Changing experiences at the Oz Embassy in Moscow

[Kuna]

Had some interesting news from our family in Moscow today.

I've previously posted of the poor treatment my MIL received at the Australian Embassy in Moscow when applying for a visa to attend our wedding.  Basically a Russian employee within the Embassy said some spiteful things that upset my MIL by making her believe she would miss her daughters wedding.

At the time I sent an email to the embassy and they followed up very quickly both with my MILs visa approval, and action on the poor treatment she received (i.e. Apology and promise to take action on quality of service given).

My wife and I have always had wonderful service from our embassy and the Aust Dept of Immigration but today provided another surprise.

Our family were in the Embassy to process a visa for our 11 yr old nephew to come to Australia for a holiday. They were shocked after leaving the window (where the docs were lodged) when approached by another staff member and asked to answer some questions:

(Family was worried)

1. "What is the purpose of your visit to the embassy today?"

2. "Are you satisfied with the information you received?"

3. "Are you happy with the friendliness of service provided?"

4. "Is there anything we could do to make things easier or better for you?"

My wife says the family were in hysterics because Mama was very nervous before going back to the embassy today and she was shocked that people would care if they were happy with their visit to the Embassy. (Actually,  Mama sees it as the "Australian Government cared whether she was happy at the Embassy today".)

She also noticed all staff wore name tags this time - pertinent because it was difficult to identify the offending staff member last time.

I'm very happy, no, I am proud of the staff at the Australian Embassy in Moscow because it seems they are treating their clients (and our families) with respect when they are complying with the formal (and sometimes frightening) process of applying for visit visas.

I know others have had problems with Embassies from various countries (including the Aust Embassy at times) but I thought a good news story about Visa's/Immigration/Embassies was probably overdue.

Kuna

[I/O]

Kuna: Mrs I/O speaks highly of the standards upheld by the Au/Moscow embassy on each and every occasion she had dealings there (Several). MIL was treated politely during her discussions also. My only complaint was time, whilst your experience was the opposite. On the whole, from what I can gather, it is one of the better ones. 

I've heard some horrible stories regarding the Au/Moscow embassy and I don't know all the facts behind the cases, but I can't help but wonder if some of the applicants have in some way contributed to their own problems. I've found our whole immigration system to be quite workable thus far. Time will tell when it comes to unrestricted residency visa time but that's a year or two away yet, so I'll worry about that then.

Looking forward to hearing your nephew's impressions when he visits.

I/O

[KenC]

Kuna,
WOW!  How nice!
KenC

[groovlstk]

I've previously posted of the poor treatment my MIL received at the Australian Embassy in Moscow when applying for a visa to attend our wedding.  Basically a Russian employee within the Embassy said some spiteful things that upset my MIL by making her believe she would miss her daughters wedding.

Kuna, although my wife had her interview at the US Embassy, she also had unkind things to say about the Russian employees who worked there.

Basically, there was a window all prospective interviewees had to stop at to make sure they had all their proper documents before proceeding to the next level. Probably the lowest level of employees the embassy has, all were young Russian women wearing enough makeup to patch a faultline, but my wife said they were the most arrogant, self-important jerks she'd ever encountered. My wife throws around compliments to Americans (or any non-Russkis for that matter like manhole covers, but at least in this instance she was relieved to find more polite treatment from the rest of the staff.

I hate to say it but we also encountered the same treatment here in the US from other Russian expats, at her doc's office, the uni she attended ESL classes, etc.

Funny enough, there's an extremely condescending Russian woman working as receptionist at a local ESL program my wife attended who used to phone her every month to find out if she had found a job (they rely on public funding and as ammunition for their quest to secure it, they keep stats on how quickly they help new immigrants assimilate and become productive workers). This woman treated my wife like garbage yet my wife was polite to her after she phoned a few months back, telling her she'd found a job and giving her the details. I had urged my wife to point out that she was likely making 3-4x the bitchy Russian clerk's salary, but she had too much class to condescend.

[Jet]

This woman treated my wife like garbage yet my wife was polite to her after she phoned a few months back, telling her she'd found a job and giving her the details. I had urged my wife to point out that she was likely making 3-4x the bitchy Russian clerk's salary...

Sounds like virtually every Latin immigration officer we've dealt with down here  There's this underlying anger & disgust like THEY were supposed to be the last immigrants let into the country. We have not experienced the same attitude with any of the other officers (white, black, or oriental).