marpolsdofer

On 7/18/2022 at 4:00 PM, powerpuff said:

Any news?

O yes sorry about that have not been on the forums since. He got his visa Thursday near the end of the work day so they was able to leave Friday morning. I told my wife to go check the pickup place just incase. When she got there near the end of the work day they just got it in. If she waited around they would have had to miss the flight and got notified of the visa was available for pick up right when the flight would have been leaving. 

The lack of response from the embassy regarding the missing document was annoying. Ask them multiple times a day for 2-3 days asking if they got them and they never said anything. My wife called travel docs the days before they are to leave and they said if you don't get it the next day (the day the flight leaves) leave a review to push it forward.  I said screw that and resubmitted the documents and email again this time to them as well. Later that day they email back but in Russian and of course I am sleeping at that point. When I get up my wife tells me they got it so I ignored the email. 

 

14 hours ago, powerpuff said:

I see, I hope it goes/went smoothly and they make it to their flight. Keep us posted 

They had a small issue but I can not tell if they are dragging this out or nor. The interview was 8 a.m. and after the interview my wife called me. She said everything was fine but they need a few documents. The document they wanted I already had uploaded but the officer apparently could not find it. I resubmit the Birth Certificate and Translation and then while I am looking for the the police record the website logs me out. Log back in and now the website is acting like I never paid anything done anything before. Makes me resubmit the application but everything was still there so that was quick. After that everything popped back up and summited the final document. Then website says they received it but showed nothing was uploaded. Log out and log in shows nothing so resubmit again. This time around it stayed there. 

My wife calls me later in the day. Saying she tried to track the passport and nothing shows up. I never got a email back. I mail them again and still nothing. CEAC has not changed, travel docs have not changed. Now I am on the 3rd email. I know its been 24-28 hours since the interview but one would think they are keeping a eye out for this.

1 hour ago, powerpuff said:

Hey, I just saw this. Almaty is very fast in issuing visas, I picked up mine the very next day after the interview. But I’m a KZ citizen, not sure how long is takes non-residents. Were you able to get the visa? I hope everything worked out!

My stepson in his interview as I type with his mom accompanying him.  We knew someone who did Poland and they had it that same day. Anyways the flight back to the U.S. they have leaving the 15th. We hare hopping if they get it today she may have time to ask the airline to move up and get out sooner. Same if they get it tomorrow. 

We was to have my stepson interview on the 29thin Warsaw. After being denied several Schengen visa Almaty finally took the case. 

Interview is on July 12 early A.M. The only issue we have now is then flight prices. 

How long does for the Visa to become available for pick up after the interview? We are told 2-3 passably longer because he is Russian. 

Short notice flight like 1-3 days are going from $6000-$12000 (one way from stepson and his mom). If we get flights now for a few days after it still is $3000-$4000 but down to $2500 if we fly on the 14th. So even if waited until after we got the visa tickets would be expensive and it seems prices just go up and up in comparison for several weeks out. Last week we could book a flight 2 weeks out and it was not bad now book out to weeks and its 2 times the price. Give it a more do it again and it will be even more. 

I don't know if anyone ever notice but the prices seems to be the lower on what even day we had the interview. In Warsaw coming home the same day was way cheaper then any day before or after. Same thing is happing in Almaty I think google has a part in that.

Anyway waiting around and longer then wee need to is a problem. The already been waiting around there for over a month and half no running out of money in our bank accounts. Not only this she needs to be here before the 20th to sign papers at the bank or we loose our house. 

54 minutes ago, Irina and Chris said:

Look into tickets with Emerates.  They have rt $2300 moscow to Mexico City.

 

Turkish airlines has gone crazy with their pricing.  However it may be possible to get a much better price booking seperately Moscow to Istanbul on aeroflot or another, then to Mexico City on Turkish.

Yeah they have. 2 weeks to 1.5 month ago was not to bad. Since we don't have a lot of money but have plenty of time we looked in to going all sorts flights. Best prices to get to US or Mexico was flying from Istanbul. Even to the U.S. picking airports that are 6 to 12 hours from me and then drive there was a heck a lot cheaper. 

 

Also word of advice avoid  LOT if you can. We had to buy a lot of airline tickets just to get visa, dismissed from military services, or just travel. Most of our tickets was Turkish Airlines every since one of them was able to cancel; and get refunded very quickly.

