Moscow Interview

[myjourney229 30]

14 hours ago, JurisDoctor said:

So how long did the AP took? When did you get your visa and passport?

It took a week  

[JurisDoctor 2]

As I may presume all of you guys went through Moscow embassy. Reading the forum I can't grasp  any info on the few questions that would help me or people similarly situated to plan our interactions with embassy after the NVC. The case is currently "at NVC", hopefully being shipped on soon.

1. When did you start scheduling medical?

2. Did you translate vaccination papers from your fiancee PCP into English?

3. How long before appointment for interview you had medical?

4. How did you pay for interview, post office or bank, any delays?

5. How do you pay for medical?

6. Do you fill out medical appointment request in Russian or English?

7. How far in calendar were the available dates for interview, when they open calendar for you?

I know it's quite a few questions, but it will be helpful if you respond to them.

If you already went through the whole process you obtained some knowledge, and at some point you used this forum to learn the process. Let's share some knowledge so future filers can do the same.

Appreciate your attention and courtesies. Best regards!

[TBoneTX 45,604]

Did you read the Embassy Review/Embassy Information for Moscow?  Links atop any VJ page.

[JurisDoctor 2]

2 hours ago, TBoneTX said:

Did you read the Embassy Review/Embassy Information for Moscow?  Links atop any VJ page.

I did. The embassy information page is of help for some questions. However, for some questions it is confusing. Here is an example (see photos). One gets MOS case number as soon as the NVC assigns it, the "Embassy Information for Moscow" states that one can schedule the interview right after getting a number. If one schedules it that way, the appointment will be cancelled. In other part (photo is also attached) it says that interview can be scheduled after Administrative Processing. All other questions I asked are not answered on the "Information" page. 🤷

[DaveAndAnastasia 2,093]

11 hours ago, JurisDoctor said:

As I may presume all of you guys went through Moscow embassy. Reading the forum I can't grasp  any info on the few questions that would help me or people similarly situated to plan our interactions with embassy after the NVC. The case is currently "at NVC", hopefully being shipped on soon.

1. When did you start scheduling medical?

After getting an interview date.

 

11 hours ago, JurisDoctor said:

2. Did you translate vaccination papers from your fiancee PCP into English?

Not necessary; they'll be fine with documents in Russian, and your fiancee can use her copy of the DS3025 when she gets it to show vaccination records once she's got a doctor in the US.

 

11 hours ago, JurisDoctor said:

3. How long before appointment for interview you had medical?

Two business days is probably the minimum to have things ready in time for the interview (and what Anastasia did). You'll probably want to schedule it as close to the interview date as you can manage because

1) Your fiancee's visa expiration date is normally based on the medical date

2) If your fiancee does not live in Moscow, she'd probably prefer to only make one trip to Moscow for the medical and interview.

 

11 hours ago, JurisDoctor said:

4. How did you pay for interview, post office or bank, any delays?

At least early last year, it was possible to pay the "MRV fee" (which isn't technically for the interview; it's for visa processing) by credit card online. That's what I did.

 

11 hours ago, JurisDoctor said:

5. How do you pay for medical?

It wasn't possible to do that for the medical, so Anastasia had to pay that herself.

 

11 hours ago, JurisDoctor said:

6. Do you fill out medical appointment request in Russian or English?

Anastasia did this, so it was in Russian.

 

11 hours ago, JurisDoctor said:

7. How far in calendar were the available dates for interview, when they open calendar for you?

We had the (unusual at the time) experience of having interview dates being available immediately when the calendar opened up (on Jan 14th, 2019), and Anastasia scheduled her interview for Feb 14, though there were some earlier dates in February available. I'm not sure what things are like now; in late 2018/early 2019 it was occasionally possible for dates to come open on very short notice (sometimes even the next day), presumably due to cancellations, though I can't imagine it was practical to take those spots unless your fiancee lived in Moscow.

 

 

[JurisDoctor 2]

On 2/4/2020 at 7:39 PM, DaveAndAnastasia said:

After getting an interview date.

Can I start scheduling medical before I have an interview date? Technically we have Case number MOS2020... ? Or we need something else.

Another minor thing. When filling out the DS 160 form. it asks for Case #, is that a USCIS WAC... number or the MOS... number? Thank you for your time and attention.

[DaveAndAnastasia 2,093]

12 hours ago, JurisDoctor said:

Can I start scheduling medical before I have an interview date? Technically we have Case number MOS2020... ? Or we need something else.

I don't know if IOM allows you to schedule a medical without an interview date or not; I explained above why I wouldn't recommend doing it even if it's allowed.

12 hours ago, JurisDoctor said:

Another minor thing. When filling out the DS 160 form. it asks for Case #, is that a USCIS WAC... number or the MOS... number? Thank you for your time and attention.

Honestly, Anastasia filled out the DS-160 herself and didn't have any questions for me when she did it. But it's probably the MOS #.

[DaveAndAnastasia 2,093]

Actually, looks like I was wrong on which # based on some threads in the K1 forum today.

