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

[ohmygod 60]

16 minutes ago, ice-qube said:

They take whatever day you had medical, and say exactly six months from then. Not by days really just by the month. So mine was Sept 20, so it expires Mar 20

, I had mine on September 24, so expiry is March 24

[ice-qube 649]

12 minutes ago, ohmygod said:

, I had mine on September 24, so expiry is March 24

yep correct. Just on that subject, here is why I think that this was already on the computer for me to be put in AP even before I was interviewed: I recall the woman who took my documents at the first window saying, "and your medical expires March 20." Not sure why she would have been looking at that if it wasn't already on there to give me DS-5535. And why? I have no idea. But thanks for making me fly to Montreal first!

[ohmygod 60]

37 minutes ago, ice-qube said:

yep correct. Just on that subject, here is why I think that this was already on the computer for me to be put in AP even before I was interviewed: I recall the woman who took my documents at the first window saying, "and your medical expires March 20." Not sure why she would have been looking at that if it wasn't already on there to give me DS-5535. And why? I have no idea. But thanks for making me fly to Montreal first!

crazy, they could be more upfront so we know what to expect. This is now like waiting without knowing when/what is going to happen. Hope all this ends soon for all our sakes

[Rosinasaur 58]

It's been 161 days since my interview. All hope is lost of this being resolved without legal intervention.

 

Congresswoman Cori Bush's office finally got my fiancé's phone number straight (after literally 5 weeks of ghosting us) and has been contacting the consulate. "They don't know why we aren't issued yet", and "They say you already have your visa"... Like what? My last update was January 11th. My passport was returned to me at the interview and I have not received a request to send it back. I check my spam regularly. I've sent emails to the consulate but only gotten the generic "you're in administrative processing" copy-paste email back.

 

We're going ahead with the Mandamus. I'd like to help my fiancé pay for the lawsuit as it is quite expensive. Does anyone know the best way to transfer a couple thousand dollars from Canada to US? Whenever I look it up on Google, I feel like everyone is trying to sell me their own service and has their own invested interests. I honestly just want the fairest fees and exchange rates.

 

Thanks guys. We're sad and exhausted but goddamn we're going to make sure we can get married. (We're doing K1)

[Danii 312]

11 minutes ago, Rosinasaur said:

It's been 161 days since my interview. All hope is lost of this being resolved without legal intervention.

 

Congresswoman Cori Bush's office finally got my fiancé's phone number straight (after literally 5 weeks of ghosting us) and has been contacting the consulate. "They don't know why we aren't issued yet", and "They say you already have your visa"... Like what? My last update was January 11th. My passport was returned to me at the interview and I have not received a request to send it back. I check my spam regularly. I've sent emails to the consulate but only gotten the generic "you're in administrative processing" copy-paste email back.

 

We're going ahead with the Mandamus. I'd like to help my fiancé pay for the lawsuit as it is quite expensive. Does anyone know the best way to transfer a couple thousand dollars from Canada to US? Whenever I look it up on Google, I feel like everyone is trying to sell me their own service and has their own invested interests. I honestly just want the fairest fees and exchange rates.

 

Thanks guys. We're sad and exhausted but goddamn we're going to make sure we can get married. (We're doing K1)

What??? They said that? What does your rep suggest be done now? Are they going to at least ask how that's acceptable? It's the consulates responsibility to at least know the status of the case! That's absolutely ridiculous. I hope that congresswoman keeps sending them inquiries... 

 

As for money transfer, I'm not sure about the best way, but most people on here suggest using Norberts Gambit to exchange CAD to USD. From what I've seen, that's the cheapest way to get the most out of your exchange. It's a bit complicated though, so I would recommend reading up about it. The one downside I saw was that it takes a few days (and the slight complexity). 

 

Good luck on mandamus, I really hope it goes well. Please keep us updated on your process 🙏

 

Edited March 15, 2022 by Danii

[ice-qube 649]

12 minutes ago, Rosinasaur said:

It's been 161 days since my interview. All hope is lost of this being resolved without legal intervention.

 

Congresswoman Cori Bush's office finally got my fiancé's phone number straight (after literally 5 weeks of ghosting us) and has been contacting the consulate. "They don't know why we aren't issued yet", and "They say you already have your visa"... Like what? My last update was January 11th. My passport was returned to me at the interview and I have not received a request to send it back. I check my spam regularly. I've sent emails to the consulate but only gotten the generic "you're in administrative processing" copy-paste email back.

 

We're going ahead with the Mandamus. I'd like to help my fiancé pay for the lawsuit as it is quite expensive. Does anyone know the best way to transfer a couple thousand dollars from Canada to US? Whenever I look it up on Google, I feel like everyone is trying to sell me their own service and has their own invested interests. I honestly just want the fairest fees and exchange rates.

