PG0305

My wife is Russian and a conditional green card holder. We realized yesterday that her passport expires in less than a year. I'd really like to get ahead of this and avoid any issues. Has anyone had any experiences with renewing a Russian passport in the US recently? I know many consulates are still open and I've seen some spammy looking services from Google Searches that claim to provide passport renewals. I'm not sure what the process would be and would very much like to avoid her having to fly back to Russia and then re-enter the US. This would not be the worst thing ever but is best to be avoided.

My wife is Russian, July 2024 - My wife came to the US on a K1 visa October 2024- (before 90 days were up), we married December 2024- I submitted the I-485 with I-864 February 2025 - I received an RFE based on the I-864 in February, then re-submitted in the same month after changing our household size on the form as I realized I filled that out incorrectly. May 2025- We have an interview scheduled The second required item on the checklist for the interview is as follows.. If required, a completed Form I-693, Report of Medical Examination and Vaccination Record, and/or vaccination supplement in a sealed envelope(unless already submitted). She underwent a medical exam in Moscow in late May of last year and received a sealed envelope as well as a DVD of a chest x-ray but no personal copies for records of the I-693 or DS-3025 the latter which contains vaccination history. Upon entering the US, CBP(?)/USCIS gathered that folder.. So this was indeed submitted, right? And I did not need to have included it with the initial I-485 submission or the visa interview? With the interview rapidly approaching, I am worried that with the announcement on 12/2 from USCIS that... Effective Dec. 2, 2024, if you are required to submit Form I-693, or a partial Form I-693 (such as the Vaccination Record), you must submit it with your Form I-485. Otherwise, we may reject your Form I-485. I have not only submitted an incomplete and soon to be rejected I-485 application but will now also need to schedule a new medical exam for my wife before our interview so our case is not rejected. Is this the case? Are we screwed? Please advise for those who have been through this situation. I'm also not sure why the Russian medical office wouldn't have provided a copy of the I-693 or DS-3025 in the first place...

Not sure if you've already found an answer but my wife and I were able to get a Schengen visa from Spain this summer and then travel onward to Poland in a fairly straightforward way. She'd had several Schengen visas prior and was able to apply for a Spain Schengen visa after finding a Telegram channel with a bot that sends alerts when interviews are available. I booked everything with refundable tickets in case things didn't work out which was expensive but we ended up having a very nice trip. Poland/Warsaw was surprisingly a great place to visit!

After successfully receiving a K1 via Poland in August, getting married in October, submitting our AOS in December '24, and a RFE in February (most likely due to the I-864 being filled out incorrectly), we finally received a notice that our interview was scheduled to take place in May! This is exciting news that the process is moving forward but I can't help but feel a bit nervous. I'd heard from a lawyer last year that interviews are rare for K1, especially so quickly, so does this mean that something could be wrong or is it a change in procedure due to the new administration? For those who've gone through the interview process following a K1, what are some things to look out for and items to double check? Anything would be appreciated. Thanks!

Hello, I am an American citizen and my wife is from Russia. She was able to get to the US on a K1 visa. Things have gone well so far. Her 90 days is up in less than a week, and we got married yesterday. We had to hold off on getting married for a few weeks because I lost my job and we had to move. Thankfully, I got a job last week so we are able to fill out the I-485 and I-864. I plan on submitting that before her 90 days runs out. My question is: How is she able to travel by plane in the next few days/months while waiting to hear back about the I-485? All airports check IDs and she doesn't have a SSN yet or any other form of ID except for a passport which will show soon that she has been in the US longer than 90 days, thus potentially creating trouble if there are any TSA agents who look closely. I've been reading about advanced parole but that seems to only apply to people looking to travel outside of the country which is not what we need.

How long did it end up taking for them to give you back your passport? My fiancee and I plan on staying in Warsaw for 5 days and leaving after but if it takes longer it could be kind of a mess to reschedule flights/hotels.

