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Form DS-5535 "Supplemental Questions for Visa Applicants" -- Part 2

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Filed: IR-5 Country: Pakistan
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On 11/3/2019 at 8:38 AM, Ahmed&Freda said:

Our ds-260 reopened on October 24th but our CEAC status date has not changed and it still says AP.  I reached out to the embassy twice but have not gotten a reply.   

I tried to reach out and faxed and what not. The best way is paper trail. Send a tracked document. I learned this late after wasting so many weeks. 2 weeks into my tracked mail they updated the expiring soon status to AP

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20 hours ago, MZe said:

I tried to reach out and faxed and what not. The best way is paper trail. Send a tracked document. I learned this late after wasting so many weeks. 2 weeks into my tracked mail they updated the expiring soon status to AP

Hello,

Hope u r doing well.

Can you please tell me what's paper trail and Tracked document ? 

And how to send a tracked email ? 

Please shed some light on this .

Thanking you in anticipation.

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Hi Guys,

 

I have been following this forum for a couple of months and it has been very helpful. Wanted to share my journey as well so that it can help ppl around as well and we can document DS 5535 supplement questions cases (Pakistan)

 

My husband applied for a CR1 visa for me and I had my interview on August 28, 2019. My interview went pretty decently (I had assumed it had gone pretty good actually), the consular asked me basic questions and I was prepared with all the evidence, tax transcripts and basically anything and everything that they could possibly ask me.
 

One question that the consular asked me was where have you traveled (I had travelled quite a bit due to my work and because i like to travel) so I told him my countries. He wrote all my answers on his computer- that was the only thing personal that he asked about me while everything else was related to what my husband did, his finances and our marriage (even marriage questions weren’t a lot because I had some a lot of evidence of our calls, photos and vacation).

 

Anyway I was told my visa was approved and to expect my passport in “one to two weeks.” However,  ten days later (6th September) I was emailed a 221g asking me to send information of my travels, social media, my siblings names etc i.e. the supplemental questionnaire email. 
 

We didn’t expect this and so cautiously filled the form and asked a lawyer to look at it on our behalf and see if we had filled it properly - we then sent it on 16th September. During this time my case on the ceac website kept on updating - 28th August (Ready to AP), 30th August (AP- case updated), 6th Sept (we got the email and case date updated as well), 13th Sept (AP case updated), 16th Sept (we replied to their email and case updated the same day). After our reply the case updated on following dates:

 

  1. 20th Sept
  2. 25th Sept
  3. 27th Sept - we emailed to check if they had gotten our response and they replied back to us that they did - so case updated because somebody must have checked our case before emailing us back.
  4. 2nd October 
  5. 3rd October 
  6. 7th October 
  7. 18th October - we emailed the embassy asking if there was an update but we only got a formal reply of being in AP
  8. 25th October - this is where we got the small change or “mailed/ available” to “mailed or available”. For me this change gave me some hope since I had read some encouraging stories - my husband on the other hand laughed at this and he said I was overthinking. I like to think this was my silver lining. Lol
  9. 28th October- AP
  10. 5th November Issued
  11. 6th November issued (And then my CGI portal started updating and I could track my visa).

i hope this posts helps. I think on CR1, girls do have it easy - I read another couple of girls in Pakistan who almost had the same timeline as I did. From 28th August to 5th November - I was in AP and DS5535 questionnaire for some 68 days. Lesser if I count the time from when I submitted the form (sept 16th). 

Total updates on case when I had not sent an inquiry were 11 if I don’t count my interview day.

 

I feel and this could very well be an assumption on my part but successful candidates are usually told “they would get visa in one week” - some case (including my own) - we were told “one to two weeks” and maybe this is one sign where they keep us in AP. The only other one is of travelling. I had gone to Turkey thrice, Dubai (these countries could be a reason), otherwise all other countries were in Europe of places like Thailand or Srilanka. Again I can’t be sure if this was because of travelling. I am not much of a social media person- so I doubt anything could be a trigger there.

