Form DS-5535 'SUPPLEMENTAL QUESTIONS FOR VISA APPLICANTS'

[SabrinaJerome 52]

5 hours ago, TangierMorocco said:

Dear all, today I received a long detailed response from my senator outlining the details of what we are going through. I am actually sharing very small part of the message to protect the rest of the information. Now I know where is our cases, and who handle them. Thank you to my GREAT senator. I am so happy that my voice was not lost in the crowd and there are someone who would listen. I encourage you to send detailed message to your senators. I will follow up with my senator EVEN IF MY WIFE received her visa, I will not stop until this unfair practice stop. Below is a small part of my senator message.

 

I believe that Congress has a fundamental responsibility to engage in vigilant oversight of the Departments of State and Homeland Security, and I will keep your comments in mind as I continue to monitor their actions. Your comments are important to me, and I will keep your views in mind as I work on the issues that affect (I deleted the name of the state) and our country.

Thank you again for contacting me about this issue. If I can be of further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact me. To sign up for my newsletter, visit Deleted this parts You can also follow me on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube

 

Sincerely,

 

United States Senator

Hi TangierMorocco,

It's great that you wrote your senator and got a response. It's so important that we let our representatives know what is happening, not only to us, but to thousands of people. 

I echo others' comments here that we all need to write.

It's true that the cases those of us who have been put through a more rigorous vetting are reviewed by Homeland Security. Did the senator give you any other specific information about your case? I'm interested to know anything more - if you are willing, you could send me a private message.

Thanks for posting!

 

[SabrinaJerome 52]

On 7/27/2018 at 1:24 AM, TangierMorocco said:

please keep updating

 

On 7/27/2018 at 4:15 AM, 99balloons said:

Hi Tangier,

Added mine.  I don't know how personal you want to get with the spreadsheet, but here are some other suggestions if you believe ACLU (or anyone) will listen?

- What embassy is handling your case?

- is applicant US citizen or LPR?

- is an applicant a Muslim?

- is beneficiary a Muslim?

- is beneficiary origin from a Muslim majority country?

- does beneficiary live in a Muslim majority country?

- what is beneficiary's country of residence department of state designation? (mine is 4 do not travel, but I do anyways, being a spouse)

- do you travel to his home country?

- can your spouse/relative enter US on any other visa?

I totally agree with you, we need more input for immigrant visa applicants with DS-5535. I see lots of Morocco in your spreadsheet. Nice country, been there (visa free for Malian hubby) in 2012, this year our first trip is Dubai (and if visa does not come before, then me back to Mali in Dec).

Thanks for spearheading this effort.   

 

On 7/27/2018 at 4:22 AM, TangierMorocco said:

Thanks a lot sister for the info. I agree with you we should add the religion questions. I hope we can at some point share this with ACLU and file a Federal court lawsuit as well. We are in an election year, and those interested in our votes must understand the injustice we are going through. 

 

Thanks, 99baloons for your input!

 

So re the spreadsheet, I'm thinking about what other information should be included.

I think we should add these from your list, 99baloons:

- What embassy is handling your case?

- is applicant US citizen or LPR?

- is beneficiary origin from a Muslim majority country?

- does beneficiary live in a Muslim majority country?

- what is beneficiary's country of residence department of state designation?

- do you travel to his/her home country?

- can your spouse/relative enter US on any other visa?

 

The only question I think we should not add is whether or not the applicant is Muslim, since I don't think the investigation of the applicant is based on him/her personally being one religion or another (and no where on any application does it require the applicant to state his/her religion, correct??), but rather, very simplistically, whether that person is from or has traveled to a "Muslim country."  

Many people in Muslim countries do not consider themselves Muslim, but that doesn't seem to matter!

Also, there have been some people on this forum who simply traveled to/worked in a country "on the list" but were not from one of those countries, and were given the DS 5535 or required extra vetting.

Also, maybe we should add the question: "What countries has the applicant traveled to/worked in in the past 5/10 years?"

 

I didn't know what State Department "level" Morocco is, so I looked it up here: https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/international-travel/International-Travel-Country-Information-Pages.html  (enter your country on the left side of the page)

Turns out it's a 1(lowest level)... and out of curiosity I looked up France and Spain. Try it and see  

Keep in mind, these are travel advisories for US citizens, and there's not necessarily a correlation between the level and the questioning of an applicant from that country.

