Russian and recently interviewed in Warsaw Poland?

[StevenInAtlanta 41]

I am asking if anyone here in the VJ forum is Russian and has recently been interviewed/processed through the Warsaw Poland embassy/consulate. Of specific interest are IR1 immigration visa applications. My wife's interview is scheduled for Tuesday August 30 @ 8:00am.  I chose Tuesday and an early time with hopes that after the "10 minute" interview there will still be enough time in the day to pass the petition/application to the next step and enough days left in the week to still receive the new visa at the MailBox Express location...which seems to be the current process.

 

If you recently went through Warsaw Poland interview will you share with the forum your experience please?

 

• Did you encounter any civil problems at all just because you were Russian traveling through Poland?
• How long was your interview?
• What questions were you asked?
• If approved, how long did actually getting your visa take?
• If approved, where did you pick up your visa?
• What country did you travel through to get to Warsaw?
• For your Schengen visa, were you required to stay in the interim country a few days to 'vacation' or were you able to simply plane hop and pass through on the next flight in your travel? 

 

Thanks to all in advance that can share their experience.

#PrayForPeace

 

StevenInAtlanta

[Corp668 16]

On 5/7/2022 at 11:20 AM, StevenInAtlanta said:

I am asking if anyone here in the VJ forum is Russian and has recently been interviewed/processed through the Warsaw Poland embassy/consulate. Of specific interest are IR1 immigration visa applications. My wife's interview is scheduled for Tuesday August 30 @ 8:00am.  I chose Tuesday and an early time with hopes that after the "10 minute" interview there will still be enough time in the day to pass the petition/application to the next step and enough days left in the week to still receive the new visa at the MailBox Express location...which seems to be the current process.

 

If you recently went through Warsaw Poland interview will you share with the forum your experience please?

 

• Did you encounter any civil problems at all just because you were Russian traveling through Poland?
• How long was your interview?
• What questions were you asked?
• If approved, how long did actually getting your visa take?
• If approved, where did you pick up your visa?
• What country did you travel through to get to Warsaw?
• For your Schengen visa, were you required to stay in the interim country a few days to 'vacation' or were you able to simply plane hop and pass through on the next flight in your travel? 

 

Thanks to all in advance that can share their experience.

#PrayForPeace

 

StevenInAtlanta

My fiancee and I are in Poland right now and had our K1 interview last Thursday (May 5th).  To answer your questions

 

1) Not so much problems, just some general "huffyness".  The woman at passport control was very nice when she saw my little daughter but then started to scowl when my fiancee pulled out a Russian passport.   A worker at Sephora refused to help my fiancee find some makeup she was looking for as she recognized my fiancee's accent, made a comment about Ukraine and said she can't help and walked away.

 

2/3) Her interview was only 10 minutes long and they focused on the birth certificate of my daughter where I am not listed.  That's because I was not a US citizen when she was born and she was born in Korea.  Long story but they kept harping on how she shouldn't be coming on a K2 visa if I am the father and I am a US citizen.  Finally they understood and all was OK but every... single... person brought it up and made a big deal about it.   I was worried about affidavit of support (I did not bring tax returns or pay stubs, just a 1099 for my side job and letter from my employer, they were fine with that).

 

4) We still have not got the visa, today is Tuesday at 1pm here.  We did have to drop off daughters medical results on Friday.  They told us the visa will be issued this week... fingers crossed, I am mildly nervous as flights are booked for this Saturday.

 

5) We said we would pick it up at the drop box, which is a Mail Boxes Etc store that's a ways outside of town, over by where the doctors office is.

 

6) She entered the EU in Greece and we stayed in Athens for a couple of weeks before coming to Poland.

 

7) FYI my fiancee got a lot of grief entering Greece.  She had an ongoing flight booked to Poland and a further flight to the USA.  Their problem was that she did not have a USA visa and her Greece->Poland flight didn't take her out of the schengen zone, so basically she had no concrete proof she was returning to Russia or that she could actually leave the Schengen zone.  They ultimately relented but in hindsight I might have tried to book a fully refundable ticket somehow from Warsaw to somewhere outside the Schengen zone that she can enter without issues (like Thailand) so they could shut up about the matter.

