US Embassy in Moscow - Still Closed

[Maria HH 4]

Hello everyone 

[Maria HH 4]

Just wanted to share our story which sounds more like a thriller now .We have been waiting for our visa for 1.5 years now .One month ago we applied for an expedite request at NVC and got approved .My God we were the happiest couple in the world .According to rules ,the embassy should process the documents and arrange an interview within 4 weeks after that .HOWEVER ,one week later ,I decided to check my visa status which showed REFUSED .Our case might be under administrative processing or smth else .For those who don’t know ,Administrative Processing is a very mysterious thing .No one knows what is it that the embassy is checking and it can take from two weeks to 5 years !.According to our lawyers (we have 4 of them now -another sad story ),the embassy had no right to put a case under AP without an interview.From what I ve read,US embassy in Russia is notorious for putting ppl under AP without an interview.So,my fiancé contacted his congressmen .Two congressmen reached back to him ,saying they would help .They did confirm that what embassy is doing is wrong  since -first -they ignored our expedition/secondly -they never informed us about what  is going on and why our case was refused or put under AP without contacting us or any of our lawyers .So we are filing two congressional inquires .we are also working on our law suit So far, it cost us 15 000 dollars and we are under enormous amount of stress .I will keep you updated about how things are going if that is useful .

[Chauncey 138]

3 hours ago, Maria HH said:

Just wanted to share our story which sounds more like a thriller now .We have been waiting for our visa for 1.5 years now .One month ago we applied for an expedite request at NVC and got approved .My God we were the happiest couple in the world .According to rules ,the embassy should process the documents and arrange an interview within 4 weeks after that .HOWEVER ,one week later ,I decided to check my visa status which showed REFUSED .Our case might be under administrative processing or smth else .For those who don’t know ,Administrative Processing is a very mysterious thing .No one knows what is it that the embassy is checking and it can take from two weeks to 5 years !.According to our lawyers (we have 4 of them now -another sad story ),the embassy had no right to put a case under AP without an interview.From what I ve read,US embassy in Russia is notorious for putting ppl under AP without an interview.So,my fiancé contacted his congressmen .Two congressmen reached back to him ,saying they would help .They did confirm that what embassy is doing is wrong  since -first -they ignored our expedition/secondly -they never informed us about what  is going on and why our case was refused or put under AP without contacting us or any of our lawyers .So we are filing two congressional inquires .we are also working on our law suit So far, it cost us 15 000 dollars and we are under enormous amount of stress .I will keep you updated about how things are going if that is useful .

I'm so sorry this happened. Yes, several people have been approved for expedites but the embassy is not processing those either at the moment, unless you have a medical emergency. 

Have you tried transferring your case to Poland? Many ir1/cr1 are having success doing that

[Strawberrymermaid 346]

4 hours ago, Maria HH said:

Just wanted to share our story which sounds more like a thriller now .We have been waiting for our visa for 1.5 years now .One month ago we applied for an expedite request at NVC and got approved .My God we were the happiest couple in the world .According to rules ,the embassy should process the documents and arrange an interview within 4 weeks after that .HOWEVER ,one week later ,I decided to check my visa status which showed REFUSED .Our case might be under administrative processing or smth else .For those who don’t know ,Administrative Processing is a very mysterious thing .No one knows what is it that the embassy is checking and it can take from two weeks to 5 years !.According to our lawyers (we have 4 of them now -another sad story ),the embassy had no right to put a case under AP without an interview.From what I ve read,US embassy in Russia is notorious for putting ppl under AP without an interview.So,my fiancé contacted his congressmen .Two congressmen reached back to him ,saying they would help .They did confirm that what embassy is doing is wrong  since -first -they ignored our expedition/secondly -they never informed us about what  is going on and why our case was refused or put under AP without contacting us or any of our lawyers .So we are filing two congressional inquires .we are also working on our law suit So far, it cost us 15 000 dollars and we are under enormous amount of stress .I will keep you updated about how things are going if that is useful .

Although alarming I think this status of refused before interview is common and does not mean it is actually refused or even really in AP. The embassy approves expedites but then says they don't have the resources to do the interviews (why even approve them in the first place?) and then puts this status up. Like @Chauncey said, IR1/CR1s are having success transferring to Poland but you have to get a Schengen visa to get there on your own.

[Karma-dot 0]

4 hours ago, Maria HH said:

Just wanted to share our story which sounds more like a thriller now .We have been waiting for our visa for 1.5 years now .One month ago we applied for an expedite request at NVC and got approved .My God we were the happiest couple in the world .According to rules ,the embassy should process the documents and arrange an interview within 4 weeks after that .HOWEVER ,one week later ,I decided to check my visa status which showed REFUSED .Our case might be under administrative processing or smth else .For those who don’t know ,Administrative Processing is a very mysterious thing .No one knows what is it that the embassy is checking and it can take from two weeks to 5 years !.According to our lawyers (we have 4 of them now -another sad story ),the embassy had no right to put a case under AP without an interview.From what I ve read,US embassy in Russia is notorious for putting ppl under AP without an interview.So,my fiancé contacted his congressmen .Two congressmen reached back to him ,saying they would help .They did confirm that what embassy is doing is wrong  since -first -they ignored our expedition/secondly -they never informed us about what  is going on and why our case was refused or put under AP without contacting us or any of our lawyers .So we are filing two congressional inquires .we are also working on our law suit So far, it cost us 15 000 dollars and we are under enormous amount of stress .I will keep you updated about how things are going if that is useful .

