What should I do if I’m submitting one passport by power of attorney, while my other passport shows I live in a different country? Has anyone gone through a U.S. consulate interview in this situation?
Being abroad without a passport is a violation in itself — you technically don’t have the right to be there without the document. For the Schengen area, if you gave fingerprints in the last 5 years, anyone can apply on your behalf with a power of attorney; close relatives can do it without one.
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Thanks — I didn’t know relatives could even submit it without a power of attorney. Do they check fingerprints against a database, or do they just look at the passport stamps?
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They don’t take biometrics at all for type D — I checked with the visa center in St. Petersburg; they outright refused to take fingerprints, saying it’s not required. So submitting via a power of attorney is a perfectly workable option specifically for D, with no caveats about biometrics.
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I checked about type D — the rules there are stricter than for Schengen C. I wrote to VMS Piter; they replied that only a legal spouse can apply for you — with the original marriage certificate. Other relatives must have a notarized power of attorney, mandatory, no exceptions.
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Copies of all pages of the second passport plus the trip bookings for the dates when the main passport is at the consulate — at the Moscow visa center, with such a package they don’t retain the second passport; this has been confirmed for both C and D. But it’s better to check in advance with the specific officer, as some start insisting they won’t accept the application without the second document.
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I went to the visa center with the original and a copy of my second passport and even wrote a statement saying I have two passports and really need to keep it because trips are planned. In the end they didn’t take the passport, the copy, or the statement — they just did their thing and that was it. So how do they find out about the second one? Well, that’s how — they didn’t.
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When I wanted to leave my second passport, they asked for tickets. I’d accidentally bought one the day before, from Yerevan — they said it actually needed to be from Moscow, and if they ask for more you have to provide it. In other words, you need proof that the second document will remain in your possession. If you want to show the visas that are in the second passport, you have to insist; otherwise they’ll say, “we don’t need that, leave it.”
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About being in another country — you can figure it out from the stamps pretty easily if someone wants to check. The last exit shown in the main passport without a return entry — matching that to where the person is takes a couple of seconds. And yes, if there are multiple passports — at the Italian visa office in Turin they asked to present both when applying.
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Be careful when choosing the country to apply in. If your propiska (residence registration) in your home country is still valid, the consulate there will always accept a D visa application, either in person or via a representative. From my experience — even while legally staying in another country with a residence permit and a job — I still applied through the consulate of my registered address; there were no questions about stamps or where I was actually located. At the consulate of the country where you live, those questions tend to come up automatically.
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I called the VMS call center — they said that as long as the D visa hasn’t been issued, you can simultaneously apply for a Schengen C visa; there are no restrictions. I specifically asked about the Italian one. The two processes run simultaneously.
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About applying for a C visa at the same time — in the motivation letter for the C visa it’s best not to mention your passport, the D visa, or anything that links you to it. Any such mention is a route to additional checks and may lead to refusal for inconsistency with the declared purpose of the trip.
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