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| Moscow, Russia |  Review on April 11, 2008: |
KGSodie
Rating:  | Review Topic: K1 Visa
This is a difficult review to write. I wish I could give two ratings, instead of just one. If you read through my posts on VJ you'll understand the reason for this.
The initial processing at the consulate was top-notch. Everyone was friendly, and the interview and paperwork went very smoothly. Natasha even accidentally left her x-ray envelope in the building, and they allowed her to re-enter so she could find and retrieve it. Let's call this portion of our experience a 5=Best rating.
Then the nightmare started. We didn't receive the visa until 16 days after the interview. Dealing with the consulate during this period was simply horrible. Every call we placed to the consulate for the first 10 days received a reply of 'your visas have been approved and are being printed - you should have them in 2 or 3 days'. Plus, you have to pay $13 a call (in pairs, since all they do during the first call is take down your question - you have to call back for the response) to get this faulty, misleading information. On our final call they told us that we were in administrative review, which should take one or two weeks, and to not call them again for 30 days. After this call, we had the visas two days later. Clearly we were in administrative review immediately following the interview, and the 2-week clock started then. Why no one could tell us this is a complete and utter mystery. We also sent 2 emails to the official consul address - and still haven't received a response (April 11). And the US Citizen's Support area of the embassy isn't worth visiting for such questions either. I went three times and was told there was nothing they could do for me, because the consulate is separate from the Embassy.
The frustration of the bad information and the continual waiting for the visas to arrive in '2 or 3 days' gives a 0=Worst rating, so I'll average it overall to a 2.
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #2716