hi folks we received some very very
interesting news today out of our State
Department we issued a statement today
indicating that we are suspending when I
say we I mean the US government is
suspending visa issuance to folks in
Russia who are seeking what we call
non-immigrant visas so these are the
visas that you're familiar with right
the student things the fiancee visa
right these are the temporary visas that
the temporary stays in our country and
so this is huge because this is Russia
that we're talking about what we have
seen happen is politics and immigration
have come together and now created
tremendous pressure on people who are
planning on traveling to the US to
enroll in school to go back to school
all this is a big month for students and
now we have because of diplomatic
problems that we're having with Russia
President Putin just a few weeks ago
have ordered that up to 755 diplomats US
diplomat greens Russia and so as a
result of the reduced staffing at these
US embassies in Russia we've had to stop
temporarily the issuance of visas and
here's another thing that's really
important that's happened we will be
cancelled today we cancelled all
interviews that folks had scheduled for
their visas and so the State Department
put out issued I should say issued a Q&A
questions and answers these are
frequently asked questions that they're
anticipated actually so the first
question that they at that is asked here
is when my non-immigrant visa
appointment be canceled and the answer
is yes it's cancelled it has been
cancelled
and so what the government our
government is saying is that they're
going to reschedule your interview to be
interviewed for you to be interviewed at
the US Embassy in Moscow instead of at
Embassy in st. Petersburg or at another
site where we had embassies or
diplomatic presence second question I am
a university student studying in the
United States I need to get my visa now
will there be an appointment available
to me the answer is we are planning to
block off visa appointments to students
in early September so you'll have to
wait until early September next question
how long will the suspension last we
will operate at reduced capacity for as
long as our staffing levels are reduced
so basically what they're saying is that
so long as they have reduced staff at
their US Embassy in Moscow they could
only do so much and so we're going to
see potentially a backlog we're going to
see certainly delays and people get in
their visas to travel to the u.s. to
work to to go to school and to visit
their loved ones this is very important
and it's going to be felt immediately
really by those in Russia so okay last
question that I'm going to cover and
then certainly out put a link in this
post to these QA q and A's so that you
can read all of the questions for
yourself if you're interested in
learning more I've already paid my visa
fee can I get my money back and so
obviously the answer is milk they will
not issue you a refund so again this is
important news because this is us-russia
relations at its worse and immigration
is the place where things like this is
felt and it impacts people immediately
so hang in there if you're from Russia
and you need to travel and work to work
or study here Lee you
you're going to face significant you're
going to face a delay
I don't know how significant it is how
long it's going to last but you will
definitely face a delay as things
develop whether there are new guidelines
or fact sheets or anything like that
that comes out of the Department of
State I will be sure to keep you posted
thanks very much for watching and if you
like this video please like comment and
share it Thanks bye-bye