Olvaranim

Hello! Your best and fastest option would be travellers going from the US to Russia or SDEK Forward. You can send a package to SDEK warehouse if there is no office nearby and they would ship it to Russia in about 3 weeks.

Russians are not allowed to Poland via external borders or get a visa, that's true. The best options for Schengen visas are Hungary (usually requires prepaid tickets and hotels), Italy (takes really long time to process), Spain, France (tough to book an appointment to apply). Also Greece in summertime. It's advised not to ask for more than 10-14 days if it's a first schengen visa ever. Did you book an appointment with US Embassy in Warsaw? Is your fiancee familiar with schengen visas?

First, your fiancée needs DS-160 (not DS-260 mentioned in your message) and the Embassy there should be the one, when she is actually going to have her interview. So you would need a new DS-160 for Warsaw. 1. Kazakhstan or Turkey won't agree to take your case without a residency. The best and the fastest option is to apply for schengen. 2. With K1 it's better to pick the interview date and then to apply for schengen visa. You can reschedule the interview appointment up to 3 times in Warsaw without additional fee. You can book the appointment ($265) even without an eligibility letter from Warsaw. 3. Your fiancée (or petitioner sometimes) should receive said eligibility letter in 5-6 weeks (on average) after the notification from NVC. 4. There will be no account on CEAC and no invoice number for K1. K1 doesn't acquire uploading anything. You bring all documents to the interview. 5. If your fiancee's interview will be in Warsaw, the medical can be done in Moscow, Minsk, Warsaw, Krakov and before the interview. It's faster and cheaper in Warsaw in comparison to Moscow, but in general the process depends on the age of an applicant. So in she is younger than 25, she would need additional 3 days in schengen area before the interview, and that might be inconvenient in case of extremely short-term schengen visa. If older than 25 you can receive the results the same day in Warsaw.

There's no point in comparing K1 and IR5 experiences as Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan are officially assigned posts for the parents with Russian citizenship. For K1/CR1/IR1 official post is Warsaw and no former USSR country accepts transfers of these cases without residency or citizenship, Kazakhstan included. There were a few exceptions when the cases were transferred to Israel first (as at that time Israel accepted russian cases on a regular basis) and the embassy has stopped transactions due to war. So these cases were welcomed in Kyrgyzstan. For K1 now schengen is still the best option, bombarding the Embassy in Israel (Thailand and Hong Kong) with tearful emails is another. Romania might accept the case, and that is also in schengen area. But Romania issues schengen visas for Russians at least, so you can try applying officially with the purpose of tourism and interview.

Hello! As for $1,700, was that on top of already prepaid tickets and hotels? If not, that's definitely insufficient. Currently it's recommended to show at least $4,000 for 2 weeks for Spain/Italy and even more for France. The unofficial requirement for Hungary is a bit lower, but usually everything should be prepaid. As for the case transfer ask the Embassy in Hong Kong, Thailand and Israel (again), providing the schengen denials. Ask them twice if needed. Once Israel agreed to take the case after 3d letter only, so being persistent might help.

An update on a K1 case under extremely long AP in Warsaw. So the couple paid for the mandamus just to find out that they were approved the next day. 16 months of AP in total. Personally I know about another case that was approved in February 2024 after 24 (!) months of AP (a fiance was a high ranking military officer).

That's a translation of an official original document indeed, but issued for his ex specifically. His original document should hold his name on it. Both originals are valid though. He should bring the original document for his interview (his or his ex).

The recent case was successful, yes. The visa was issued.

@big_tex_69 Technology Alert List (TAL). Any link on Google will do. https://www.bu.edu/isso/files/pdf/tal.pdf

On average, it takes about a year for russian citizens to be cleared for a visa after AP in Poland. That's a disturbing statistic, but accurate. There's even a case with 15 months long AP (still in progress). The couple in question is getting ready to file writ of mandamus. Another visa was issued recently after 296 days of AP and also thanks for mandamus. The vast majority of these cases (K1 and CR1/IR1 both) were triggered by petitioner's current occupation, listed in TAL, or some sort of a government related job.

As it is usually stated on the website of almost every embassy and still russian cases have being transferred to different countries. It's always worth asking if needed 🤷 Personally I don't see a point in transferring from Poland with a valid Schengen visa, as it's a designated embassy, we'll aware of russian documents.

Personally I don't remember any case in Hungary, but might be an option. Usually couples try to transfer their case to a visa free country (preferably with Russian-speaking officers). As for other countries in Schengen area, I remember the spouse visa cases of non-residents that were transferred to Vienna and Bucharest.

Marriage, Divorce or birth certificates from Russia have no expiration date. The document is valid as long as the fact (it is issued for) stands, and you can apply for a replacement any time if needed. Also there's no expiration date for the translations, don't forget about those. Police clearance certificates from Russia and other countries, your mom resided for 6+ months after her 16th birthdays, are valid for a year for the Embassy in Kazakhstan (even for 2 years for the Embassy in Warsaw). Also your mom needs to upload your original birth certificate with a translation to NVC and bring it to her interview later.