Thank you for your response! What should be included in the request email? I was thinking I would include: Applicant name, passport number, case number and then a quick sentence explaining that I would like to transfer my case. s there anything else?

Just posted about this in another thread but can anyone offer advice on getting a Schengen visa appointment? Our visa interview in Poland is scheduled for mid July, we have plane tickets and hotels booked but upon looking for Schengen appointments at the Spanish visa center in St. Petersburg this weekend, I saw that there were absolutely none available. Are there certain times of the week/month that we should look? On their site, it says that they take walk ins but I'm not sure about that. Can anyone offer any guidance on other countries to apply to? Worst case scenario, we can try to get the case transferred to another country (hopefully it won't have to be Israel with the fighting going on there).

We are going through the process of trying to get a Schengen visa to go on to Poland and things are not looking good. Spain was our first choice and what I bought (refundable) plane tickets for but when we login, we only see "there are no appointments available." The same is true of Hungary, Croatia, Bulgaria, and Iceland. Italy has one appointment available but it is days away from our scheduled visa interview in Poland. Greece is another option that we are looking into. Can anyone offer some guidance or a success on securing a Schengen appointment, preferably from Spain? Are there certain times of the month that new appointments are released? It seems that there are walk-in appointments but that is no guarantee. I also understand that going to a travel agent wouldn't help either. I feel incredibly stupid for not looking sooner for Schengen appointments during the "busy" season for tourism and don't want this to sink the rest of our plans.

For those who have SUCCESSFULLY gotten a schengen visa for themselves and/or their beneficiary, I have a few questions about the process- Is it true that you should not mention during the schengen process that you are going to Warsaw for the visa interview? I've had lawyers tell me this and withholding info at any stage of any visa process seems strange. Does my Russian fiancee need a return ticket for a Schengen visa? Related to the above, should I buy a refundable return ticket back to Russia for my fiancee and then cancel it and get a refund if we are hopefully issued the visa? Our plans are to fly together directly back to the US from the Schengen Zone. Has anyone successfully received a Spain Schengen visa from the Saint Petersburg office? Spain looks like our best choice because of flights and statistically they seem to have approved a lot of Russians.

What was the process like to get a spanish schengen? I'd realllly not like to transfer to Jerusalem with the conflict going on.

Hello, I want to reach out again and ask if anyone has any advice or guidance on how I can expect to hear from the Polish embassy (Will it be via email, physical letter and will it be sent to me in the US or my fiancee in Russia)? Also am I already able to schedule an appointment? I don't want to waste any time obviously and waiting on this is stalling everything else in the process (Schengen visa, Europe travel plans, travel plans to the US, etc)

I only meant that in that I don't plan on trying to transfer my case to some other embassy and plan on sticking with Poland as my fiancee is in the city vs living in some other country. I wish there was a service, but I haven't found any. I have also done a lot of research as to what country is best for Schengen and still haven't found an answer.

Hello, sorry if this has already been answered somewhere but I'm really unsure of what to do and don't want to waste time. I'm applying for a K1, I am American, my fiancée is Russian. Our petition was approved, we received our NOA2 and were assigned to the Warsaw embassy for the interview. This should be doable as my fiancée currently lives in St. Petersburg and barring any bureaucratic oversights or unexpected circumstances, should be able to get a Schengen visa. The last contact I received was from the NVC that they approved our petition and were forwarding it on to the embassy. I wanted to ask- When am I able to schedule a visa appointment and how will I receive notice from the Polish embassy? I logged in to the CEAC tracker and using the case number and was able to see that the case is READY. However, I haven't received any notice from the Polish embassy and haven't been able to find a clear answer on how to receive notice. Will it come via my email? My fiancée's? Will she receive physical mail of this notice? If so, that may take weeks (or months) coming from Poland to Russia. Any insight would be appreciated. I'm aware that it may take a few weeks but I want to know what to expect.