BenNomad

The Jakarta Embassy's behavior is despicable. You really shoujld not have been assigned to Jakarta since you don't have residency, but they shouldn't go back on their word after agreeing to take your case. I don't understand it. The NVC really should figure this out, it was their mistake, but communicating with them is like shouting at a brick wall. By default you should have been assigned to Warsaw. @TBoneTX's suggestion to seek Senate/Congressional seems like a good option. If I were in your shoes I would look into suing the Jakarta Embassy, but I'll admit that's probably not the best way to solve the problem. Did you try contacting the Jerusalem Embassy? It's the only place currently that seems to be taking transfers without residency. But since you've already traveled to SE Asia, I would fight to stay with the Jakarta Embassy unless you're too upset with them now to want to do the interview there. You originally wanted to do the interview in Warsaw, right? Does your husband have a valid Schengen visa? If not, he won't be able to get one unless he goes back to Belarus to apply.

Sure, get it all ready in advance. You can always get your most recent bank statement once your case is created at the CEAC.

Thank you! Couldn't have been said more clearly!

I have the same situation. Here's what I sent for domicile proof: - current US driver's license - personal bank account statement which I actively use - current business license (I have a partnership registered in the US) - business bank account contract with my name shown there with the US address - I also had my mom write a letter stating that we would be coming as guests to her place (the address I use) but would be seeking our own place when we got there - finally, I cooked up an email thread with my brother about a rental property that is available to us. It's actually a real offer, but we did the emailing just for the sake of domicile proof. Or I should say, intent of establishing domicile. Oh, and you also need to write your own statement that you are planning to establish domicile. In that letter I wrote that I have always worked remotely (whether in the US or overseas) but have always filed US taxes. For that letter I modified a template that I found right here on this forum! Thank you again, VisaJourney

Just scheduled the med exam in Warsaw with the Wilanow clinic, and in their confirmation email they wrote the following information: Regarding COVID: citizens of Russia are exempt from the requirement of COVID vaccination, and can finalize their green card process and enter the US without having had the approved vaccine They confirmed that this is official information from the US Embassy. I thought the exemption only applied if you do the med exam in Moscow. Is this new information? Can anyone say what happens after US arrival? Does the green card come without doing the COVID vaccine?

uh oh, now you'd better send them a nicely-worded apology letter just kidding. Hopefully you'll get it in a few days. Would be totally unfair if it gets put off until Septmeber!

Я ожидал письмо после 20-го. Подождите еще неделю, должно прийти. Кто знает, какой у них порядок. У нас "priority date" 17.06.2022. Может быть отправляют по приоритету?

У нас (из РФ) DQ было 06.07 и письмо получили вчера, 16.08. Собеседование будет 04.10 Для РБ наверное такой же срок. Посольство отправляет письма раз в месяц

USCIS approved the I-130 May 18. I was able to login to the CEAC I think the same day or the next day. Payment, case creation and those initial steps happened very quickly. Started uploading documents May 24. The NVC reviewed documents faster than their published estimated timelines. After their first review, they requested domicile proof (which I had carelessly overlooked) and some additional tax documents (they are very interested in 1099s). I uploaded those additional documents quickly but noticed a week later that I had forgotten to push the "submit" button. Duh! I hit "submit" on June 22 and again, they reviewed the documents faster than I expected.

I just discovered on the Bank of America website that Russia has disappeared from the list of countries that it's possible to send wire transfers to. I guess that's no surprise at all because of sanctions. But somehow I thought it was still possible, since not all the banks are sanctioned. A friend in the RF gave me his account details at Raiffeisen for wiring euros, and I assumed I'd be able to send euros from BofA. I was wrong! Anyone know if European banks can wire money to the RF these days? I have a friend in Germany who might be able to help me do that if it's still possible. Got to find a way to send my wife some money.

Totally understand your not wanting your fiancee going back to the RF to apply for a Schengen visa. As mentioned already, Jerusalem may be the only option at the moment for transfers. Hopefully they don't close the door on that like Almaty did. It's a matter of choosing the least bad option. Other choices? Get married abroad. Seek political asylum via Mexico. Wait until the war is over.

