Olvaranim

As it is usually stated on the website of almost every embassy and still russian cases have being transferred to different countries. It's always worth asking if needed 🤷 Personally I don't see a point in transferring from Poland with a valid Schengen visa, as it's a designated embassy, we'll aware of russian documents.

Personally I don't remember any case in Hungary, but might be an option. Usually couples try to transfer their case to a visa free country (preferably with Russian-speaking officers). As for other countries in Schengen area, I remember the spouse visa cases of non-residents that were transferred to Vienna and Bucharest.

Marriage, Divorce or birth certificates from Russia have no expiration date. The document is valid as long as the fact (it is issued for) stands, and you can apply for a replacement any time if needed. Also there's no expiration date for the translations, don't forget about those. Police clearance certificates from Russia and other countries, your mom resided for 6+ months after her 16th birthdays, are valid for a year for the Embassy in Kazakhstan (even for 2 years for the Embassy in Warsaw). Also your mom needs to upload your original birth certificate with a translation to NVC and bring it to her interview later.

About a dozen of Russian citizens (that I know of) attend their interviews in Warsaw on a monthly basis with zero issues on entering Poland. At least 5 fiancées had their interviews on January 2, 3 and 4. Mine interview (CR1/IR1) is also scheduled in Warsaw. The keys for russian citizens are: 1) apply for a tourist Schengen visa with a visa center of loyal countries: Italy, France, Spain or Hungary (in Russia). Act like a tourist don't mention Poland on your application. 2) enter Schengen area by flying in the country that issued you a visa (best option for both short-term and long-term visas, but critical to short-term visas nowadays). Again act like a tourist, you're there for Colosseum or Champs-Élysées. 3) enter Poland by air or by land (train or car) from that European country, even the same day. If by air, buy a separate ticket from that European country to Poland. For example, if you book a ticket Moscow - Istanbul - Rome and a separate ticket Rome - Warsaw, then you enter Schengen area in Italy (go through border control (visa check)), pick up your luggage, check-in, drop off your luggage again and then head to a assigned gate without any additional border control, as there are no administrative borders within Schengen area. So the citizens of Russia are allowed to enter Poland only from other Schengen country (not through the external border of Schengen zone). As for interview time frames for CR1/IR1 in Warsaw, NVC usually sends an interview letter in 35-45 days after DQ. An interview date is in 85 days after DQ on average.

Moscow medical is in the middle of moving to a different address, and they chose the holidays as the least busiest season to effectively do that. They are going to announce their new address right after the holidays, but you can book the appointment via the phone for the 2nd half of January.

If it expires, just prepare and sign a fresh letter of intent to marry and send it to your fiancée to bring to the interview. It's quite common and not an issue anymore due to Covid.

I just double checked, there are two K1 cases that US Embassy in Bangkok agreed on taking after the emails from US Senators, one was transferred from Warsaw at the beginning of November, another one 6 days ago. Both applicants stay in Russia without a residency in Thailand. Maybe it's worth trying again?

No, not for the interview. I mean the application for a regular tourist (visitor) visa, just without false touristic intentions. And that's a theory for now, as I hope the applicants would actually pursue with their cases in Frankfurt and apply for the German Shengen visa. For example, for the citizens of Belarus one of the official purposes of visiting Poland and applying for a visa is attending the US Embassy specifically.

Personally, I think that Germany is a better option in this scenario, because the purpose on this visa would not be the tourism, but a humanitarian reason. When it comes to tourist visas, Germany is definitely not the first choice. By far. And Poland doesn't issue visas for Russian citizens at all. Thankfully I have a valid Shengen visa, аnd I wouldn’t want to lie to one consulate for the sake of being able to get to another.

I'm positive about that. The citizens of Russia have to translate all their documents in Russian for each and every Embassy by default, Warsaw and Kazakhstan included. It's also worth mentioning that recently two separate immigrant cases (IR2 and CR1) without any ties to Ukraine (by birth, physical adress or Crimea residency) got assigned to the Embassy in Frankfurt. A test maybe? At least Germany issues Shengen visas to Russian citizens, no lies needed when applying for it, and it's easier to get there with a stopover in just one country, not two. I would love to have my case transferred there. Well, that's just a wishful thinking.

