Case Transfer to Jerusalem Worked! [merged threads]

[ah-no 27]

13 minutes ago, PaulMK said:

Good questions. The 6 months is cumulative time in one country. For instance, you can do 5.9 months in Mexico, then 5.9 months in Albania, then 5.9 months in Costa Rica. Not all countries combined. Have you spent more than six months in a single country?

 

Once you officially book an appointment with U.S. Embassy Jerusalem, you should immediately book a medical appointment too. There is only one doctors office that works with U.S. Embassy Jerusalem. They will probably tell you that you should have your medical appointment two weeks in advance to the interview. After that, the Embassy will hang on to your passport for 2-3 weeks. It took them 2.5 weeks to process our visa. Totaling to about 5 weeks in Israel. Yes you should have return tickets to show the border guard in Israel, yes, unfortunately you will probably have to change those tickets once you know the real date of which you can return home. It's very inconvenient and expensive. 

 

I cant think of any weird or quirky requirements. I am very fond of Israel and the U.S. Embassy there. They are very fast compared to other Embassies. Sometimes they even reply by email the very next day, and the interview was very straight forward for my fiance.

 

Buy a SIM card when you arrive. Makes things much easier and they are dirt cheap. Plus, the doctors will want to contact you with an Israeli number once your medical report is ready. 

 

You need at least one police certificate, the place of your residence. In my Russian fiance's case, we needed a Russian Police Certificate.

Not quote sure I got that part. I mean, for instance, if we vacationed in Turkey for 60 days then left, then went back 60 days next year, then 60 days next year, that's 6 months cumulatively. Would we need the police certificate? We can go back to Turkey and request a certificate, but do we need to submit it with the other civil docs, or just bring it to the interview?

We already have a valid Russian police cert ready to go, and will get a Georgian one.

As for other quirks, I've heard they've requested a CV, and something about having police reports sent directly to the embassy...

Another question: I've read a lot of reports that people had trouble finding an interview slot. How long did you have to wait to find one? Was it difficult? And how long did the transfer take after you requested it?

Again, thank you so much for your help, very appreciated. 

Edited September 7, 2023 by ah-no

[PaulMK 6]

5 minutes ago, ah-no said:

Not quote sure I got that part. I mean, for instance, if we vacationed in Turkey for 60 days then left, then went back 60 days next year, then 60 days next year, that's 6 months cumulatively. Would we need the police certificate? We can go back to Turkey and request a certificate, but do we need to submit it with the other civil docs, or just bring it to the interview?

We already have a valid Russian police cert ready to go, and will get a Georgian one.

As for other quirks, I've heard they've requested a CV, and something about having police reports sent directly to the embassy...

Another question: I've read a lot of reports that people had trouble finding an interview slot. How long did you have to wait to find one? Was it difficult? And how long did the transfer take after you requested it?

Again, thank you so much for your help, very appreciated. 

That's where it gets vague. I have no idea unfortunately.

 

We brought our police document to the interview, but my case was slightly different, it is a K1 visa. We had to bring all our documents to the interview. There was no submission beforehand.

 

As for quirks, they didn't ask for anything like that for my K1 case, but it may be different for you!

 

 

The transfer was instant. I sent an email to U.S. Embassy Jerusalem and they replied within a couple days asking for us to confirm the transfer. We replied back, and then they sent us a link to the scheduler.

 

After U.S. Embassy Jerusalem sent us the link to the interview scheduler, appointments became available that very day. I recommend paying the fee and refreshing the web page every once in a while. Did we just get lucky? Most likely. 

 

[ah-no 27]

Just now, PaulMK said:

That's where it gets vague. I have no idea unfortunately.

 

We brought our police document to the interview, but my case was slightly different, it is a K1 visa. We had to bring all our documents to the interview. There was no submission beforehand.

 

As for quirks, they didn't ask for anything like that for my K1 case, but it may be different for you!

 

 

The transfer was instant. I sent an email to U.S. Embassy Jerusalem and they replied within a couple days asking for us to confirm the transfer. We replied back, and then they sent us a link to the scheduler.

 

After U.S. Embassy Jerusalem sent us the link to the interview scheduler, appointments became available that very day. I recommend paying the fee and refreshing the web page every once in a while. Did we just get lucky? Most likely. 

