Interview Dates in Warsaw

[Mike20090622 45]

Anybody still can send money to Russia? I used WesternUnion all the time but failed recently due to the sanctions, I know some Russia banks are still in the swift system but western union told me I can’t send money to any banks in Russia anymore 

[marpolsdofer 7]

1 hour ago, Mike20090622 said:

Anybody still can send money to Russia? I used WesternUnion all the time but failed recently due to the sanctions, I know some Russia banks are still in the swift system but western union told me I can’t send money to any banks in Russia anymore 

My wife sent money to her mom money this week using western union this week and she got it. She also sent money to her ex for her son but we don't know if they go it.

Before she was using money gram. They canceled the transaction to her mom but the one sent to her ex says pending still.

[marpolsdofer 7]

1 hour ago, marpolsdofer said:

My wife sent money to her mom money this week using western union this week and she got it. She also sent money to her ex for her son but we don't know if they go it.

Before she was using money gram. They canceled the transaction to her mom but the one sent to her ex says pending still.

My wife says you have to use the app. The office and website wont sent it.

[ninjakid 13]

On 3/11/2022 at 6:15 PM, marpolsdofer said:

My wife says you have to use the app. The office and website wont sent it.

I am out of option to send money to my wife and daughter in Russia. Western Union and Money gram suspend operation in Russia. Does anyone have any other idea to send money to Russia?

[millefleur 5,046]

17 minutes ago, ninjakid said:

I am out of option to send money to my wife and daughter in Russia. Western Union and Money gram suspend operation in Russia. Does anyone have any other idea to send money to Russia?

Crypto? Try sending money in something other than USD? I don't know what the answer is yet. I keep hearing "not every bank is sanctioned, some still accept SWIFT" but I don't know what those banks are. I've hear Sberbank is not sanctioned but then others say it is. Very difficult to get info.

 

There's also this dubious new EO that Biden put out, while it doesn't specific bank transfers it says that "banknotes" cannot be sent to anyone in the RF. I don't know if companies/apps/banks here Stateside are refusing to send anything to Russia because of this or what.

 

 

[ninjakid 13]

12 hours ago, millefleur said:

Crypto? Try sending money in something other than USD? I don't know what the answer is yet. I keep hearing "not every bank is sanctioned, some still accept SWIFT" but I don't know what those banks are. I've hear Sberbank is not sanctioned but then others say it is. Very difficult to get info.

I was looking into Crypto yesterday and today. But I stumbled across Western Union's blog today.

https://www.westernunion.com/blog/en/russia-and-belarus/

I couldn't send the money to Russia when I tried WU many times a few days ago and it told me they cannot complete the transfer. That's when I also saw the news article that WU suspended the money transfer to Russia. So I gave up WU at the time. but I saw the blog post this afternoon and immediately contacted WU and they confirmed they are still operating. I don't know what happened a few days ago but I tried to send money later today and it went through fortunately!

 

For Russian bank, Sberbank and Tinkoff bank have not been sanctioned yet as far as I know. 

 

12 hours ago, millefleur said:

There's also this dubious new EO that Biden put out, while it doesn't specific bank transfers it says that "banknotes" cannot be sent to anyone in the RF. I don't know if companies/apps/banks here Stateside are refusing to send anything to Russia because of this or what.

 

 

I can never take a break...Biden is trying to slowly kill my family... 

[millefleur 5,046]

11 minutes ago, ninjakid said:

For Russian bank, Sberbank and Tinkoff bank have not been sanctioned yet as far as I know. 

I keep hearing the same about Sberbank but others here on VJ say they can't send money there. I assume US banks are just straight up refusing to send on our side, despite that Sberbank can still receive. Did you try and ask your bank yet and see what they said? Maybe just start calling all US banks in your area and see if any will transfer any money to Russia, even if it's in a different currency?

