Fiance(e) Visa Processing in Warsaw, Poland
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The U.S. Embassy in Warsaw processes fiancé/e visas for Belarus, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and Ukraine. The fiancé/e or K visa allows the prospective spouse of a U.S. citizen to travel to the United States for the purpose of marriage. The minor children (under 21) of your prospective spouse can also travel to the United States with a K visa. We hope that this guide will answer most of your questions about K visas.
Once USCIS Approves the Petition, USCIS will notify you when they have approved the petition and will send it via diplomatic pouch to the U.S. Embassy for further processing. Be sure to specify that the approved petition should be sent to Warsaw if your fiancé/e is in Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, Latvia or Belarus. The U.S. Embassies in those countries do not process fiancé/e visas. If your petition has been misdirected to Kiev, Vilnius, Riga or Minsk it will take eight to 12 weeks before it reaches Warsaw. You do not need to contact the U.S. Embassies in Kiev, Vilnius, Riga or Minsk regarding a misdirected petition. They will automatically forward the petition to Warsaw via registered diplomatic pouch. If your petition has been sent in error to Moscow or to another Foreign Service post, you should contact that post and ask them to forward the petition to Warsaw. Do not contact the Embassy in Warsaw with a request to retrieve your petition from another Embassy. It is your responsibility to contact the post with the petition and request a transfer of the petition to Warsaw.
Second Step - Transfer from USCIS:
When your petition is approved, USCIS will forward it to the Embassy. USCIS will cable notification of the petition approval if you have requested this service at the time of filing. There is an extra charge for cable notification of petition approval. The practices of USCIS offices regarding cable notification of petition approval vary. If you have any questions about cable notification of petition approval please direct them to USCIS. It takes four to six weeks for the actual approved petition and its supporting documentation to reach the Embassy. Your petition is valid for four months, but can be extended by the Embassy if a visa cannot be issued during that period and the intention to marry still exists.
When you have received the approval notice from USCIS, you may request the Embassy to open a provisional case file for your fiancé/e. Opening a provisional file allows us to start processing the case before we receive the petition from USCIS.
To open a provisional file we will need the following items:
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A copy of the approval notice from USCIS;
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Your fiancé/e's full name, date of birth, and place of birth;
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A complete current mailing address for your fiancé/e.
This information should be sent to us by fax, addressed to the Immigrant Visa Section, Warsaw, Poland. The fax number is 011-48-22-627-4734. The fax should clearly state that you wish a provisional K-1 file to be opened for your fiancé/e. If you have an e-mail address, include it in your fax.
Third Step - Processing:
For all cases we send a name-check cable that requires a reply from the FBI. We usually receive these responses within ten days, but some cases take substantially longer. If the beneficiary was born in Russia or is traveling on a Russian passport, we must also send an additional name-check cable that has a fifteen working day turnaround period. If your fiancée is Russian or was born in Russia, you should send the Embassy your full name and address, as this information is required for the additional cable.
When we open a provisional file, we send a Packet 3 to the beneficiary. The Packet 3 tells the applicant what documents he or she must collect prior to the visa interview. Packet 3 for applicants from countries of the former Soviet Union is in Russian. The Embassy in Warsaw has forms and information sheets in Russian and staff who can speak Russian to ensure accurate communication with all applicants we process from Belarus, Latvia, Lithuania, and Ukraine. We, of course, also have forms in Polish and in English. Packet 3 asks your fiancée to assemble the following documents:
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Valid passports for the beneficiary and any dependent children
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Birth certificates for the beneficiary and any dependent children
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Proof of termination of any prior marriages
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A police certificate from the current place of residence of the beneficiary, as well as from any place or places of residence for 6 months or more since attaining the age of 16.
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Police certificate(s) for any dependent children over 16.
Most of the countries of the former Soviet Union have phased out or are phasing out old Soviet passports. All Ukrainian applicants must have the current Ukrainian passports before notifying the Embassy that they have collected the documents listed in Packet.
Original documents bearing the signatures and seals of the issuing authorities are required. Any documents in a foreign language should be accompanied by an English translation.
