IR1/CR1 Interview timeframes in Warsaw

[AVMNUSA 11]

My wife went for her medical exam yesterday.  The computer system was not working so my wife had to stay an extra day in Warsaw and return to the doctor’s office today to finish her paperwork.  Yesterday my wife also had her x-ray done at a different office than the medical exam.  My wife was not given any paperwork or x-rays to bring to her interview.  Everything is sent to the embassy electronically.

[AnaBanana12345 20]

Hi everyone, any updates on interviews? From what I hear, people are able to pick up passports the next day after their interview, which is great. Was this the experience of people here?

 

Also, FYI, for those Belarusians who prepare to immigrate. There was a new form of police certificate approved in March 2023 and now it has to contain information about crimes and administrative misdemeanors (rather than just crimes as before), so be aware. 

 

 

[Ineska 27]

On 5/11/2023 at 9:33 AM, AnaBanana12345 said:

Hi everyone, I have a question regarding Warsaw interview documents: 

 

Do I need to give to my parent for his interview a CERTIFIED copy of my birth certificate or will a REGULAR COPY suffice? I am getting conflicting information from various sources and wanted to get some information based on firsthand experience... 

 

Thanks!

Hey @AnaBanana12345 - are you talking about the actual document or a translated copy?

 

I was told by my immigration attorney that a translated copy will not work. It will need to be either an original document or another copy issued by the place who issued the original. It also aligns with what’s on the gov’t site “You and each family member immigrating with you must obtain an original birth certificate or certified copy.” https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/immigrate/the-immigrant-visa-process/step-5-collect-financial-evidence-and-other-supporting-documents/step-7-collect-civil-documents.html

 

As for translation my attorney told me to look up each embassy specifically online for what they require and they’ll specify if it’s a certified or just a reg translation they require.

 

Hope this helps and good luck! Keep us posted on how it goes.

[AnaBanana12345 20]

On 5/26/2023 at 9:09 AM, Ineska said:

Hey @AnaBanana12345 - are you talking about the actual document or a translated copy?

 

I was told by my immigration attorney that a translated copy will not work. It will need to be either an original document or another copy issued by the place who issued the original. It also aligns with what’s on the gov’t site “You and each family member immigrating with you must obtain an original birth certificate or certified copy.” https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/immigrate/the-immigrant-visa-process/step-5-collect-financial-evidence-and-other-supporting-documents/step-7-collect-civil-documents.html

 

As for translation my attorney told me to look up each embassy specifically online for what they require and they’ll specify if it’s a certified or just a reg translation they require.

 

Hope this helps and good luck! Keep us posted on how it goes.

Many thanks. This is very helpful. So I assume my parent needs to have originals of birth certificate and my marriage certificate together with translated copies, so I will have to Fedex/Ups those to her prior to interview. Did you/anyone else here send to your parent the AOS (Affidavit of Support) package related documents, including AOS form, IRS tax transcripts and W2? I am trying to understand whether those are needed for parent's interview... Thanks in advance!

[Ineska 27]

4 hours ago, AnaBanana12345 said:

Many thanks. This is very helpful. So I assume my parent needs to have originals of birth certificate and my marriage certificate together with translated copies, so I will have to Fedex/Ups those to her prior to interview. Did you/anyone else here send to your parent the AOS (Affidavit of Support) package related documents, including AOS form, IRS tax transcripts and W2? I am trying to understand whether those are needed for parent's interview... Thanks in advance!

I haven’t yet, but I thought they were needed for NVC or at least the interview. In the above link I provided, there are steps with requirements for each step and list of documents. I would recommend reviewing those to be sure.

[Geraldin 22]

On 5/24/2023 at 5:51 PM, AnaBanana12345 said:

Also, FYI, for those Belarusians who prepare to immigrate. There was a new form of police certificate approved in March 2023 and now it has to contain information about crimes and administrative misdemeanors (rather than just crimes as before), so be aware. 

as I understand it, we need to choose the second. Right?

[AnaBanana12345 20]

34 minutes ago, Geraldin said:

as I understand it, we need to choose the second. Right?

Correct. 

[AVMNUSA 11]

On 5/24/2023 at 9:51 AM, AnaBanana12345 said:

Hi everyone, any updates on interviews? From what I hear, people are able to pick up passports the next day after their interview, which is great. Was this the experience of people here?

 

Also, FYI, for those Belarusians who prepare to immigrate. There was a new form of police certificate approved in March 2023 and now it has to contain information about crimes and administrative misdemeanors (rather than just crimes as before), so be aware. 

 

 

My wife had her interview on June 5.  As of today (June 7) she has not received her visa.  She was told at the interview that it would take 3 to 5 days to get her visa.

