Visas approved in the last days of the work of the US consulate in St. Petersburg have been abolished, applicants must restart the process

The Russians, who approved US visas in the last days of the US Consulate in St. Petersburg, ended up with got your passport back without a visa. Initially, they were told that the consulate general in St. Petersburg physically did not have time to print the visas, and asked to wait for further information. A few weeks later, the applicants received letters in which it was stated that they could not receive the visas approved at the closed consulate and therefore it was necessary to start the whole process anew.

Фото: Depositphotos

About this in exclusive comments ForumDaily told a resident of Moscow George.

Due to the busy schedule of the embassy in Moscow, he decided to apply in St. Petersburg. The interview was scheduled for March 29 - just that day they announced the closure of the consulate general in St. Petersburg.

According to the results of the interview, George was approved for the visa, but in the passport, which he received in Moscow a few days later, there was no visa, and at the end of April he received such a letter.

“Dear Applicant!

As a result of the decision of the Russian government to close the US consulate in St. Petersburg, your passport was transferred to Pony Express 30 in March 2018. Your passport will be delivered to the return address specified by you at the time of application.

Your application has not yet been processed, and you will need to select a new interview date at the US Embassy in Moscow, the US Consulate in Yekaterinburg, or the US Consulate in Vladivostok, using the usual scheduling process. Before you assign a new interview, fill out a new DS-160 form and update its number in your profile.

The MRV (Machine Readable Visa) fee you paid is still valid, so you can use the same receipt when scheduling a new interview. Please note that MRV receipts are valid for interview appointments for 1 calendar year from the date of payment."

Considering the workload of the embassy and the remaining consulates after reducing the number of American dipersonal in Russia, it is necessary to wait for the new interview, and, accordingly, visas for applicants who, in fact, have already received, and therefore, may have purchased air tickets, from several weeks to several months.

Recall 29 March, Russia announced that withdraws consent to the work of the consulate in St. Petersburg and sends 60 American diplomats.

26 March it became known that the US government made a decision send Russian diplomats from 60and also to close the Russian consulate in Seattle. Such a decision on the consulate was made due to its territorial proximity to the military base of submarines, the plant of the corporation Boeing in Seattle, Wash., and in response to Russia's use of military-type chemical weapons in Britain.

The former GRU officer Sergey Skripal and his daughter Julia were found unconscious on a bench in Salisbury March 4. They were taken to the hospital in critical condition, they are still in a coma, doctors estimate their condition as consistently severe. The police found that they were poisoned by a nerve agent. About 20 people were poisoned, including the policeman who first visited the scene and the house of Skripal. On the fact of poisoning a case of attempted murder.

In Russia, Skripal in 2006 year was convicted of espionage in favor of British intelligence MI6. In 2010, he was exchanged for Russian intelligence agents uncovered in the United States.

Mutual expulsion from the countries of American and Russian diplomats began on December 29 2016, when 44 th President of the USA Barack Obama signed a decree obliging Russian diplomats 35 to leave America. This document also closed their colleagues with access to two real estate properties in the states of New York and Maryland, which, according to American intelligence, were used by Russians for espionage.

In response, Russia banned the US Embassy from using a summer cottage in Serebryany Bor and storage facilities on Dorozhnaya Street in the south of Moscow. Russian authorities also expressed the need reducing the American embassy to xnumx people, to equalize their number with the number of employees in the Russian embassy in the United States.

In response to this, the US Embassy in Russia suspended the issuance of non-immigrant visas August 23 to September 1 2017. The issuance of renewed 1 September, but only in Moscow (before a visa could also be obtained in the consulate general in St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg and Vladivostok).

In addition, in response The United States decided to close the Russian Consulate General in San Francisco and some sales offices in Washington and New York.

Read also on ForumDaily:

Ten myths about the American visa that are not true

Why one give a visa, and the other - no: an anonymous interview with a visa center employee

8 blunders in US interviews and in preparation

Do you want more important and interesting news about life in the USA and immigration to America? — support us donate! Also subscribe to our page Facebook. Select the “Priority in display” option and read us first. Also, don't forget to subscribe to our РєР ° РЅР ° Р »РІ Telegram  and Instagram- there is a lot of interesting things there. And join thousands of readers ForumDaily New York — there you will find a lot of interesting and positive information about life in the metropolis.