 

 

[ninjakid 13]

5 minutes ago, millefleur said:

I keep hearing the same about Sberbank but others here on VJ say they can't send money there. I assume US banks are just straight up refusing to send on our side, despite that Sberbank can still receive. Did you try and ask your bank yet and see what they said? Maybe just start calling all US banks in your area and see if any will transfer any money to Russia, even if it's in a different currency?

Yeah I have more luck on Tinkoff bank than Sberbank. Right before WU announced it would suspend operation in Russia, only 1 out of 3 attempt went through Sberbank account using WU. Then I switched to send to Tinkoff bank instead after that. It's very possible that US banks refusing to send money or it could be something to do with Sberbank itself that they might suspend service temporally to avoid people from withdrawing too much money from their account.   

 

No, I have not asked my bank about Sberbank yet. But if I couldn't use WU today, I was going to in addition to a question about directly wire transfer from my bank (bank of america) to Russia. They took Russia out of recipient's country from the list recently from their website. I was wondering if I can do the wire transfer in person at BoA's branch office. 

[millefleur 5,046]

51 minutes ago, ninjakid said:

I was wondering if I can do the wire transfer in person at BoA's branch office. 

I've done wire transfers via CapitalOne between Russia and the US before and I did it 100% online. This was prior to the war/new sanctions though. Curious if it still might be an option. I think you could just go in person to a BoA and see what they say.

 

53 minutes ago, ninjakid said:

Yeah I have more luck on Tinkoff bank than Sberbank.

Really good to know about Tinkoff. Thanks for the info!

[ninjakid 13]

40 minutes ago, millefleur said:

I've done wire transfers via CapitalOne between Russia and the US before and I did it 100% online. This was prior to the war/new sanctions though. Curious if it still might be an option. I think you could just go in person to a BoA and see what they say.

Thanks! That's great to know. It could be another option for me. I will find out

 

41 minutes ago, millefleur said:

Really good to know about Tinkoff. Thanks for the info!

No problem. So far all the money transfers to Tinkoff accounts went through as long as a money transfer company still operates in Russia. 

[pavelp 19]

I was able to send a wire transfer from Chase to Avangard Bank yesterday and the day before. So far it's working. 🤞

Wire transfers are expensive (~$50 per transfer), but it's free for Sapphire Checking although it has $25 monthly fee. Still the best offer I could find.

[millefleur 5,046]

4 minutes ago, pavelp said:

I was able to send a wire transfer from Chase to Avangard Bank yesterday and the day before. So far it's working. 🤞

Wire transfers are expensive (~$50 per transfer), but it's free for Sapphire Checking although it has $25 monthly fee. Still the best offer I could find.

THANK YOU!!!! I've been waiting for someone to come here with this news, haha.

 

$50 for a wire transfer is standard, it's not really that bad of a fee when you consider the amazing convenience that the service is. I'm really glad to hear that Chase is OK with doing business with Russia, prior I heard negative things that they were suspicious about money transfers to/from Russia. Great to know if that has changed!

[pavelp 19]

4 minutes ago, millefleur said:

THANK YOU!!!! I've been waiting for someone to come here with this news, haha.

 

$50 for a wire transfer is standard, it's not really that bad of a fee when you consider the amazing convenience that the service is. I'm really glad to hear that Chase is OK with doing business with Russia, prior I heard negative things that they were suspicious about money transfers to/from Russia. Great to know if that has changed!

Yep, for additional context: Wells Fargo is not allowing wires to Russia anymore.

[StevenInAtlanta 41]

I bank with WellsFargo, they will not currently send money to Russia.  I tried just 2 days ago.

Also WesternUnion has discontinued service to Russia effective on the 22nd and if not picked up by the 23rd it will be refunded to the sender.

Wise is dead

SmallWorld is dead

Xoom is dead

Zelle is dead

PayPal is dead

MoneyGram is dead

Maybe tomorrow I'll drop into a Chase and see if they are providing this service

 

Our I-130 packet was transferred to Poland/Warsaw on December 15th 2021.  It was in Moscow embassy for almost a year. 