 

Thanks guys. We're sad and exhausted but goddamn we're going to make sure we can get married. (We're doing K1)

This is very sad that you are backed into a corner where you feel there is nothing left but to do Mandamus. I hope you are successful, but it shouldn't come down to such an absurdly expensive lawsuit just to get an answer.

[ice-qube 649]

17 minutes ago, Rosinasaur said:

It's been 161 days since my interview. All hope is lost of this being resolved without legal intervention.

 

Congresswoman Cori Bush's office finally got my fiancé's phone number straight (after literally 5 weeks of ghosting us) and has been contacting the consulate. "They don't know why we aren't issued yet", and "They say you already have your visa"... Like what? My last update was January 11th. My passport was returned to me at the interview and I have not received a request to send it back. I check my spam regularly. I've sent emails to the consulate but only gotten the generic "you're in administrative processing" copy-paste email back.

 

We're going ahead with the Mandamus. I'd like to help my fiancé pay for the lawsuit as it is quite expensive. Does anyone know the best way to transfer a couple thousand dollars from Canada to US? Whenever I look it up on Google, I feel like everyone is trying to sell me their own service and has their own invested interests. I honestly just want the fairest fees and exchange rates.

 

Thanks guys. We're sad and exhausted but goddamn we're going to make sure we can get married. (We're doing K1)

How much have you been quoted for the mandamus suit?

[ice-qube 649]

New non-informative copy-paste response just dropped. Fresh off the presses:

[BatmanFlow 481]

22 minutes ago, ice-qube said:

New non-informative copy-paste response just dropped. Fresh off the presses:

"we hope that this information is helpful" no its absolutely not.

[Ontarkie 14,225]

18 hours ago, Rosinasaur said:

It's been 161 days since my interview. All hope is lost of this being resolved without legal intervention.

 

Congresswoman Cori Bush's office finally got my fiancé's phone number straight (after literally 5 weeks of ghosting us) and has been contacting the consulate. "They don't know why we aren't issued yet", and "They say you already have your visa"... Like what? My last update was January 11th. My passport was returned to me at the interview and I have not received a request to send it back. I check my spam regularly. I've sent emails to the consulate but only gotten the generic "you're in administrative processing" copy-paste email back.

 

We're going ahead with the Mandamus. I'd like to help my fiancé pay for the lawsuit as it is quite expensive. Does anyone know the best way to transfer a couple thousand dollars from Canada to US? Whenever I look it up on Google, I feel like everyone is trying to sell me their own service and has their own invested interests. I honestly just want the fairest fees and exchange rates.

 

Thanks guys. We're sad and exhausted but goddamn we're going to make sure we can get married. (We're doing K1)

Your Congress person needs to get up in Montreal's face and find out who this so called visa was issued for as your fiancé obviously does not have it and they didn't even has a passport to put it in. I wouldn't start a Marandus until after you flood Montreal with emails.

Email them with the somehting catchy. Like member of congress stated you issued my visa already but in who's passport? (Ya I'm not good with words) You need a real reply from them about where this issued visa is. 

[candyg 33]

19 hours ago, Rosinasaur said:

It's been 161 days since my interview. All hope is lost of this being resolved without legal intervention.

 

Congresswoman Cori Bush's office finally got my fiancé's phone number straight (after literally 5 weeks of ghosting us) and has been contacting the consulate. "They don't know why we aren't issued yet", and "They say you already have your visa"... Like what? My last update was January 11th. My passport was returned to me at the interview and I have not received a request to send it back. I check my spam regularly. I've sent emails to the consulate but only gotten the generic "you're in administrative processing" copy-paste email back.

 

We're going ahead with the Mandamus. I'd like to help my fiancé pay for the lawsuit as it is quite expensive. Does anyone know the best way to transfer a couple thousand dollars from Canada to US? Whenever I look it up on Google, I feel like everyone is trying to sell me their own service and has their own invested interests. I honestly just want the fairest fees and exchange rates.

 

Thanks guys. We're sad and exhausted but goddamn we're going to make sure we can get married. (We're doing K1)

That is so strange! Where did that Visa that was issued go??  I agree with @Ontarkie, get in contact with them and see how is this possible. 

I also found this on Penn State Law on Administrative Processing, I am not sure if anyone has tried to reach out directly to DOS but this is what the site says:

 

It has been more than 60 days since I was placed in administrative processing, what should I do? Contact the consulate handling your application 60 days after the initial visa interview or submission of any additional documents, whichever date is later. However it is important to note the time period for administrative processing varies by country. You may wish to check the consulate website to determine the average time period for administrative processing. If a SAO has been pending more than 90 days, an attorney can inquire via email to the DOS LegalNet within the Visa Office or call DOS at 202-485-7600.

 

I hope this helps! I am nervous for all of us because there has been no movement these couple of weeks! 

