Might Russa/USA Tensions Affect U.S. Visa Decisions? [split topic]

[Leo7777 243]

Putin continually says that the USA is an enemy of Russia and that most of the problems faced by Russian people are caused by USA.

Putin has the highest approval rating of any leader in the world by his citizens, indicating that Russians agree with his assessments and actions.

Opinion surveys in Russia repeatedly indicate that Russian citizens believe the USA is the number one enemy of Russia.

Does anyone think these factors are starting to have an impact on the decisions of USA immigration authorities, and will accelerate in the future?

[Amy_and_Victor 159]

Putin continually says that the USA is an enemy of Russia and that most of the problems faced by Russian people are caused by USA.

Putin has the highest approval rating of any leader in the world by his citizens, indicating that Russians agree with his assessments and actions.

Opinion surveys in Russia repeatedly indicate that Russian citizens believe the USA is the number one enemy of Russia.

Does anyone think these factors are starting to have an impact on the decisions of USA immigration authorities, and will accelerate in the future?

Everything is possible but we know nothing for sure. I can share that recently my wife (USC) was denied homestay visa to Russia and we don't know why. She had no violations, even minor ones, during past visits to Russia, no criminal records in the US, no obvious red flags I can see. She was approved for the same visa to Russia twice back in 2011 with no issues when conflict because US and Russia didn't start yet but now they don't let her go there. We were thinking about trying to apply for a tourist visa instead but if she just got denied homestay visa we don't think there is a good chance to get a tourist one.

- Victor from Russia

[Dashinka 24,499]

On one side I don't think so, but Victor made me think again. When we were going through the K1 it seemed there was always something going on when I was heading to Russia. On one trip I was connecting through Moscow at the same airport where Snowdon was staying. When my wife was scheduled for her interview, the Crimea/Ukraine thing had just started. In both cases, there were no issues. I am actually heading there this weekend using my three year visa I got last year, so hopefully there will be no issues, but I wonder how things will be next year when I will need to apply for a new visa.

[vbtwo 54]

On the US side, I don't think so unless relations with Russia get extremely bad, and even then I don't think it will affect decisions to issue visas, but might affect the embassy, where Russia will limit the amount of staff the US is allowed to have, thus affecting all services of the embassy (similar to how Belarus is).

[eekee 182]

Everything is possible but we know nothing for sure. I can share that recently my wife (USC) was denied homestay visa to Russia and we don't know why. She had no violations, even minor ones, during past visits to Russia, no criminal records in the US, no obvious red flags I can see. She was approved for the same visa to Russia twice back in 2011 with no issues when conflict because US and Russia didn't start yet but now they don't let her go there. We were thinking about trying to apply for a tourist visa instead but if she just got denied homestay visa we don't think there is a good chance to get a tourist one.

- Victor from Russia

My suggestion would be to try for a tourist visa and go through a different consulate using a visa service. There's no real reason to get a homestay visa anymore unless you want to turn it into permanent residency, since there is the three-year tourist visa now, and that may have been the issue. They've been deporting people who are living/working on the wrong visa, but AFAIK only in Kazan (their FMS guy must have an agenda), and I haven't heard of anyone having an issue getting a tourist or work visa. Edited August 29, 2016 by eekee