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Individuals seeking to receive a visa to work in the United States go through a two-step process: 1) the US company employer files a petition with the USCIS, and 2) after approval, applies for a visa at the consulate abroad. The consular officer must issue the visa to the visa applicant unless 1) he is not admissible (problem of a criminal, medical, etc… nature); 2) there was fraud or material misrepresentations in the process; or 3) the officer discovers new, material, adverse information at the time of the visa application. Referrals back to USCIS are supposed to be rare; consular officers are prohibited from substituting their judgment for the judgment of the USCIS because USCIS is the lead agency in approving employment petitions. The consequences of referral back to USCIS: a 6–12 month black hole in which the petition awaits re-adjudication by USCIS and the visa applicant is not permitted…

American law requires that visitor visa applicants have ties to their home country that will ensure that they will return after a visit to the United States. However, consular officers at the US Embassy in Moscow have recently reinstated another requirement for many first-time visa applicants: it requires them to travel to Western Europe first before it will issue a visa. This policy is not a new one; it was in place in the early 2000s. (In fact, I exchanged correspondence with the Consul General at that time, Jim Pettit, on this issue.) During the boom times of the mid-2000s, that policy started to recede. But over the course of the past year, that policy has been re-instated, with travel to Europe being the dispositive factor. One denied applicant recently was explicitly advised at her interview that if she goes to Europe for a visit, she could then re-apply and…

This is the second blog in an ongoing series on the negative changes in visa policy of the US Embassy in Moscow. Russian citizens applying for B-1/B-2 (visitor) and certain work visas are entitled to two-year visas. Department of State rules require, with rare exception, that consular officers in Russia issue to Russian applicants in these categories visas valid for two years. The rare exception is justified only when a consular officer believes that an applicant’s personal circumstances may change in the next year. That has not stopped the US Embassy in Moscow from implementing its own policy change. Many first-time Russian applicants over the past year have been unpleasantly surprised to find out that they would receive one-year, «trial run» visas, instead of two-year visas which they requested. In effect, the Embassy has placed these applicants on probation — not trusting them to comply with the terms of their…

Let us start with the big picture. The refusal rate by the US Embassy in Moscow doubled from 2009 to 2010: from 4.9% to 10.3%. The official statistics can be found at these links: http://www.travel.state.gov/pdf/FY10.pdf http://www.travel.state.gov/pdf/FY09.pdf Only five countries had a higher increase in refusal rates, and each of those countries is small. In 2011, the refusal rate for Russians remained at 10.3%. Most notably, the refusal rate in Brazil, a country to which Russia is often compared to in terms of its rapid economic development, is now 3.8%, nearly three times lower than Russia! This doubling of the refusal rate has made the news. It was the subject of an article in the Moscow Times in August, in which yours truly was quoted. The Russian government has been pressing the Americans to abolish the visa regime, but under US law one of the requirements for abolition of the visa…

Over the past year, the number of complaints we have received regarding the US Embassy in Moscow has increased exponentially. What changed? Over the next month, we will discuss this in more detail on this blog.