[AnaBanana12345 20]

23 minutes ago, AVMNUSA said:

My wife had her interview on June 5.  As of today (June 7) she has not received her visa.  She was told at the interview that it would take 3 to 5 days to get her visa.

Wow, this is too bad. I thought they give passports the next day or at least in 1 business day to those who are coming from outside of Poland... I know someone whose dad received the passport with visa the next day (the interview was 2 weeks ago), hopefully your wife will get the visa tomorrow! Please keep us posted here, my parent is going to be interviewed next week. 

 

Quick unrelated question - did you have to provide the original of your AOS form or would the copy suffice that was uploaded to CEAC? Thanks! 

[AVMNUSA 11]

10 hours ago, AnaBanana12345 said:

Wow, this is too bad. I thought they give passports the next day or at least in 1 business day to those who are coming from outside of Poland... I know someone whose dad received the passport with visa the next day (the interview was 2 weeks ago), hopefully your wife will get the visa tomorrow! Please keep us posted here, my parent is going to be interviewed next week. 

 

Quick unrelated question - did you have to provide the original of your AOS form or would the copy suffice that was uploaded to CEAC? Thanks! 

I got back from Warsaw yesterday night.  I was going to respond to you after I Skyped with my wife today but that will not be for awhile.  Below is what I remember what happened and I will update this if I have anything wrong.  I will also update this to tell you when my wife's visa is available to be picked up:

 

My wife brought copies of my AOS, this year’s tax return, last year’s tax transcript, my last two 1099-R documents, and an income verification letter, and none of these were collected or even looked at.  She brought originals and translations of her birth certificates, marriage license, change of name document, Ukrainian police report, and her Polish police report and she also brought copies of all of those documents.  They looked at all those documents but only kept the original police reports.  My wife brought two passport photos and they didn’t keep them (maybe they made copies of them but I don’t know that).  My wife also brought photos of us, copies of emails, and copies of Skype calls and none of these were looked at.  My wife was in the embassy for about 2 hours and 15 minutes and she said the interview lasted about two minutes and she was asked about 6 easy questions.  I’ve heard many people say it’s better to be over prepared rather than underprepared I would agree with that.

[KESA 18]

21 hours ago, AVMNUSA said:

 I will also update this to tell you when my wife's visa is available to be picked up:

My husband's interview was also June 5th (maybe we saw you guys in line outside the consulate 😂) his visa was issued June 7th. Have you tried emailing them to check in? 

 

@AnaBanana12345 they didn't ask for our AOS documents - my husband brought an updated version to the interview (we applied to the NVC ages ago - so we had updated financial information by now, so our lawyers recommended we fill out a new AOS document and bring it just in case). But they never asked for a copy of the original or the new one we had filled out. We brought copies of both just in case though.  

 

For our interview: 

• His appointment was 8am, we arrived in line at 7:20am and were 4th in line 
• The windows opened at I think 7:45am and if you were applying for an immigrant visa, you were instructed to go to window #2 
• At this window they looked at the print out of his confirmation page from the embassy (the sheet that says if you elected to have the visa delivered vs. to pick it up) and his passport 
• After that you move to the side and wait for the doors to open at 8am 
• Once the doors open: they won't let you in until your phone is off and they won't let you in with any bag larger than an 'A4' size - so anyone with backpacks got asked to leave their bags outside the embassy (my husband gave his to me, the guy in front of us was alone - so he went across street where I think there was a storage facility or something -- it meant he was further back in line though so delayed him a bit) 
  • There was a lady with a tote bag that was let through, they just did a quick search but she was allowed to take it inside 
  • cameras, laptops or any larger electronic devices are also not allowed 
• With all that, my husband was through the doors at 8:05am 
• He handed his phone to security, who gave him a ticket to pick it back up when he left 
• He then went to a counter where they gave him a ticket with his number/place in line to be interviewed 
• That same person at that counter called his number and did his preliminary interview. For him, he says he only waited about 10 minutes between getting his ticket and getting called back up (he says people that came later had to wait longer since there were more people / a longer line by then)
  • He handed her his passport 
  • She asked the following questions: name of his sponsor, is this your first or second marriage, do you have any kids, how many times have you entered the US, what was the duration of the longest stay, have you committed a crime
  • She asked for the following (original) documents: marriage license, birth certificate, police clearance certificates, 1 photo 
  • The entire exchange lasted 5 minutes (some people that weren't prepared with all the correct documents took as long as 20 minutes for this interview) 
• After that he went to sit back down and wait to be called for his secondary interview - this was the longest part. They didn't open the interview window until 9:30am, so he ended up waiting for about an 1hr-1:15hr to be called for this interview 
• Once he was called for the second interview - this took about 5 minutes 
  • Very friendly - handed back all documents that the first interviewing officer had taken (the marriage license, birth certificate, etc.), excluding the police clearances, which she kept 
  • Questions: how did we meet, when did we get married, where did we get married, what do you do (career-wise), what is your wife's job / position
  • She also asked to see my updated W2s (we had applied through the NVC back in early 2021, so we had two years of updated W2s that she wanted to see

