen?

Congrats! Finally! The whole process sounds identical to the one at the Moscow Embassy, minus the in person passport pick up.
 
Huh, I didn't know that they got rid of the sealed envelope. That's probably for the better as tearing it accidentally was so easy.

Congratulations!  You must feel great.
Your comprehensive posts about this and other experiences are distinctly helpful to others.