We were documentarily qualified May 21 2020. 

We got the interview has been scheduled email on March 14th for an interview in Poland/Warsaw April 12. 

So it took about 90 days to get from Warsaw receiving the packet to issuing the interview email, and then the interview was 30 days later.

 

Because of the huge increase in effort, travel cost, financial sanctions, the requirements to get a EU visa and travel to another country and stay a few days then fly through Istanbul, we have asked for a reschedule for July. After a year+ of waiting, great timing to schedule the interview a week after the war starts! It seems that in Poland Embassy, once you get your initial schedule email, if you follow the instructions to reschedule request (just send an email to the support email address: support-poland@ustraveldocs.com) they reply and give you the URL to go login and setup your profile and there you can schedule your own interview it seems.  

 

US Travel Documents Customer Support
https://cgifederal.secure.force.com/

I logged in to this URL using the credentials they sent me, I was immediately instructed to change my password.  No features are available until you setup a profile it seems and the profile is intended for the applicant, not the petitioner. Ill try to see if I can get my wife/applicant to complete the profile and see where we can go from there.

 

I am still waiting for a response from the polish embassy support email group to determine how an interview reschedule is actually accomplished.  I THINK that maybe it is just done online but knowing that URL is maybe the key to unlock the reschedule process in Poland Embassy.

[kumquat_19 6]

15 hours ago, StevenInAtlanta said:

I bank with WellsFargo, they will not currently send money to Russia.  I tried just 2 days ago.

Also WesternUnion has discontinued service to Russia effective on the 22nd and if not picked up by the 23rd it will be refunded to the sender.

Wise is dead

SmallWorld is dead

Xoom is dead

Zelle is dead

PayPal is dead

MoneyGram is dead

Maybe tomorrow I'll drop into a Chase and see if they are providing this service

 

Our I-130 packet was transferred to Poland/Warsaw on December 15th 2021.  It was in Moscow embassy for almost a year. 

We were documentarily qualified May 21 2020. 

We got the interview has been scheduled email on March 14th for an interview in Poland/Warsaw April 12. 

So it took about 90 days to get from Warsaw receiving the packet to issuing the interview email, and then the interview was 30 days later.

 

Because of the huge increase in effort, travel cost, financial sanctions, the requirements to get a EU visa and travel to another country and stay a few days then fly through Istanbul, we have asked for a reschedule for July. After a year+ of waiting, great timing to schedule the interview a week after the war starts! It seems that in Poland Embassy, once you get your initial schedule email, if you follow the instructions to reschedule request (just send an email to the support email address: support-poland@ustraveldocs.com) they reply and give you the URL to go login and setup your profile and there you can schedule your own interview it seems.  

 

US Travel Documents Customer Support
https://cgifederal.secure.force.com/

I logged in to this URL using the credentials they sent me, I was immediately instructed to change my password.  No features are available until you setup a profile it seems and the profile is intended for the applicant, not the petitioner. Ill try to see if I can get my wife/applicant to complete the profile and see where we can go from there.

 

I am still waiting for a response from the polish embassy support email group to determine how an interview reschedule is actually accomplished.  I THINK that maybe it is just done online but knowing that URL is maybe the key to unlock the reschedule process in Poland Embassy.

Thanks for sharing your timeline... it's frustrating that after waiting so long for an interview, there are factors outside of your control that are getting in the way. From my understanding, the reschedule can be done on that URL too. Fortunately, from our experience the Polish Embassy has been very responsive to phone calls and such so you should also try giving them a call, maybe you'll get a response/some sort of clarification sooner. from their website> You may call +48 22 307 1361 in Poland or (703) 988-7101 in the United States. The call center is available from 0700 to 1500 hours (Polish time zone), Monday through Friday. It is toll-free for callers in Poland; there is no per-minute information charge.