We had 2 tickets from LOT one was a refundable and one was not. We canceled them a whole 40 days before the flights was to go out. It was hard to cancel them and by the times the flight date comes, for one of them it still listed as good. Still no refund.

13 hours ago, Mike20090622 said:

I don’t think they can get a regular Schengen visa at this time, also for a party of 3, you need get 3 interviews spots? That doesn’t make sense I think, also kids under 12 no need goto interviews on site I think 

Since you don't have a date yet it make it hard to figurer out when to apply for a Schengen visa. If you are looking to transfer it may just have to be like my stepsons case. Apply for a Schengen Visa knowing it will be refused. The purpose of this is to show that you are not going to be able to get one. Then you just have to keep bugging a embassy multiple times a days. Don't know how well it will work if you don't even have a interview date yet. Seeing a physiotherapist and getting a medical evaluation as well. 

We hade to pull out all the stop just to get it moved even tough we kept telling them that we are not going to be able to make the interview or any interview in a Schengen country. 

You could try Czech Republic a month ago they said they would take our transfer and we gave them very little information. The only problem is Schengen Visa so we did not even bother with it.

12 hours ago, Mike20090622 said:

I don’t think they can get a regular Schengen visa at this time, also for a party of 3, you need get 3 interviews spots? That doesn’t make sense I think, also kids under 12 no need goto interviews on site I think 

The whole Schengen Visa is flawed.  Right now they don't want to give them to Russian even thou some country's say they are. Let alone making it difficult to apply based location. You passport says Russia but you live in the US no mater where you go they tell you should apply in the other country. Children not living with the parent they are traveling with but yet the parent has to be there for the interview. 

The other issues is trimming on getting a interview. When we asked about applying they said we should apply 1 month out. Go to apply 1 month out appointments booked for 2 months out. Most of the countries say its because of increased travel and telling people to go Italy or France first and apply there to get where they want to be. 

 

Then I read Turks are getting screwed on Schengen visas but Norway now getting to Turkey without. Basically Norway can enter Turkey without visa cause Turkey does not have enough cips to make them so they just waived it. Norway on the other hand did not make it any easier for Turks to get there. They already have some extreme requirement for applying.

Well, it took a lot of effort of complaining from me and multiple originations but an embassy I contacted said they would take the transfer.  Now the question is how long we are going to wait. I have a few caseworkers looking it to getting it done quickly. In theory out PD and DQ date would better than anyone else's at the embassy. I don't want to say the embassy quiet yet. 

 

Kinda strange how it happened. I called them two nights ago and already had everyone's name in that embassy. I called two times after being frustrated said I want to speak to someone about this issue. Needless to say, I got the run around say they will only talk about it on email. Email them that night (the day there) and I forgot to send proof of the medical evaluation and Schengen visa denial letter. I sent them a second email. Both emails stated the situation told them I got a lawyer ready to pounce.  Last night got a response say they would not do it, but it was the second email they responded two.  Email them back and pleaded the case some more told them we have no place we can legally go. After that sent them the original email to them 10 times.  I was prepared to just hammer the email till the said something. I also emailed every NVC email two night ago, but I did not expect a quick response from them. I emailed Warsaw last night and asked if they could help. I was getting ready to email Mexico but never did find it. Mexico last month looked like they were ready to take a transfer but then ghosted my caseworker. 

I was just about to go to sleep at 3 a.m. and the embassy responded to the first original email. Said they would take it and request the case from Warsaw. 

2 hours ago, Mike20090622 said:

That’s bull, if you sue America government, you may get some refund of your money. If you can’t get a Schengen visa for the interview, it’s department of state fault to arrange for Russia to do interviews in Poland 

Something needs to be done about it. First off when we applied here for Hungary, they denied and told her got to Russia. Soon as she gets to Russia first thing she does and starts calling around. Every single country she could get ahold of they were booked until mid-July. She contacted a travel agency and they said we can only get you one county right now Greece and it going to cost you some money. She paid the high fee for an expedite and had the interview on the 17. My wife told me the interview they had some stupid comments. First was they told her she should have applied in the U.S. (yet Hungary said apply in Russia). The also said her son should have applied in another parts of Russia. That is even more stupid because he is traveling with her (well technical he has to do the traveling she is going along because he is a minor). The last one was she needed to make a letter for him to travel even thou he is traveling with a parent, so she had to make it before the interview. She already had her EX''s. They said ooo it needs to be approved for 15 more days past the expected travel.  They got the denial letter today. 