 

Thanks. Yeah, I don't know about the submission thing. It's confusing. I suppose we could just submit the Georgia and the Russia ones and hold onto the Turkey one just in case.

So, interviews became available that day, but how far out were they? I mean, did you have to schedule 2 months in advance or 1 month, etc?

[PaulMK 6]

2 hours ago, ah-no said:

Thanks. Yeah, I don't know about the submission thing. It's confusing. I suppose we could just submit the Georgia and the Russia ones and hold onto the Turkey one just in case.

So, interviews became available that day, but how far out were they? I mean, did you have to schedule 2 months in advance or 1 month, etc?

We had the choice of one, two, or three months. It was a pretty big range. We chose 2 months because we needed to schedule our medical exam and finish paperwork.

[BenNomad 88]

At the Jerusalem embassy is the interview conducted only in English? I don't recall anyone mentioning or asking about that. My wife's English would not be good enough to do the interview without an interpreter.

Edited September 7, 2023 by BenNomad

[PaulMK 6]

1 minute ago, BenNomad said:

At the Jerusalem embassy is the interview conducted only in English? I don't recall anyone mentioning or asking about that. My wife's English would not good enough to do the interview without an interpreter.

They have Russian speakers at the Embassy!

[BenNomad 88]

6 minutes ago, PaulMK said:

They have Russian speakers at the Embassy!

That's cool. I wonder if that's one of the reasons they are accepting transfers. My wife and I don't really want to transfer to Jerusalem having heard all the negative stories of border issues, but I'm getting the feeling we may have no other choice at this point. We were in Egypt for six months and many Russians there tried to do visa runs to Israel with mixed success. Husband and wife would show up at the border, one gets in the other doesn't. That kind of thing.

[rikko 82]

1. Enter with your American fiancé or family member when travelling to Israel because they're more likely to trust your story this way. We had no additional screening when entering the country together.
2. Try to avoid transfers to or through Turkey/Qatar/other Muslim-majority countries. 
3. Regarding medical, I would try to do it in Jerusalem. We did our medical in Bethlehem and we didn't know Bethlehem was West Bank (after all, the name is in Hebrew and it's right next to the capital). They didn't like this at all. The other options are Gaza and Ramallah and these are probably worse. 
4. Interviews are available online and update regularly. Just keep checking back is my advice.
5. I would recommend just keeping your passport with you. Someone gave it to the embassy and is/was rapidly losing money waiting in Israel for it back. 
6. Israel is a very diverse country so you should have no issues finding English, Russian, Hebrew, or Arabic interviewers if you let them know ahead of time. 
7. Checkpoints happen regularly and transit can be severely disrupted this way. You could, for example, be barred from travelling between East and West Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Jerusalem, etc. We travelled to each location a day in advance so we would be able to walk to the interview/medical if vehicles were not available. There are hotels you can book for 1 night next to the embassy and near the medical. 

[PaulMK 6]

2 hours ago, BenNomad said:

That's cool. I wonder if that's one of the reasons they are accepting transfers. My wife and I don't really want to transfer to Jerusalem having heard all the negative stories of border issues, but I'm getting the feeling we may have no other choice at this point. We were in Egypt for six months and many Russians there tried to do visa runs to Israel with mixed success. Husband and wife would show up at the border, one gets in the other doesn't. That kind of thing.

I would recommend transferring. My fiance and I had no choice. It was the only embassy that would take us. However, they are a great embassy, and get things done quickly.

As for the border guard in Israel, have lots of proof for the reason you are visiting, and it should not be too much of a problem.

[ah-no 27]

9 hours ago, rikko said:

1. Enter with your American fiancé or family member when travelling to Israel because they're more likely to trust your story this way. We had no additional screening when entering the country together.
2. Try to avoid transfers to or through Turkey/Qatar/other Muslim-majority countries. 
3. Regarding medical, I would try to do it in Jerusalem. We did our medical in Bethlehem and we didn't know Bethlehem was West Bank (after all, the name is in Hebrew and it's right next to the capital). They didn't like this at all. The other options are Gaza and Ramallah and these are probably worse. 
4. Interviews are available online and update regularly. Just keep checking back is my advice.
5. I would recommend just keeping your passport with you. Someone gave it to the embassy and is/was rapidly losing money waiting in Israel for it back. 
6. Israel is a very diverse country so you should have no issues finding English, Russian, Hebrew, or Arabic interviewers if you let them know ahead of time. 
7. Checkpoints happen regularly and transit can be severely disrupted this way. You could, for example, be barred from travelling between East and West Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Jerusalem, etc. We travelled to each location a day in advance so we would be able to walk to the interview/medical if vehicles were not available. There are hotels you can book for 1 night next to the embassy and near the medical. 

