Schnegen Visa

[rikko 75]

Hey guys, if my Russian fiance gets a schnegen visa from Greece, does he have to spend time in Greece before going to Poland? Or can he just pass through Greece? He's telling me you have to spend more time in Greece than Poland.

 

Will my fiance get his interview dates and medical exam information emailed to him? He kinda left Russia 😂

 

Any advice on obtaining a criminal record and how long the document is valid for?

[millefleur 5,039]

9 hours ago, rikko said:

He's telling me you have to spend more time in Greece than Poland.

Pretty sure he has to at least stay in Greece a few days first. The more time in Greece vs Poland is relative. Does he plan on getting another Greek visa after this one? If so, they would probably reject it the second time if he didn't spend enough time in Greece with the first visa.

 

9 hours ago, rikko said:

Will my fiance get his interview dates and medical exam information emailed to him? He kinda left Russia 😂

All of that information is delivered electronically. There's no physical mail as far as I know.

 

9 hours ago, rikko said:

Any advice on obtaining a criminal record and how long the document is valid for?

He should contact the nearest Russian embassy or consulate (it sounds like he's no longer in Russaia?)

[rikko 75]

1 hour ago, millefleur said:

Pretty sure he has to at least stay in Greece a few days first. The more time in Greece vs Poland is relative. Does he plan on getting another Greek visa after this one? If so, they would probably reject it the second time if he didn't spend enough time in Greece with the first visa.

 

All of that information is delivered electronically. There's no physical mail as far as I know.

 

He should contact the nearest Russian embassy or consulate (it sounds like he's no longer in Russaia?)

Ohh thank you! Yeah that confirms what he was telling me about the Schengen visa, it's a lot more unnecessary costs to fly and hotel in Greece, then in Poland, but it's fine.

 

Is the sponsor and/or beneficiary getting the email? Or is it not emailed, but updated on some portal online?

 

And yeah he's in Armenia now, the consulate said to visit in person so that'll be doable. 

[millefleur 5,039]

2 minutes ago, rikko said:

Ohh thank you! Yeah that confirms what he was telling me about the Schengen visa, it's a lot more unnecessary costs to fly and hotel in Greece, then in Poland, but it's fine.

In theory they have to let you in at the Schengen border in any country if you have a Schengen visa, but I'm not sure if that's risky or not. If he tries to enter Poland on a Greek visa, having no prior Schengen entry in Greece, will they be suspicious? I don't know. It seems everyone here on VJ first entered into the country of issue, and then went to Poland after that.

 

6 minutes ago, rikko said:

Is the sponsor and/or beneficiary getting the email? Or is it not emailed, but updated on some portal online?

I assume it goes through whatever account you're using for NVC and maybe also email.

 

6 minutes ago, rikko said:

And yeah he's in Armenia now, the consulate said to visit in person so that'll be doable. 

Apparently you can do it all online now:

 

[rikko 75]

34 minutes ago, millefleur said:

In theory they have to let you in at the Schengen border in any country if you have a Schengen visa, but I'm not sure if that's risky or not. If he tries to enter Poland on a Greek visa, having no prior Schengen entry in Greece, will they be suspicious? I don't know. It seems everyone here on VJ first entered into the country of issue, and then went to Poland after that.

 

I assume it goes through whatever account you're using for NVC and maybe also email.

 

Apparently you can do it all online now:

 

NVC account? I'll look up what it is, I didn't know we could check online.

 

And thank you for sharing the thread with me, very informative

[DaveAndAnastasia 2,079]

49 minutes ago, millefleur said:

In theory they have to let you in at the Schengen border in any country if you have a Schengen visa, but I'm not sure if that's risky or not. If he tries to enter Poland on a Greek visa, having no prior Schengen entry in Greece, will they be suspicious? I don't know.

My understanding was (in normal times, not specific to Russians right now) that while you're allowed to enter any Schengen country with any valid Schengen visa, it's not a great idea to get one from a country you never enter because if you ever want to get a visa through that country again it can be denied.

