US Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) has announced that on March 29, 2019, the agency will permanently close its field office in Moscow, Russia, due to a significant decrease in workload. February 28, 2019 is the last day the office will be open to the public and accepting applications. The USCIS field office in Athens, Greece, will assume jurisdiction over immigration matters in the Russian Federation, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan.
Read moreMy Immigration Story
Growing up in the Moscow region of Russia in the late 1980s and the 1990s, I don’t quite remember the Soviet times—but I do remember perestroika (“rebuilding”) and the aftermath of the Soviet Union collapsing. I remember standing in long lines to buy bread and bringing a milk can to be filled from a truck that came to my town on certain days of the week from a nearby farm.
Read moreABC News: “US Embassy in Russia suspends issuing nonimmigrant visas”
The US Embassy in Russia announced yesterday that it would temporarily suspend issuing nonimmigrant visas beginning August 23, 2017, after Russia’s decision to reduce embassy and operational staff. On September 1, 2017, visa operations will resume on a “greatly reduced scale,” and only the US Embassy in Moscow will issue visas. The consulates in St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, and Vladivostok have indefinitely suspended their visa issuance. This decision will affect thousands of Russian tourists and visa applicants. Despite the visa shutdown and staff reduction, the US Embassy in Moscow and the three consulates will continue to provide emergency and routine services to American citizens, although hours may be adjusted.
Read moreMy Immigration Story
I’m an American Jew, the kind that bleeds first for the Constitution, the Knicks, rock ‘n’ roll, and Levi’s blue jeans, and second, for “the old country” as my father used to call it. I was born in Washington, D.C. and grew up in Northern Virginia and suburban Maryland, but I’ve always felt the breath of my ancestry on my neck. My immigration experience is second-hand, one borrowed from my parents and their parents before them and so on and so forth. From Exodus to exile to Ellis Island—that is my family’s Jewish experience.
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