Moscow K-1 Visa processing times

[N0mad 16]

We just received our K-1 NOA2, we know the next steps based on the forums, but are a bit confused about possible gotchas with Moscow Embassy that we heard about from others. It is possible we were misinformed or misunderstood something, so I wanted to clarify:

• I've heard that processing times have gotten much longer recently, and many people choose to fly to Poland or Ukraine to get Visas (this was from a person obtaining a B-1 and may not be applicable to K-1)
• On several forums, including this one, I see threads about people moving their K-1 interviews to other embassies (https://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/663101-moving-interview-to-another-embassy/)
• Skimming the Russian section of this forum now, I don't see much mention of this problem anymore

 

So are processing times still an issue in Moscow embassy or has the situation gotten better? How feasible is it to do the interview in Moscow without transferring the case? What's the expected wait time? Is transferring the case to another Embassy like Ukraine worth it or would it just waste more time?

[DaveAndAnastasia 2,093]

With the disclaimer that I haven't been paying as close attention to this since Anastasia's visa was issued back in March... it seems like they've mostly resolved the backlogs with immigrant visa processing in Moscow in 2019 (they were pretty bad in 2018, so we had been worried). At least, I haven't heard of extended periods without any K-1 interviews, or read comments from new people complaining about interview availability in the nine months or so.

 

B-1/B-2s are another matter entirely; the backlog is very long in Moscow for them right now (officially waiting time is 300 days the last time I checked) though for non-immigrant/immigrant intent visas at least Yekaterinburg and Vladivostok work.