ITBOB

Today we went to VFS Global to pickup my MIL's passport with VISA. Our experience was almost identical as was reported earlier by SIMPLYTEX. The day after the interview at about 4:00 PM local time we received an email from the service desk that the passport had been picked up and was on its way to VFS Global. This was the same time as reported by SIMPLYTEX, so they probable automatically send out this email at 4:00 PM the day after the interview. Because our interview was on a Thursday and we received that notification on a Friday, and knowing that VFS Global is closed on the weekends we waited until today (Monday) to go to VFS. We arrived at VFS at about 11:30 AM Monday and my wife and MIL went into the office while I waited outside the office in a small waiting area. They were in the office about 10 minutes and received an envelope containing the passport with VISA and instructions on how to pay the immigrant fee. The information says that the "A" number and case ID# are printed on the flyer but they are not. You can get both numbers off of the attached VISA even though it is not called an "A" number on the VISA but instead called a "Registration number". I was successfully able to pay the "Immigrant Fee" with that information and was informed that her "Green Card" would be mailed to the address on the application. I think if the interview had been earlier in the week the VISA would have been ready in two days like they told us at the consulate. INESKA, I know you are trying to decide on return flight dates so I think you could plan on two days after the interview to get the VISA if your interview falls on an earlier day of the week. We will be departing Almaty to go back to the US on Wednesday morning. Not looking forward to the long flight but we have been here two weeks and ready to go home. Almaty is a beautiful place and the people here are incredibly friendly, so we will wish that part of our trip. I hope this information helps other people coming up for interviews and If I can answer any questions I will. Thanks to everybody that offered advice and INESKA, good luck on your mothers interview. I am sure it will go as smooth as ours was!

This morning my mother-in-law had her interview at the US consulate in Almaty. Her appointment was at 8:00 AM and we arrived at 7:30 and there was a few people waiting at the entrance. My wife and her mother went to the front and the security officer called out for 8:00 AM appointments and I was surprised that there was only one other person waiting. They let my MIL into the lobby but when my wife tried to accompany her they would not let her in the door. I had read that an elderly person could have someone accompany them but they refused my wife entry. We waited in front of the consulate for about 45 minutes and my MIL came walking out the door. Everything else I write is based on my MIL recollection because we were not there. I had organized all of the required paperwork into a multi-tab organizer with all tabs labeled for what documents they contained. She said they wanted to see her and my wives original birth certificates, the DS-260, our 1040 tax form and that was it. They didn't look at any of the notarized translations or copies. I had spent hours and $ getting all of the translations and they didn't even look at them. They told her that they didn't have a digital copy of her updated police report even though I had uploaded it to CEAC a month ago. They accepted the original police report that she had, but again didn't care about the translations. When she was called to the interview window she said they asked her how many times she had been married and what happened to her spouses. She has been married three times and one ended in a divorce and the other two spouses were deceased. They knew that already because they had the divorce and death certificates. She said the interviewer then asked her where she was going to live and she told them Florida, and that was the last question they asked. They told her that her visa would be ready in two days and gave her a small piece of paper with the VFS address on it and she was out the door. She said that everybody treated her very well and the whole experience was better then she thought it was going to be. I had read on the website that they would give her a visa packet with information in it but she received nothing other than the address of VFS. I tried to pay the immigrant fee online but it requires her "A" number which is supposed to be in the visa package she should have received. I am hoping that this information will be with the passport when we pick it up. I am not sure if VFS will contact me or I need to contact them so I will check into that tomorrow and post what I find out. All in all it went much smoother and quickly than any of us anticipated so hopefully this will help others coming up on interviews. I will post again in the next couple of days to report on how long it took to get the visa and how that went. Thanks to everybody who helped me through this process!

Ineska, Yes, the service center changed the document pickup point to the VFS Global office in Almaty, and a couple of days ago they sent me an updated confirmation letter with the correct address. I think we are good to go with the paperwork now and we will relax the next couple of days until the interview. You were right about the people here, they are very friendly and helpful. Fortunately my wife and MIL speak Russian so that makes thing easier, but many places have English speaking staff now which helps. The weather is great here and my wife has me walking with her everywhere, but the hills are about to wear me out. I will post after the interview and let everyone know how things went.

My mother-in-law had her medical exam at the IMC clinic in Almaty today, and everything went very smooth. The reception staff were very friendly and helpful and my MIL who is a doctor herself was very impressed with the doctor who did the exam. The X-Ray which is done in a separate location was a little hectic but also went smooth. we had to return to the X-ray location two hours later to pick up a CD. Her interview is this Thursday (9-7-23) and hopefully everything will go as smooth as the exam. I will post again after her interview for everyone's information.

Ineska, Thanks for the information! I still haven't been able to get to the passport delivery option but the service center changed the delivery to VFS Global for me. Now I am trying to get a confirmation letter and I think we will be good. I think the issue is because we scheduled our own appointment and not NVC. It seems like I am seeing different web pages that someone who had the appointment scheduled by NVC. I never had the options you described earlier as the only choice was the DHL office and there was no way to print a confirmation letter. I have asked the service center to send me a confirmation and I am waiting for their response. Thanks again for all the information you have given me and I will report back to you how our process went. We will be leaving for Almaty this Wednesday and I will report from there.

Ineska, Thanks for the information. I have extended our stay in Almaty until 9-13-23 to be safe. My MIL interview is on the 7th which is a Thursday, and even two days would put it on a Saturday and I don't know if any passport pickup location will be open on the weekend, so I decided to play it safe. I have been in contact with the TravelDocs help staff and they told me to pick "Reschedule Appointment" on the menu and then I would see a "Registration of passport delivery address" button. I tried that, but their was only an option to reschedule the appointment. I notified them of that but have not heard back yet. Where did your friends mom pickup her passport? I will let you know after the interview when we get her passport how long it took and any issues we encountered. Thanks again for the information!