 

Back when our K-1 was in process, Anastasia got a Schengen visa from Latvia for a visit we mostly spent in Vienna ... but we met initially in Riga and stayed there a couple nights.

[millefleur 5,039]

5 minutes ago, rikko said:

NVC account? I'll look up what it is, I didn't know we could check online.

I've never used NVC because I did DCF and thus skipped it. But it sounds like that's the place where you upload police certificates and other docs? I have no idea how it works these days unfortunately. Obviously if they aren't physically mailing things, they must be sending it electronically somehow.

 

2 minutes ago, DaveAndAnastasia said:

My understanding was (in normal times, not specific to Russians right now) that while you're allowed to enter any Schengen country with any valid Schengen visa, it's not a great idea to get one from a country you never enter because if you ever want to get a visa through that country again it can be denied.

That's my understanding as well. I suppose if one has no intention of ever getting a visa from that country again, then one could always risk skipping visiting there and just going directly to Poland. I don't recommend that because it's not really wise to close the door on a country that was nice enough to give out a visa. Best bet is at least enter via the Schengen country that gave the visa and then travel onward from there.

[slavaskii 885]

We're talking about K1, correct? If that's the case, there's nothing that gets uploaded to NVC. Your petition, once approved by USCIS, will be going straight through NVC and to Warsaw without any action on your part. Warsaw still does mail a physical Packet 3. Inside is your original I-129F, as well as various other general documents available on the embassy's website (such as medical information). You may, as a Russian, do medical in Warsaw (in fact, it is practically expected now). Medical is valid for 6 months from the time the exam is conducted. I believe criminal record is good for 1 year. 

 

Warsaw is a self-scheduling embassy. NVC will not provide you an interview date, neither does the embassy; you are to schedule both the medical and interview dates yourself through USATravelDocs. If you have any questions pertaining to your individual case, you can call the TravelDocs support team directly for Poland - they are very kind and responsive.

 

I nonetheless recommend that, once your petition gets to NVC, you update his new address as soon as possible. Recall that your I-129F contained sensitive information, and if he permanently left Russia, you don't want that getting lost in the mail. 

Edited April 5, 2022 by slavaskii

[Mike20090622 45]

I have a question, what excuses you use to apply Schengen visa through Greece? My fiancé don’t have a job and she barely worked and she has two kids, will Greece embassy issue her visa without a good excuse or just to be frank to tell she needs goto Warsaw to do the interview? I can buy flights tickets and hotels though to stay in Greece for some time but it’s better after we get the K visa, I plan to two weeks off to accompany my fiancé and her kids go through the medical examination and interviews, so we can spend a week in Warsaw and another week in Greece but I prefer to stay in Greece after the interview 

[Mike20090622 45]

6 hours ago, slavaskii said:

We're talking about K1, correct? If that's the case, there's nothing that gets uploaded to NVC. Your petition, once approved by USCIS, will be going straight through NVC and to Warsaw without any action on your part. Warsaw still does mail a physical Packet 3. Inside is your original I-129F, as well as various other general documents available on the embassy's website (such as medical information). You may, as a Russian, do medical in Warsaw (in fact, it is practically expected now). Medical is valid for 6 months from the time the exam is conducted. I believe criminal record is good for 1 year. 

 

Warsaw is a self-scheduling embassy. NVC will not provide you an interview date, neither does the embassy; you are to schedule both the medical and interview dates yourself through USATravelDocs. If you have any questions pertaining to your individual case, you can call the TravelDocs support team directly for Poland - they are very kind and responsive.

 

I nonetheless recommend that, once your petition gets to NVC, you update his new address as soon as possible. Recall that your I-129F contained sensitive information, and if he permanently left Russia, you don't want that getting lost in the mail. 

