millefleur

They know. The issue is the Moscow embassy was huge and it's hard for them to find a "replacement" to handle the same capacity (this is the supposed excuse.) I think DoS needs to divest completely from the Moscow embassy and reinvest/expand somewhere else like Almaty because for all intents and purposes there seems to be zero will to strengthen diplomatic ties between Russia and the US, thus meaning the closed Moscow embassy problem is going to linger on for years, maybe even decades? Warsaw was most likely chosen last minute because it's the default embassy for Belarussians, so they probably had Russian speaking staff and some capacity to process the cases there. However, Belarus is tiny and has barely any applicants compared to Russia so it's obviously not a long term solution at all (not to mention the annoyance of the Schengen visa.)

Did they give a paper with the reason for the denial? It's usually 214(b) but it seems they almost always provide some reason why it was denied. Very sorry to hear about this. I hope you can get the legal documents for the sibling, maybe see if there's any way you can get an emergency expedite for those? I totally agree with you on the frustration of the B visa process. I've known plenty of people who got approved who frankly didn't seem like they met any kind of strict requirement for showing ties to their country, it's baffling sometimes. I once had the opportunity to ask a consular officer "How do you make the decision?" and he told me "Some people just look trustworthy" - maybe he was just joking, but sometimes given the seemingly random outcomes of who gets approved and who doesn't, makes me wonder...

It didn't become impossible, it's just that the USCIS field offices abroad closed, which meant they no longer accept USC's who simply live abroad. Now you have to have "exceptional circumstances" and the whole process goes directly via the Embassy, the USCIS aspect is dropped completely. There are still a select few USCIS field offices open but they closed the overwhelming majority of them. Basically, in ye olden days: Be USC living abroad > apply at USCIS field office abroad and do an in-person drop off of the I-130 > wait until the Embassy takes over to process the case. Compared to the current "exceptional circumstances" scenario: USC living abroad contacts Embassy directly and presents case/evidence of "exceptional circumstances" > Embassy accepts case and processes both your I-30 and all other paperwork. It basically went from "open to all USC's living abroad" to "open to select USC's living abroad who meet specific requirements" so that's what happened.

Seconding this. DCF would be the easiest way for sure, it's worth reaching out to the embassy with your job offer to see if they will approve you. To have complete freedom of movement, she'll need to get US citizenship for that. A green card is not for living in two countries 50/50, but for living in the US full time as a permanent resident. Visa runs to reset ESTA sounds like a horrible idea. We've seen it time and time again here on VJ people who use ESTA too much are barred from entering the US and have ESTA revoked.

Sheesh that's intense. Has it always been this difficult to get into Israel or is it something they started more recently?

@Captain Ewok is the site's administrator.

Yep, I was guilty of pre-judging it myself but Istanbul is one of the best airports in the world and my family and friends who've been there have confirmed this.

It always surprized me how lowball the requirements to pass are.

Supposedly Istanbul is one of the nicest international airports out there as well. I've only ever heard good things. Can't say the same for a lot of European hub airports.

You might have to use a VPN to search for that. Another route is to go via Serbia. You can get flights from the US to Belgrade and then Belgrade to Russia.

Everyone I know who travels between Russia and the US (or Europe) these days goes via Istanbul. Would check with Turkish Airlines and see if you have luck.

Maybe we should make an alert to all members not to freak out if this message pops up for them? I hate to think of people wiping their computers and thinking they got hacked via VJ somehow when it seems to just be a benign cookie issue. Or perhaps Ewok could send out a mass email to everyone not to worry, it's being worked on etc.....

**Question split from other topic as DCF is consulate specific**

It sounds like you're approved for sure, could just be some stalling on their end for some reason. Did you get the case number yet?

**Moved from Bringing Family Members of Permanent Residents to America to the India regional subforum**

Zelenskiy confirms plan to replace commander of armed forces as part of ‘reset’ Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has admitted publicly for the first time that he is seeking to replace the country’s most senior military commander, Valerii Zaluzhnyi. “A reset, a new beginning is necessary,” Zelenskiy told the Italian outlet Rai News in an interview broadcast on Sunday night, when asked about rumours of Zaluzhnyi’s dismissal. Zaluzhnyi, who has led the armed forces since before Russia’s full-scale invasion, is a largely popular figure among soldiers and society at large, meaning replacing him could be a politically risky decision. Read more here: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/feb/05/ukraine-leadership-change-reset-zelenskiy-replace-senior-officials

Great to hear things are still functioning. Thank you for updating us.

It's really disturbing. I've clicked on strange and unusual links before (often when we check for spammers etc) and I've never seen or heard of anything like this. It's worrying to think of how off putting that is to new users who sign up, assuming it's also happening to them. Hoping @Captain Ewok checks in soon to get to the bottom of it.

Using Brave browser and I haven't experienced it yet. Do you think it might be browser related?

It's really easy, you can do it online. https://www.uscis.gov/addresschange

Everyone's case is different. Sometimes they might want both petitioner and beneficiary present. In our case, they let me join the interview voluntarily.

Nice! I think that's a first I've seen here on VJ haha. A+ student, good work.

Also not showing for me on your timeline. It sounds like a bug. You might want to also post about it in the bugs thread:

This is not related to the immigration issue (sorry you have to deal with this, and please do update us on the outcome) but my husband had success treating headache issues when a doctor here told him about taking high doses of vitamin B-2. Feel free to look up the studies around migraines and B-2, might be worth considering as a cheap, temporary alternative until he gets health insurance.

**Moved from What Visa Do I Need - Family Based Immigration to Working & Traveling During US Immigration**