From: muh@physics1 (Yury M. Mukharsky) Newsgroups: soc.culture.soviet Subject: Re: Repost: new regulations in the US Embassy at Moscow Date: 22 Jul 1993 04:09:58 GMT In article <0096FD56.C2433E80@LNS62.LNS.CORNELL.EDU> PG@lns62.tn.cornell.edu writes: < I am posting this by the request of the original author, who has some Date: Thu, 22 Jul 1993 00:36:04 GMT In article <0096FD56.C2433E80@LNS62.LNS.CORNELL.EDU> pg@LNS62.LNS.CORNELL.EDU writes: > Our visa coordinator assured me that with > H-1 the probability to get in trouble is minimal since they are > scrutinized by INS. I got a really horror story for you guys. Well, please bear in mind that this is just a rumor - I do not know personally the person to whom this has happened. The story was told to me by the friend of mine and he in turn was told it by his friend. So, this guy was a grad student in Madison, Wisconsin. After staying for about one year in the States he decided to visit his friends/ family in Moscow. Since being a nice son he also wanted his mommy to visit him in the States, so he asked his american girlfriend to file an invitation for his mom (yes, this lucky stiff had a girlfriend down here - to complete the picture of his well-being ;-)). So he brought this invitation to Moscow. But since his mom does not speak too much English and since it is always very crowdy in the US embassy, (plus he is a nice son!) he decided to accompany his mother when she went to get her guest visa. Note, that the guy himself didn't need visa for himself, since he had a multi-entry visa which still was valid at that time. So he came with his mom to the embassy and when they actually approached the window where you give your docs to the clerk, he gave his passport together with his mom's one -- just to impress them with the fact that he is already studying in America and to make it easier for her to get visa. Well, the clerk didn't get, what he needed -- since the guy already had visa! They told them to go to some other room for "additional interview". There they asked him: who made this invitation for your mom? -- oh, my gf did. "Oh really? - you have a gf back in the States? And how are you doing there in general? Well, btw, are you gonna go back after you graduate or you wanna stay in the US?" And this KOZ'EL told them: "Gee, of course I wanna stay in the States. So, if I manage to find a job I definitely will"... Now listen what happened next: Not to mention the fact, that these embassy folks kicked his mom out of there, they CANCELED HIS VISA, WHICH WAS STILL VALID! and told him don't even think about coming here again. Well, naturally he tried but they told him f@#$ off again. Again, I bear no responsibility for this information. But in fact, I heard it many times already, that these guys in the embassy have completely OZVERELI ot obsshenija s nashim bratom-sovkom... -L. Does anybody have any other rumors/personal experience to share? From: pg@LNS62.LNS.CORNELL.EDU Newsgroups: soc.culture.soviet Subject: Repost: new regulations in the US Embassy at Moscow Date: Wed, 21 Jul 1993 17:52:37 GMT I am posting this by the request of the original author, who has some problems with the system. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hi, I am sorry, my system failed to post the message - in fact I was seeking information as well as sharing it. I know that on June 15 US embassy in Moscow introduced tighter regulations for issuing visas and deny about 90% of applications. What I did not know, was which kinds of visas it concerned. Now I have more information from our University's Visa dept (they seem to have got it directly from Washington). This stricter rules are true; mostly they concern short term visitors on B visas; J-visas now take much more time because the embassy has to scrutinize everything here in US. Since I am on H-1 I cared more about this kind and mostly about possible problems getting back from there. Our visa coordinator assured me that with H-1 the probability to get in trouble is minimal since they are scrutinized by INS. So they are doing advanced notification procedure through Washington now and I am going to Moscow in the beginning of August. Oh, I forgot - they now deny all aplications for B-visas if there is a family member working in the US. So that's all I know. Could you, please, repost it on the net? Olga. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Is there anyone on the net who recently came back from Moscow? I just wonder what is general situation at the Embassy, how much time I should expect to spend there waiting in the line. Someone told me recently that now they have separate line for students, hard to believe, but still... Please post or reply by mail. Peter