How long it will take for Warsaw embassy to mail the package 3 to my fiancé address in Russia, she lives in Belgorod which is a war zone

 

[millefleur 5,039]

5 minutes ago, Mike20090622 said:

I can buy flights tickets and hotels though to stay in Greece for some time but it’s better after we get the K visa, I plan to two weeks off to accompany my fiancé and her kids go through the medical examination and interviews, so we can spend a week in Warsaw and another week in Greece but I prefer to stay in Greece after the interview 

You raise a good point. I didn't even think of someone entering via one Schengen country but end up vacationing in another. Huh! I'm curious myself. Normally they go by passport stamp: they like to see that your entry stamp was in Greece if you have a Greek visa.

 

I'm thinking: why not be honest and say you need to go to Poland for the interview but plan to vacation in Greece? As long as you can prove that you have legitimate plans to stay in Greece, that's really what they care about. Generally speaking, Schengen visas are not that hard to get. It's not like a US tourist visa. Maybe have your fiancee call some visa agencies in Russia who work with Schengen visas and see what they recommend.

[slavaskii 885]

1 hour ago, Mike20090622 said:

How long it will take for Warsaw embassy to mail the package 3 to my fiancé address in Russia, she lives in Belgorod which is a war zone

 

Warsaw should send the information fairly quickly upon receiving it. They will send it to whatever address was on file through NVC, regardless of where it is. If it’s physically impossible to send (like to Ukraine), they’ll most likely retain it. I am not sure how that impacts Belgorod.
 

1 hour ago, millefleur said:

You raise a good point. I didn't even think of someone entering via one Schengen country but end up vacationing in another. Huh! I'm curious myself. Normally they go by passport stamp: they like to see that your entry stamp was in Greece if you have a Greek visa.

 

I'm thinking: why not be honest and say you need to go to Poland for the interview but plan to vacation in Greece? As long as you can prove that you have legitimate plans to stay in Greece, that's really what they care about. Generally speaking, Schengen visas are not that hard to get. It's not like a US tourist visa. Maybe have your fiancee call some visa agencies in Russia who work with Schengen visas and see what they recommend.

I have heard that the Hungarian Schengen visa is the easiest to get right now (surprise surprise), at least for Belarusians. As an aside, my fiancée has a Schengen Class D but has only rarely actually entered the issuing country (Poland) first. For example, last summer we went to Greece and then France. She previously flew Minsk - Istanbul - Zagreb and nobody cared either. Sometimes layovers just happened to be in Warsaw, but it was not often a full stay. Personally, I would recommend entering in the country that issued it and maybe staying a bit, but it’s by no means a requirement. 
 

As another example, as to how borders in Europe work. During the Greece trip, COVID measures were in full swing and unvaccinated people coming from outside the EU were banned entry to France. We flew to Athens, stayed 2 weeks there, and then boarded straight on to Paris. Zero questions asked. I found out after many people only stayed *one night* in Athens before moving on. I loved Greece personally, but the borders are extremely flexible. 

Edited April 6, 2022 by slavaskii

[MarineH 1]

On 4/5/2022 at 10:11 AM, rikko said:

Ohh thank you! Yeah that confirms what he was telling me about the Schengen visa, it's a lot more unnecessary costs to fly and hotel in Greece, then in Poland, but it's fine.

 

Is the sponsor and/or beneficiary getting the email? Or is it not emailed, but updated on some portal online?

 

And yeah he's in Armenia now, the consulate said to visit in person so that'll be doable. 

So US embassy in Armenia will process his k1? Because we are in similar situation.

[rikko 75]

On 4/10/2022 at 8:12 PM, MarineH said:

So US embassy in Armenia will process his k1? Because we are in similar situation.

No, we emailed and they said no. We will be applying for a schnegen through Greece like most others. If you need to get out of Russia, you can enter Serbia and Armenia without a visa if you are Russian.

[MarineH 1]

1 hour ago, rikko said:

No, we emailed and they said no. We will be applying for a schnegen through Greece like most others. If you need to get out of Russia, you can enter Serbia and Armenia without a visa if you are Russian.

We  were born in Armenia. So we will try too.