Completely lost and stuck in Russia

[millefleur 5,046]

1 hour ago, Boiler said:

DCF may be a possibility if you have a short notice job relocation, but first on what basis are you in Russia, are you Resident?

Residency in Russia did not used to be needed to get DCF, just any kind of "long stay" visa.

 

I have no idea if having that in Russia would qualify someone for DCF via another embassy though. @CyberSamurai013 attempted DCF in Russia post-Moscow embassy closure, if I'm not mistaken, and he did not have any luck getting accepted at another embassy.

[Boiler 45,313]

It would not be logical for a Consulate to have different requirements but what is logical?

[Don4593 1]

On 8/7/2023 at 7:54 PM, millefleur said:

That's DCF with exceptional circumstances and the US citizen has to be living abroad in a country that offers it. You have to apply to the embassy in that country and see if they will take your case.

 

It would not be one month, maybe 3 months fastest but processing time is totally up to the individual embassy. Again the USC has to be living abroad to qualify, so you need proof of residence in that country where the embassy is located. We have a whole forum about this:

https://www.visajourney.com/forums/forum/82-direct-consular-filing-dcf-general-discussion/

 

Not necessarily. She can always apply for a tourist visa and see what happens. Nobody here makes decisions on that, only the CO does. I would say her chances of getting a tourist visa are low but still worth a try if you don't mind the travel for the interview and paying the fee. 

 

You can wait it out together in a 3rd country, but unless you qualify for DCF and the embassy takes your case (as mentioned above) you will still be stuck with the long wait time, same as if you were in Russia or in the US while your wife waits in Russia. 

 

Great info. And thanks to everyone else who has pitched in, too. I'm reading all of the comments and considering everything.

I have residency in Russia. However, we of course would not be applying in Moscow since they've essentially shut down. Would another country recognize this residency? Belarus would taking into account a law between the countries that was just passed, but operations there are also shut down.

I also suppose it wouldn't too difficult to get residency in Turkey if it really came down to it.

Is the only way of knowing whether we qualify for our case being heard is showing up at the door or via email?  

Lastly, I want to ask a hypothetical question here. Others have mentioned some extenuating circumstances as a way of speeding up processing. Is that solely dependent on the CO or is there someone else who determines that

Edited August 8, 2023 by Don4593

[Dashinka 24,372]

28 minutes ago, Don4593 said:

Great info. And thanks to everyone else who has pitched in, too. I'm reading all of the comments and considering everything.

I have residency in Russia. However, we of course would not be applying in Moscow since they've essentially shut down. Would another country recognize this residency? Belarus would taking into account a law between the countries that was just passed, but operations there are also shut down.

I also suppose it wouldn't too difficult to get residency in Turkey if it really came down to it.

Is the only way of knowing whether we qualify for our case being heard is showing up at the door or via email?  

Lastly, I want to ask a hypothetical question here. Others have mentioned some extenuating circumstances as a way of speeding up processing. Is that solely dependent on the CO or is there someone else who determines that

I think your hypothetical is referencing requesting a consulate process the I130 with exceptional circumstances (commonly referred to as DCF).  This is a non-exhaustive list of exceptional circumstances that a consulate may consider to accept a DCF case.  Many people fall under a short-term job relocation.

 

Good Luck!

 

Exceptional Circumstances

Examples of exceptional circumstances include:

• Military emergencies – A U.S. service member, who is abroad but who does not fall under the military blanket authorization for U.S. service members stationed abroad on military bases, becomes aware of a new deployment or transfer with little notice. This exception generally applies in cases where the U.S. service member is provided with exceptionally less notice than normally expected.

• Medical emergencies – A petitioner or beneficiary is facing an urgent medical emergency that requires immediate travel.

• Threats to personal safety – A petitioner or beneficiary is facing an imminent threat to personal safety. For example, a petitioner and beneficiary may have been forced to flee their country of residence due to civil strife or natural disaster and are in precarious circumstances in a different country outside of the United States.

• Close to aging out – A beneficiary is within a few months of aging out of eligibility.

• Petitioner has recently naturalized – A petitioner and family member(s) have traveled for the immigrant visa interview, but the petitioner has naturalized and the family member(s) requires a new petition based on the petitioner’s citizenship.

• Adoption of a child – A petitioner has adopted a child abroad and has an imminent need to depart the country. This type of case should only be considered if the petitioner has a full and final adoption decree on behalf of the child and the adoptive parent(s) has had legal custody of and jointly resided with the child for at least 2 years.

