The dreaded DS-5535 thread for Montreal. Post here and support each other (split)

[ice-qube 649]

13 minutes ago, Allaboutwaiting said:

I think we all end up being like that. 

At the risk of being wrong, I dare say not a single member of this forum became an immigration advocate focusing on actively fighting the system once they finished their own immigration process.

We are programmed to survive -as every other living being- and those of us who have some sort of moral notion -which is entirely a social construct- end up here, answering questions to the best of our knowledge in order to help others avoid all the possible issues they might face. 

Making a career out of immigration activism might be a commendable endeavour but a futile one in my opinion if your actual goal is making an appreciable change. 

Well I don't consider myself an "immigration advocate". Nor am I proposing that everyone become professional immigration advocates, or an advocate of anything in particular. I am not a fan of professional activists. I am a fan of individual citizens who take a broad view of politics and develop a political philosophy that sits *outside* of just their own particular interests. That was the sort of civic 'virtue' that American founders like Ben Franklin and Samuel Adams advocated. For this sort of society to work, it requires people to be informed and to have opinions that transcend their narrow interests or (worse, and most recently) cultural identities. This is not a call for activism or fighting this or that. This is merely a call for voters to stop being dullard ignoramuses that have no view of politics outside what they think they are entitled to.

[Allaboutwaiting 2,503]

1 minute ago, ice-qube said:

Well I don't consider myself an "immigration advocate". Nor am I proposing that everyone become professional immigration advocates, or an advocate of anything in particular. I am not a fan of professional activists. I am a fan of individual citizens who take a broad view of politics and develop a political philosophy that sits *outside* of just their own particular interests. That was the sort of civic 'virtue' that American founders like Ben Franklin and Samuel Adams advocated. For this sort of society to work, it requires people to be informed and to have opinions that transcend their narrow interests or (worse, and most recently) cultural identities. This is not a call for activism or fighting this or that. This is merely a call for voters to stop being dullard ignoramuses that have no view of politics outside what they think they are entitled to.

Not sure what the voters could actually achieve if every election is just a matter of choosing your poison. 

 

[ice-qube 649]

5 minutes ago, Allaboutwaiting said:

Not sure what the voters could actually achieve if every election is just a matter of choosing your poison. 

 

Well that's just like seeing this as a static and non-reflexive relationship. Politicians are retailers who ultimately just sell the merchandise that voters demand. If the voters demand different merchandise, and vote convincingly in favour of it, then what's for sale will be different. This is why it must start downstream, not with the political parties who just represent the rough but accurate equivalent of two different sports teams or street gangs. Alas, the voters see their job as to just to identity with one of the gangs. 

Edited February 17, 2022 by ice-qube
grammar

[Allaboutwaiting 2,503]

1 minute ago, ice-qube said:

Well that's just like seeing this as a static and non-reflexive relationship. Politicians are retailers who ultimately just sell the merchandise that voters demand. If the voters demand different merchandise, and vote convincingly in favour of it, then what's for sale will be different. This is why it must start downstream, not with the political parties who just represent the rough but accurate equivalent of two different sports teams or street gangs. Alas, the voters see their job as to just to identity with one of the gangs. 

Merchants they are indeed. But the wicked kind: they offer what people want and end up not fulfilling the order properly; and they have no return/reimbursement policies.

[ice-qube 649]

2 minutes ago, Allaboutwaiting said:

Merchants they are indeed. But the wicked kind: they offer what people want and end up not fulfilling the order properly; and they have no return/reimbursement policies.

Hard to dispute that, except, what is it that these "people" want? Have you seen how "people" behave now? Did you see how the "people" behaved during COVID, most recently? Do you ever go on Facebook, Twitter, etc and see how the "people" act and what they think about? How about what you see on cable news? Or YouTube? Do you find any sign that this is a mass of enlightened or virtuous people you are dealing with? I am not a fan of "the people" any more than I am a fan of their wicked gang leaders/merchants of politics. There is nothing so praiseworthy about "people", and much less the people existing in this moment. "They" have received the government they deserve, and will continue to do so.

[Allaboutwaiting 2,503]

Just now, ice-qube said:

Hard to dispute that, except, what is it that these "people" want? Have you seen how "people" behave now? Did you see how the "people" behaved during COVID, most recently? Do you ever go on Facebook, Twitter, etc and see how the "people" act and what they think about? How about what you see on cable news? Or YouTube? Do you find any sign that this is a mass of enlightened or virtuous people you are dealing with? I am not a fan of "the people" any more than I am a fan of their wicked gang leaders/merchants of politics. There is nothing so praiseworthy about "people", and much less the people existing in this moment. "They" have received the government they deserve, and will continue to do so.

Nothing to dispute as I couldn't agree more. 

I guess we're both idealist, the difference is that you still have hope; I don't. 