 

Just some aspects to consider, in my opinion.

Thanks again, IbnFawzi, for starting the spreadsheet, TangierMorocco for keeping this going, and 99balloons for adding your ideas!

Edited July 28, 2018 by SabrinaJerome
error

[SabrinaJerome 52]

On 7/27/2018 at 4:22 AM, TangierMorocco said:

Thanks a lot sister for the info. I agree with you we should add the religion questions. I hope we can at some point share this with ACLU and file a Federal court lawsuit as well. We are in an election year, and those interested in our votes must understand the injustice we are going through. 

I keep thinking about the "is the applicant Muslim" question... I know what you guys mean. But if an applicant states/wrote on his application, "I'm not Muslim"... what effect do you think that would have? 

Also, what's in a name?  What if "Don Smith" was born and raised in Egypt? (imho I think his process would go faster as long as he is a "regular guy" like the rest of our guys/women - - who don't have "Don Smith"-type names - - but ya never know what connections Don might have, or places he might have traveled, that would cause more investigation )

<<hope we're getting that I have a dark sense of humor sometimes... it's a coping mechanism!>>  

 

At any rate, like I said, I think vetting is mostly based on the country/countries involved.

Annnnd, having said all that, I believe that this vetting program has not been adequately funded, which might be one of the main reasons the vetting is going so slowly.

(Of course, then you can ask, why hasn't it been adequately funded? )

 

[MO&RA 22]

9 hours ago, TangierMorocco said:

Dear all, today I received a long detailed response from my senator outlining the details of what we are going through. I am actually sharing very small part of the message to protect the rest of the information. Now I know where is our cases, and who handle them. Thank you to my GREAT senator. I am so happy that my voice was not lost in the crowd and there are someone who would listen. I encourage you to send detailed message to your senators. I will follow up with my senator EVEN IF MY WIFE received her visa, I will not stop until this unfair practice stop. Below is a small part of my senator message.

 

I believe that Congress has a fundamental responsibility to engage in vigilant oversight of the Departments of State and Homeland Security, and I will keep your comments in mind as I continue to monitor their actions. Your comments are important to me, and I will keep your views in mind as I work on the issues that affect (I deleted the name of the state) and our country.

Thank you again for contacting me about this issue. If I can be of further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact me. To sign up for my newsletter, visit Deleted this parts You can also follow me on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube

 

Sincerely,

 

United States Senator

Thanks for the info.

So the case is back to department of state?

when I tried to reach DOS, they gave me the NVC No. and of course, they said the case is at the embassy and they don't know the details.

The embassy's response is to wait patiently for the administrative processing to be finished!!

Did your state's senator give more detailed info on the case?

[ibnfawzi 46]

19 hours ago, TangierMorocco said:

Dear all, today I received a long detailed response from my senator outlining the details of what we are going through. I am actually sharing very small part of the message to protect the rest of the information. Now I know where is our cases, and who handle them. Thank you to my GREAT senator. I am so happy that my voice was not lost in the crowd and there are someone who would listen. I encourage you to send detailed message to your senators. I will follow up with my senator EVEN IF MY WIFE received her visa, I will not stop until this unfair practice stop. Below is a small part of my senator message.

 

I believe that Congress has a fundamental responsibility to engage in vigilant oversight of the Departments of State and Homeland Security, and I will keep your comments in mind as I continue to monitor their actions. Your comments are important to me, and I will keep your views in mind as I work on the issues that affect (I deleted the name of the state) and our country.

Thank you again for contacting me about this issue. If I can be of further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact me. To sign up for my newsletter, visit Deleted this parts You can also follow me on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube

 

Sincerely,

 

United States Senator

Can you tell us which Senator you contacted? Mine have been worthless. Maybe if more of us can get contact with the 1 person who will listen... 

[TangierMorocco 52]

17 hours ago, SabrinaJerome said:

Hi TangierMorocco,

It's great that you wrote your senator and got a response. It's so important that we let our representatives know what is happening, not only to us, but to thousands of people. 

I echo others' comments here that we all need to write.