 

Because of the updated W2s - we showed her the physical copies, but she said they also needed to be uploaded to the CEAC portal before she could issue the visa. We uploaded immediately after the interview, when there had been no case status change by the following morning - we sent an email to support-poland@ustraveldocs.com asking if they had received the documents and checking on the status of our case. We did not receive a reply, but by the following morning (about 24 hours after we had sent the email, and 48 after the interview had taken place / we had uploaded the W2s) when we checked our CEAC case status it had changed to 'issued'. My husband received an email a few hours later saying that his documents had been 'collected from the US embassy' and when we double checked on the embassy portal website it said the passport was ready for pickup. 

 

We checked our case status at the following links: 

CEAC status link: https://ceac.state.gov/CEACStatTracker/Status.aspx?App=NIV

Embassy Website: https://portal.ustraveldocs.com/SiteLogin?country=Poland&language=en_US

 

[AVMNUSA 11]

On 6/7/2023 at 10:55 PM, AVMNUSA said:

My wife had her interview on June 5.  As of today (June 7) she has not received her visa.  She was told at the interview that it would take 3 to 5 days to get her visa.

 

 

My Wife’s visa interview was Monday morning at 8:20 AM.  Before my trip to Warsaw, I had read the same post you were referring to about the couple that picked up their visa the next day at the Mail Boxes Etc. store on Wiertnicza.  Even though my wife didn’t receive a message stating that her visa was ready we went to the Mail Boxes Etc. store right before they closed on Tuesday  hoping her visa would be there.  Unfortunately her visa was not there.  An employee at Mail Boxes Etc. said that visas are dropped off at his store only once a day at 3:00 PM.  Wednesday morning I left Warsaw to return to the United States and my wife took a train to her sister’s house which is a two hour train ride from Warsaw.  Early this morning (Friday 12:09 PM Warsaw time) I received a message from my wife saying that she was on her way to pick up her visa.  I don't  know yet when she received the message saying the visa was ready to be picked up.  When I find out I will let you know. 

[AVMNUSA 11]

1 hour ago, KESA said:

My husband's interview was also June 5th (maybe we saw you guys in line outside the consulate 😂) his visa was issued June 7th. Have you tried emailing them to check in? 

 

@AnaBanana12345 they didn't ask for our AOS documents - my husband brought an updated version to the interview (we applied to the NVC ages ago - so we had updated financial information by now, so our lawyers recommended we fill out a new AOS document and bring it just in case). But they never asked for a copy of the original or the new one we had filled out. We brought copies of both just in case though.  

 

For our interview: 

• His appointment was 8am, we arrived in line at 7:20am and were 4th in line 
• The windows opened at I think 7:45am and if you were applying for an immigrant visa, you were instructed to go to window #2 
• At this window they looked at the print out of his confirmation page from the embassy (the sheet that says if you elected to have the visa delivered vs. to pick it up) and his passport 
• After that you move to the side and wait for the doors to open at 8am 
• Once the doors open: they won't let you in until your phone is off and they won't let you in with any bag larger than an 'A4' size - so anyone with backpacks got asked to leave their bags outside the embassy (my husband gave his to me, the guy in front of us was alone - so he went across street where I think there was a storage facility or something -- it meant he was further back in line though so delayed him a bit) 
  • There was a lady with a tote bag that was let through, they just did a quick search but she was allowed to take it inside 
  • cameras, laptops or any larger electronic devices are also not allowed 
• With all that, my husband was through the doors at 8:05am 
• He handed his phone to security, who gave him a ticket to pick it back up when he left 
• He then went to a counter where they gave him a ticket with his number/place in line to be interviewed 
• That same person at that counter called his number and did his preliminary interview. For him, he says he only waited about 10 minutes between getting his ticket and getting called back up (he says people that came later had to wait longer since there were more people / a longer line by then)
  • He handed her his passport 
  • She asked the following questions: name of his sponsor, is this your first or second marriage, do you have any kids, how many times have you entered the US, what was the duration of the longest stay, have you committed a crime
  • She asked for the following (original) documents: marriage license, birth certificate, police clearance certificates, 1 photo 
  • The entire exchange lasted 5 minutes (some people that weren't prepared with all the correct documents took as long as 20 minutes for this interview) 
• After that he went to sit back down and wait to be called for his secondary interview - this was the longest part. They didn't open the interview window until 9:30am, so he ended up waiting for about an 1hr-1:15hr to be called for this interview 
• Once he was called for the second interview - this took about 5 minutes 
  • Very friendly - handed back all documents that the first interviewing officer had taken (the marriage license, birth certificate, etc.), excluding the police clearances, which she kept 
  • Questions: how did we meet, when did we get married, where did we get married, what do you do (career-wise), what is your wife's job / position
  • She also asked to see my updated W2s (we had applied through the NVC back in early 2021, so we had two years of updated W2s that she wanted to see

