millefleur

No....

You can visit Russia at this time, plenty of tourists are still coming and going. Just not as many from western countries. There are no flights from Europe to Russia anymore except from Serbia. Istanbul remains a popular city to change planes in for those wishing to visit Russia.

I second hiring a lawyer, perhaps considering consulting a lawyer inside of Russia as well just to clarify what can be done.

I'm aware, that is why I didn't mention the field offices but said you have to request to file at the local embassy. That is just a general thread for people who have had experience with "exceptional circumstances" at different embassies. Other people have since updated with example cases long after the field offices closed.

Everyone has to do the same paperwork and income proof (and domicile if the USC lives abroad.) In terms of faster processing, there might be an option for "exceptional circumstances" DCF where you file the I-130 directly with the embassy instead of USCIS. It's for US citizens who live abroad and have an "exceptional circumstance" reason to get their case processed faster. For info on that, you can see this thread: Discretion is solely up to the local embassy and you must meet the requirements. Processing time is faster but varies from embassy to embassy. It's rare but some people do end up qualifying and getting approved for it so just something to think about if you fit this situation.

The Moscow Embassy had a totally separate area for IV applicants with separate rooms. I guess because it's a large embassy? That was my only experience so I just assumed it would be the same for others. I thought there was an exception in some cases where you could bring your own interpreter? This was the case with tourist visa interviews at least.

I see this as a green light for Russian beneficiaries to start asking around to other embassies. While it's technically possible to get a Schengen visa and then go to on to Warsaw from there, they need to understand others will get rejected for a Schengen and they need a place to send Russian applicants.

Yes, that is the non-immigrant visa section. Anyone applying for a K-1 or spousal visa will go to an entirely different section for immigrant visas. There are separate rooms with a closed door where you get interviewed one-on-one. This is because immigrant visas are treated with more scrutiny for security reasons. Anyone applying for an immigrant visa (or K-1) would not be in the same big open room with the student and tourist visa people, but in a completely different part of the embassy where they get called into a separate room one-on-one. Hope that's clear. In that case, they may allow someone to bring an interpreter. Need to check in with what they require.

I'd say apply for a B, if they get turned down you can always have them do U4U. To be more clear, there's no special "family visit" visa or "private" visa, it all just goes under the B (tourist) visa.

Student visa might be held at a different unit (NIV) so the requirements for K-1's and spousal visas might be different?

Serbia used to be an option, then they supposedly stopped. But now that there is a war in Israel, might be worth trying again?

My only concern now is that intraborder checks are popping up due to the new migrant crisis. I saw some news articles that countries have been checking but not sure how regular, or if it's only at the land border and not at airports etc. You can do a quick search and recent articles will pop up: https://www.barrons.com/news/germany-tightens-polish-czech-border-checks-as-migrant-numbers-rise-33d47f5a That said, a single entry Schengen visa should mean you are fine even if they do check so long as you did not leave the zone and try to re-enter.

Even if you fly between airports after entering the Schengen, they don't check. Schengen to Schengen flight transfers are open apart from going through security. There's no immigration/border control once you are in the zone except for when you are taking a flight outside the Schengen area. Thus, flight between Greece and Poland has no immigration control. But a flight from Greece to Turkey or the US would (final destination is leaving the Schengen area.)

Why can't you got to Spain, stay there 1-2 days and then go to Poland on a single entry Schengen visa? You will have an entry stamp in your passport from Spain so there's no issue there that you did not use the Spanish visa as intended. Visitng Poland is merely moving around the Schengen zone, which is allowed hence "Schengen visa". There's no reason you can't enter to Spain and then get a fight to Poland. Once you are in the Schengen zone, your passport doesn't get stamped or checked again until you exit the Schengen zone. I don't understand the purpose of hiding plans to visit Poland, there's no "work" or "study" connected to visiting Poland for the interview, so hiding that seems weird to me. Is the concern that if you told them you also want to visit Poland that they would decline you and tell you to apply for a Polish visa?

Yes exactly, that is what the Schengen zone is: border-free travel once you are inside. Single entry vs multiple entry should not change that, I'm not sure why @rikko thought otherwise. Unless Poland is forcing Russians to go through customs again?

Single entry means you can enter any country but if you enter from a different country than the issuer (i.e. Greece gave you the visa but you enter via Italy first) then the consulate that issued the visa frowns upon that and if they don't see any of their country's stamps in your passport, they may not issue you a second visa. The reason is because you'll only get 2 stamps: one entry and one exit, and consulates don't know if you truly visited their country or not unless you get the stamp. You can enter any Schengen country no matter which country issued the visa. You can also exit from any country inside of the Schengen zone.

You can try but the odds are not in your favor. Depends on how much time and money you are willing to gamble to go there and find out.

It won't, they go by the digitally recorded dates. The stamp is just a formality. Just make sure she leaves before her 90 days are up. Similar thing happened to us, wrong stamp (had the incorrect year), we called CBP and they said it doesn't matter because it's all recorded in the computer and on the I-94.

**Moved from DCF Discussion to Waivers (I-601 and I-212) and Administrative Processes (221g)**

I've heard of Telegram and WhatsApp grounds, not sure about Discord. As TBone said, if anyone wants to share please do so via DM. We're not allowed to post links to outside groups in the forums as per the admin's wishes.

This was a long time ago but if there was another poster here whose Russian husband was placed in a very long AP, due to his professional background. I believe it was @CM&KV and it took months to clear. That was before the war. AP is unfortunately a black hole and no one can predict how long it takes. Did they ask for any specific documents? Have you had any updates at all?

I agree with this.

I have heard that crypto works but I also don't have firsthand experience.

Good news! Really hope this works out. Your case has been one of the most frustrating and baffling I've seen here on the RUB forum.

We did this recently. See my thread on the topic: