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@PGA@TBoneTX Thank you guys! I will do that.

Hey guys! I'm looking for a little advice and encouragement. We received the pre-interview document checklist from the Yerevan embassy. And there's a few things that have me worried. First, the letter says: "IMPORTANT REMINDER: If you do not follow these instructions, your visa appointment will be canceled." 😰 ---- "Military book: Missing. Upload the full copy of your military book and its English translation (if applicable)." We already uploaded the military book and translation and it was approved by NVC. Should I just reupload it? It was in 2 parts because of the file size (part 1 plus part 1 translation and then, part 2 and part 2 translation). Should I upload it a different way? ---- "Tax Transcripts: Upload your petitioner's and joint sponsor's (if applicable) tax transcripts from the most recent tax year." I had a problem with the IRS this week. They couldn't process my return, because they needed to verify my identity. I was able to verify my identity, but they told me it could take 9-weeks to process my return. It's possible I won't have my transcripts by the time of the interview. What do you guys advise I do in this situation? And how expeditiously do you think they want these documents considering they are saying the appointment will be canceled? Thank you guys!

I (the petitioner) did all of the paperwork for NVC. I had it all organized on my computer so it was the best choice. So when I uploaded the financial documents, I logged in as the "petitioner". When I uploaded the civil documents, I logged in as the "applicant". And we sat down together to do the DS-260, and we logged in as the applicant for that. I think I logged in as the petitioner to pay the fees. Honestly it didn't seem like it mattered that much, but we were DQ'ed in any case.

I submitted unsolicited evidence a couple times and we were approved on time, along with other applicants around our priority date! Don't worry, it won't effect your progress.

The most reliable way this can be done currently is for your wife to live temporarily out of Russia when you file the i-130 petition. If your wife's physical address, when you file the petition, is in a different country, then they will send the petition to that embassy. Recommended countries are FSU countries, such as Kazakhstan, Armenia, Georgia, perhaps Serbia. Only countries that can handle Russian documents. This is how we accidentally ended up in Armenia. We didn't plan for it, we just got lucky it worked out that way, all we had for proof of living in Armenia was our apartment lease. However, I've seen in some Russian language visa groups, that some notaries try to set this up for clients to avoid the Warsaw interview. I'm not sure how they do it exactly. I will say if you haven't done your petition yet, the situation could still change until you're actually at the interview stage. As of now, they're still issuing Schengen visas to Russians. Maybe it will be easier to transfer to a different embassy in the future, or maybe they'll be more strict. Maybe the Moscow embassy will reopen. No one knows.

I'm sorry what you're going through OP. You have good advice; though it's hard for those in love to hear it. But without a doubt everyone's expectations should be nailed down early in any relationship. Especially when your spouse is from a vastly different culture. And if possible, spend a significant amount of time living together, experiencing health, life, work, financial challenges in person. I've been living in Russia for almost a year now with my husband (and we lived together a year+ in other countries). And adjusting is super hard, all new family and friends. No one speaks English. Food, holidays, lifestyle is all totally different. I have no means of working here or even accessing my own earned income. It's given me a lot of perspective about how hard it's gonna be for my husband to adjust to the US (but also how amazing of a husband he is). You lose a bit of yourself living outside of your own culture. And it takes time to bridge that cultural gap together.

That's good to know, thank you!

I think you guys will be okay without showing proof of co-mingling. My husband and I have been living abroad together for the past two years, and we haven't co-mingled our finances at all. It’ll just be easier to open joint accounts and take care of all that once we’re in the U.S. All our leases were in his name only too. So I didn't really even have "proof" we were living together. Our I-130 was approved with no RFEs. It's good proof, but there's married couples in the US who don't co-mingle finances because it's also a personal choice.

I scanned all of our documents on iPhone with the Scanner Pro app (which I highly recommend and it's free). Everything accepted, no RFEs. You can also import photos into the app to convert to pdf, which I did for photos of some documents my dad sent me.

You maybe need to get your lawyer to request transfers again, and get details from them so you're not in the dark: where they requested and what the actual response was. Many people in the forums here hit brick walls trying to transfer their cases to other embassies without a good reason (Schengen visa denial, Residency permission being good reasons for a transfer). You can also try requesting the transfers yourself. From what I understand, you just need to email the specific US embassy with your case information, and why you want the transfer. They're still issuing Schengen visas to Russians (Hungary, Spain and France are the best bets from what I've seen lately). Many people have successfully had their interviews in Poland after receiving visas from one of these countries. Since your fiance is in Moscow, it should be more convenient for them to get the Schengen visa, given all of the embassies are there. Good luck, and I hope you keep everyone updated.

@SnowColdIce I'm sure the I-864EZ is enough if you qualify and provide your W-2s and 2024 1040. I didn't qualify for the EZ form because I'm self employed and get multiple 1099s. I also gave them the previous 3 years transcripts, and had to send 6 months of bank statements. I think they like to see your earnings consistency too, if you qualified also for the past 3 years then it can't hurt to include those transcripts too! Pirozhok did K1, they don't need to fill out I-864.