This letter said the same thing the Hungary embassy did. 

Reason for Denial: justification for the purpose and conditions of the intended stay was not provided. The is ridicules cause the travel agent had a solid plan. The app said tourism explained what they are to do. Then at the interview she said the same thing. That is my understanding of it, but my wife could have been wrong or did not bother to double check the paperwork. 

Now there is an appeal process, but it is extremely stupid. The appeal must be in Greek and singed by a Greek Lawyer or self. If you sing it yourself a Greek lawyer must attend the hearing. You may also lodge the appeal before a Greek authority. Cannot be sent by mail. 

Where the heck do you find any of the on such short notice? 

 

We been working on getting this moved the last 1.5-2 months. Trying to figure out how to get a visa ever since February. We have had a lawyer and congressmen case worker try to do something about it. We even had a medical report from a psychotherapy that specializes in immigration cases (yeah that's a thing). Almost all the embassies ignored it and one or two said it does not meet our standers. 

According to my lawyer the state department is almost nonfunctional. The case worker said when she calls the state department it like they are reading off a script and then tell her oooo it so easy to get a Schengen visa. I do know it's not just Russians that are experiencing delays it'd others who need it as well. Russians are just being decimated again without making it look that way. 

I will update this later. All our attempts to move it to another country have been unsuccessful. I think we tried 12 countries and the said no even with a doctor's letter saying this is causing us mental health issues. 

Our last hope was getting an interview for Greece in Russia. 

Today it was denied with them planning on leaving to there on Friday. The interview in Poland next Friday. It is apparent that this interview will be missed again and will never make it there. Now my wife is stuck there until we either figure this out or she can get an affordable flight. Due to cost she may have to book out another month out to come. Then this still leaves us with the issue of how to get him here.

19 hours ago, slavaskii said:

The Schengen visa is a recurring issue but you will need *one* to get into the Zone. It doesn’t have to be a Polish one. If the Italian, Hungarian, or Greek embassies are working within Russia and giving out Schengens, see if you can go through them. They’ve been reported as the friendliest.

The issue I found is that they are not working with Russians for the reason of getting to Poland.

My wife was denied for Hungary Chicago since she lives here. She told them the reason was to take transit her son who also need to get one to Poland. Also said she plays to stay in Hungary for a week. They denied it, also told her to go to Moscow to apply.

A person my wife is talking to, her mom had a interview in Moscow at the Greek embassy and got denied. She told them she was going to stays in Hungary for a week and then go to Poland. She reapplied a week later and told them she was just going to Greece and they gave it to her.

 

My wife and stepson have a interview next week in Moscow for Greece but not sure what to tell them. If it get denied or don't get the visa in time, we miss the interview in Warsaw for the 2nd time. So asked the state department if they had any advice.

4 hours ago, HashWad said:

Emailed consulate in Nur-Sultan to transfer my mother in laws case from Warsaw. Denied((

 

4 hours ago, HashWad said:

Emailed consulate in Nur-Sultan to transfer my mother in laws case from Warsaw. Denied((

 

I wounder how many issues will come from this. My stepson already missed one interview cause the only gave us 11 days to get there. The next interview is June 29th. As of right now we still don't have a visa so a schengen country. If we do end up getting one its going be very costly.

1 hour ago, To_the_moon said:

I don't know if it's still helpful but you can get an expedited passport renewal in 1-2 days if you can show your urgent plans and explain your situation. I understand your doubts about your job but I'm just listing the possible scenarios that you might wanna work around with. 

 

If your wife's son is under 18, he must be living with someone who can apply for Schengen on his behalf? If he can get the Schengen and you can get your passport expedited, you can both meet in Europe and you can assist him to his interview. 

Another option if your wife still has a Russian passport, she can apply for a Schengen visa in Russia, along with her son. Then, they both travel to Europe for his interview. 

We emailed Poland embassy in Moscow about getting her a visa and his visa. They responded with  Good afternoon, At the moment, the issuance of visas for the purpose indicated in the email is suspended.