Visa status which shows "refused" is a normal status in our days. The Embassy created this status long ago and it has nothing in common with AP after an interview. You shouldn't bother your senators or your lawyers about such empty things.

[Maria HH 4]

38 minutes ago, Strawberrymermaid said:

Although alarming I think this status of refused before interview is common and does not mean it is actually refused or even really in AP. The embassy approves expedites but then says they don't have the resources to do the interviews (why even approve them in the first place?) and then puts this status up. Like @Chauncey said, IR1/CR1s are having success transferring to Poland but you have to get a Schengen visa to get there on your own.

My fiancé works in Nashville btw ,what a coincidence.He is from Knoxville TN 

[Maria HH 4]

2 minutes ago, Karma-dot said:

Visa status which shows "refused" is a normal status in our days. The Embassy created this status long ago and it has nothing in common with AP after an interview. You shouldn't bother your senators or your lawyers about such empty things.

Well we have expedite request which  has been  approved and completely ignored by the Embassy ,which btw has enough staff to process student F visas but not K1 

I am sorry but  I d rather listen to Congressmen who say it s wrong than follow your advice .

if you are fine with waiting for 5more years just ignore me 

 

[millefleur 5,047]

1 hour ago, Maria HH said:

Well we have expedite request which  has been  approved and completely ignored by the Embassy ,which btw has enough staff to process student F visas but not K1 

I can shed some light: a student visa is not an immigrant visa, the process is completely different. Non-immigrant visa officers have mediocre Russian language skills and are not fluent. Immigrant visa officers must be fluent in Russian. They are different staff. K-1's interview in the immigrant visa wing, which is on the second floor. It seems for whatever reason the Embassy is struggling to get the staff for immigrant visas (which K-1's fall under in terms of which staff is interviewing them.)

Edited April 7, 2021 by millefleur

[Vero_nica 15]

11 minutes ago, millefleur said:

 It seems for whatever reason the Embassy is struggling to get the staff for immigrant visas (which K-1's fall under in terms of which staff is interviewing them.)

Interesting...It explains why they don't invite wifes (Cr1/Ir1) for the interviews as well.

Edited April 7, 2021 by Vero_nica

[Maria HH 4]

9 minutes ago, millefleur said:

I can shed some light: a student visa is not an immigrant visa, the process is completely different. Non-immigrant visa officers have mediocre Russian language skills and are not fluent. Immigrant visa officers must be fluent in Russian. They are different staff. K-1's interview in the immigrant visa wing, which is on the second floor. It seems for whatever reason the Embassy is struggling to get the staff for immigrant visas (which K-1's fall under in terms of which staff is interviewing them.)

I would assume most women who marry us citizens should speak English. 

The embassy might hire an enterpreter at the end of the day . If there is a will there is a way. There are millions of reasons why they can't make it. 

[millefleur 5,047]

39 minutes ago, Maria HH said:

I would assume most women who marry us citizens should speak English. 

The embassy might hire an enterpreter at the end of the day . If there is a will there is a way. There are millions of reasons why they can't make it. 

Immigrant visa officers interview more than just spouses and fiancees, they interview also elderly parents for example coming over on the IR-5 visa, who may not speak English. Hence the requirement. I assume they also have higher security clearance and more training than non-immigrant officers. Also to why they don't allow interpreters, I assume it's also a security issue.

Edited April 7, 2021 by millefleur

[Caboose29 173]

6 minutes ago, millefleur said:

Immigrant visa officers interview more than just spouses and fiancees, they interview also elderly parents for example coming over on the IR-5 visa, who may not speak English. Hence the requirement. I assume they also have higher security clearance and more training than non-immigrant officers. Also to why they don't allow interpreters, I assume it's also a security issue.

See now if Rebecca would say something to that effect on Twitter, I think it would go a long way to fostering easier waiting. 

[millefleur 5,047]

1 minute ago, Caboose29 said:

See now if Rebecca would say something to that effect on Twitter, I think it would go a long way to fostering easier waiting. 

I think they might be instructed to be as secretive as possible? Or maybe the person running the Twitter account just doesn't know. I still don't know why they can't get the staff though...not sure if Russia is also being weird about issuing visas given they still have pretty highish Covid rates.

[Chauncey 138]

Here's a link to the K1 Moscow embassy litigation if anyone on here would like to sign up. It's for anyone with an approved I-129F 

https://www.visalaw.com/k-1-moscow-mandamus-case-onboarding-information/

[EmliS 32]

I can see that there is a lot of discussion around K1 visas, and wondered if their priority is higher than CR1/IR visas? (those who are already married to the US citizen). Could someone clarify for me? Its just I'm not seeing alot of info for this visa category (CR1/IR). Of course, I hope that everyone gets their interviews scheduled as soon as possible, however! Thanks again.