 

It seems things are tightening up... they are getting more strict and Poland has said they want to stop issuing schengen visas to Russians period... so just make sure you leave no stone unturned or leave any opportunity for them to deny you/her travel.  They don't give a ####### that you are here for diplomatic/embassy business at the border... they seem to be extra-scrutinizing Russians.

 

Edited May 10, 2022 by TBoneTX
remove profane acronym

[pavelp 19]

10 hours ago, Corp668 said:

...

 

6) She entered the EU in Greece and we stayed in Athens for a couple of weeks before coming to Poland.

 

...

 

What was the full itinerary to get from Russia into Poland?

I assume Russia -> Turkey -> Greece -> Poland?

Any COVID related requirements?

Thanks.

[Corp668 16]

5 minutes ago, pavelp said:

What was the full itinerary to get from Russia into Poland?

I assume Russia -> Turkey -> Greece -> Poland?

Any COVID related requirements?

Thanks.

 

We did Russia -> Thailand -> Greece -> Poland -> USA but that was more because of the war breaking out and me wanting her and my daughter to get the heck out of Russia ASAP in case they closed borders or before plane tickets skyrocketed any further.  That meant we had several weeks to kill before the interview so we did 3 in Thailand, 2 in Greece and 3 in Warsaw.

 

In my opinion, minimize your time spent in Athens, the place is a dump.  Thailand was picturesque and very inexpensive... Warsaw is gorgeous and comparatively inexpensive to the USA.

[Corp668 16]

On 5/7/2022 at 6:20 PM, StevenInAtlanta said:

I am asking if anyone here in the VJ forum is Russian and has recently been interviewed/processed through the Warsaw Poland embassy/consulate. Of specific interest are IR1 immigration visa applications. My wife's interview is scheduled for Tuesday August 30 @ 8:00am.  I chose Tuesday and an early time with hopes that after the "10 minute" interview there will still be enough time in the day to pass the petition/application to the next step and enough days left in the week to still receive the new visa at the MailBox Express location...which seems to be the current process.

 

If you recently went through Warsaw Poland interview will you share with the forum your experience please?

 

• Did you encounter any civil problems at all just because you were Russian traveling through Poland?
• How long was your interview?
• What questions were you asked?
• If approved, how long did actually getting your visa take?
• If approved, where did you pick up your visa?
• What country did you travel through to get to Warsaw?
• For your Schengen visa, were you required to stay in the interim country a few days to 'vacation' or were you able to simply plane hop and pass through on the next flight in your travel? 

 

Thanks to all in advance that can share their experience.

#PrayForPeace

 

StevenInAtlanta

Two things I forgot to mention.

 

My interview was scheduled for 8am too, I figured we'd be outta there maybe in an hour.  We arrived at 7:45am and there were only a few people in front of us.  Well, she was still in there for just about 3 hours, and none of the people who went in right around 8am with her came out sooner than 2 hours, so plan on it being a while.  Also, when they were fixing to open the doors, a girl walked up and down the line with a sign that said "8am" and took everyone with an 8am appointment and put them in the front of the line, then did the same with a sign saying 8:30, and then saying 9am... so honestly there is no point really in showing up early, certainly no more than a few minutes.

 

EDIT: I should make a separate post about my experience with the doctors office in Warsaw.  What an absolute freaking FIASCO and totally uncaring and unprofessional.  That guy should be fired from working for the embassy ever again!

Edited May 10, 2022 by Corp668

[millefleur 5,046]

9 minutes ago, Corp668 said:

 

EDIT: I should make a separate post about my experience with the doctors office in Warsaw.  What an absolute freaking FIASCO and totally uncaring and unprofessional.  That guy should be fired from working for the embassy ever again!

Please make a post about this, would be very helpful for others here.

[pavelp 19]

Poland has lifted COVID related travel restrictions: https://www.gov.pl/web/usa-en/covid-19-travel-to-poland

 

It looks like Russia -> Turkey -> Poland is a valid option now?

Edited May 10, 2022 by pavelp

[StevenInAtlanta 41]

@pavelp 
"It looks like Russia -> Turkey -> Poland is a valid option now?"

 

We will have to look into this.... With the rules and requirements changing almost weekly, I am cautious to make travel plans and buy tickets more than maybe 31 days in advance.  I guess at some point you just have to put your stake in the ground, pull the trigger and just cross your fingers.  It's like playing Russian roulette with a tar baby....you don't really know if you can let go the baby, if it's going to stick to you or if you ever had the tar baby at all!