 

This is just loud thinking on my part. Best of luck to everyone here waiting!

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12 minutes ago, FI1990 said:

Hi Guys,

 

I have been following this forum for a couple of months and it has been very helpful. Wanted to share my journey as well so that it can help ppl around as well and we can document DS 5535 supplement questions cases (Pakistan)

 

My husband applied for a CR1 visa for me and I had my interview on August 28, 2019. My interview went pretty decently (I had assumed it had gone pretty good actually), the consular asked me basic questions and I was prepared with all the evidence, tax transcripts and basically anything and everything that they could possibly ask me.
 

One question that the consular asked me was where have you traveled (I had travelled quite a bit due to my work and because i like to travel) so I told him my countries. He wrote all my answers on his computer- that was the only thing personal that he asked about me while everything else was related to what my husband did, his finances and our marriage (even marriage questions weren’t a lot because I had some a lot of evidence of our calls, photos and vacation).

 

Anyway I was told my visa was approved and to expect my passport in “one to two weeks.” However,  ten days later (6th September) I was emailed a 221g asking me to send information of my travels, social media, my siblings names etc i.e. the supplemental questionnaire email. 
 

We didn’t expect this and so cautiously filled the form and asked a lawyer to look at it on our behalf and see if we had filled it properly - we then sent it on 16th September. During this time my case on the ceac website kept on updating - 28th August (Ready to AP), 30th August (AP- case updated), 6th Sept (we got the email and case date updated as well), 13th Sept (AP case updated), 16th Sept (we replied to their email and case updated the same day). After our reply the case updated on following dates:

 

  1. 20th Sept
  2. 25th Sept
  3. 27th Sept - we emailed to check if they had gotten our response and they replied back to us that they did - so case updated because somebody must have checked our case before emailing us back.
  4. 2nd October 
  5. 3rd October 
  6. 7th October 
  7. 18th October - we emailed the embassy asking if there was an update but we only got a formal reply of being in AP
  8. 25th October - this is where we got the small change or “mailed/ available” to “mailed or available”. For me this change gave me some hope since I had read some encouraging stories - my husband on the other hand laughed at this and he said I was overthinking. I like to think this was my silver lining. Lol
  9. 28th October- AP
  10. 5th November Issued
  11. 6th November issued (And then my CGI portal started updating and I could track my visa).

i hope this posts helps. I think on CR1, girls do have it easy - I read another couple of girls in Pakistan who almost had the same timeline as I did. From 28th August to 5th November - I was in AP and DS5535 questionnaire for some 68 days. Lesser if I count the time from when I submitted the form (sept 16th). 

Total updates on case when I had not sent an inquiry were 11 if I don’t count my interview day.

 

I feel and this could very well be an assumption on my part but successful candidates are usually told “they would get visa in one week” - some case (including my own) - we were told “one to two weeks” and maybe this is one sign where they keep us in AP. The only other one is of travelling. I had gone to Turkey thrice, Dubai (these countries could be a reason), otherwise all other countries were in Europe of places like Thailand or Srilanka. Again I can’t be sure if this was because of travelling. I am not much of a social media person- so I doubt anything could be a trigger there.

 

This is just loud thinking on my part. Best of luck to everyone here waiting!

Wow MashaAllah... 

So happy for You. Congratulations

Your Post gave me some Hope lol. My case Updated on 4 Nov but status is still Mailed or available...

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7 minutes ago, SABB said:

Wow MashaAllah... 

So happy for You. Congratulations

Your Post gave me some Hope lol. My case Updated on 4 Nov but status is still Mailed or available...

Yep! Keep track! It will be 60 days for you end of this month but hopefully you will get your “issued” even sooner :) just stay positive! Duas for you 

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16 hours ago, FI1990 said:

Hi Guys,

 

I have been following this forum for a couple of months and it has been very helpful. Wanted to share my journey as well so that it can help ppl around as well and we can document DS 5535 supplement questions cases (Pakistan)

 

My husband applied for a CR1 visa for me and I had my interview on August 28, 2019. My interview went pretty decently (I had assumed it had gone pretty good actually), the consular asked me basic questions and I was prepared with all the evidence, tax transcripts and basically anything and everything that they could possibly ask me.
 

