✅ EB-1A: approval
A story about obtaining an EB-1A visa with difficulties at the interview due to administrative processing, which was formal because of a temporary suspension of visa issuance.
Case details
Filing: July 3, 2025
Decision: July 21, 2025
Interview: January 15, 2026
Category: EB-1A
How it went
A happy ending
A brief recap.
On July 3, 2025 we filed premium processing,
on July 21, 2025 we got the approval. We had a long struggle with the NVC because they forgot about our case and were not processing it. I kept writing them each time. In short, there was a lot going on. Then they asked us to show our residence permit and explain why Poland was relevant for us. So there was a lot of back-and-forth with them. Finally, on November 28 we received a letter scheduling our interview for January 15. After that it became a big quest, because it’s hard to get a Schengen visa when you applied for asylum. Many countries, if you check their websites, state that you must have a green card or some visa — proof of the basis that you will return to the States — in order to let you in. So many countries were out of the question, but we managed it successfully. We were granted a short-term one-month visa, which was more than enough for us. So we flew to the interview. As in the movies: by plane, train, car 
. We reached Warsaw; on January 12 we completed the medical examination — we had already had all necessary vaccinations in New York, and we brought both the US and Russian vaccination certificates, so they didn’t give us any shots at the medical exam.
Our interview was on Thursday, January 15. We were the very last ones. Literally the last ones in the hall — there was no one left, even the tourist queue had passed. Here’s how it goes: you approach the window for immigration visas, hand over that little slip and your passports, they check and stamp. Then you go through security, hand over phones, go to another window, take a ticket and wait until called to submit and have your documents checked. We had originals, copies and translations — standard sworn translator translations. They took everything and we sat waiting to be called for the officer interview. There were only five families scheduled for that time slot. And just the day before, on Wednesday, that so-called “wonderful law” came out saying that from January 21 all immigration visa issuance is on hold. Of course we were worried, but that was for the 21st and it was still the 15th.
In the end, the people before us left very sadly; they were given pieces of paper. Administrative processing — but not because there was an actual substantive admin check, rather because they were told to issue nothing during the stop and wait for further instructions. And the officer, when he approves, is supposed to take the passports so you wait — there was no ground for denial — so they simply gave everyone a formal paper saying administrative processing and to wait for further instructions. That’s what happened to everyone before us, and then to us as well. Our officer was very sympathetic; he worried for us. He asked, for example, whether we at least requested an admin pass. We weren’t given an admin pass. We requested an emergency admin pass; they said that’s not a reason and it’s basically our problem.
So we went all-in 
The officer before us questioned everyone for about 30 minutes and closed the window after each, taking the file and spending about 30 minutes per case. His initial warming-up questions were things like when did you meet, when did you get married. We were already quite nervous because of this whole mess about visas not being given. I joked to my husband — “shine” — and probably thought about where we’d go next 
I made a joke to the officer about dates for men, it’s a tricky question. Then he asked, “What is your talent?” My husband started to explain and the officer didn’t even let him finish because he realized a big standup about his projects was coming Then he asked about media and publications. My husband named only part of them (a couple of names and dates of publications) and the officer stopped him, saying that was enough. How did journalists hear about you? We told him, and at that point he really sympathized, kept asking about the pass and apologizing that this was the situation and that he couldn’t do anything. Another question was whether he understood correctly that my husband continues to work in the same field; the officer could see that from the way he looked. You could tell the officer had prepared: he knew all the names and details, and on his computer screen it was clear he had highlighted things and made notes in red about what to ask. He marked answers in green as we responded. He was very engaged in the conversation and kept the dialogue going. Usually they ask the wife what she plans to do or something else, but he didn’t ask anything to me (apparently he considered the fact that we have already lived and worked in the US in the specialty for three years sufficient). He apologized profusely again and said we should just wait for further instructions. We left very upset because it felt like the finale of the story but there was nothing we could do — nowhere to return to immediately, we had to figure out how to evacuate our things and what to do about work 
We returned to our apartment and then the phone rang. A woman from the consulate who took our documents called urgently and told us to bring our passports immediately. We were staying nearby, so we were there in 10 minutes. We handed over the passports and the next day at 4 p.m. we received a message that our passports were ready to be picked up, and we were already nearby (of course we’d been there since lunchtime because we couldn’t sit still until we picked them up). We collected the passports and paid 30 zloty each because when you pick up without an appointment there’s a fee. It turned into a detective story and we aged I don’t know how much 
But as they say, nothing ventured, nothing gained. So don’t give up, keep fighting, and wishing everyone their long-awaited green cards 
eb1
Main insight
“Don’t give up, even if it seems everything is against you. Administrative processing can be formal, and it’s important to keep fighting for your case.”
Kate Degtiareva (@Katty_travel)
2025-07-03
Premium filing
2025-07-21
Approval received
2026-01-15
Interview in Warsaw
2026-01-16
Passport pickup with visas
Story author
Kate Degtiareva (@Katty_travel), from the chat @talentvisahelp. Original message in the chat.
Useful on the topic
All information about O-1 / EB-1A / EB-2 NIW
More success and denial stories: channel @o1eb1