CyberSamurai013

Roger that, thank you! Yes, she had to go to the separate clinic for the x-rays but they also submit digital results.

Thank you! I also believe that is what is happening.

My wife had her medical examination at the IMC Almaty office on Mukanova street today for her IR-1 visa. Two things that are noteworthy that we wanted to post here for anyone about to do the same. 1) She had to receive 2 vaccinations and was charged 25,000 Tenge total for them. She paid 95,000 Tenge (70,000 for the exam and x-ray + 25,000 for the 2 vaccines). She was not offered the COVID-19 vaccine, does not have it, and is not required to as Russian vaccines are not CDC or WHO approved. 2) She was told that "family reunification visas" are not given envelopes with documents anymore and that they are now done electronically. I told her that that is not what all the paperwork we have received from the IMC and consulate has said. She actually went back to IMC and told them that she is getting an IR-1 visa and that we were told she would receive a sealed envelope to take to the consulate. They told her that it is no longer done like that and it is all electronic now. Has anyone else experienced this? I am concerned that we may have problems at the consulate but there is nothing we can do as my wife already returned to IMC to clarify the situation.

Just FYI for anyone travelling via Red Wings airlines from Russia to Almaty. We flew this route from Omsk to Yekaterinburg then on to Almaty this weekend. On the flight from Omsk to Yekaterinburg, they offered some snacks to purchase such as a club sandwich, chips, etc. There were no meals and no free drinks. There was a single flight attendant taking an order and payment (cash or card) then running to the back of the plane to get the food. She only serviced the first half of the plane by the time we began our descent to the airport so we never were offered anything despite having 2 small children with us. On the flight from Yekaterinburg to Almaty, there was no food at all except for a small candy and we were offered free drinks. The choices were tea, coffee, water, and barberry lemonade (carbonated). You may want to bring a snack and drink with you because there is no guarantee you will be offered any even if you are willing to pay the ridiculous prices like we were.

Thank you! It is an odd situation and I think it will sort itself soon as they determine which path they want to follow with the influx of cases from Russia to Kazakhstan.

We had our entire process expedited from the beginning (USCIS, NVC, Embassy) through Senatorial and Congressional intervention. Our initial appointment in Warsaw was scheduled for us and we were sent a letter. Once the system realized that Russians cannot get visas for Poland anymore and we were forced to change countries, we again had Congressional assistance as Kazakhstan initially refused to take on Russian cases. I think the primary reason we are scheduling it ourselves is due to the transfer from Warsaw to Almaty that was requested by our Congresswoman before they started routinely doing it. Our entire case is unusual and nothing like we have experienced before.

A few appointments have opened up for immigrant visa interviews in Almaty on the (link removed) website. There are a few on March 2nd and March 9th.

Almaty does not require them. We called and asked them a couple weeks ago.

Please do and good luck to you both!

It is so frustrating when the system defies logic and common sense. In your case, splitting your parent between locations. In our case, trying to force us to go to a country that refuses to issue an entry permit or visa. You would think professionals such as embassy staff would demonstrate some basic knowledge of the process and issues such as these. After we return to America, I plan on becoming very active in advocating for immigration process reforms.

For those having problems with their case not being found in the CEAC system, Sorry, there was a mistake here. It is the scheduling system that cannot find our case not the CEAC system. CEAC works intermittently and I often receive an error due to an IT issue on their end. The appointment system took me contacting the consulate directly to fix but unfortunately, there are no IR1 appointments available.

Oh yeah, my bad. I forgot this is an IR5 thread. Apologies.

If you don't mind me asking, what category of cases are they?

Our case number changed recently even though our case has been with Almaty since July. We still have a WAR prefix but they appended an ATA 01 suffix to our case number. When I try to enter the case number in CEAC, we get the case id not found message. We contacted US Travel Docs via phone almost 2 weeks ago and they told me it was an error in their system that is affecting case numbers. They put in an IT trouble ticket then 2 days ago we got an email that they had resolved the issue and closed our trouble ticket. The email said to login to CEAC and try again to schedule an appointment. We did and got the same error message. I called them again and they told me to email the KZ embassy directly at USAKZ@state.gov The Polish government told us that Russians are not allowed in Poland, the EU, or the Schengen Zone and that my wife cannot get a visa. This was in the fall though, so maybe things have changed.

I imagine most of the immigrant visa processes are similar but I only have personal experience with K1 and IR1 immigrant visas. I hope everything works out well for you!

Our timeline is a bit convoluted as we have been experiencing multiple administrative, transportation, and financial difficulties due to the geopolitical situation and sanctions. We received our NOA for the I-130 on 04/29/2022. Our case was originally sent to Moscow and then it was transferred to Warsaw for the interview on 06/10/2022. We tried to get my wife a Schengen or polish visa for the interview and they denied it saying Russians are not allowed in the EU, Schengen Zone, or Poland. I emailed 15 embassies/consulates in the region to request a case transfer and all my requests were denied. I got my Congresswoman's office involved and they got Almaty to accept our case on 07/15/2022. We received that e-mail on 07/18/2022. We had our process expedited through the USCIS, NVC, and Warsaw embassy. Unfortunately, we have been trying to get to an interview since July. We also all (4 of us) have to go because my 10 year old daughter needs to renew her American passport and my wife and I both have to be present. TL;DR: Case was sent to Warsaw embassy on June 10, 2022 then transferred to Almaty on July 15, 2022 and we were received the e-mail telling us to schedule the interview online ourselves on July 18, 2022.

The website says they fly though Omsk as well but I couldn't find a flight. I found one from Yekaterinburg to Almaty for 65k Rubles for the 4 of us. Thank you!

This is the message they sent us from USAKZ@state.gov back when they took our case from Warsaw: "Please be informed that we received the case WRW2022661003. The applicant should schedule an appointment online at www.ustraveldocs.com Profile needs to be created first for that. Also please see attached instructions to prepare for the interview." They have us using the cgifederal.secure.force.com website to schedule the interview appointment ourselves. Unfortunately, we keep getting an error saying that our case id cannot be found. I contacted US Travel Docs (utterly worthless company) several times and they told us they fixed it but they have not. I sent an e-mail directly to the consulate a few minutes ago.

We are doing a spousal visa (IR1) and they have us self scheduling. Then again, our case was transferred from Warsaw per our request so that may be why.

@Simplytex and @Moscowmojo, thank you both for the flight information, it is extremely helpful! We may travel to Yekaterinburg via train and take a flight from there.

Are there direct flights from Yekaterinburg to Almaty? Which airline? All we could find from Omsk was to Almaty via Moscow and it was about $5k a person. This was just before the new year on Aeroflot.

I agree completely. I think the airlines will only require a negative PCR test result but we will see.

Warsaw made us create a US Travel Docs account as well. It has been a big pain as their customer service is not the best. When we got our case transferred to Almaty, I had to jump through hoops to get them to change our TravelDocs account to KZ as well. Almaty also made us schedule our own interview on their website but it likely because we had our case transferred and it is an IR1 case.

This is exactly what I mean, they say one thing and require another. We weren't going to go to Moscow for the medical anyway because we refuse to touch Sputnik V but the confusing information is frustrating. We are going to do it all in Almaty, if we can ever get there. Good luck to you and your wife!

They told me they do not require any COVID-19 vaccines and do not give them but then again, it is the US immigration system so... LOL