Russian IR1/CR1 -- State of the situation: Warsaw vs. Jerusalem? Or something else?

[ah-no 27]

Hey - I've been trying to establish an answer to this question but the information seems to be quickly outdated or spread across different threads. In my current understand, the only way for a Russian citizen to get the IR1/CR1 visa is via the Warsaw or Jerusalem embassy via a transfer, right?

If so, I don't really understand how to manage the Warsaw one at all. If you do this, how do you schedule the Schengen visa in Russia compared to scheduling the interviews? If they're giving visas just for the length of the trip and they issue a 2 week visa to, for example, Italy - what is the plan of action? Is this even enough time to do everything that needs to be done? Get from your entry country to Warsaw -> Medical exam -> interview -> passport return (all assuming no problems with Poland's issues with Russians)

If you transfer to Jerusalem, I've heard about Russians being turned away from the border, or, the embassy there keeps the passport for 1+ month even after approval. Besides the expenses of living there, this region also seems to be under some government instability at the moment, if you go by the news. Further, I've read this embassy asks for CVs and essays written in university? (This was K1 case, admittedly.)

Does anyone have answers on the logistics of doing this? If we were to get a residency in a country like Georgia, Greece, or Montenegro for the purposes of just conducting the interview (we'd live there too, but only for a few months, our time should be approaching this year or early next year), but still, wouldn't that be a little suspicious for the officer doing the interview?

This was madness before! Now, it is absolute madness! Prior, Serbia or Kazaksthan seemed the obvious choice...

[BenNomad 88]

It IS a very frustrating, complicated and changing situation. The other threads aren't necessarily outdated though. There's an active thread for those who are trying to transfer their interview from Warsaw somewhere else, and there's a thread for those who've decided to stick with Warsaw (or had no choice). There aren't a lot of active posters at the moment who are still waiting for interviews, so it may seem like threads are not being updated, but people are probably just waiting for some news about their cases.

 

You have time to look into getting a residency somewhere if that's a possibility for you (of course the applicant is the one who needs the residency). It won't look suspicious to the US State Department. If you have the legal right to live in a country, you can transfer your case there. But continually renewing a tourist visa (like doing the visa-run thing) or having a long-term tourist stay (like in Georgia or Egypt) is NOT considered a residency.

 

My wife's I-130 took 11 months for approval. Then things starting moving faster. What's your estimated wait time at USCIS? 

[ah-no 27]

Estimated wait time is "taking longer than expected", but judging by other estimates, I think around 2-3 more months until approval. It's been around 10 months since we started.

I'll have to check out the Warsaw thread but my main concerns were when to return to Russia to schedule the Schengen process... I thought this has to be scheduled like a month or two out because of how tough it was to get slots now. Then, also, the medical exam can be done in Moscow, but how long in advance can it be done? This would give a lot more flexibility. But.... a new question coms up.. does doing this exam in Moscow exempt folks from needing COVID vaccine? otherwise it's useless. it seems "maybe" based on what I read

[BenNomad 88]

As far as I know, you'll have to get the Covid vaccine in the U.S. if you don't get it at the medical exam in Moscow. You can travel to the U.S. but I don't think you will get your green card until you complete the Covid vaccine. Who knows, maybe in a half-year from now, they will remove Covid from the required vaccine list? One could hope!

 

There's not much to read yet in the other thread I started. It's actually much easier to find info about applying for Schengen visas in Russian. Форум Винского is a huge forum and there's a lot of up-to-date info, many users. It isn't difficult to get visa appointments for every country. For Greece, for example, you can book an appointment the same week or even the next day (probably depends on which city you're applying in).

 

Personally, I wish we had started the process to get a residence permit somewhere earlier. If we had residence in a third country, we could transfer the case there or at least apply for the Schengen visa from there instead of having to go back to Russia to apply. 

 

[ah-no 27]

We'll have to see about the residence thing, maybe we'll explore it at the same time we're doing the Poland plan as a backup option.

Right now my plan is this:
Wait for invitation letter (these seem to be about a month out) -->
1. She goes within 2-3 days to Moscow and tries to take the medical exam, (not sure how long it takes to book a place or get the results, if it's possible to do this way in advance, we could start sooner, after DQ, for example)

2. then, as soon as she doesn't need her passport for med exam, she starts the procedure for a 2-week Schengen trip ASAP, with the 3rd day of the 2-week period being the interview.