 

Because of the updated W2s - we showed her the physical copies, but she said they also needed to be uploaded to the CEAC portal before she could issue the visa. We uploaded immediately after the interview, when there had been no case status change by the following morning - we sent an email to support-poland@ustraveldocs.com asking if they had received the documents and checking on the status of our case. We did not receive a reply, but by the following morning (about 24 hours after we had sent the email, and 48 after the interview had taken place / we had uploaded the W2s) when we checked our CEAC case status it had changed to 'issued'. My husband received an email a few hours later saying that his documents had been 'collected from the US embassy' and when we double checked on the embassy portal website it said the passport was ready for pickup. 

 

We checked our case status at the following links: 

CEAC status link: https://ceac.state.gov/CEACStatTracker/Status.aspx?App=NIV

Embassy Website: https://portal.ustraveldocs.com/SiteLogin?country=Poland&language=en_US

 

Thanks for your message.  My wife’s visa interview was 8:20 AM Monday.  Before my trip to Warsaw, I had read the post about the couple that picked up their visa the next day at the Mail Boxes Etc. store on Wiertnicza.  Even though my wife didn’t receive a message stating that her visa was ready we went to the Mail Boxes Etc. store right before they closed on Tuesday  hoping her visa would be there.  Unfortunately her visa was not there.  An employee at Mail Boxes Etc. said that visas are dropped off at his store only once a day at 3:00 PM.  Wednesday morning I left Warsaw to return to the United States and my wife took a train to her sister’s house which is a two hour train ride from Warsaw.  Early this morning (Friday 12:09 PM Warsaw time) I received a message from my wife saying that she was on her way to Warsaw to pick up her visa.  I don't  know yet when she received the message saying the visa was ready to be picked up.  Congrats on receiving your visa!

[AVMNUSA 11]

On 6/9/2023 at 10:07 AM, AVMNUSA said:

 

 

My Wife’s visa interview was Monday morning at 8:20 AM.  Before my trip to Warsaw, I had read the same post you were referring to about the couple that picked up their visa the next day at the Mail Boxes Etc. store on Wiertnicza.  Even though my wife didn’t receive a message stating that her visa was ready we went to the Mail Boxes Etc. store right before they closed on Tuesday  hoping her visa would be there.  Unfortunately her visa was not there.  An employee at Mail Boxes Etc. said that visas are dropped off at his store only once a day at 3:00 PM.  Wednesday morning I left Warsaw to return to the United States and my wife took a train to her sister’s house which is a two hour train ride from Warsaw.  Early this morning (Friday 12:09 PM Warsaw time) I received a message from my wife saying that she was on her way to pick up her visa.  I don't  know yet when she received the message saying the visa was ready to be picked up.  When I find out I will let you know. 

I have a final update: I finally was able to Skype with my wife after after her 17 hour bus ride back to Ukraine.  My wife's interview was June 5 at 8:20 AM.  She received a message Wednesday afternoon saying her visa was ready to be picked up.  If she had been in Warsaw she could have picked it up late Wednesday afternoon.  When she  received the message she was at her Sister's house which is a two hour train ride to Warsaw.  She ended picking up her visa Friday afternoon.

[AVMNUSA 11]

On 5/24/2023 at 9:51 AM, AnaBanana12345 said:

Hi everyone, any updates on interviews? From what I hear, people are able to pick up passports the next day after their interview, which is great. Was this the experience of people here?

 

Also, FYI, for those Belarusians who prepare to immigrate. There was a new form of police certificate approved in March 2023 and now it has to contain information about crimes and administrative misdemeanors (rather than just crimes as before), so be aware. 

 

 

I have a final update: I finally was able to Skype with my wife after after her 17 hour bus ride back to Ukraine.  My wife's interview was June 5 at 8:20 AM.  She received a message Wednesday afternoon saying her visa was ready to be picked up.  If she had been in Warsaw she could have picked it up late Wednesday afternoon.  When she  received the message she was at her Sister's house which is a two hour train ride to Warsaw.  She ended picking up her visa Friday afternoon.