There is no US Embassy in Minsk, Belarus. As a result, people who need to go through an interview for a green card, like my mother, need to go to the nearest city which has one. In good old communist times it would be Moscow, the capital of the whole USSR. The trip there would entail overnight train Minsk-Moscow, spending a day in a city, and overnight train back. No visa required, naturally.
Today, despite the fact that old Soviet Union fell apart and old Soviet Republics are separate states, the trip to Moscow would go pretty much the same way.
But the wizards at National Visa Center came up with a different plan. Everything my mom needs is done in Warsaw, Poland. Why?
NO IDEA.
May be it's closer.
So my mother had to pay for Polish visa, go through the medical exam they require, wait for ten days to get the visa, go to Warsaw, and all this just to find out that the medical form for her green card is not in a correct format (which was never specified, by the way), and—this is my favorite—THEY DO NOT HAVE A PROOF OF MY US CITIZENSHIP.
I called them a month ago, as soon as my mother was scheduled for an interview to check if they have everything, and they said yes.
This whole case is based on the fact that I am a US citizen, otherwise it would never get approved.
Now I need to send my mom a copy of my naturalization certificate, and she has to go through this idiocy again.
I haven't been this pissed since the 2004 presidential election.
Today, despite the fact that old Soviet Union fell apart and old Soviet Republics are separate states, the trip to Moscow would go pretty much the same way.
But the wizards at National Visa Center came up with a different plan. Everything my mom needs is done in Warsaw, Poland. Why?
NO IDEA.
May be it's closer.
So my mother had to pay for Polish visa, go through the medical exam they require, wait for ten days to get the visa, go to Warsaw, and all this just to find out that the medical form for her green card is not in a correct format (which was never specified, by the way), and—this is my favorite—THEY DO NOT HAVE A PROOF OF MY US CITIZENSHIP.
I called them a month ago, as soon as my mother was scheduled for an interview to check if they have everything, and they said yes.
This whole case is based on the fact that I am a US citizen, otherwise it would never get approved.
Now I need to send my mom a copy of my naturalization certificate, and she has to go through this idiocy again.
I haven't been this pissed since the 2004 presidential election.