Moving CR-1/IR-1 to a third country

[Chauncey 138]

2 hours ago, Strawberrymermaid said:

Wow! Thanks for sharing. That is the first I have heard of a k1 maybe being able to be transferred. @Chauncey did you see this?

Thank you!

3 hours ago, CamGeniia said:

I contacted the US embassy in Almaty to ask about transferring our K1. I was told we would be placed behind citizens of Kazakhstan, and the wait could be long. Moldova is the only embassy that would accept our transfer, but the fiancée need to be present in country for 14 days before allowed into the embassy for interview. They also will not mail the visa to Russia if approved. 

So are you transferring your case to moldova?

[CamGeniia 37]

We did not transfer yet. My fiancé would need to make 3 seperate trips with one of them being for more than 2 weeks stay in Moldova. We were not comfortable with that. We were hopeful for Moscow to open soon until the news this week of more sanctions against Russia. We don’t know what to do at this point.

1 hour ago, Chauncey said:

Thank you!

So are you transferring your case to moldova?

 

[Chauncey 138]

14 minutes ago, CamGeniia said:

We did not transfer yet. My fiancé would need to make 3 seperate trips with one of them being for more than 2 weeks stay in Moldova. We were not comfortable with that. We were hopeful for Moscow to open soon until the news this week of more sanctions against Russia. We don’t know what to do at this point.

 

Why three separate trips?

[CamGeniia 37]

17 minutes ago, Chauncey said:

Why three separate trips?

First trip for medical exam, second for the interview (2-3 weeks stay in country), final trip to pick up visa as they will not mail to Russia.

[Wcalmt1 34]

1 hour ago, CamGeniia said:

We did not transfer yet. My fiancé would need to make 3 seperate trips with one of them being for more than 2 weeks stay in Moldova. We were not comfortable with that. We were hopeful for Moscow to open soon until the news this week of more sanctions against Russia. We don’t know what to do at this point.

 

I am also worried about the sanctions causing problems.  Thanks for the info about Almaty's Embassy.  with the logistics of 3 cases for us, CR1 for the wife Wife, 2 CR2s for daughters. I've been going crazy running the options and scenarios through my head.  And she stated she was not treated well at the Almaty embassy when we tried the K1/K2s.  I do check the "Active Covid Cases"  daily and they are dropping both in the US and Russia.  PRAYERS FOR EVERYONE IN THIS SHARED BATTLE!  

[millefleur 5,046]

7 hours ago, CamGeniia said:

I contacted the US embassy in Almaty to ask about transferring our K1. I was told we would be placed behind citizens of Kazakhstan, and the wait could be long. Moldova is the only embassy that would accept our transfer, but the fiancée need to be present in country for 14 days before allowed into the embassy for interview. They also will not mail the visa to Russia if approved. 

That sounds very promising indeed for people waiting for K-1's....so basically the applicant needs to be in Moldova for a minimum for 14 days, would presumably complete the medical exam there and would also have to get the visa mailed somewhere in Moldova?

[millefleur 5,046]

37 minutes ago, Wcalmt1 said:

I am also worried about the sanctions causing problems.  Thanks for the info about Almaty's Embassy.  with the logistics of 3 cases for us, CR1 for the wife Wife, 2 CR2s for daughters. I've been going crazy running the options and scenarios through my head.  And she stated she was not treated well at the Almaty embassy when we tried the K1/K2s.  I do check the "Active Covid Cases"  daily and they are dropping both in the US and Russia.  PRAYERS FOR EVERYONE IN THIS SHARED BATTLE!  

The problem with Russia/Moscow right now seems to be more political, the US side is claiming that the Russian side isn't issuing diplomatic visas for the staff to return. But this seems weird given that the official Russian sources say they are processing diplomatic visas. There's basically no real transparency as to what is really going on behind the scenes on either side. India currently has a higher case count than Russia but they started processing spousal and K visas as of February 1st according to ustraveldocs.

[millefleur 5,046]

**Moved from  IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Process & Procedures to RUB regional forum; topic is specific to issues with the Moscow Embassy**

[CamGeniia 37]

3 hours ago, millefleur said:

That sounds very promising indeed for people waiting for K-1's....so basically the applicant needs to be in Moldova for a minimum for 14 days, would presumably complete the medical exam there and would also have to get the visa mailed somewhere in Moldova?

Mailed in Moldova or go directly to the embassy for the visa once it’s approved. I was also told the Moldova embassy has very short wait times which is very encouraging. 

[Chauncey 138]

Looks like they are interviewing students now. So they obviously lied about not having the resources to interview. Hopefully this signals more to come 

[millefleur 5,046]

1 hour ago, Chauncey said:

Looks like they are interviewing students now. So they obviously lied about not having the resources to interview. Hopefully this signals more to come 

Not sure why students are considered more priority over family members. I don't know if student interviews are done in the same closed/private room as immigrant/K-1 interviews are done in. The visitor visa applicants, for example, interview downstairs at stand-only windows in an open room with other people with consular officers who tend to have busted/bad Russian, whereas the immigrant/K-1 visa interviews are done upstairs in private rooms with a consular office who speaks usually quite good Russian.

 

Basically, the staff who does K-1/spousal visa interviews is a more educated, specialized staff compared to those doing the non-immigrant visas. For students, I would assume they get interviewed by the non-immigrant staff.

Edited March 4, 2021 by millefleur

[Chauncey 138]

27 minutes ago, millefleur said:

Not sure why students are considered more priority over family members. I don't know if student interviews are done in the same closed/private room as immigrant/K-1 interviews are done in. The visitor visa applicants, for example, interview downstairs at stand-only windows in an open room with other people with consular officers who tend to have busted/bad Russian, whereas the immigrant/K-1 visa interviews are done upstairs in private rooms with a consular office who speaks usually quite good Russian.

 

Basically, the staff who does K-1/spousal visa interviews is a more educated, specialized staff compared to those doing the non-immigrant visas. For students, I would assume they get interviewed by the non-immigrant staff.

I see. I would think in these times they would try to at least train people to do them if they can't get the right folks a visa to do so. 

[TBoneTX 45,299]

16 hours ago, millefleur said:

There's basically no real transparency as to what is really going on behind the scenes on either side.

This might be worth calls to Congressmen's offices to see what they know or can unearth about the true situation.

[millefleur 5,046]

6 minutes ago, TBoneTX said:

This might be worth calls to Congressmen's offices to see what they know or can unearth about the true situation.

It's really not a bad idea. I know that contacting the congressmen's offices helped in our case with getting an N-400 interview scheduled here in the US. @Chauncey and others waiitng on K-1's (or even those waiting for spousal visas), have any of you tried contacting congressmen's offices about this?

Edited March 4, 2021 by millefleur

[Chauncey 138]

31 minutes ago, millefleur said:

It's really not a bad idea. I know that contacting the congressmen's offices helped in our case with getting an N-400 interview scheduled here in the US. @Chauncey and others waiitng on K-1's (or even those waiting for spousal visas), have any of you tried contacting congressmen's offices about this?

Some people have, and they provide the same answer as the embassy