No available appointments at the US Embassy in Moscow?

[Scott and Olya 1]

Ok, this is maddening. We waited through the NOA2 and paperwork was sent on to the NVC. From the NVC to the Embassy in Moscow. On Thursday, 6/6/13 we received and email inviting my fiance to pay the free and schedule her interview appointment.

She signed in to ustraveldocs.com and paid the fee. It took a day to register that she had paid it. Finally, she made it to the appointment screen and

"There are currently no available appointments."

shows over a greyed out three month calendar.

I have emailed ConsulMo@state.gov numerous times, which I will briefly mention:

Me: Please give my fiance an appointment.

Embassy: She has to do it herself.

Me: Thank you for your reply, but I feel that you did not understand my request. There are currently no appointments available. How can she schedule an appointment?

Embassy: If convenient dates are unavailable, please check back for additional dates at a later time. They should be available shortly.

Me: (After calling the National Visa Center in D.C. and speaking to the nicest woman who directed me to send this:) Can you please be more specific? We were invited to schedule an interview and have been waiting 4 days (now 6 days). When will interviews be made available to schedule?

And this is where we're at. Anybody have some insight for us?

[birdy11 0]

I know it's very similar at US consulates throughout Russia, especially in summer - you sometimes have to wait for an appointment for a long time. They only let you schedule one for the upcoming 3 months, so maybe towards the end of this month she will be able to schedule one once they make September appointments available for scheduling. It sucks so much! I would try calling the embassy in Moscow and hopefully speak to a person there, but reality is those appointments have to be scheduled way in advance. Can you maybe try to get an appointment at another embassy in another , "less busy" city in Russia? I think the fee could be transferred to that other location where you are able to get an appointment scheduled. Good Luck!!!

[Neonred 3,564]

Can you maybe try to get an appointment at another embassy in another , "less busy" city in Russia? I think the fee could be transferred to that other location where you are able to get an appointment scheduled. Good Luck!!!

K-1 interviews are only given in Moscow.

[Alex+Nastya 11]

Wow. That sucks... please keep us updated on what happens next!

[Scott and Olya 1]

The latest reply from the consulate:

"July 2013 dates will be available for rescheduling soon."

Hmmm. She still can't make an appointment.

[Alex+Nastya 11]

Congrats, guys!! Good luck on your interview!!!

Edited June 14, 2013 by Alex+Nastya

[Scott and Olya 1]

Consular Appointment Details

Date: Friday June 21, 2013 MOSCOW

Wow! I woke up this morning to great news - appointment dates opened up and Olga was able to schedule her interview for next Friday!! Signing in and checking ustraveldocs.gov every hour or so for a week finally paid off! It takes 3-5 days from the inteview to get your visa delivered to your door, and that means that she should be here with me BEFORE JULY!!!

WOOHOO! =)

One tip for those needing to schedule an interview: have your fiance share her login information with you so that you can sign in to ustraveldocs.com and check for an interview appointment too. I handled it when she was sleeping during my day. I checked it 1.5 hours before she got the date!

Edited June 14, 2013 by Scott and Olya

[Mike&Lena 3]

Just saw your Happy news...Congrats to you both!!!!!!

[Scott and Olya 1]

Congrats, guys!! Good luck on your interview!!!

Thanks! We're not worried, we met in high school when she was an exchange student. Good thing I kept those pictures! =)

Just saw your Happy news...Congrats to you both!!!!!!

Thank you! Hope you get your interview date soon!

[Mike&Tatiana 0]

Thanks for posting about this. We ran into the same problem. I called the Embassy and they e-mailed me that appointments wold soon be available and also a message in Cyrillic that I understood to mean that no appointments were available until October, and that I should check back in July. This is the message I received:

Your case has been updated, please log back into your account to view the details.

Date/Time Case Opened:

6/13/2013 8:03 AM

Description:

Origin:

Email

Case Reason:

Any other query

Public Response:

В ближайшее время будут открыты даты собеседования на июль 2013 г. Вы можете назначить ваше собеседование до 13 октября 2013 г.

Иммиграционный Отдел
Посольство США в Москве

We will keep logging on to the TravelDocs site in hopes that we can get an Interview soon.

[Jay and Olya 0]

Things were going very quickly until our approved K1 petition was sent to Moscow. I paid my app fee and registered for Olya and received the same awful sentence ... No appointments available. So I have to check every hour for one to open up in August, when I would like to go. I hope this is a temporary glitch and not because they really are booked up. My NOA1 was received in Calif office Feb 12 and approved May 29 - 3 1/2 months. It took NVC five weeks to send to Moscow. I had hoped we could simply schedule the interview on a Wed and do the medical test On a Monday. Does that sound reasonable or should Olya take a 12 hour train ride or two hour flight to Moscow ahead of the interview, especially if it might take a month or more to get scheduled?