3. We'll enter EU from whatever country was quickest to get the visa,

4. transfer to Berlin the same day,

5.and take a car to Warsaw.

6. We'll do the interview and have around 10 days left to get the passport back.

Any holes with this plan that are glaringly obvious?

[BenNomad 88]

The medical exam results are good for 6 months in most cases (the doctor can indicate less if there are medical reasons for that) and you'll need to get to the U.S. before those results expire. So, if you can get it done in Moscow after DQ and before you get the interview letter, that should work out alright. 

 

Seems like Warsaw gives about 6 weeks' notice before the interview date, so that's not much time for getting the Schengen visa, but enough I think, if you already completed the medical exam. 

 

You don't have to drive into Poland. Many people have confirmed on Forum Vinskogo that if you are flying to Poland from another Schengen country, there is no passport control since it's in the borderless zone. So, if you get a visa to Italy for example, you can fly directly to Warsaw from Italy. However, DON'T book a through-ticket to Poland from outside the EU, like Istanbul-Rome-Warsaw, or they won't let your wife on the plane. Book the tickets separately.

[ah-no 27]

Well, that would be two trips back to Russia. So, 6 weeks isn't enough time to get a 2 week greek visa? 

[BenNomad 88]

14 hours ago, ah-no said:

Well, that would be two trips back to Russia. So, 6 weeks isn't enough time to get a 2 week greek visa? 

Once you're DQ, you'll be able to plan a trip to Russia to do the med exam and apply for the Schengen in one trip. Interview letters appear to be sent out once per month, around the 21-24th of each month. Hopefully that remains the case. If you can schedule the med exam just before you expect to get the IL, then you would have that taken care of and be ready to apply for the visa as soon as you know your interview date. Looks like Greek visas take 1-2 weeks, so that's plenty of time. 

 

Btw, your estimated wait time of "taking longer than expected" is odd. On the "My USCIS" portal, I had an 11.5 month estimate from the very start, and only toward the end did it increase to 12.5 but there was always a number.

[ah-no 27]

25 minutes ago, BenNomad said:

Once you're DQ, you'll be able to plan a trip to Russia to do the med exam and apply for the Schengen in one trip. Interview letters appear to be sent out once per month, around the 21-24th of each month. Hopefully that remains the case. If you can schedule the med exam just before you expect to get the IL, then you would have that taken care of and be ready to apply for the visa as soon as you know your interview date. Looks like Greek visas take 1-2 weeks, so that's plenty of time. 

 

Btw, your estimated wait time of "taking longer than expected" is odd. On the "My USCIS" portal, I had an 11.5 month estimate from the very start, and only toward the end did it increase to 12.5 but there was always a number.

It's not odd. A lot of people are in the same boat as me, and this number has changed for a lot of people. So, basically, this depends on your processing center, I'm at Potomac. 

When I started it was like, 12 months, it ticked down to around 7 or something, then jumped back up to 10 (in fact, a lot of people jumped back up at this time), then a few months later, it went down to like 1 month. When the 1 month ran out, it automatically ticked over to taking longer than expected. But, if you check visa journey estimates, folks at YSC (Potomac) with a date of roughly the end of august are being processed. I'm in Oct. So I expect around 2 months for NOA1. The situation can change between now and then, but it pays to be ready. I actually think it can be accepted early and assigned to Tbilisi. Sounds crazy, but we were married there, and not the first time it's happened, another person had the same.

It's something to think about, how to balance it. 

 

[BenNomad 88]

13 minutes ago, ah-no said:

I actually think it can be accepted early and assigned to Tbilisi. 

That would be great if that happens! Understood about the time remaining. Our i-130 was accepted when they indicated an estimated 5 months to go. But the overall wait was accurate to the original 11 month estimate.