When your fiancée has collected all the documents specified in Packet 3, he or she should notify the Embassy by returning the form in Packet 3 (Optional Form 169) certifying that all required documents have been obtained. We accept faxed copies of Optional Form 169.
Fourth Step - Scheduling:
The Embassy will send out Packet 4 explaining the process of obtaining medical exams and scheduling an appointment for a visa interview when we have received the following items:
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The actual approved petition from USCIS or telegraphic notice of approval from USCIS;
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Clearances from the required name checks;
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A signed Optional Form 169 from the beneficiary.
It is necessary for us to have the actual petition on hand in order to conduct an adequate visa interview for most K visas. We open cases on the basis of telegraphic notification from USCIS of petition approval, but we do not schedule them until the actual petition arrives and the other conditions listed above have been met. After receiving the above-referenced information, we make every effort to schedule interviews as soon as possible. However, because of our heavy workload of fiancé/e cases, the first available appointment may be up to a few months after the above-listed conditions are met.
In cases in which the Embassy has received official telegraphic notification of petition approval from USCIS, but not the actual petition, and extreme hardship would result if scheduling did not occur until the actual petition is received, the Embassy will consider requests for interview scheduling on the basis of telegraphic notice of petition approval. You or your lawyer may make such a request by fax. The fax should clearly explain the basis upon which extreme hardship is claimed. The Embassy may require proof to be submitted to substantiate the claim. In cases in which the request is granted, the Embassy may also request additional information from you regarding your marital history and the history of your relationship with your fiancée. In certain cases however, we will determine at the time of the visa interview that we need all documents submitted to USCIS regarding the petitioner and the beneficiary in order to process the case to completion.
Packet 4 contains an appointment date and instructions on where to go to complete the medical examination. Applicants may have the required medical exams in Kiev or in Warsaw. The medical exams must be performed by one of the physicians identified in Packet 4. K1 and K2 visa applicants are not required to submit proof of vaccinations or to undergo any vaccinations until they adjust status with the USCIS. Therefore applicants may wish to consider carrying their vaccination records with them to the United States to facilitate this process.
In addition to mailing Packet 4, we will, upon request, notify by e-mail or ordinary mail attorneys of record or interested petitioners not represented by an attorney that Packet 4 has been sent and an appointment date has been set.
Fifth Step - Interview:
Visa interviews are by appointment only. Beneficiaries should not travel to Warsaw until they have received an appointment date from the Embassy. Applicants who appear without appointments are not interviewed. Appointment dates for K visas are posted on the Embassy webpage in the first few days of each month. If your fiancé/e's case number appears on this listing and your fiancé/e has the Packet 4 information available from the website, he or she may come to the Embassy even if a Packet 4 has not been received in the mail. On the date of the appointment your fiancée should come to the Immigrant Visa section of the Embassy in Warsaw. Minor children under 14 do not need to attend the interview. We open at 8:00 a.m. and we accept cases until 10:00 a.m. We do not assign individual appointment times.
The Embassy's address is Aleje Ujazdowskie 29/31, 00-540 Warsaw.
The Embassy's consular entrance is at Ulica Piekna 12, between Aleje Ujazdowskie and Ulica Mokotowska.
Your fiancé/e will fill out a Nonimmigrant Visa Application (OF-156) in duplicate, as well as a supplement to form OF-156. Each dependent child also needs Nonimmigrant Visa Applications in duplicate. Original documents, not copies, should be brought to the interview. Originals of primary documents, such as birth, marriage, and death records, will be returned to the applicant after the interview.
Your fiancé/e will be asked to present:
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Valid passports for the beneficiary and any dependent children;
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Birth certificates for the beneficiary and any dependent children;
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Proof of termination of any prior marriages of both petitioner and beneficiary;
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Police certificate(s) for the beneficiary and any dependent children over 16 years of age;
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Vaccination results for the beneficiary and any dependent children;
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Medical exam results for the beneficiary and any dependent children;
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Proof of adequate financial support once in the United States to ensure that your fiancé/e and dependent children will not become public charges;
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Supporting documentation verifying the relationship between the petitioner and beneficiary.