It's true that the cases those of us who have been put through a more rigorous vetting are reviewed by Homeland Security. Did the senator give you any other specific information about your case? I'm interested to know anything more - if you are willing, you could send me a private message.

Thanks for posting!

 

Hi Sabrina, 

Thank you for your comments. Yes, I received more details about who is managing our cases within the Homeland Security. I just do not feel comfortable to share the entire message since I do not have permission to share the entire message in a public forum. I think the most important message for all of us is to keep writing to our senators, I would say in every 2-3 days to ask them to do something. This is the only way w can get the congress to take up our cause similar to the way they have done with the DECA, and the boarder children issue. 

[TangierMorocco 52]

13 hours ago, MO&RA said:

Thanks for the info.

So the case is back to department of state?

when I tried to reach DOS, they gave me the NVC No. and of course, they said the case is at the embassy and they don't know the details.

The embassy's response is to wait patiently for the administrative processing to be finished!!

Did your state's senator give more detailed info on the case?

Dear MO&RA

Thank you for your comments. Yes, I received more details about who is managing our cases within the Homeland Security, it is not at the state department. I just do not feel comfortable to share the entire message since I do not have permission to share the entire message in a public forum. I think the most important message for all of us is to keep writing to our senators, I would say in every 2-3 days to ask them to do something. This is the only way w can get the congress to take up our cause similar to the way they have done with the DECA, and the boarder children issue. 

[TangierMorocco 52]

3 hours ago, ibnfawzi said:

Can you tell us which Senator you contacted? Mine have been worthless. Maybe if more of us can get contact with the 1 person who will listen... 

I just do not feel comfortable to share the entire message or the senator name since I do not have permission to share the entire message in a public forum. I think the most important message for all of us is to keep writing to our senators, I would say in every 2-3 days to ask them to do something. This is the only way w can get the congress to take up our cause similar to the way they have done with the DECA, and the boarder children issue. 

As you know the democrats are very supportive of the cause. If you are in a red state you may expect slow or no answers. I would say, keep on writing, calling his/her office, and they will eventually respond. Senators do not want to be seen non responsive to their constituencies. Also, write to house representatives. We need to to let every senators and every congressman knows our suffering. 

[MO&RA 22]

1 hour ago, TangierMorocco said:

Dear MO&RA

Thank you for your comments. Yes, I received more details about who is managing our cases within the Homeland Security, it is not at the state department. I just do not feel comfortable to share the entire message since I do not have permission to share the entire message in a public forum. I think the most important message for all of us is to keep writing to our senators, I would say in every 2-3 days to ask them to do something. This is the only way w can get the congress to take up our cause similar to the way they have done with the DECA, and the boarder children issue. 

Thanks TangierMorocco. I already wrote to my state's senator last week and I'm waiting on his response. I hope there is a solution to this unreasonable waiting time for all of us soon. 

[Waiting17 4]

On 7/28/2018 at 7:20 AM, TangierMorocco said:

Dear all, today I received a long detailed response from my senator outlining the details of what we are going through. I am actually sharing very small part of the message to protect the rest of the information. Now I know where is our cases, and who handle them. Thank you to my GREAT senator. I am so happy that my voice was not lost in the crowd and there are someone who would listen. I encourage you to send detailed message to your senators. I will follow up with my senator EVEN IF MY WIFE received her visa, I will not stop until this unfair practice stop. Below is a small part of my senator message.

 

I believe that Congress has a fundamental responsibility to engage in vigilant oversight of the Departments of State and Homeland Security, and I will keep your comments in mind as I continue to monitor their actions. Your comments are important to me, and I will keep your views in mind as I work on the issues that affect (I deleted the name of the state) and our country.

Thank you again for contacting me about this issue. If I can be of further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact me. To sign up for my newsletter, visit Deleted this parts You can also follow me on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube

 

Sincerely,

 

United States Senator

Thanks for sharing the info TangierMorocco. Did they tell you that how long can this process take after submitting DS 5535 form? I mean so far we have seen cases processed in 2 weeks and we have seen cases that took 10 - 12 months. Did they provide any specifics on whats the average processing time? If you can share those details that will really help us all. Thanks!