55 minutes ago, aaron2020 said:

Hi,

 

Sorry about all of this.  

Reapply with Poland and state the exact reason why she needs to enter.  Not tourism.  But to take her son to an immigration interview at the US Consulate/Embassy.

If you and your wife can't go, then you have to find another adult who can take the son to his medical and interview.

Best of luck.  

Should she apply here in the U.S.?  I don't think we have enough time for that. Also according to my wife Russia have a near 100% rejection rate for Poland.

Her sons medical is in Moscow.

It was just her going to Russia to see family and get him. I am unable to go since I have to work and my passport is expired. Still he would need a visa and had to be applied for it in Russia. I don't speak any Russian or have anything there.

He has not bank account or work history since he is under 18 for his mom she no longer has anything in Russia other then her passport.

We have no other adult who can take him.

Even if I was to go since I don't need a visa the biggest issue is getting him one. No matter what my wife has to go and help him with that.

If I go then I have to go to Russia to apply for him. That mean some at the Poland embassy  in Russia has to know something about English and U.S stuff.

My wife is a Russian citizen obvious living in the U.S. with a permanent green card. She needs to escort her son to Poland for his U.S. Visa interview. So, she needs to get a Schengen visa and he needs to get a Schengen visa to whatever country can get us there. All the travel agency and other country embassies we talked told us she needs to get her visa her and then travel to Russia to get his. We are told we must apply in the country the person lives, works, and banks in. So, my wife has all that here and her son has all that there even thou he is traveling with his mom.

 

After contacting a bunch of countries, they either booked up and would not get the visa in time or after we told them it’s for a Russian they never answered back.

Hungary got back to us and told us on Tuesday if we want a interview be there on Thursday. Took all day Wednesday to get everything sorted for the interview, slept for a few hours, then left early a.m. for the 7 hour drive to Chicago and the 7 hour drive back after. Meanwhile I am starting to develop acute appendices.

 

Her passport came back today, and it said the visa was denied. Reason-Justification for the purpose and conditions of the intended stay was not provided. She put on the application tourism for purpose of stay but I think she did not fill out the Additional information on purpose of stay. It is not like they gave room to put anything anyways. She even showed reservations for things they will be seeing over the week long stay there. During the interview she even told them everything.

 

Also on the note: We recommend you submit your application in Moscow. Yet we have been told it won’t work that way.

 

Now is says we have 8 days to appeal in person. I cannot go because I just had surgery leaving my wife not knowing how to get there or get around Chicago. Still leave us with the problem is my wife leaves for Russia in 13 days, her sons medical is in 21 days, and interview in 42 days.

 

 

 

 

 

So thought I give a update. My wife has being trying to figure out all the logistics and visa stuff to get from U.S to Russia, Russia to Poland, Poland back to U.S. After my wife was working with a company in Russia to get the visas they found out ooo you live in the U.S you need to get your visa in the U.S. Then you come to Russia and then we can sort out your sons visa. Since he is a minor or traveling alone still needs all the itinerary flight, hotel, plans, and financial information that only my wife has and must be present to authorize travel. Also most all the stuff is in English here and the embassies in Russia would not know what they are looking at. Once she has it then her sons is a lot easier to get.

After finding that out we tried seeking out embassies for Greece in the U.S. Until just recently you could not schedule an appointment online only by email. Call and email they don't answer. Now that they have online booking all 6-7 Greece embassies in the U.S all booked up till late June. I checked a few other countries and it was the same. Some do not even have online scheduling and make it extremely difficult to even find out how. Also a lot of the embassies are open from 9-10am to 2-3am. If you do get them on the phone they provide no answers. We found a company in Los Angeles that does this stuff and said they can get it done fast but you have to live in CA and we live in IA wont do it.

 

So just looking at the time line this is not working out. First available interview date in U.S say June 20th add 15 days to get the visa that makes it July 5 if not later. Add a few days to travel to Russia and get there say the 11th. 15 day min for my stepson visa is July 26. Then we got to add another week or two to get in to Poland so after August.

When was the interview date for Warsaw? June 29th and medical in Moscow early to mid June.

Stepson has to be out of Russia by mid August or he goes to the militarily.