Petitioners should not use the contractually binding Affidavit of Support form I-864. This form is not required for K visas. Documentation regarding financial support can be in any form so long as it contains enough detail and information for the consular officer to conclude that the beneficiary will not become a public charge. Petitioners may submit the "old" Affidavit of Support form I-134 if they wish.
After a consular officer has reviewed the case, your fiancé/e will be interviewed. The consular officer will ask your fiancé/e questions about your relationship, such as how you met and when you decided to marry. The consular officer is required by law to verify that your relationship with your fiancée is real, that you met at least once within the last two years, and that you do intend to marry within 90 days of your fiancé/e's arrival in the United States. Your fiancé/e will be required to sign a statement regarding his or her legal capacity to marry and intention to marry. The consular officer will thoroughly review the case to make sure that your fiancé/e is eligible to receive a U.S. visa. Provided everything is in order at the time of the interview, your fiancé/e will receive a visa the same day. Your fiancé/e and each dependent child will pay a $65.00 non-refundable machine-readable-visa fee on the day of the interview. This fee must be paid in cash in U.S. or Polish currency.
If your fiancée is not issued a visa, he or she will be given notification in writing at the time of the interview. Please review this notification before contacting the Embassy with questions about the case.
Supporting documentation, including the K petition, birth certificate, Nonimmigrant Visa Application, and medical exam will be placed in a sealed envelope and given to the applicant for presentation to INS at the port of entry. We do not keep copies of this documentation at the Embassy.
Contact Policy:
Most general questions can be answered by a close reading of this guide. We can only answer inquiries about cases that have already been transferred to the Embassy. (These are cases that have been entered into our computer system and have a case number starting with the letters WRW). After USCIS approves the petition, it normally takes from four to six weeks for a case to reach us. PLEASE DO NOT ASK US ABOUT ANY CASE THAT WAS APPROVED LESS THAN ONE MONTH AGO. We will not/not have any information on those cases.
Once we receive the case from USCIS, it will take approximately 10-12 weeks to process the case to the point of visa issuance. We cannot eliminate any aspect of the processing nor overlook any requirements. We process several hundred fiancée visas a year, and assure you that we make every effort to process each one as expeditiously as possible.
Please send your inquiry through one channel only. That is, if you yourself contact us, do not also have your attorney and/or member of Congress also contact us with the same inquiry. It takes a great deal of time and effort to respond to these inquiries and slows everything down when we have to provide the same information more than once. It is your choice as to how you wish to contact us, and if you choose to have your attorney or Congressperson do so, that is fine, but we simply do not have the staff to answer identical, multiple inquiries as quickly as we would like.
Please do not contact us to request an appointment date. Appointments are scheduled in order at the earliest available opportunity and notification of the appointment date is sent automatically to all fiancé visa applicants - not to you, the petitioner. Our appointment schedule is posted on the Embassy webpage during the first week of every month. We appreciate your desire to have the visa issued as soon as possible, but we can only schedule applicants in order. To do otherwise would be to treat some people unfairly. All petitioners in these cases are, by definition, U.S. citizens and every petitioner is entitled to the same fair treatment. Please do not ask us to favor your case over all the other cases we handle.
Please consolidate your questions and send them to us no more frequently than once a week. We simply cannot respond to daily inquiries.
Opening a provisional case (that is, creating a computer record before we receive the actual petition from USCIS) is a courtesy we generally extend when asked. We are not required to do so. In return for this courtesy we expect petitioners with provisional cases to observe the Embassy's contact policy.
If possible, please use e-mail to communicate with the Embassy. It is the most efficient way to reach the Embassy and the quickest way to get answers to your questions. We have a dedicated e-mail address for K visa cases: fiancewrw@state.gov.
If you have been requested to send original documents to the Embassy, you can do so by U.S. mail at the address below. It takes about two weeks for your letter to reach the Embassy:
Department of State
5010 Warsaw Place
Washington, D.C. 20521-5010
Documents can also be sent by international mail or courier service to the following street address:
U.S. Embassy
Immigrant Visa Section
Ul. Piekna 14a
Warsaw 00-540
Poland
Reaching the Embassy by telephone is difficult. Due to the volume of inquiries our lines are often busy. We suggest that you use e-mail or fax rather than call the Embassy.