 

Btw when filling out the DS-260, keep in mind that you could be asked to provide a police certificate based on what address you put as your current physical one. My wife's last permanent address remains in Russia, but since we were in Egypt I put that as our physical address. We had been there only a few months but the NVC required us to get a police certificate anyway. I was hoping that we'd be able to transfer our case there, but if I'd known that was not possible I wouldn't have mentioned Egypt at all. Fortunately, it wasn't hard to get but it delayed us a little in getting our documents submitted.

 

Other people have encountered the same issue when indicating a past long-term tourist stay somehwere and have had big delays because of the difficulty in getting the police certificate. 

[ah-no 27]

Her address was listed as in Russia and we grabbed a police certificate, and we'll see if we need another one or not. It's possible. My question is about the 6th month rule... we've been in Georgia AND Turkey off and on over 3 years using visa-free rules probably exceeding 6th months total, but never consecutively, and never as official "residents". I was never able to get an answer on that one.

[BenNomad 88]

On 8/9/2023 at 12:23 AM, ah-no said:

Her address was listed as in Russia and we grabbed a police certificate, and we'll see if we need another one or not. It's possible. My question is about the 6th month rule... we've been in Georgia AND Turkey off and on over 3 years using visa-free rules probably exceeding 6th months total, but never consecutively, and never as official "residents". I was never able to get an answer on that one.

I would not mention Georgia or Turkey since you were not residents there (did not "reside" there). 

 

Last fall, Warsaw was telling people to get a new police certificate if it's more than one year old, but as of January their website says police certificates are good for two years. My wife requested a new one this month since she's there and it's not difficult to do (but it does take 30 days) and the current one is now just over a year old. Probably don't need a new one, but we want to be as over-prepared as possible for the interview.

[ah-no 27]

8 hours ago, BenNomad said:

I would not mention Georgia or Turkey since you were not residents there (did not "reside" there). 

 

Last fall, Warsaw was telling people to get a new police certificate if it's more than one year old, but as of January their website says police certificates are good for two years. My wife requested a new one this month since she's there and it's not difficult to do (but it does take 30 days) and the current one is now just over a year old. Probably don't need a new one, but we want to be as over-prepared as possible for the interview.

Well, in the case of Georgia, she works in the country and is a tax resident there, so I'm concerned about that one, even though she's doing it visa-free. (Georgia allows people to work and come visa-free for a year)

[BenNomad 88]

On 8/10/2023 at 4:45 PM, ah-no said:

Well, in the case of Georgia, she works in the country and is a tax resident there, so I'm concerned about that one, even though she's doing it visa-free. (Georgia allows people to work and come visa-free for a year)

Yeah, Georgia is an unusual case with that visa-free year. If she's there now and the police certificate is not hard to get, you could show her current address as Georgia, get the certificate and not worry about it. On the other hand, if you tried to transfer the case to Tbilisi and the NVC asked for proof of your residence there, would being a tax resident on a one-year visa-free stay be sufficient proof? I doubt it. She still has her Russian "propiska" I assume, and that seems like proof enough of her continuing residence in the RF. I highly doubt anyone at the NVC or a consulate is going to go through her passport checking all the entry/exit stamps to see if she stayed anywhere longer than six months! If they do, that would partly explain why this process is soooo slow  

[ah-no 27]

3 minutes ago, BenNomad said:

Yeah, Georgia is an unusual case with that visa-free year. If she's there now and the police certificate is not hard to get, you could show her current address as Georgia, get the certificate and not worry about it. On the other hand, if you tried to transfer the case to Tbilisi and the NVC asked for proof of your residence there, would being a tax resident on a one-year visa-free stay be sufficient proof? I doubt it. She still has her Russian "propiska" I assume, and that seems like proof enough of her continuing residence in the RF. I highly doubt anyone at the NVC or a consulate is going to go through her passport checking all the entry/exit stamps to see if she stayed anywhere longer than six months! If they do, that would partly explain why this process is soooo slow  

She is there now, it’s not difficult to get the certificate, and tax residency is not enough to be a “resident”, of course. 
 

she may be able to get a residency in September but again, I’m wary this can indicate she’s not intending to immigrate and create complications. 
 

Same reason about getting the police certificate. 
 

you may say it’s common sense that people won’t look, or that getting the Georgian residency won’t affect stuff, but take a step back for a moment — is any of this process with Russian applicants based on “common sense”?