I think the reason that we are talking about flying through other countries is because of Schengen visa requirements and that Russian citizens can't fly directly to Poland.  If it's NOW possible for a Russian citizen to fly to Turkey then into Poland, that would save me (us all) a small fortune of extended travel plans over multiple countries....however, I believe that in my case, my wife will still need a Schengen visa to enter Poland.  And that requirement is what I think is forcing us to get a Schengen visa to fly to some other EU country first then into Poland because currently Poland will not issue a tourist visa to a Russian citizen.

Edited May 11, 2022 by StevenInAtlanta

[LaszloSz 5]

Yes, your wife will need to have a Schengen visa to enter Poland. If Poland is not very friendly toward Russians then you can try Hungary. They are the most Russian friendly country in EU right now. They have consulates in many cities in Russia and our experience was always pleasant with their staff you can call them up and ask about visas. My wife is also Russian and we moved to Hungary. We have been here for over 2 months and so far have not experienced any kind of negativity toward Russians. People here seem to understand that Putin is the bad guy and the average Russian people are also suffering because of his craziness.

[pavelp 19]

On 5/10/2022 at 8:26 PM, StevenInAtlanta said:

...

I think the reason that we are talking about flying through other countries is because of Schengen visa requirements and that Russian citizens can't fly directly to Poland...

...

The reason I brought up Turkey at all is that at the moment there are two ways to fly from Russia to Poland: through Turkey (Turkish Airlines) or through Dubai (Emirates Airlines). I looked up this data today on Google Flights.

So I just brought up Turkey as a viable option.

Regardless of your itinerary your wife will need to get a Schengen visa.

[slavaskii 886]

49 minutes ago, pavelp said:

The reason I brought up Turkey at all is that at the moment there are two ways to fly from Russia to Poland: through Turkey (Turkish Airlines) or through Dubai (Emirates Airlines). I looked up this data today on Google Flights.

So I just brought up Turkey as a viable option.

Regardless of your itinerary your wife will need to get a Schengen visa.

Random point to that. Would it be easier to travel to Almaty/Nur-Sultan and go from there? I know many people were going Petersburg - Helsinki before the trains closed and sorting their affairs from there. Kazakhstan remains very well-connected. 

[pavelp 19]

On 5/12/2022 at 10:18 AM, slavaskii said:

Random point to that. Would it be easier to travel to Almaty/Nur-Sultan and go from there? I know many people were going Petersburg - Helsinki before the trains closed and sorting their affairs from there. Kazakhstan remains very well-connected. 

I guess depends on your departure city in Russia.

In our case it will be Spb/Moscow, so going through Turkey is much shorter trip comparing to Dubai or Kazakhstan.

Also Google Flights didn't show me any options to fly through KZ. Which company does that route?

[slavaskii 886]

4 minutes ago, pavelp said:

I guess depends on your departure city in Russia.

In our case it will be Spb/Moscow, so going through Turkey is much shorter trip comparing to Dubai or Kazakhstan.

Also Google Flights didn't show me any options to fly through KZ. Which company does that route?

Air Astana, I think? Google Flights doesn't show all airlines, for instance, they stopped showing Belavia for me a while back. I don't know if it'll be cheaper, but certainly one could cross into Kazakhstan by train/car, spend a day in Nur-Sultan or Almaty, and fly to Europe.

 

I just looked at tickets on Google Flights and the cheapest connect through Dubai but they appear to be cheaper (and more convenient layover-wise) than from Moscow. Didn't check Air Astana.

Edited May 13, 2022 by slavaskii

[mom"s 0]

IR5 case. Has anyone recently had an interview in Warsaw?  

 

On what date were your documents qualified?

 

My mom's case was doc qualified on January 28th -- no interview scheduled yet...

How many months more to wait for an interview in Warsaw?..

 

Thanks a lot for your help and advice! 🙏
  Alexander

[kumquat_19 6]

On 5/16/2022 at 12:39 PM, mom"s said:

IR5 case. Has anyone recently had an interview in Warsaw?  

 

On what date were your documents qualified?

 

My mom's case was doc qualified on January 28th -- no interview scheduled yet...

How many months more to wait for an interview in Warsaw?..

 

Thanks a lot for your help and advice! 🙏
  Alexander

We are IR1, DQ jan 25. still waiting as well