About a dozen of Russian citizens (that I know of) attend their interviews in Warsaw on a monthly basis with zero issues on entering Poland. At least 5 fiancées had their interviews on January 2, 3 and 4. Mine interview (CR1/IR1) is also scheduled in Warsaw. The keys for russian citizens are: 1) apply for a tourist Schengen visa with a visa center of loyal countries: Italy, France, Spain or Hungary (in Russia). Act like a tourist don't mention Poland on your application. 2) enter Schengen area by flying in the country that issued you a visa (best option for both short-term and long-term visas, but critical to short-term visas nowadays). Again act like a tourist, you're there for Colosseum or Champs-Élysées. 3) enter Poland by air or by land (train or car) from that European country, even the same day. If by air, buy a separate ticket from that European country to Poland. For example, if you book a ticket Moscow - Istanbul - Rome and a separate ticket Rome - Warsaw, then you enter Schengen area in Italy (go through border control (visa check)), pick up your luggage, check-in, drop off your luggage again and then head to a assigned gate without any additional border control, as there are no administrative borders within Schengen area. So the citizens of Russia are allowed to enter Poland only from other Schengen country (not through the external border of Schengen zone). As for interview time frames for CR1/IR1 in Warsaw, NVC usually sends an interview letter in 35-45 days after DQ. An interview date is in 85 days after DQ on average.

Moscow medical is in the middle of moving to a different address, and they chose the holidays as the least busiest season to effectively do that. They are going to announce their new address right after the holidays, but you can book the appointment via the phone for the 2nd half of January.

If it expires, just prepare and sign a fresh letter of intent to marry and send it to your fiancée to bring to the interview. It's quite common and not an issue anymore due to Covid.

I just double checked, there are two K1 cases that US Embassy in Bangkok agreed on taking after the emails from US Senators, one was transferred from Warsaw at the beginning of November, another one 6 days ago. Both applicants stay in Russia without a residency in Thailand. Maybe it's worth trying again?

No, not for the interview. I mean the application for a regular tourist (visitor) visa, just without false touristic intentions. And that's a theory for now, as I hope the applicants would actually pursue with their cases in Frankfurt and apply for the German Shengen visa. For example, for the citizens of Belarus one of the official purposes of visiting Poland and applying for a visa is attending the US Embassy specifically.

Personally, I think that Germany is a better option in this scenario, because the purpose on this visa would not be the tourism, but a humanitarian reason. When it comes to tourist visas, Germany is definitely not the first choice. By far. And Poland doesn't issue visas for Russian citizens at all. Thankfully I have a valid Shengen visa, аnd I wouldn’t want to lie to one consulate for the sake of being able to get to another.

I'm positive about that. The citizens of Russia have to translate all their documents in Russian for each and every Embassy by default, Warsaw and Kazakhstan included. It's also worth mentioning that recently two separate immigrant cases (IR2 and CR1) without any ties to Ukraine (by birth, physical adress or Crimea residency) got assigned to the Embassy in Frankfurt. A test maybe? At least Germany issues Shengen visas to Russian citizens, no lies needed when applying for it, and it's easier to get there with a stopover in just one country, not two. I would love to have my case transferred there. Well, that's just a wishful thinking.

At first the applicant received the usual auto answer from the Embassy stating that they are tiny/busy/etc and would consider transferring a case, only if an applicant was in Mongolia physically. So the persistent applicant described all personal issues with Shengen visa (to ties, no stable job, no travel history) and mentioned all other US Embassies that ignored or refused to take her case (quite a list, I'd say) and received the Embassy's consent with the next letter! From what I know this information wasn't posted here on VJ. You see, the vast majority of the beneficiaries from Russia are less comfortable posting or even reading smth on the international forum and tend to stick to russian-speaking groups digging for information, especially these days. As for their English-speaking petitioners, they usually hire the lawyers even for straightforward cases and sometimes trust them blindly even after getting some contradictory info. For instance, that the citizens of Russia are not allowed to enter Poland by any means or that the couple should wait for the Embassy in Moscow to resume its operations (my personal favorite). So back to topic, the beggars can't be choosers. It's wise to email all accessible embassies.

The reason I mentioned Mongolia specifically is that the Embassy there has actually agreed on taking one of cases of Russian citizens recently. However that applicant chose another Embassy, so no further information. But agree that a K1 applicant from Russia has more chances in Latin America even, considering the Israel doesn't accept any new cases for now.

As there are no issues with your English obviously, try Mongolia, Thailand (recently accepted a few cases without any visa or residency, but you would need a "not married certificate" from ZAGS and a letter from a Senator), Nicaragua, Dominican republic. It took about 5 months to receive an interview letter in Mexico, but that fiancée was a resident.

No further issues after rescheduling and no additional interview letters. But you can always print your new appointment confirmation from the ustraveldocs portal