Do you really have the option to keep the passport? I didn't think it was possible. 

[PaulMK 6]

15 minutes ago, ah-no said:

Do you really have the option to keep the passport? I didn't think it was possible. 

They certainly did not give my fiance the option. They need the passport because they physically put the visa inside (again, this is for K1 visa, however I knew a Russian American in Israel who had his mother immigrating to America and they held on to her passport untill the processing completed too.)

[aleksey23 8]

hello all.

seems like i am in the same boat.. have a russian wife (with her in st.pete) and have a case in warsaw (but would like it transferred.)  As i understand most embassies aren't taking our requests for a transfer, and as i am reading jerusalem seems to be the only way.  i would also maybe try serbia, as they still have good relations with russia. 

[BenNomad 88]

I emailed Jerusalem with a transfer request Sep. 12. On Sep 21 they sent an email asking me to confirm and I replied immediately. Today they sent another email stating that they have requested the transfer from Warsaw. Four hours later I got another email with instructions on how to schedule an appointment. I registed on the site (ais.usvisa-info.com), selected a delivery pickup location, and then got the message that there are no appointments currently available. 

 

CEAC still shows Warsaw as the interview location and the case number hasn't changed from WRW yet. Don't know if it's supposed to change. Maybe it will later.

 

So, at least we know we're headed to Israel for sure. Hopefully we won't have to wait months for an appointment.

 

[MasterCarrot 9]

2 hours ago, BenNomad said:

I emailed Jerusalem with a transfer request Sep. 12. On Sep 21 they sent an email asking me to confirm and I replied immediately. Today they sent another email stating that they have requested the transfer from Warsaw. Four hours later I got another email with instructions on how to schedule an appointment. I registed on the site (ais.usvisa-info.com), selected a delivery pickup location, and then got the message that there are no appointments currently available. 

 

CEAC still shows Warsaw as the interview location and the case number hasn't changed from WRW yet. Don't know if it's supposed to change. Maybe it will later.

 

So, at least we know we're headed to Israel for sure. Hopefully we won't have to wait months for an appointment.

 

Hey we are in a similar position now. Our number hasn't been changed but we got an email to sign up to schedule an appointment. There have been a few cases were the case number was never changed.  We have been looking for appointments for the last week nonstop but nothing yet. From other chats a lot of people are waiting and technically they should be opening December appointment dates soon since apparently last time they opened November dates. The whole approval thing is insanely strange because we spent all day looking at the website but somehow 2 people from the telegram chat im in were able to get an appointment today for November but we saw nothing just the same, old message, that no dates avaliable. There is no information on when they open these dates or on what logic their appointment system operates on. 

 

Edit: when we log into our ceac portal it also still shows the old location. 

Edited September 26, 2023 by MasterCarrot

[rikko 82]

5 hours ago, BenNomad said:

CEAC still shows Warsaw as the interview location and the case number hasn't changed from WRW yet. Don't know if it's supposed to change. Maybe it will later.

It won't change. You'll hear back likely within a week with more information on scheduling and payment. They sent us an email when they had physically received your application from Warsaw; what has happened so far is a digital transfer only. Happy travels!
 

2 hours ago, MasterCarrot said:

The whole approval thing is insanely strange because we spent all day looking at the website but somehow 2 people from the telegram chat im in were able to get an appointment today for November but we saw nothing just the same, old message, that no dates avaliable. There is no information on when they open these dates or on what logic their appointment system operates on. 

You can keep refreshing or checking regularly in the hopes that someone cancels their appointment. That is how those people in the telegram chat were able to get earlier appointments. Congrats on the transfer!

Now both of you be mindful of the medical! Bethlehem is West Bank, and this will/can cause issues. Plan ahead and try to stay in Jerusalem! East Jerusalem is cheaper in accommodation but is West Bank controlled, too. Please keep us updated on how your experiences go!