Russian citizen success visiting on tourist visa

[millefleur 5,046]

Just thought I would update here if anyone was wondering about a similar situation for Russian citizens since the war started. My MIL had a B visa that was issued almost 3 years ago but never visited due to the pandemic. She finally was able to visit the US last month via Istanbul. At the border, she had absolutely no issues entering on her B visa despite the war/political situation. The border guard asked her only standard questions including "Where is your husband?" to which she replied that he was in Russia. She was admitted shortly after and given a 6 month stay. The border agent did not speak Russian and she was not offered an interpreter so she just responded in the very limited English she knows.

 

Now her tourist visa expires this December so getting a new one will be a challenge. She contacted VFS Global and they are no longer doing renewals inside Russia, that stopped last year. So, most likely going to Warsaw or some other country is the only option. Just wanted to start this thread for others with Russian relatives and their tourist visa experiences.

 

 

[Simplytex 387]

8 hours ago, millefleur said:

Just thought I would update here if anyone was wondering about a similar situation for Russian citizens since the war started. My MIL had a B visa that was issued almost 3 years ago but never visited due to the pandemic. She finally was able to visit the US last month via Istanbul. At the border, she had absolutely no issues entering on her B visa despite the war/political situation. The border guard asked her only standard questions including "Where is your husband?" to which she replied that he was in Russia. She was admitted shortly after and given a 6 month stay. The border agent did not speak Russian and she was not offered an interpreter so she just responded in the very limited English she knows.

 

Now her tourist visa expires this December so getting a new one will be a challenge. She contacted VFS Global and they are no longer doing renewals inside Russia, that stopped last year. So, most likely going to Warsaw or some other country is the only option. Just wanted to start this thread for others with Russian relatives and their tourist visa experiences.

 

 

Thanks for the update. Really wish the US govt would be more clear and upfront about where folks could go to get tourist visas esp when you've had then before. I'd be glad to hear any updates in the future if you choose to go after getting a new one.

[To_the_moon 94]

One of my Russian friends has recently got her first B2 visa. She had her interview in Slovakia but used a travel agency service to schedule an interview. Most paid travel agencies use a bot to get an interview spot for U.S. tourist visas. It's a well-known fact in Russia. So it's quite impossible to get an interview date if you are trying to do it yourself. Warsaw interview dates are booked until 2023-2024. 

[millefleur 5,046]

1 hour ago, To_the_moon said:

One of my Russian friends has recently got her first B2 visa. She had her interview in Slovakia but used a travel agency service to schedule an interview. Most paid travel agencies use a bot to get an interview spot for U.S. tourist visas. It's a well-known fact in Russia. So it's quite impossible to get an interview date if you are trying to do it yourself. Warsaw interview dates are booked until 2023-2024. 

That is really useful info! I will look into this. Could you send me the name of the travel agency?

[Simplytex 387]

1 hour ago, To_the_moon said:

One of my Russian friends has recently got her first B2 visa. She had her interview in Slovakia but used a travel agency service to schedule an interview. Most paid travel agencies use a bot to get an interview spot for U.S. tourist visas. It's a well-known fact in Russia. So it's quite impossible to get an interview date if you are trying to do it yourself. Warsaw interview dates are booked until 2023-2024. 

Any rough idea of the timeline start to finish?

[millefleur 5,046]

1 hour ago, Simplytex said:

Any rough idea of the timeline start to finish?

I just saw that Bratislava has a wait time of 16 calendar days according to the official site, which seems promising indeed:

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/visa-information-resources/wait-times.html

 

Bratislava is a super easy to get to from Vienna, Austria. It's only about an hour away. So one could easily travel there from Vienna for the interview. Just an idea as I assume it might be easier to fly to Vienna (bigger city) than to Bratislava. This is potentially a much nicer side vacation than going to Poland.

 

Another promising bit of info, the Slovakia ustraveldocs actually confirms that they are accepting nonresidents for visa applications, which is great:

https://www.ustraveldocs.com/sk/index.html?firstTime=No

 

For me, this is a perfect solution and I will be looking into travel agencies to see if we can get my MIL and SIL appointments in Bratislava.

[Simplytex 387]

13 minutes ago, millefleur said:

Just an idea as I assume it might be easier to fly to Vienna (bigger city) than to Bratislava.

Bratislava is definitely a much smaller airport, not sure you can even find flights there from Moscow with a reasonable flight time. Also on that note, I was just looking at flights from Moscow to Balkan/eastern Europe area, and you might find it a bit cheaper to split the ticket in Istanbul/Dubai, and then a separate booking to wherever in Europe. I just made booking to see my wife this way in Serbia in October, it was several hundred bucks cheaper having a split ticket in Istanbul, she just will have a longer layover to make sure she can check back into the next flight.

[To_the_moon 94]

9 hours ago, millefleur said:

That is really useful info! I will look into this. Could you send me the name of the travel agency?

She used this agency https://vcs.ru 

I personally can't confirm the trustworthiness of it but it is definitely worth considering or looking at. There is a bunch of others too. I saw some agencies on Instagram who offer interview dates this year in Italy. 

 

Edited August 15, 2022 by To_the_moon

[To_the_moon 94]

9 hours ago, Simplytex said:

Any rough idea of the timeline start to finish?

3 months from start to her interview