I’ve heard that Russians applying for EB-1 are now being widely subjected to administrative processing at embassies around the world. Is that actually true or an exaggeration? Has anyone who recently had an interview been put into administrative processing, or did it go through?
For Russians and Belarusians, administrative processing for immigrant and student visas is practically guaranteed — at least at the Belgrade consulate that’s the situation for everyone from Russia/Belarus. I was stuck in AP for an F2 for six months; my husband went through F1 a bit earlier. A year+ for EB-1 for Russian citizens is not an exaggeration — I’ve seen cases of 1.5 years. The scenario with requests routed through the embassy in the country of citizenship looks realistic: with staffing cuts the chain between Washington and Moscow can break, and the case just stalls with no movement.
6 Likes