[aqz17 6]

On 7/26/2018 at 7:24 PM, TangierMorocco said:

please keep updating

Thanks for putting this together, I just uploaded my information into the document as well

[TangierMorocco 52]

9 hours ago, Khan1985 said:

Thanks for sharing the info TangierMorocco. Did they tell you that how long can this process take after submitting DS 5535 form? I mean so far we have seen cases processed in 2 weeks and we have seen cases that took 10 - 12 months. Did they provide any specifics on whats the average processing time? If you can share those details that will really help us all. Thanks!

Thank you for the message. I greatly appreciate it. This is the first time I received more detailed message from my Senator. In the past I received messages regarding my case, they contact the consulate on my behalf and get back to me with the responses they receive from the consulate. The responses that they receive is usually exactly the same as the one I receive when I contact the consulate.

The Senator response this time was much appreciated because he was detailed in discussing not only my case, but the entire issue of social media investigation for immigrants. He didn't discuss how much time it takes, obviously he was VERY against the practice. He provided information regarding what the exact agent that handle our case etc. As I said I wouldn't feel comfortable sharing the senator message. I however strongly suggest that everyone should contact their senators so that we have a momentum to bring the conversation to the senate floor, and have this issue discussed and dealt with not only to help us, but to help everyone else come after us. After all, we already waited more than 7-12 month, and in most cases our cases are resolved within this period.

[Waiting17 4]

1 hour ago, TangierMorocco said:

Thank you for the message. I greatly appreciate it. This is the first time I received more detailed message from my Senator. In the past I received messages regarding my case, they contact the consulate on my behalf and get back to me with the responses they receive from the consulate. The responses that they receive is usually exactly the same as the one I receive when I contact the consulate.

The Senator response this time was much appreciated because he was detailed in discussing not only my case, but the entire issue of social media investigation for immigrants. He didn't discuss how much time it takes, obviously he was VERY against the practice. He provided information regarding what the exact agent that handle our case etc. As I said I wouldn't feel comfortable sharing the senator message. I however strongly suggest that everyone should contact their senators so that we have a momentum to bring the conversation to the senate floor, and have this issue discussed and dealt with not only to help us, but to help everyone else come after us. After all, we already waited more than 7-12 month, and in most cases our cases are resolved within this period.

Thanks TangierMorocco for providing a detailed answer. I really appreciate it. I have applied for non immigrant visa (E2). Not sure who can I reach to help me out. Its been almost 11 months with not a single update. And i have emailed the consulate more than 20 times but the usual response is that its in AP and should wait till its completed. God help us all.

[MO&RA 22]

. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/u-s-citizen-s-family-was-denied-visas-under-trump-n895381 family was denied visas under Trump's travel ban. Then he died by suicide.

Salem was one of thousands of Yemeni-Americans separated from non-U.S. citizen family members by Trump’s travel ban.

by Mallory Moench / Jul.28.2018 / 9:12 AM ET

Just now, MO&RA said:

. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/u-s-citizen-s-family-was-denied-visas-under-trump-n895381 family was denied visas under Trump's travel ban. Then he died by suicide.

Salem was one of thousands of Yemeni-Americans separated from non-U.S. citizen family members by Trump’s travel ban.

by Mallory Moench / Jul.28.2018 / 9:12 AM ET

This is sad and heartbreaking

 

[TangierMorocco 52]

24 minutes ago, MO&RA said:

. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/u-s-citizen-s-family-was-denied-visas-under-trump-n895381 family was denied visas under Trump's travel ban. Then he died by suicide.

Salem was one of thousands of Yemeni-Americans separated from non-U.S. citizen family members by Trump’s travel ban.

by Mallory Moench / Jul.28.2018 / 9:12 AM ET

This is sad and heartbreaking

 

This is very sad indeed. No one should do this. There is a suicide help lines for any one who would need help. I hope everyone in this group stay safe and strong. There is no need for any one of us to kill his self or herself for not been able to get into the US. In the worth case scenario if one of us completely refused a visa, we need to engage the legal system and also think of alternatives like uniting with our family at another country. US is not the only country on earth where human can live. There are many other happy people around the world living in other peace loving and modern countries like the US. SO PLEASE NO ONE SHOULD GIVE UP HOPE!