FYI Moscow DCF From Horse's Mouth
Nov 21st 2001, 1:43 pm
#1
Concierge
Thread Starter
Joined: Apr 2001
Posts: 46,392
Morning
I received an email from Matt Udall, the California immigration attorney who use to be an active member of the NG. He passed a long the following information that he received via telephone with the US Consulate in Moscow. I have his permission to post it here for the group's use.
"About DCF in Moscow. I came back down to my office around 12:30 AM last Thursday and called the INS office in Moscow to confirm the information I've been reading about re: no DCF'S in Moscow (as it's my job to keep up on this sort of thing).
I spoke with a very friendly INS officer (American accent) for a few minutes. She mentioned that on the 12th (assuming she meant 11/12, not 10/12) they had to evacuate their offices in Moscow (I believe the same building housed the Embassy, Consulate and INS office), and the INS had to relocate to smaller quarters. She mentioned that they will still accept the I-130's from U.S. citizens who work in Russia or who have been residing there for a certain period of time (and she gave me some tips on evidence a U.S. citizen can show in order to convince them, the INS in Moscow, to accept their I-130). The way she described it, its really is just a situation where the INS in Moscow, due to their cramped quarters, no longer have the space to accommodate these I-130 filings (a facility to "accept" these walk in filings), but she said with the correct evidence, they would make special arrangements for the U.S. Citizen to come in and file their I-130.
According to her, it was really a matter of space. They only had so much space to split up between the Consular Section, the Embassy Section and the INS, and since (according to her) the most important thing is for them to have space for the Consulate to "issue" visas (do that work), and the Embassy to provide "their" services, the INS got the short end of the stick and had to make due with tiny facilities (that don't accommodate filings of I-130's by U.S. Citizens)."
So I've passed it on to you all and have no other information but this.
Rita
I received an email from Matt Udall, the California immigration attorney who use to be an active member of the NG. He passed a long the following information that he received via telephone with the US Consulate in Moscow. I have his permission to post it here for the group's use.
"About DCF in Moscow. I came back down to my office around 12:30 AM last Thursday and called the INS office in Moscow to confirm the information I've been reading about re: no DCF'S in Moscow (as it's my job to keep up on this sort of thing).
I spoke with a very friendly INS officer (American accent) for a few minutes. She mentioned that on the 12th (assuming she meant 11/12, not 10/12) they had to evacuate their offices in Moscow (I believe the same building housed the Embassy, Consulate and INS office), and the INS had to relocate to smaller quarters. She mentioned that they will still accept the I-130's from U.S. citizens who work in Russia or who have been residing there for a certain period of time (and she gave me some tips on evidence a U.S. citizen can show in order to convince them, the INS in Moscow, to accept their I-130). The way she described it, its really is just a situation where the INS in Moscow, due to their cramped quarters, no longer have the space to accommodate these I-130 filings (a facility to "accept" these walk in filings), but she said with the correct evidence, they would make special arrangements for the U.S. Citizen to come in and file their I-130.
According to her, it was really a matter of space. They only had so much space to split up between the Consular Section, the Embassy Section and the INS, and since (according to her) the most important thing is for them to have space for the Consulate to "issue" visas (do that work), and the Embassy to provide "their" services, the INS got the short end of the stick and had to make due with tiny facilities (that don't accommodate filings of I-130's by U.S. Citizens)."
So I've passed it on to you all and have no other information but this.
Rita