 

We are just lost and angry at all of this. Let alone going to go broke.

On 4/15/2022 at 5:23 PM, chivaschivas said:

Hey guys. Ran into a problem with USTravelDocs - I previously had an account tied to Ukraine, but now that's of course out of the window.

 

I tried creating a new account to schedule an interview in Germany with a different email - it automatically redirects me to my Ukrainian account.

 

Anyone faced a similar problem? Is there anything that could be done? Thank you!

We had this problem when the case was transferred from Moscow to Warsaw. After we had to reschedule the interview we was not able to log on. We called Warsaw and told us to  contact Moscow. After contacting them they had to release it and the set it up under Warsaw.

18 minutes ago, Mike20090622 said:

How old is your step son? My fiancé elder daughter is 15 years old and she wants to spend the summer in Russia and I am not sure if she will have problems traveling to America alone from Russia 

He is 17 about to graduate HS there. He turns 18 in September so we need his here before then. Otherwise it Army time another year lost. If the pandemic never happened he could have gotten 3 year of HS. He could have at least gotten 2 here Russia did not make it difficulty after that. So now he is graduating there. When he gets here he would have a equivalent of one year left here. At that point it make no sense  to put him in school here since he has already graduated there.

 

 

I have no idea about traveling alone as a minor. I guess it really depends on age, a countries rules, and if they are capable of doing it. If he spoke better English or was use to traveling around he could effectively do it by himself. Still even in other countries hotels and stuff have to by 18 to check in.

1 minute ago, Mike20090622 said:

I heard Russia citizens can only apply in Russia for Schengen visas, otherwise I would bring my fiancé family into mexico 

I am sure there has to be a way around it like going to a embassy in the US. It would not make since for a Russian who is living here is almost a citizen just to go to Russia and wait 15 day to enjoy a vacation in Greece

The one issue with having her son apply alone is if he is not traveling with parent they must have a notarized letter stating he can go. He traveling with a parent but just does does not look that way if applying alone.

 

14 minutes ago, Mike20090622 said:

It’s true, why they don’t put in Ukraine embassy? Did they predict the Ukraine war with Russia? 

It was before the war as well. Russia putting restriction on the US embassies and making it practically closed since early last year.

2 minutes ago, StevenInAtlanta said:

@marpolsdofer

"health pass and health insurance?"

 

The health insurance for her to travel to Italy and then to Warsaw (through Istanbul) was only the equivalent of $20US  Her medical exam in Moscow for the US visa requirement for IR1 immigration purpose is going to be $210US plus the additional costs of needed vaccinations.  It seems that MANY Russian citizen's vaccination records were lost in a fire and therefore there are no records, so the doctor determines what is needed during the exam, and you typically (as I have read several times) you get hem in a cocktail of sorts after/during the exam and pay for them separately on the spot. And it seems like the payment is in cash/rubles.

 

So it just travel insurance then? WE just are on the issue is my wife need to go get her son to accompany him to the interview in Warsaw then bring him to the US. One option for her is go to Russia and both apply for the visas. I hear the take 15 days so that wont work because there wont be time do that.  The other is she apply here in the US and her son apply in Russia then she just pick him up in Russia or Turkey.

1 minute ago, StevenInAtlanta said:

@marpolsdofer

"That is the number 1 reason why it was stupid to be put in Poland . There had to be better options. Last year around August we had out senators aid contact a bunch of embassies. All did not require a visa to go to or was pretty close to Russia.

Only 2 of them said check back later when we clear the backlog. Check back later and they said no."

 

I have toyed with the idea of moving the package to another country's embassy. I'm not exactly how that is done, nor do I currently know how to research what embassy might have a reasonable queue.

 

Can anyone chime in on these topics please?

 

A lot of them would only take you if you was already in the country or had ties to that counties some home. We though about asking anther again after the ware broke out. Even if we did get it then we would have to expedite. If we did not get that who know how long it would be again. We been DQ'd since right at the start of the pandemic. Since June of 2021 tried moving it. Then in October it was moved to Warsaw. In late April we got the notification we got 11 days to get there. We missed it now have to wait till late June.

3 hours ago, StevenInAtlanta said:

 

@ovb

"Hi StevenInAtlanta! Thank you for sharing your case. Were you actually able to reschedule for a later date already? Without having to wait until after your April 12 originally scheduled interview? And what is your visa type if you don't mind sharing? Thank you."

