Interview at Warsaw embassy - case transfer from Moscow

[smoothoperaytor 40]

1 minute ago, Simplytex said:

Holy smokes that's not good. I'm wondering if there would be any use in talking to the Polish embassy/consulates in the US... There is one right down the road from me, just to see if they maintain the same narrative.

I doubt it. The US Embassy in Poland told me they don't deal with immigration or border issues. 

[Simplytex 387]

6 hours ago, smoothoperaytor said:

So about the medical exam, the office listed for Russia told us they're fully booked and they got a surge of calls recently. The earliest time to schedule a date is the end of December. 

 

I'm in communication with the doctor in Warsaw, but contact stopped when I mentioned the country where my wife is from (Russia). Hopefully it's just a standard delay in messaging. 

 

I recall reading on this forum that walk-ins at the Moscow location are possible. It just takes time and patience. We can go and wait all day if needed. That may end up being our only option.

 

As for the Schengen, it's looking like Hungary isn't the best option and Germany is the ideal choice for someone who hasn't had a Schengen visa before.

Your comment about the medical also made me think - is the Dept of State now releasing a large number of immigrant visas for interviews, now that the diversity visa cycle has closed. I can't remember if the Moscow physician would only accept appointments for people with scheduled interviews or not...

[smoothoperaytor 40]

3 minutes ago, Simplytex said:

Your comment about the medical also made me think - is the Dept of State now releasing a large number of immigrant visas for interviews, now that the diversity visa cycle has closed. I can't remember if the Moscow physician would only accept appointments for people with scheduled interviews or not...

 

Maybe. The plan is to try our luck with a walk in. We'll be in Moscow next week. If that doesn't work, I contacted the Warsaw doctor and they won't schedule unless my wife is in the country. Results are expected to take 1-2 days, so if we don't have luck in Moscow we'll head to Warsaw as soon as possible. 

[slavaskii 886]

1 hour ago, smoothoperaytor said:

Another update. 

 

I was wondering if I could get some clarifying information about how Russians can enter Poland. I contacted the Polish Border and Customs. Their reply was not helpful.

 

They said:

 

 

Basically, that it's not possible as far as they're concerned. The subtle detail of them purposely not capitalizing the country of Russia tells me they're not interested in helping. 

 

 

44 minutes ago, Simplytex said:

Holy smokes that's not good. I'm wondering if there would be any use in talking to the Polish embassy/consulates in the US... There is one right down the road from me, just to see if they maintain the same narrative.

They are referring to Russians trying to arrive from the Belarus/Kaliningrad land border. The Straz Graniczna is here concerned only with Poland's external, non-Schengen border. If you cross by train, car, foot, whatever from Germany, you will be completely fine. That being said, I would not be flaunting a Russian passport anywhere around Poland - as others suggested, probably a better idea to go with your fiance(e)/spouse to the interview and show your American passport at hotels (yes, it's required to show identification).

 

In regard to the doctor, we've heard several accounts here of the lines going cold when Russia is mentioned. My wife is Belarusian and had a fantastic experience with the Warsaw doctor, but it's definitely difficult getting in contact with them. Once you have your appointment, I would definitely not push anything. They're overwhelmed and nobody in Warsaw is excited about the US' unilateral decision to make Russians/Belarusians go there.

[TBoneTX 45,258]

A noncontributory post has been removed.

[Simplytex 387]

10 hours ago, smoothoperaytor said:

I doubt it. The US Embassy in Poland told me they don't deal with immigration or border issues. 

Yeah, got an email back pretty useless in this regard... I asked along the lines of what support or internal referral could this consulate provide to a US citizen to help Russian spouse/relative getting into Poland.

 

"Thank you for your e-mail.

 

We recommend to contact Embassy of Poland in Moscow with any question in regards of Visas.

 

As a consular office in USA we are unable to provide any information in that regards."

[slavaskii 886]

2 minutes ago, Simplytex said:

Yeah, got an email back pretty useless in this regard... I asked along the lines of what support or internal referral could this consulate provide to a US citizen to help Russian spouse/relative getting into Poland.

 

"Thank you for your e-mail.

 

We recommend to contact Embassy of Poland in Moscow with any question in regards of Visas.

 

As a consular office in USA we are unable to provide any information in that regards."

That sounds really frustrating. As @TBoneTX has always mentioned, however, someone could try contacting the Bureau of Consular Affairs about this (did I get that right?). That response is pretty much a non-starter because the Polish Embassy won't give out visas to Russians period (and allegedly stopped giving them to Belarusians on humanitarian grounds), so it's basically telling you that you're on your own. They really need to have a better response besides this, at least one that acknowledges the current situation. Our Embassy in Minsk, for instance, was amazing and actually wrote immediate, personalized responses. 

 

Perhaps they've been told they can't tell applicants to get non-Polish Schengens to get to Poland. I can see many reasons for refraining from that advice. But the problem is: how many Americans with foreign spouses / fiancees are going to have their petitions time out while waiting for a change that will not come? Russians and Belarusians have to be insanely proactive here.

[Simplytex 387]

10 minutes ago, slavaskii said:

That sounds really frustrating. As @TBoneTX has always mentioned, however, someone could try contacting the Bureau of Consular Affairs about this (did I get that right?). That response is pretty much a non-starter because the Polish Embassy won't give out visas to Russians period (and allegedly stopped giving them to Belarusians on humanitarian grounds), so it's basically telling you that you're on your own. They really need to have a better response besides this, at least one that acknowledges the current situation. Our Embassy in Minsk, for instance, was amazing and actually wrote immediate, personalized responses. 

