Has Poland banned Russians?

[slavaskii 886]

3 hours ago, Lynxyonok said:

Something to consider. 28 senators have to win their bid for re-election in 2 months.

 

Some of them really need every vote they can get.

 

A well-timed, well-placed phone call in a state like Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, or Wisconsin can result in progress.

Sadly, I fear many representatives would worry about seeming partial to Russia if they lobbied to make it easier to immigrate from there. I know it's much more nuanced - and trapping Russians/Belarusians overseas actually 'harms the cause' - but it would be very difficult right now for a representative to take our side. In my opinion, the vast amount of indirect decisions made over the past year (relocating the Embassy to inside the EU while we had info about the impending invasion, making a COVID vaccine mandate that doesn't exclude the two countries without access to it, etc.) to harm Belarus/Russia immigration make the US' position quite clear. Rather than explicitly ban them, just preempt their every path. 

 

That being said, as @TBoneTX has mentioned multiple times, someone with this issue needs to phone the Bureau of Consular Affairs to see what the official response is. I would also be very curious as to where people from other countries without embassies go to interview. For example, Syrians and Iranians - do their designated embassy countries let them in visa free, or is it the same difficulty as here?

[Lynxyonok 316]

1 hour ago, slavaskii said:

Sadly, I fear many representatives would worry about seeming partial to Russia if they lobbied to make it easier to immigrate from there. I know it's much more nuanced - and trapping Russians/Belarusians overseas actually 'harms the cause' - but it would be very difficult right now for a representative to take our side. In my opinion, the vast amount of indirect decisions made over the past year (relocating the Embassy to inside the EU while we had info about the impending invasion, making a COVID vaccine mandate that doesn't exclude the two countries without access to it, etc.) to harm Belarus/Russia immigration make the US' position quite clear. Rather than explicitly ban them, just preempt their every path. 

 

That being said, as @TBoneTX has mentioned multiple times, someone with this issue needs to phone the Bureau of Consular Affairs to see what the official response is. I would also be very curious as to where people from other countries without embassies go to interview. For example, Syrians and Iranians - do their designated embassy countries let them in visa free, or is it the same difficulty as here?

Up until yesterday, I would have agreed with you. But something happened today.

 

There are talks of negotiations of reopening consular activities at the US embassy in Moscow.

 

I can't find the source, but Telegram channels are abuzz.

[slavaskii 886]

11 minutes ago, Lynxyonok said:

Up until yesterday, I would have agreed with you. But something happened today.

 

There are talks of negotiations of reopening consular activities at the US embassy in Moscow.

 

I can't find the source, but Telegram channels are abuzz.

I looked quickly and couldn't find a source either. I don't doubt the US wants Moscow open for a variety of reasons, but this is a rather odd time to reopen the Embassy. Plus, such news tends to be overly-hopeful. I remember when Minsk closed, people speculated for the longest time about it reopening. In fact it never did, even for B2 renewals by mail, apart from a brief stint where they were processing emergency applications and student/work.

 

Unless this is part of a larger deal in the works, a reopening of the Embassy seems highly unlikely. I would also caution that certain visas will not be adjudicated right away; take Kyiv, for example, it's only open for essential diplomatic work iirc. I presume this will be the case when Moscow eventually reopens; diplomatic staff will return, then emergency visas get processed, then immigrant / student / work, then non-immigrant (where K1 falls on this spectrum is anyone's guess).

Edited September 17, 2022 by slavaskii

[Lynxyonok 316]

1 minute ago, slavaskii said:

I looked quickly and couldn't find a source either. I don't doubt the US wants Moscow open for a variety of reasons, but this is a rather odd time to reopen the Embassy. Plus, such news tends to be overly-hopeful. I remember when Minsk closed, people speculated for the longest time about it reopening. In fact it never did, even for B2 renewals by mail, apart from a brief stint where they were processing emergency applications and student/work.

 

Unless this is part of a larger deal in the works, a reopening of the Embassy seems highly unlikely. I would also caution that certain visas will not be adjudicated right away; take Kyiv, for example, it's only open for essential diplomatic work iirc. I presume this will be the case when Moscow eventually reopens; diplomatic staff will return, then emergency visas get processed, then immigrant / student / work, then non-immigrant (where K1 falls on this spectrum is anyone's guess).

Now, here I'm going to agree 100%.

 

It could be a stunt. It could even be an extra roadblock, attempting to slow the number of cases going to Warsaw. It could even be a feint to slide more... undercover... personnel inside a rather... disagreeing... location.

 

I recognize I'm blindly overjoyed by this news for potentially no reason, even if the news is real. We'll see Monday when media outlets actually return to work.

[Boiler 44,855]

Russia does have Biden by the round things on Griner so wonder if they are linked?

[TBoneTX 44,671]

I expect that an exceptionally knowledgeable VJ member will shortly shed some light on some of these questions.

[rikko 77]

What awful news

[slavaskii 886]

So it begins. https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/baltic-states-poland-close-doors-russian-tourists-2022-09-19/

 

From reading this, though, nothing substantial really changed. No word on how Poland is enacting their border mechanisms, but I would guess these are all external EU-policies. That is, a Russian can no longer take the bus from Minsk-Warsaw (or, for that matter, Minsk-Vilnius).

 

The Estonia FM seemed to concede that this wasn't going to stop all travel because Finland broke off and travel is still possible through that route. And the Russian woman interviewed basically said she can still get to Estonia through other Schengen Zone countries. So, for now, it seems as if the ban is more symbolic than anything. Given the difficulties of getting out of Russia, if you already managed to get to an airport in Istanbul or Dubai, you just take a flight to Berlin instead.

 

Will look through Polish news and see if they're checking elsewhere, but again, I think this is only external borders.

 

Edit: According to the Detroit News, of all sources, 11 Russians were stopped trying to arrive from Belarus and Kaliningrad last night. I completely forgot that Kaliningrad is now entirely strangled - I'm not sure what the ferry system is like there, but that's now your only direct way into Europe (if it even exists). 

Edited September 19, 2022 by slavaskii