Alex Grinyayev

Hi all,

I am new to this group so I apologize if similar question was asked before.

Here's our situation. I am an American citizen living in Minneapolis, MN. I went to
Russia last October to get married, then returned to Minneapolis and filed a
petition for my wife to come over based on our marriage. It took them almost a year
to schedule the interview at US Embassy in Moscow on Oct. 19th. My wife went all the
way to Moscow from Chelyabinsk just to find out that the Embassy is closed. I
managed to reschedule the interview for Dec.3. A couple days later I called again to
ask misc. question about new invitation, etc. They told me that the original date
was not approved, and the next available slot would be Dec 20th. So far it seems to
be OK (no more rescheduling), but I am extremely concerned about some other
unimaginable twist and wondering what else can go wrong. My attorney doesn't seem to
be affecting the situation at all. She contacted the Embassy and received the same
response that I did.

So here comes my question. Am I doing something wrong or is it just that my documents
ended up in the wrong place in the wrong time? Did anybody else have similar
experience with US Embassy in Moscow? What would be the desired course of action?

Thank you in advance.

Alex

Rete

There have been several posters that have reported rescheduling of appointments.

But what you really did wrong was go to Russia, marry a Russian Citizen, and leave Russia without going to the US Consulate and applying in person for her I-130 ... called direct consular filing. Instead of waiting a year you could have had her in the US within three months or less.

Rita

PS Lawyers rarely if ever carry weight with the Department of States in foreign countries.

Jb

Rete wrote:
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >

He probably could have done this a year ago but recent posts to this group have
indicated that DCF is no longer possible in Moscow unless the petitioner lives in
Moscow (and has the appropriate Russian visa to prove it). I don't know if any
consulates outside Moscow do DCF. Because the OP is a US citizen it doesn't seem he
would be eligible for DCF now.

As Rita mentioned there have been many posts here recently about the problems with
the Moscow consulate. Check groups.google.com if you're interested (or they still may
be on your local news server). I personally don't think you've done anything wrong
but I can only say that by comparing what I've read here to what you've written.

Mike Roda

My fiancee's interview was scheduled for Oct. 17th and they rescheduled it to
December 17th. I tried just about everything I could think of to get it sooner but
nothing worked. So I'm hoping everything goes okay on dec. 17th.

Mike

Alex Grinyayev wrote:
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >

Refuse

Thanks a lot for your responses guys!

Alex

    >
    >
    >
before.
    >
    >
I
    >
and
    >
    >
Oct.
    >
    >
Dec.3.
    >
    >
    >
more
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
my
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >

R Haney

Hi Alex, I read your reply post to mine (below). (Ours was originally the 18th of
Oct.) I managed to get our rescheduled date a little closer than the initial two
month put-off by faxing the embassy a copy of our actual wedding invitation, proving
it to be earlier than the Dec 18th date they set. They helped by upping it to Dec
4th. Not a huge leap, but it helped. (I was rather surprised that they emailed me out
of the blue asking for official documentation of the wedding date- a response, I
think, of a letter I wrote to them about our situation quite a while back immediately
after the closing. It seems they finally got around to acting upon it.) I do believe
they are trying their best over there, despite the tough situation regarding security
and backlogged interviews. From several recent posts by others, they do appear to be
staying on schedule now and processing visas in a normal fashion. Hang in there and
stay optimistic. What else can we do?

I wish you the best,

~Ralph Petaluma, CA

Michael Voight

Rete wrote:
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >

Of course, now, you can no longer file DCF unless you live there.

Michael

Michael Voight

I don't know what help you are looking for. You aren't the only one affected.

Due to the events of 9/11 and further threats against the Embassises and consulates,
there is a problem. So, since they had to close for a number of days, they had to
reschedule interviews. I don't see how an attorney would help here.

Michael

Michael Voight

jb wrote:
. I don't know if any consulates outside Moscow do DCF.
    >

Well, he could only do it if he was a US citizen and resided in the area served by
that embasyy.