Ineska, Thanks for the reply. I went back to the travel docs portal and their is no option to schedule an appointment, presumably because I already have one. I checked all selections on their menu: (reschedule appointment, cancel appointment, update profile) but none of the options gives me the ability to edit the visa pickup location and I have no option to print a letter with barcode. I sent an email to TravelDocs asking about this issue and I will let you know what I find out when they reply. Thanks again!

Ineska, Thanks for the information, that is good to hear. If you can let me know when they actually get the passport with the visa and where they picked it up from. When I selected "pickup" for passport the only option I had was the DHL office in Almaty. I keep seeing references to VFS Global on the forum, but nowhere did I see that location as an option for passport pickup. The problem I have is her interview is on 9-7-23 and I was planning on leaving Almaty on 9-10-23. Because the interview is on a Thursday I only have one day before the weekend. If it takes three days I will have to change our flight out of Almaty. When I did my wifes K-1 in Moscow years ago we picked the visa up from the embassy the next day. Let me know what you have selected for your visa pickup location and did you select it on the TravelDocs website? Hopefully I will somehow get the visa in time to still leave on the 10th.

Thanks for the additional information and confirmation on what we had been told Ineska! We are leaving for Almaty on 8-30-23 and if possible I will post from there our experience with the medical exam and interview. Good luck to all of us!

Ineska, My MIL's medical exam is on the 9-4-23 and her interview is on 9-7-23. We are cutting it pretty close but the clinic didn't think that it would be a problem. Hopefully they are correct.

Called the IMC clinic last night and talked to someone about the subjects we have been talking about, namely the Covid vaccine requirement. I explained that my mother-in-law who lives in Russia had not had any doses of any Covid vaccine. She told me that there were no approved vaccines available in Russia or Kazakhstan. She said my MIL like other Russian immigrants would receive the "Not readily available" waiver. This is the same thing that Ineska had reported earlier in this thread. I also asked her if there had been any issues with immigrants with the waiver having any problems with boarding a plane for the US and she said to her knowledge that there had not been issues that she had heard of. I would think that if the consulate approves a Visa then that should be all that is required, but I was not sure. She did suggest that we move up the appointment a few days because she said that even though they send the results to the consulate immediately, it sometimes takes 48 hours for the consulate to review them. I changed airline reservations today so we would arrive several days earlier than we had originally planned, so my wife and I will have a little longer vacation then originally planned. I hope this helps some others in the same situation and I will continue to post as we progress.

Thanks for the quick reply. I am glad to hear that you were told that by the IMC clinic. After researching clinics in Almaty that should have the Pfizer vaccine, my MIL called all three clinics and they told her that they had no vaccines available, so I don't see anyway that she can get an approved vaccine. My plan is to call the IMC clinic this Sunday night my time, and talk to someone there and explain everything and try to get a definite answer on whether or not she can get an exemption. The other problem I worry about is if we get the visa without a Covid certificate, will she be allowed to board a plane for the US. I have heard that non-immigrants are not required to have the Covid certificate but not sure for immigrants. If the clinic grants a waiver and she gets her visa maybe the clinic can give her something to show she meets all requirements. I will let everyone know what I find out because there will be others in the same situation. Congratulations on getting an interview date!

Ineska, Who told you that Russian citizens do not need the Covid vaccine? My Mother-In-Law called the IMC clinic to schedule an exam and they told her that she had to have an approved vaccine before she came for the exam. They also say on their website that you must have at least one shot of the vaccine to immigrate to the US. I did schedule an appointment for my MIL's interview for Sept. 7 and we were going to schedule her exam for Sept. 5 but she hasn't had any shots of a approved or unapproved vaccine. The IMC clinic does not have any vaccines but supposedly the Pfizer vaccine is available in Almaty. I found three clinics that reportedly did have the Pfizer vaccine and we are in the process of confirming that it is available. Our thoughts were to get her to Almaty earlier and get at least one injection of Pfizer. I know in previous posts that some Russian people went through the exam and were given the "not routinely available" exemption but it seems like that may have changed. I would get something documented that says that they do not need the vaccine if possible. I will keep everyone informed as we progress. Thanks for providing the info!

Thanks for the reply. I had read the same thing that you sent me the link for, and was hopeful that it was true. It says the same thing on the IMC webpage: "Applicants for immigrant visas must now be vaccinated at least one dose against Covid-19 in order to immigrate to the United States. The vaccines accepted for immigrants are those approved by the World Health Organization (WHO) for emergency use, or those which are licensed or approved for emergency use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Please visit the WHO website for more information." (https://imcalmaty.kz/en/immigration) Later on down the same page it says: Do I need to have both doses before my medical exam? - Yes. The vaccination process against COVID-19 must be completed before the medical examination. For most COVID-19 vaccines, this means you will need to have 2 doses complete before your exam. Not sure which statement to believe. My mother-in-law was going to call the clinic today and try to clarify what is needed, but I won't hear from her until tomorrow. I will post what I find out. Thanks again for the info!

The problem is that even if she was to get the Pfizer vaccine in Almaty, there is not enough time before the interview for both doses. We had already arranged hotel accomodations and airline flights for this trip and this throws a wrench into those plans. I will have to see if we can reschedule the interview for another time and reschedule hotels and airlines to a later date.