[JurisDoctor 2]

Dave, @DaveAndAnastasia , @GarrettB and others who went thru Moscow embassy:

So my case went from transit to "ready". Does that mean I can send ds160, pay visa fee, schedule medicals? I recall something re 2nd "ready" status. I am in slight panic now, because I do not know what to do. 😵

Some people say wait for packet 3, some say they never got packet 3. I am lost. The packet 3 as I once understood from @Greenbaum message is simply links to Moscow embassy website. So is there PACKET 3?? Thanks!

[DaveAndAnastasia 2,093]

21 minutes ago, JurisDoctor said:

Dave, @DaveAndAnastasia , @GarrettB and others who went thru Moscow embassy:

So my case went from transit to "ready". Does that mean I can send ds160, pay visa fee, schedule medicals? I recall something re 2nd "ready" status. I am in slight panic now, because I do not know what to do. 😵

We did pay the visa fee after it went to "ready" (and before Anastasia got anything from the Moscow embassy). We didn't get anything informative from the embassy for a while after that; it's not clear to us how much of that was due to holidays (our case hit 'ready' between Christmas and New Year's, and as you're probably well aware, lots of things in Russia are closed pretty much from shortly before New Year's until the 9th or so), the physical copy of the petition not being there yet (the 'DHL hack' didn't show anything being delivered in Moscow until Jan 9), or just processing.

 

Anastasia didn't try to schedule the medical before she had an interview date.

 

21 minutes ago, JurisDoctor said:

Some people say wait for packet 3, some say they never got packet 3. I am lost. The packet 3 as I once understood from @Greenbaum message is simply links to Moscow embassy website. So is there PACKET 3?? Thanks!

At Moscow, like almost all embassies/consulates these days, there is no physical 'packet 3'.

 

Anastasia did get an email with directions from the embassy (almost identical to what's on the embassy web site), and once she got that the calendar was open for her (and due to very good luck at the time, she was able to schedule her interview).

 

Normally, all communication from the embassy/consulate is going to go to the beneficiary.

[Greenbaum 12,259]

1 hour ago, JurisDoctor said:

Dave, @DaveAndAnastasia , @GarrettB and others who went thru Moscow embassy:

So my case went from transit to "ready". Does that mean I can send ds160, pay visa fee, schedule medicals? I recall something re 2nd "ready" status. I am in slight panic now, because I do not know what to do. 😵

Some people say wait for packet 3, some say they never got packet 3. I am lost. The packet 3 as I once understood from @Greenbaum message is simply links to Moscow embassy website. So is there PACKET 3?? Thanks!

Here is what I have for Russia.

 

Information needed for the interview

https://ru.usembassy.gov/visas/immigrant-visas/fiancee-visa/the-interview/

http://www.ustraveldocs.com/ru/index.html?firstTime=No
Information needed for the interview
http://www.ustraveldocs.com/ru/ru-iv-typek.asp
Russian Portal here on VJ
https://www.visajourney.com/consulates/index.php?ctry=Russia&cty=Moscow
Your sub-forum for questions specifically for Russia. This is where you need to go now.
https://www.visajourney.com/forums/forum/98-russia-ukraine-and-belarus/

 

Some but not many embassies have gotten away from the P3 and have posted their requirements/information on their website. Not all embassies have stopped producing P3's. I can name 30 or 35 that still use the P3 to communicate what is required. It's good to stay connected with the sub-forum for Russia as that is where you will get the most current information from others.

[JurisDoctor 2]

When I schedule interview on embassy site it asks me for "priority date" what is this date?? Date of intended travel or intended interview? There is ZERO explanation anywhere on their site as to what this date is?😞😞 @DaveAndAnastasia @GarrettB

[JurisDoctor 2]

On 2/13/2020 at 9:39 PM, JurisDoctor said:

When I schedule interview on embassy site it asks me for "priority date" what is this date?? Date of intended travel or intended interview? There is ZERO explanation anywhere on their site as to what this date is?😞😞 @DaveAndAnastasia @GarrettB

I will quote myself here. For future readers of this forum: The "priority date" in DS-160 form is your NOA-1 date.

 

 

[JurisDoctor 2]

People, how long was your wait for the schedule to open? How often did you check for the schedule?

[Peter1479 1]

My fiancee actually decided to hire someone to help with the final steps of the process leading to the interview, just to help relieve some of the stress and make sure she had everything in order.   She was able to schedule an interview the same day that she tried to do so.  She was given a list of about 3 different dates in February.  We were originally thinking March, but nothing was open during that time.  The person she hired told her that March is usually filled up with people getting student visas.  I'm not sure if that's true or not.  But, I did read that if for some reason there are no days available to you before your time runs out, it will be extended because if was not your fault there were no days available.   The person she hired also said the same thing.

 

After she got the interview date she later made a medical appointment the same week that we have the interview.  She was told that her medical exam will be in the morning, and that she will be able to pick up the results the next day in the afternoon.

 

I will be flying out to be with her early next week, as our interview is on Thursday.

 

I hope that is helpful in someway.

 

 

Edited February 20, 2020 by Peter1479