Waiting to Pick-up Visa in Moscow DHL Office: How Long a Wait?

[visaveteran1 33]

OK...the race is on! Things are getting serious now for my wife's son coming to the US..

He has finally gotten his immigrant visa interview in mid July. We were sweating it out because he turns 21 in early September.

He wants to stay with a friend in Moscow until his visa is ready to pick-up in the Moscow DHL office. Then he wants to continue on to the USA. This means we need to book a flight with a Moscow departure date when we can feel comfortable he will have his visa in hand. Yes...I know this is a gamble but he can stay in Moscow as long as he wants.

I'd like to hear how long he might have to wait until his visa is ready to be picked up at DHL? I'm thinking 3-4 days as an estimate.

Please give me your estimates and experiences waiting for your visas...especially for those who picked it up in Moscow.

Thanks!

Edited June 11, 2011 by visaveteran1

[Sergi9 110]

OK...the race is on! Things are getting serious now for my wife's son coming to the US..

He has finally gotten his immigrant visa interview in mid July. We were sweating it out because he turns 21 in early September.

He wants to stay with a friend in Moscow until his visa is ready to pick-up in the Moscow DHL office. Then he wants to continue on to the USA. This means we need to book a flight with a Moscow departure date when we can feel comfortable he will have his visa in hand. Yes...I know this is a gamble but he can stay in Moscow as long as he wants.

I'd like to hear how long he might have to wait until his visa is ready to be picked up at DHL? I'm thinking 3-4 days as an estimate.

Please give me your estimates and experiences waiting for your visas...especially for those who picked it up in Moscow.

Thanks!

We are working on that right now, since we are not in Moscow the Embassy is trying to minimize trips back and forth. They asked us to send some docs Via DHL today, then we have to wait for them to call us back for an appointment. Not sure how long after that and by what mechanism the VISA will be delivered. I would think based on other posts I see here that it is usually ready in less than two weeks. (assuming no AP)

The DHL part seems to be an issue with some folks. We are hoping we can just go to Moscow and it will be ready to pick it up the same day we get into Moscow.. but who knows? Not sure we feel confident enough to book a flight right now, if we did it would be 1st or business class in case it doesn't work out and we can change it without penalty.

Edited June 11, 2011 by Sergi9

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

OK...the race is on! Things are getting serious now for my wife's son coming to the US..

He has finally gotten his immigrant visa interview in mid July. We were sweating it out because he turns 21 in early September.

He wants to stay with a friend in Moscow until his visa is ready to pick-up in the Moscow DHL office. Then he wants to continue on to the USA. This means we need to book a flight with a Moscow departure date when we can feel comfortable he will have his visa in hand. Yes...I know this is a gamble but he can stay in Moscow as long as he wants.

I'd like to hear how long he might have to wait until his visa is ready to be picked up at DHL? I'm thinking 3-4 days as an estimate.

Please give me your estimates and experiences waiting for your visas...especially for those who picked it up in Moscow.

Thanks!

I am not guessing at when Moscow will deliver the visa, other people with Moscow experience can do that. Congratulations on your son getting the visa. I now you were worried about that when you filed. Glad it worked out for you.

[Neonred 3,564]

It's been a few years for us, but my wife's visa was ready in 3 days.

My step daughter has her immigrant visa interview in Moscow on July 25.

[Rob_Lesya 4]

I think your estimate of 3-4 days would probably be OK for the vast majority of cases, but there will always be exceptions.

There was a recent example on the forum of a CR-1 who "forgot" their DHL slip and were simply told to come back to the Embassy the next day to pick up their visa.

In our particular case we didn't pick up the visa in Moscow, but my wife had her CR-1 interview on June 7th and her DHL package was delivered to her in Chelyabinsk on the morning of the 10th... so it obviously had been sent out the next day after the interview.

Assuming that you're using one of the "usual" carriers out of Moscow (Aeroflot, Delta)...if he can stay with the friend in Moscow, I would suggest booking the flight for maybe 5-7 days after the interview.

[Milushka 22]

I had my interview for K1 on 3rd of June, was able to pick up on 9th. So that was 4 working days.

The only thing I had to go to the sorting center in Dinamo and pick up from there directly because it would come to their office on Tverskaya only on the next day. The next day I had a flight already. Gluck !

[visaveteran1 33]

I am not guessing at when Moscow will deliver the visa, other people with Moscow experience can do that. Congratulations on your son getting the visa. I now you were worried about that when you filed. Glad it worked out for you.

Thanks Gary! Yes, it was looking like a nail-biter for awhile.

[visaveteran1 33]

Does anyone know if you can reschedule booked flights with Aeroflot? I could call them but thought I'd go the lazy route first. I'm thinking that if we book a flight and if he is one of the unlucky few who end up waiting more than the 3-4 day period, we could reschedule his departure. There's probably a charge of $150-$200 but I can live with that.

Anyone know about this?

And thanks for all the replies about visa wait times.

[Rob_Lesya 4]

Does anyone know if you can reschedule booked flights with Aeroflot? I could call them but thought I'd go the lazy route first. I'm thinking that if we book a flight and if he is one of the unlucky few who end up waiting more than the 3-4 day period, we could reschedule his departure. There's probably a charge of $150-$200 but I can live with that.

Anyone know about this?

And thanks for all the replies about visa wait times.

This is the change policy for the cheapest fare class available----This assumes there is a seat available in the same fare class, otherwise you'll also be paying the difference in fare-----

Permitted for a fee of 50 EUR, except for traveling on the routes to America/Asia/Africa - a fee of 100 EUR will apply. In case of domestic journey a fee of 1000 RUB will apply in case of traveling within region A, 2000 RUB - between region A and region B, and within region B 3)