I got an email from the NVC today with the interview date in Warsaw. DQ: July 6 IL: Aug 16 Interview: Oct 04

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but there's no burden on the applicant to provide proof of their intention to immigrate to the U.S. On the contrary, immigration law assumes that a visitor plans to stay (which is why for non-immigrant visas you have to prove that you are planning to leave). There's enough common sense in that to be not worried that your spouse's newly-acquired residency in Georgia is going to cast any doubt on her intention to immigrate to the U.S. The petitioner, on the other hand, does have to prove that they have domicile in the U.S., and if they are not currently living in the U.S. that they have intention of moving there, establishing domicile, etc. That's an important part of the NVC stage of the process.

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

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.

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.

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.

I'll relate a story here that bugs me to no end. I have friends from Russia that went to Mexico last year intending to claim asylum at the U.S. border. They were not alone in doing that, of course. While in Mexico, the situation improved and they were actually able to make an appointment ahead of time with the US Border officials. They had to wait a month or two for the appointment, but were let in without any detention, handcuffs or anything like that. All of them being Russian citizens, I suppose they had little chance at a tourist visa (they had participated previously in the lottery program). In fact, they tried to book an appointment for a tourist visa at the US Embassy in Tbilisi, and were told that the wait time for an interview was more than one year! Unbelievable, right? So, they did what they could and went to Mexico. And now they have been in the U.S. for over six months. I'm not in touch with them anymore so I don't know what their situation is like now, are they working, what governement benefits do they get, and so on. Of course, they will have a court hearing at some point (how many years from now?) and knowing them personally I can say that their case is based on nothing substantive (I hesitate to say fabricated, but there are those, too). Will they be granted asylum? I'd bet yes. I'm glad for them and I think they will do well in the U.S. But I'll be honest, it bugs me. It's that the system is so easily abused that bugs me. Since @Don4593 is a U.S. citizen, I'm not sure it's possible for his wife - assuming she had genuine reason for requesting asylum - to request it. And personally, the thought of being in the U.S. with a court hearing hanging out there in the future would give me no peace of mind. Going for the IR-1 is so preferable, but it isn't easy or fast.

Here's a sample of the "statistics" thread for Spain: Every country has its own statistics thread. Messages follow a set format so it's easy to pull the info out. It was easier to see the data all at once in an Excel sheet, but I'm not going to do that for every country! I think your 2-week plan sounds good. Italy or Spain may actually give you more time than you ask for. But their one-month processing time would be cutting it too close for us if we wait for the IL, since my wife will be doing the med exam in Warsaw. Be sure to check appointment availibility for Italy or Spain, since those are the more sought-after ones, like France.

I heard back from @MosCali. They were DQ June 12, got the interview letter already (end of July I assume), with the interview Sep. 19. So I'm confident now that I (and you) will be getting the IL this month. I was DQ July 6.

I mentioned asylum because it is out there and many people have used it to get to the U.S. more easily than what my family is going through now with the IR-1. If a person is in genuine danger and can prove it in court, asylum makes sense. But in my opinion, most Russians' case for asylum is flimsy at best, and they are running the risk of being deported back to Russia. Getting out of Russia is easy, but the list of countries where Russians can stay for more than a month is very short. And it requires passive income or the ability to work remotely.

Is your wife in danger of being persecuted by the Russian authorities? If yes, then she may be eligible for political asylum. If not, then: You being in the U.S. is not going to speed up the immigration process. There's no shortcut that I'm aware of. If you simply want to get your family out of Russia as soon as possible, you can go to a third country like Uzbekistan or Egypt and live there temporarily if you have the means to support yourself. Your wife can apply for a non-immigrant U.S. visa at any consulate. You can start the immigration process online at any time but it's going to take a year at least to complete.

And for Greece. Fast turnaround on Greek visas, but they are only for the exact dates of travel. Half the posts don't specify how many days they requested.

I collected statistics from Forum Vinskogo on recent experiences of Russians applying for Italian Schengen visas. The 10 most recent posts. Thought this may be useful since a lot of people try for Italy. Income figures are in roubles. One rejected out of ten. The processing time seems to be around a month.

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.