At first the applicant received the usual auto answer from the Embassy stating that they are tiny/busy/etc and would consider transferring a case, only if an applicant was in Mongolia physically. So the persistent applicant described all personal issues with Shengen visa (to ties, no stable job, no travel history) and mentioned all other US Embassies that ignored or refused to take her case (quite a list, I'd say) and received the Embassy's consent with the next letter! From what I know this information wasn't posted here on VJ. You see, the vast majority of the beneficiaries from Russia are less comfortable posting or even reading smth on the international forum and tend to stick to russian-speaking groups digging for information, especially these days. As for their English-speaking petitioners, they usually hire the lawyers even for straightforward cases and sometimes trust them blindly even after getting some contradictory info. For instance, that the citizens of Russia are not allowed to enter Poland by any means or that the couple should wait for the Embassy in Moscow to resume its operations (my personal favorite). So back to topic, the beggars can't be choosers. It's wise to email all accessible embassies.

The reason I mentioned Mongolia specifically is that the Embassy there has actually agreed on taking one of cases of Russian citizens recently. However that applicant chose another Embassy, so no further information. But agree that a K1 applicant from Russia has more chances in Latin America even, considering the Israel doesn't accept any new cases for now.

As there are no issues with your English obviously, try Mongolia, Thailand (recently accepted a few cases without any visa or residency, but you would need a "not married certificate" from ZAGS and a letter from a Senator), Nicaragua, Dominican republic. It took about 5 months to receive an interview letter in Mexico, but that fiancée was a resident.

No further issues after rescheduling and no additional interview letters. But you can always print your new appointment confirmation from the ustraveldocs portal

Well, that immediate rescheduling definitely works for Warsaw. Tested by russian-speaking community at least for CR1/IR1 and IR5 visas recently mostly due to Shengen issues of the applicants. I've rescheduled mine for personal reasons the day after the interview letter.

Once you receive your approval from USCIS (NOA2), the next step is NVC, and it takes about 1-2 months now to receive a new case number (starting with WRW for Warsaw). Then it takes another 4-5 weeks for the Consulate to prepare the case for the interview and send the instructions. In a nutshell it's OK to schedule the K1 interview in Warsaw with an estimation of 3 months waiting period after receiving NOA2

What you're saying is applicable for immigrant visas in Warsaw. You should wait for the interview date to be provided by the Consulate, than you can reschedule it via portal on ustraveldocs, and you can do it immediately upon receiving the date. The only limitation is that the second date you choose shouldn't be earlier than the original one. But when it comes to K1 visas, the applicants should schedule the date by themselves

Same, but had to reschedule it for summer due to unfinished business in Russia. Good luck with your upcoming interview!

That's great! I'm coming from the usual requirement and experience of dosens citizens who applied for this visa to get to Poland. Better safe than sorry. My visa was issued by France without tickets even, with a detailed plan for that trip.

The German visa is extremely hard to get nowadays, especially without long Shengen visas in the past. It's always better to stick to the countries who issue visas regularly for russians like France, Italy and Spain, keeping in mind some special requirements and the season. For example, Greece is definitely not the best choice for winter. Hungary is an option if you need a visa ASAP (for instance I got only 46 days between my IL and interview date), but the Consulate requires all tickets and hotels fully prepaid, preferably non-refundable.

As IWander posted, K1 applicants need to bring a police clearance certificate directly to the Embassy, not to provide it to NVC. Russian system is centralized, so your fiancée needs a single one PCC from Russia, the one she can apply for online and then get it in hard copy from certain offices. The PCC for her son is also needed if he is 16+ (or even close to 16). If your fiancée has some questions and doesn't have an access to a russian-speaking telegram group yet, PM me. There's an English-speaking group for husbands/fiances too.

The K1/K2 applicants receive a sealed envelope in Moscow. The results of CR1/2 (IR1/2) applicants are submitted by the doctor electronically. Sometimes the clinic is a bit slow or just forget to send the results (that actually has happened a month ago), so it's wise to keep track of things and ask for a confirmation, once they submit everything.

There are two locations in Poland (Warsaw and Krakow), Minsk and Moscow. No locations in Ukraine on that list as the designated embassy for Ukrainians is in Frankfurt, Germany.

It's official. Any applicant with a scheduled interview in Poland can ungergo the medical examination in Moscow.