HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE
- The governments of Georgia and Ukraine are assisting refugees from Ukraine. Contact local authorities (call 144) or the Embassy of Ukraine in Tbilisi.
- The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Georgia website has information on the asylum procedure in Georgia, and also provides additional information for asylum seekers and others in need of humanitarian assistance here.
- Please do not contact or come to the U.S. Embassy in Tbilisi. We cannot provide direct assistance to individual refugees.
AMERICAN CITIZEN SERVICES IN GEORGIA
- If you are a U. S. citizen seeking Consular Report of Birth Abroad (CRBA) or passport services, please consult our website for instructions, the link for online appointments in Tbilisi, and a handout with useful information for applicants traveling from outside of Georgia. Earlier or expedited appointments are available only for life-or-death emergencies; please email AskConsulTbilisi@state.gov with a justification.
- If you are interested in a partially virtual CRBA and/or passport interview at the U.S. Consulate in Frankfurt, Germany, please review the instructions here.
VISA SERVICES IN GEORGIA
IMMIGRANT VISAS
If you are a U.S. citizen or Lawful Permanent Resident with a Ukrainian or Russian relative seeking to travel to the United States on an immigrant visa:
- The designated processing post for Ukrainian immigrant visas is the U.S. Consulate in Frankfurt, Germany: https://de.usembassy.gov/ukrainians-in-germany/.
- The designated processing post for Russian immigrant visas is the U.S. Embassy in Warsaw, Poland: https://ru.usembassy.gov/visas/immigrant-visas/.
- You may request expedition and transfer to Frankfurt (for Ukrainian cases) or Warsaw (for Russian cases) from the National Visa Center: https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/immigrate/national-visa-center/nvc-contact-information.html.
- Please note that U.S. Embassies and Consulates abroad cannot accept I-130 petitions when the petitioner has already filed with United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).
- If you have not yet filed a petition but wish to do so, you may contact the U.S. Consulate in Frankfurt (for Ukrainian cases) or the U.S. Embassy in Warsaw (for Russian cases) to inquire regarding possible local filing (this applies only to U.S. citizens filing petitions for their spouses, unmarried children under 21, and parents).
- If you have an immigrant visa case that has already been transferred from NVC to Kyiv or Moscow and would instead like the case to be processed at the U.S. Consulate in Frankfurt (for Ukrainian cases) or the U.S. Embassy in Warsaw (for Russian cases), please directly contact the relevant destination location.
- If you have not yet filed a petition, wish to do so, cannot travel to Frankfurt (for Ukrainian cases) or Warsaw (for Russian cases), wish to file at U.S. Embassy Tbilisi, and are experiencing an immediate medical emergency, you may email support-Georgia@ustraveldocs.com to inquire regarding possible local filing (this applies only to U.S. citizens filing petitions for their spouses, unmarried children under 21 and parents).
- Both the petitioner and the applicant must be present in Georgia.
- However, please be aware that due to extraordinarily high demand and limited availability in Tbilisi, wait times may be very long. It will likely be more efficient to have your case processed in Frankfurt (for Ukrainian cases) or Warsaw (for Russian cases).
- If you have a question about an immigrant visa case that is already in process at the U.S. Embassy in Tbilisi, please review our website. If the answer to your question is not above or on our website, email support-Georgia@ustraveldocs.com.
If you are a U.S. citizen with a Ukrainian or Russian fiancé(e) seeking to travel to the United States on a K1 visa:
- If you have already filed a petition with USCIS that was not yet approved, U.S. law prohibits U.S. embassies from accepting K visa petitions (I-129F) for local filing abroad.
- USCIS must first approve K visa petitions. However, you can request an expedite for USCIS processing at https://www.uscis.gov/forms/filing-guidance/how-to-make-an-expedite-request.
NONIMMIGRANT VISAS
The U.S. Embassy in Tbilisi began processing routine B1/B2 tourist visas on August 1, 2022; however, demand is very high and the number of appointments out staff can process is still very limited. If you have an emergency that meets our emergency criteria, you may request an expedited appointment. Routine travel to the United States, business meetings/dealings, or cultural/sports programs do not currently meet our requirements for expedited appointments.
NIVs are for temporary stays in the United States and are not the appropriate way to begin a refugee, resettlement, or immigration process. If you apply for a nonimmigrant visa but are not able to demonstrate intent to return to a residence abroad after a defined visit to the United States, the officer will refuse your application as required by law.
Applicants should not attempt to apply for NIVs in order to travel to the United States as refugees. All inquiries about refugee status and assistance should be directed to the resources listed above.
- While we try to respond to most NIV inquiries as quickly as we can, response wait times can be lengthy.
- We will not respond to inquiries about matters detailed in our auto responses or on our websites.
- Please do not visit the Embassy without an appointment.
- There are no walk-in visa appointments.
- No different information is available at the Embassy than is available online.
- It is not possible to begin a visa application at the Embassy, even for friends and families of U.S. citizens.
- All relevant information is available online, and applications can only be made online (see our websites here or here).
If an NIV application is not possible, you may wish to refer to the humanitarian assistance and immigrant visa information above.