1-4 months isn't too bad. It's probably considered pretty fast when compared to other embassies. Feel free to PM me and I can send you the links to the telegram groups. It wasn't random, just unexpected. We were living temporarily in Yerevan when we sent in the I-130. I thought they would switch us to Warsaw after we completed the DS-260 with updated addresses. I even messaged them about it, that my husband wasn't in Yerevan anymore and didn't have residency. But they told us they weren't going to switch us. I don't think any of the embassies require COVID vaccines anymore. At least that's the news from the state department this month.

Our interview hasn't been scheduled yet. Our timeline won't be helpful because NVC put is in Yerevan instead of Warsaw. But from telegram groups, I've seen the estimate is 1-4 months for Warsaw from DQ to interview letter. Also here is the link for Schengen visa information from the Hungarian embassy in Moscow - https://moscow.mfa.gov.hu/rus/page/poluchenie-viz It says in the extra information that they want a maximum 1 page description of the places/events you plan to visit.

I definitely recommend talking to a visa agency in Russia, just for information purposes at least when the time comes. Obviously they are providing a service and trying to sell you that service, but they know the trends and try to maximize success. And you can be up front with them about why you need the visa. They even told us to avoid booking with any Polish airlines, because they might refuse Russians or give them a hard time. Also here's a few helpful links https://schengen.news/eu-countries-granted-25-more-schengen-visas-to-russian-citizens-in-2024/ https://www.schengenvisainfo.com/statistics/russia/ Everything is fine, we are just waiting for our interview letter now.

No they're not impossible to get. Several countries are still issuing Schengen visas to Russians, like France, Spain, Italy, Greece, Hungary. Your purpose should be some type of vacation or visit to the country for which you're applying for the visa. Technically this is considered "visa shopping," but it's not uncommon, and many tour agencies in Russia facilitate this to allow Russians to visit other EU countries besides the ones mentioned.

We emailed the Hungarian embassy in Russia. They told us they accept visa applications through VFS global and when we checked, they had appointments in a week, so they look to be the best bet. They also seem to issue visas the quickest (2-3 weeks). For first-time Schengen visa applicants, we were advised to request 15 days, as it's considered a realistic vacation timeframe and improves the chances of approval. However, if your wife has had multiple Schengen visas, you might be in luck to just apply now and you'll get a 6 month visa like Pirozhok did. Our plan was -- wait until the interview letter, then immediately "plan our Hungarian vacation" and schedule the visa appointment in Moscow, and also schedule the medical examination for the day before the visa appointment (so that we could finish that and then just surrender my husband's passport to the Hungarian embassy without worrying about getting the medical exam in time as well). @SpaceCat From what I understand, they only let you reschedule after you miss the interview, that's all I've seen anecdotally. However, we have had a change in our plans because NVC put us in Yerevan, Armenia instead of Warsaw... and I thought it was going to update after DQ, but they've kept us in Yerevan. I wish you luck, and let us know how it goes.

Congratulations! Safe travels back home!

We're also DQ'ed. March 18th! It took 8 days for our DQ after document submission. @Scalpel For us it took 5 days, February 26th approval, and welcome letter came on March 3rd.

There's a development on this thought. Russia and Belarus were included in the draft list for some visa restrictions or bans. I guess we'll have to wait and see what happens with it. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/14/us/politics/trump-travel-ban.html

Thank you so much again Pirozhok! We're going to give it a shot I think!

Hi Lemon, thanks for replying. And how long did it take for NVC to send your application to Poland? We're at NVC now, and I'm just trying to get an idea of how long we are going to have to wait.

Thanks so much Pirozhok. We are also thinking Hungary might be the only option because appointments are more readily available. Did you provide her with a letter of sponsorship? Did she have to show some type of certificate of employment? My husband works remotely and can't show a Russian employment certificate, but he does have land in his name in Russia which I think could be sufficient.

It's been a bit quiet on this topic lately, and recent timelines aren't helpful since there aren't many of them in Warsaw within the last year. We found out today, that it's nearly impossible to get a Schengen visa in the short time span from NVC informing us of our interview date, and the actual interview date (usually about a month and a half). We spoke to a visa center today who said the absolute fastest it could take is about a month and three weeks to get the visa in hand to Spain (France is super backed up, the next appointment time at the consulate is early May, Hungary is super strict with their requirements, require the trip to be fully paid, and Italy takes 2-3 months). This also leaves almost no time for the medical exam. Another thing, my husband has never had a Schengen visa, so maximum he could probably get is a 30 day visa being a first time applier. This gives us a potential window of 30 days to just guess when his interview will be, try to get the visa for that time frame and hope for the best? What other options could there be. 🫠 I would be so thankful to hear anyone else's stories and timelines, especially recent ones.

From what I understand, it takes maximum a month to get the visa after the visa appointment. Hey lemon pie, do you mind me asking, how long after NVC did it take to find out when your Warsaw interview was?

We had the same problem. Make sure you have all your information prepared in a separate document so you can quickly input everything before being timed out. Or fudge it a little bit so you can save the page, and then go back and add or edit anything missing. Using a VPN also helped because the whole website would block us out. But switching locations with the VPN would let us get back in.