[Rosinasaur 58]

1 hour ago, Ontarkie said:

Your Congress person needs to get up in Montreal's face and find out who this so called visa was issued for as your fiancé obviously does not have it and they didn't even has a passport to put it in. I wouldn't start a Marandus until after you flood Montreal with emails.

Email them with the somehting catchy. Like member of congress stated you issued my visa already but in who's passport? (Ya I'm not good with words) You need a real reply from them about where this issued visa is. 

Now, you have way overestimated the abilities of Congresswoman Bush's office.

1. They ghosted my fiancé for 5 weeks "We'll call tomorrow/by the end of the week". He called twice a week for 5 weeks and kept getting told he'd be called back within a day or two.

2. After the 5 weeks, they said they got his phone number wrong, even though he confirmed it with them multiple times during their calls.

3. In his first call, they said "Haven't you guys already been approved?", which raised our hopes. It turns out they were just using https://egov.uscis.gov/casestatus/landing.do which is just for the petition.

4. They said we had a case worker one day, then the following week said we never got assigned one.

5.  They said we the consulate told them "They don't know why we don't have the visa yet" and then afterwards that the consulate thought we'd already been issued. They haven't followed up.

6. They said they'd forward their communications with the consulate to us... They never did, even after a gentle reminder.

 

After all that, I honestly don't trust her office at all. I can understand 1 or 2 mistakes, but it sounds like we've completely blindsided them and they're very inexperienced with visa cases. I don't believe they know or care enough to help us further.

 

Before this point, all of my emails to the consulate were in the same thread as my initial DS5535 submission. My case never updated when they responded and I always got the generic copy-paste message. I did recently send an email in a new thread which said, among other things "We have recently contacted Congresswoman Cori Bush's office. The congresswoman's office told us that your office informed them that we had already been issued the visa. We do not have the visa. My passport is still sitting on my shelf." I've tucked my name and case info at the bottom of the email, so hopefully they actually have to open the file (maybe even find and fix their error???) before copy/pasting me a response... I sent that email 8 days ago though.

 

(For clarity, I'm the Canadian and my Fiancé is the American)

Edited March 15, 2022 by Rosinasaur
Clarification

[Ontarkie 14,225]

2 hours ago, Rosinasaur said:

Now, you have way overestimated the abilities of Congresswoman Bush's office.

1. They ghosted my fiancé for 5 weeks "We'll call tomorrow/by the end of the week". He called twice a week for 5 weeks and kept getting told he'd be called back within a day or two.

2. After the 5 weeks, they said they got his phone number wrong, even though he confirmed it with them multiple times during their calls.

3. In his first call, they said "Haven't you guys already been approved?", which raised our hopes. It turns out they were just using https://egov.uscis.gov/casestatus/landing.do which is just for the petition.

4. They said we had a case worker one day, then the following week said we never got assigned one.

5.  They said we the consulate told them "They don't know why we don't have the visa yet" and then afterwards that the consulate thought we'd already been issued. They haven't followed up.

6. They said they'd forward their communications with the consulate to us... They never did, even after a gentle reminder.

 

After all that, I honestly don't trust her office at all. I can understand 1 or 2 mistakes, but it sounds like we've completely blindsided them and they're very inexperienced with visa cases. I don't believe they know or care enough to help us further.

 

Before this point, all of my emails to the consulate were in the same thread as my initial DS5535 submission. My case never updated when they responded and I always got the generic copy-paste message. I did recently send an email in a new thread which said, among other things "We have recently contacted Congresswoman Cori Bush's office. The congresswoman's office told us that your office informed them that we had already been issued the visa. We do not have the visa. My passport is still sitting on my shelf." I've tucked my name and case info at the bottom of the email, so hopefully they actually have to open the file (maybe even find and fix their error???) before copy/pasting me a response... I sent that email 8 days ago though.

 

(For clarity, I'm the Canadian and my Fiancé is the American)

Oh gees looks like they are about as useless as can be. 

 

ARe you replying to the same email each time is that what you mean by same thread? If so I would start a new message with what you wrote above. It is just sickening that they are doing this stuff. I have not seen anyone mentioned thisDS5535 as often as Montreal. 

[Rosinasaur 58]

1 hour ago, Ontarkie said:

ARe you replying to the same email each time is that what you mean by same thread? If so I would start a new message with what you wrote above. It is just sickening that they are doing this stuff. I have not seen anyone mentioned thisDS5535 as often as Montreal. 

Yes, that is exactly what I was doing up until February. I started a new message for my most recent email. I hope this works but I don't think it will.

[Rosinasaur 58]

1 hour ago, Rosinasaur said:

Yes, that is exactly what I was doing up until February. I started a new message for my most recent email. I hope this works but I don't think it will.

I just reread my comment and I was unclear.

 

I was replying to the same email for all my communications with the consulate between October and February. I only just recently made a new convo.