After we got the interview invitation email, we used the link to go to the URL referenced a few times earlier in this post to complete her online profile.  Once the profile is completed, you then have access to the reschedule app.  Before then the link was dead and went nowhere. During the process of reschedule, it was indicated that it could only be done after you missed your initially scheduled interview, but I moved forward with the next button anyway and had no problem getting to the scheduling calendar, picking a date (first available was in August 31) and finishing the reschedule process.  After the 'done' button I was presented with a confirmation screen and also received a confirmation email, both of which contain the interview schedule date, confirmation and the all important barcode that is used when you appear.  So I don't know for sure if waiting till you miss your appointment is actually a firm requirement or if maybe the online system just doesn't support the requirement. It's possible the online system doesn't have any feedback loop/connection to the scheduling system or a missed appointment isn't tracked where the online system can actually track and enforce the requirement.  But it seems from our perspective that we were able to reschedule and we got the confirmation to prove it.  Don't know if at some point in the future we get another email indicating we did not follow the procedure....

 

@Mike20090622

"My fiancé said the visa center in Moscow need flights and hotels to apply for the Schengen visa, we can’t decide that before we can schedule the interview right? How you solved these issues?"

Yes this seems to be the case, you have to know when your interview is before you can book your flight(s) and your lodging.  We had the same restriction, so you have to wait for the interview date then book your travel and lodging.  It's not yet clear if you will get your passport with the immigrant entry visa stamp the same day, the next day and pickup at the embassy or if they will mail it to the MailBoxes Etc. location that you choose on the reschedule or if not rescheduling, when you go fill out your online profile using the Polish embassy website.

 

@ovb

"If anyone is struggling getting a medical appointment for an immigrant visa in Moscow in a timely fashion, turns our that can be sped up. My mom called the US authorized health center on March 14, and they told her that the earliest she can be scheduled is for April 14th. Today she visited them in person. It turned out they had plenty of cancellations, and they took her right in. Additionally they do have a waitlist, and if someone doesn't show up they can being you in with one hour notice."

 

This does seem to be true.  My wife got the same information and if you call they can actually put you on a cancelation wait list.  She got on that list and just the next day she got a call there was a cancelation and that she could appear the next morning for her medical.  So apparently there are frequent cancelations and getting in for your medical in the short 30 day period before your interview is not in reality a big issue right now.

 

 

How are still trying to figure out all this as my wife plans to apply for the Visa her in the US and her son in Russia to avoid time delays. You should take a look at my post and all the ####### we have to deal with. Howe did you deal with health pass and health insurance? I thought Russians have it free?

 

3 hours ago, StevenInAtlanta said:

@Phoenix8489

 

• The fact that as a Russian citizen she can not get a Polish visitors visa has nothing to do with sanctions, but combine that with airline sanctions and the requirement to get a tourist visa through another country, the requirement to then go and spend some time in the other country then fly through Istanbul makes for a long, expensive trip.

 

 

That is the number 1 reason why it was stupid to be put in Poland . There had to be better options. Last year around August we had out senators aid contact a bunch of embassies. All did not require a visa to go to or was pretty close to Russia.

Only 2 of them said check back later when we clear the backlog. Check back later and they said no.

Been busy and lazy finally getting back to responding to this.

So we missed the date and had to wait 24 hours before we could reschedule. Checked no dates then next days the was on date for late March. We had to verify something first then the date was gone. 4 days later there was bunch of dates for May and June. We pick mid June but then my wife changed it to late June. Kids still have school up to late June. He will be graduating but his testing take place most of June.

No we are trying to solve the schengen visa. We are think my wife get here here in the US and then her sons in Russia. The only problem is how is he going to prove anything. He is traveling with his mom but she wont be there when he goes in to get it. Since he is a minor would need consent from both parents unless he is traveling with one of them. Like I said he is going with his mom but wont be there applying at the same time and in different locations. There is also financial records but he is under 18 living with a parent he does not have any of this.

Unfortunately my wife can not go to any country until mid June and he sons testing ending mid June. Takes 15 days to get the visa so they would not have enough time to get them before the interview if they did it all in Russia.

Any suggestions?