• Short notice of position relocation – A U.S. citizen petitioner, living and working abroad, has received a job offer in or reassignment to the United States with little notice for the required start date.

https://www.uscis.gov/policy-manual/volume-6-part-b-chapter-3

[ah-no 27]

On 8/8/2023 at 2:48 PM, Don4593 said:

Great info. And thanks to everyone else who has pitched in, too. I'm reading all of the comments and considering everything.

I have residency in Russia. However, we of course would not be applying in Moscow since they've essentially shut down. Would another country recognize this residency? Belarus would taking into account a law between the countries that was just passed, but operations there are also shut down.

I also suppose it wouldn't too difficult to get residency in Turkey if it really came down to it.

Is the only way of knowing whether we qualify for our case being heard is showing up at the door or via email?  

Lastly, I want to ask a hypothetical question here. Others have mentioned some extenuating circumstances as a way of speeding up processing. Is that solely dependent on the CO or is there someone else who determines that

I believe they've really clamped down on handing our residencies to Russians in Turkey, you'd have to check. But, even if you go that route, I've heard the US embassy there is very, very slow. 

[CyberSamurai013 69]

On 8/8/2023 at 9:25 PM, millefleur said:

@CyberSamurai013 attempted DCF in Russia post-Moscow embassy closure, if I'm not mistaken, and he did not have any luck getting accepted at another embassy.

 

We did finally get our case accepted in Almaty, Kazakhstan but it took Senatorial and Congressional intervention to do so. 

[Dashinka 24,372]

18 minutes ago, CyberSamurai013 said:

 

We did finally get our case accepted in Almaty, Kazakhstan but it took Senatorial and Congressional intervention to do so. 

Congratulations!  Hopefully your case proceeds smoothly and speedily.

 

Good Luck!

[CyberSamurai013 69]

Just now, Dashinka said:

Congratulations!  Hopefully your case proceeds smoothly and speedily.

 

Good Luck!

 

Unfortunately, we had an emergency situation occur and ended up leaving Russia via a humanitarian parole.

[Don4593 1]

1 hour ago, CyberSamurai013 said:

 

We did finally get our case accepted in Almaty, Kazakhstan but it took Senatorial and Congressional intervention to do so. 

Hi! Can you go into more detail regarding this?

We were working with someone from the state department who was referred to us by our senator. We have a unique situation. Could you help me with how you contacted them and actually got through?

[CyberSamurai013 69]

Just now, Don4593 said:

Hi! Can you go into more detail regarding this?

We were working with someone from the state department who was referred to us by our senator. We have a unique situation. Could you help me with how you contacted them and actually got through?

 

Absolutely. Also, feel free to DM me if you want to.

 

Our situation was also very rare so we had to request representative assistance. If you go the websites for your Senators and the Congress people for your district, there should be a section for 'government agency assistance'. Go there and complete the inquiry form then submit it. They will contact you to request additional information and you can explain things in detail. One thing to note is that you should use only 1 representative at a time. Otherwise, it complicates things and causes delays. We contacted our Congresswoman at first but eventually switched to our Senator as the situation evolved. 

 

We started by filing everything online and via mail to the USCIS in America as DCF filing was impossible in Russia due to the embassy being effectively closed. We did this right after the war in Ukraine started. We filed for both an IR-1 immigrant visa and humanitarian parole based on the situation. We requested expedited processing and also had our Congresswoman request it as well via the method I described above. Our case was eventually sent to Warsaw for the interview but we could not go there as Russians were unable to get visas for Poland. We requested the US embassy in Almaty take our case and they refused. We asked our Congresswoman to intervene and she was able to get them to reluctantly take our case. This was a few months before cases were being redirected there so now it may not be an issue. Unfortunately, our situation in Russia worsened and we needed immediate assistance so we went to the embassy in Astana. We contacted our Senator (via the method above) and physically went to the embassy to seek assistance. We also had friends and family in America calling our Senator as well and I called USCIS directly. My wife was granted an emergency humanitarian parole and we came to America. We are in the process of adjusting her status now.

 

Please understand that we were fleeing political persecution and threatened wrongful detention as well as threats to our lives and those of our children. I don't want to go into too much detail but the State Department and FBI deemed them credible threats so we were justified in our actions. I say this because going to the embassy for non-emergency situations is not recommended. Anyone can request representative assistance with government agencies though and the method I stated above is the standard process to do so.  

 

Also, FYI, we were living in Russia together for almost a decade. I had a PRP, my wife is Russian, and our kids are dual citizens.

Edited August 25, 2023 by CyberSamurai013