 

Perhaps they've been told they can't tell applicants to get non-Polish Schengens to get to Poland. I can see many reasons for refraining from that advice. But the problem is: how many Americans with foreign spouses / fiancees are going to have their petitions time out while waiting for a change that will not come? Russians and Belarusians have to be insanely proactive here.

Yeah, and then the gig is up if/when EU as a whole decides to restrict visas entirely. 

 

I feel bad already for smoothoperator cause tourist Schegen visas still will take a while to process, and it also depends on if you can get an appointment. Realistically, NVC needs to be scheduling interviews 2 months out for Russians, in order to get medical, visa, and flights to Poland. 4 weeks is absolutely best case to get a Schegen visa - even Italy says at least 15 business days best case from date of appointment.

[TBoneTX 45,258]

2 hours ago, slavaskii said:

As @TBoneTX has always mentioned, however, someone could try contacting the Bureau of Consular Affairs about this (did I get that right?).

Yes.  Congressmen, too.  This situation is not obviously something readily surmounted on our own.

[slavaskii 886]

57 minutes ago, TBoneTX said:

Yes.  Congressmen, too.  This situation is not obviously something readily surmounted on our own.

What could be a good idea for this subforum is stickying a few master threads regarding each stage of the process. I.e., Schengen visa reviews, medical reviews, how people entered into Poland, vaccine availability, etc. A lot of these questions come up repeatedly but information changes super quickly and is often buried in multiple threads. 
 

It may also be helpful for someone to create a prospective timeline for Russian applicants. That is, when to apply Schengen, when to schedule medical, how long you should plan to stay in Warsaw, and so forth. I didn’t deal with some of the most difficult problems currently, so perhaps the recent Russian applicants could arrange that for everyone’s benefit?

Edited November 3, 2022 by slavaskii

[smoothoperaytor 40]

Interview less than 12 hours away. Checked every document as much as possible. We've been together almost every day since we met 3 years ago and have hundreds if not thousands of photos together. It's now a matter of making sure we've not forgotten anything. Getting to Poland was an adventure, for sure. No matter what happens, we'll continue to enjoy our time here and in other countries in Europe until my wife's Schengen visa expires at the end of December.

[Simplytex 387]

3 hours ago, smoothoperaytor said:

Interview less than 12 hours away. Checked every document as much as possible. We've been together almost every day since we met 3 years ago and have hundreds if not thousands of photos together. It's now a matter of making sure we've not forgotten anything. Getting to Poland was an adventure, for sure. No matter what happens, we'll continue to enjoy our time here and in other countries in Europe until my wife's Schengen visa expires at the end of December.

Best of luck and looking forward to a (happy) debrief of how it goes.

[smoothoperaytor 40]

Thank you. Everything appears okay. There wasn't a definite "yes", but there wasn't a refusal or a request for more info. My wife also received a green paper that has information about immigration. It's in Russian. 

 

There were a few dozen people waiting by the Embassy in the morning. Mostly older in age. A mask is required for going in and this wasn't something we considered. While my wife was waiting outside, I ran to find a store that sold masks — but didn't have any luck. But my luck was found again when I entered a cafe and asked to buy a mask. They didn't have one for sale, but gave me one for free instead. I then ran back, in the 0-1 degree C temperature, to give my wife the mask in time. I think there were a few other people doing these quick runs, but I noticed they continued down other streets in search of a market. 

 

Our route was Moscow -> Istanbul -> Barcelona -> Berlin -> Warsaw. All were done via flights except Berlin to Warsaw, which was by a 6-hour train. I spoke with someone else whose mother got a Schengen visa for Italy. They met there and flew to Warsaw. No passport was checked once they were in the Schengen zone. I knew this was the case, but I took the train to be as safe as possible.

 

We're enjoying Poland the most out of all the European countries we've been to this trip. Spain and Germany were underwhelming; expensive and the service was lacking. Maybe they're more enjoyable during the summer.

 

Anyway, now we wait.

Edited December 7, 2022 by smoothoperaytor

[Simplytex 387]

On 12/7/2022 at 5:54 AM, smoothoperaytor said:

Anyway, now we wait.

Any updates? Hopefully good news before the end of year, you've been waiting for a couple weeks now!

[smoothoperaytor 40]

5 hours ago, Simplytex said:

Any updates? Hopefully good news before the end of year, you've been waiting for a couple weeks now!

Sure.

 

We heard back from the Warsaw Embassy in 1-2 days. It was supposed to take 3-5. We picked up her passport (with the visa stamp) at the pickup location. It took about an hour to drive to due to traffic.

 

Next, we flew to France since that was the best location for us to fly to the US from. The flight was long (11 hours) because we flew to Los Angeles. Arrival was smooth and the wait at passport control took about 30 minutes. He congratulated us and asked us if we had any questions. He explained what our next steps were. The actual conversation was 2-3 minutes. 

 

Now, we're in California and heading to Nevada soon. My wife's social security card arrived in the mail about a week after arrival. We've been meeting family and friends while seeing as much as we can. Our plans are to go and visit Russia in a few months.

 

The next steps for us are to remove the conditional requirements of her green card (CR1), open up a bank account / credit card, and see if we can get clients for my wife's business here in the US. Having our first child would also be wonderful.

Edited December 28, 2022 by smoothoperaytor