One question that the consular asked me was where have you traveled (I had travelled quite a bit due to my work and because i like to travel) so I told him my countries. He wrote all my answers on his computer- that was the only thing personal that he asked about me while everything else was related to what my husband did, his finances and our marriage (even marriage questions weren’t a lot because I had some a lot of evidence of our calls, photos and vacation).

 

Anyway I was told my visa was approved and to expect my passport in “one to two weeks.” However,  ten days later (6th September) I was emailed a 221g asking me to send information of my travels, social media, my siblings names etc i.e. the supplemental questionnaire email. 
 

We didn’t expect this and so cautiously filled the form and asked a lawyer to look at it on our behalf and see if we had filled it properly - we then sent it on 16th September. During this time my case on the ceac website kept on updating - 28th August (Ready to AP), 30th August (AP- case updated), 6th Sept (we got the email and case date updated as well), 13th Sept (AP case updated), 16th Sept (we replied to their email and case updated the same day). After our reply the case updated on following dates:

 

  1. 20th Sept
  2. 25th Sept
  3. 27th Sept - we emailed to check if they had gotten our response and they replied back to us that they did - so case updated because somebody must have checked our case before emailing us back.
  4. 2nd October 
  5. 3rd October 
  6. 7th October 
  7. 18th October - we emailed the embassy asking if there was an update but we only got a formal reply of being in AP
  8. 25th October - this is where we got the small change or “mailed/ available” to “mailed or available”. For me this change gave me some hope since I had read some encouraging stories - my husband on the other hand laughed at this and he said I was overthinking. I like to think this was my silver lining. Lol
  9. 28th October- AP
  10. 5th November Issued
  11. 6th November issued (And then my CGI portal started updating and I could track my visa).

i hope this posts helps. I think on CR1, girls do have it easy - I read another couple of girls in Pakistan who almost had the same timeline as I did. From 28th August to 5th November - I was in AP and DS5535 questionnaire for some 68 days. Lesser if I count the time from when I submitted the form (sept 16th). 

Total updates on case when I had not sent an inquiry were 11 if I don’t count my interview day.

 

I feel and this could very well be an assumption on my part but successful candidates are usually told “they would get visa in one week” - some case (including my own) - we were told “one to two weeks” and maybe this is one sign where they keep us in AP. The only other one is of travelling. I had gone to Turkey thrice, Dubai (these countries could be a reason), otherwise all other countries were in Europe of places like Thailand or Srilanka. Again I can’t be sure if this was because of travelling. I am not much of a social media person- so I doubt anything could be a trigger there.

 

This is just loud thinking on my part. Best of luck to everyone here waiting!

MasahAALLAH ALLAH nazary baad sy mehfooz rakhy, here I am dying for my 1.5years child and my wife, 3years passed till I applied 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Just want to share that we got our visa only after applying for writ of mandamus. so if anyone is waiting for more than 6 months, file for it. There were people waiting as long as 22 months and we had waited 14 months before applying, but someone also applied as soon as 5 months and got the visa. 

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1 hour ago, Visajourneyguy said:

Just want to share that we got our visa only after applying for writ of mandamus. so if anyone is waiting for more than 6 months, file for it. There were people waiting as long as 22 months and we had waited 14 months before applying, but someone also applied as soon as 5 months and got the visa. 

Congratulations...how much is the cost for filing writ of mandamus?

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5 hours ago, Visajourneyguy said:

Just want to share that we got our visa only after applying for writ of mandamus. so if anyone is waiting for more than 6 months, file for it. There were people waiting as long as 22 months and we had waited 14 months before applying, but someone also applied as soon as 5 months and got the visa. 

Congratulations!! Was your case for WOM accepted as soon as you applied?  

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