[ice-qube 649]

8 minutes ago, Allaboutwaiting said:

Nothing to dispute as I couldn't agree more. 

I guess we're both idealist, the difference is that you still have hope; I don't. 

Hahahaha... I never thought i would be the naive optimist in the room--did it finally happen???

[DS5535 135]

1 hour ago, ice-qube said:

Hahahaha... I never thought i would be the naive optimist in the room--did it finally 

Sainthood looks good on you ice-jobe

[ice-qube 649]

1 minute ago, DS5535 said:

Sainthood looks good on you ice-jobe

lol I enjoy being a saint, but would enjoy having an immigrant visa even more?

[Frankphoto 51]

I just thought I would add, I did reach out to my congresswoman's office. In my personal experience, I don't think it did squat. I reached out quite early- within 10 days of receiving our DS5535, I filled out the privacy form for my wife and submitted it online. I received an email confirmation for this. 

I called them a couple days later; the caseworker assigned to me was not in, so I spoke with someone else in the office- she did not handle immigration cases but was still extremely well-versed on the subject, which we discussed for a bit. Ultimately she told me they needed to wait at least 2 weeks before submitting an inquiry. My initial concern that I brought up was that I had not received any confirmation after sending my completed DS5535 via email, and also that there was no proper template/form to complete this form, making sure I had done it correctly, etc. 

Anyway, as you all know, we didn't hear squat from the consulate apart from those form responses. I called my congresswoman's office back 6 weeks after DS5535 submission- my caseworker was not in yet again; this was just before the holiday break. I spoked with the same woman and we discussed it for a while; ultimately I asked that she please at this point let my caseworker know that I would like an inquiry to be made requesting a specific status update on our case and to please email me once that has been done, to which she said no problem, we will do that for you. 

I never received any email confirmation or an inquiry being made. I called again 2 weeks into January and still couldn't get in touch with my f**king caseworker. At that point I just told the person on the phone not to bother, as I had read several bits in this forum about how their representatives were receiving the same emails that we were... at any rate, in my personal opinion, it seems pretty ineffective. The person who I could speak with on the phone from time to time even said that administrative processing cases are with the state department, so there's nothing they or the consulate can really do to get specific information about where things are with the processing. Just my experience. 

Also, for the spreadsheet, since we have received the email to return the passport, but the visa status remains the same, I wasn't sure how we should be updated? We received the passport email on Feb 10, just to make sure it's all accurate there. 

[john1231 6]

Very interesting discussion people. I got DS-5535 request 2 days after my visa was approved during the interview. Then again consulate emailed and asked for DS-5535 in about 3 months after i submitted the first DS-5535 answers. Did anybody get a bonus DS-5535 request as well? Any idea what does it mean? My case creation date was updated a few days before the 2nd DS-5535 request.

[BatmanFlow 481]

6 hours ago, john1231 said:

Very interesting discussion people. I got DS-5535 request 2 days after my visa was approved during the interview. Then again consulate emailed and asked for DS-5535 in about 3 months after i submitted the first DS-5535 answers. Did anybody get a bonus DS-5535 request as well? Any idea what does it mean? My case creation date was updated a few days before the 2nd DS-5535 request.

ah good ole government!

is today the day for us??!?!? lets hope so!!

[Federico 147]

6 hours ago, john1231 said:

Very interesting discussion people. I got DS-5535 request 2 days after my visa was approved during the interview. Then again consulate emailed and asked for DS-5535 in about 3 months after i submitted the first DS-5535 answers. Did anybody get a bonus DS-5535 request as well? Any idea what does it mean? My case creation date was updated a few days before the 2nd DS-5535 request.

Wao you should inquiry them about this to see if there is any error, I wondering if was your case updated since you sent the first one?

[Ontarkie 14,218]

Yes getting your representative to look into it won't do much if your case is still doing background checks. But if the checks are done and the file just fell through the cracks of someone noticing it is done then yes it can help. Because who ever gets the request to look you up and if they see the checks are done your file maybe gets moved to a different pile on the IO's desk. 

 

All I know is it sure does not hurt and you never know what might come of it. 

 

Fingers crossed for you all. I've been rooting for you. 

 

 

[ice-qube 649]

Just now, Ontarkie said:

Yes getting your representative to look into it won't do much if your case is still doing background checks. But if the checks are done and the file just fell through the cracks of someone noticing it is done then yes it can help. Because who ever gets the request to look you up and if they see the checks are done your file maybe gets moved to a different pile on the IO's desk. 

 

All I know is it sure does not hurt and you never know what might come of it. 

 

Fingers crossed for you all. I've been rooting for you. 

 

 

Rep. Salazar's office sent a reply to my wife this morning that they have contacted the consulate about my case. I doubt it will do anything, but at least they responded.