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

[CanNursetoUS 36]

2 minutes ago, BatmanFlow said:

my mom's last true update was November 24.

 

also today is 6 months since her interview, oct 4.

we sent the DS5535 form back on oct 7

 

i think im asking for passport back mid april

I'm so sorry to hear this, i see there are a few here who are at the 6 month mark and it is so sad and frusturating for us all.. May I ask what the purpose of asking for her passport back will do? Would she be able to travel to US? 

[BatmanFlow 481]

10 minutes ago, CanNursetoUS said:

I'm so sorry to hear this, i see there are a few here who are at the 6 month mark and it is so sad and frusturating for us all.. May I ask what the purpose of asking for her passport back will do? Would she be able to travel to US? 

yes she's a Canadian citizen so she can visit up to 6 months in the 12 month span.

 

my step dad got his visa and moved here last week of march, so at this point she's pretty much alone and rather have her stay with us for a bit and hope this process is over soon

[CanNursetoUS 36]

3 minutes ago, BatmanFlow said:

yes she's a Canadian citizen so she can visit up to 6 months in the 12 month span.

 

my step dad got his visa and moved here last week of march, so at this point she's pretty much alone and rather have her stay with us for a bit and hope this process is over soon

Sorry I am asking so much, this process is so crazy to me and I feel so uninformed about everything. ..so your mother can request her passport back, and travel again to see you even after the interview? What will you do when she is approved, will she have to come back and send in her passport for them to complete the paperwork?

[BatmanFlow 481]

31 minutes ago, CanNursetoUS said:

Sorry I am asking so much, this process is so crazy to me and I feel so uninformed about everything. ..so your mother can request her passport back, and travel again to see you even after the interview? What will you do when she is approved, will she have to come back and send in her passport for them to complete the paperwork?

yes, she can travel here to US once she gets her passport back, which she can request. I think we have had at least one or two people in this thread who got their passport and then went to USA to visit while waiting in AP.

when she is approved, yes she will go back to Canada and send passport back. in her case, her medical expired last week, so when her DS 5535 is approved, they will ask for another medical, so she will need to go back to Canada to do that anyways. So it kinda makes sense to just have her get the passport back since there really wont be much delay once they approve her for background checks they are doing.

[deep2ca 77]

56 minutes ago, BatmanFlow said:

my mom's last true update was November 24.

 

also today is 6 months since her interview, oct 4.

we sent the DS5535 form back on oct 7

 

i think im asking for passport back mid april

My medical expires April 12th, I am also going to be asking for my passport back this month. If I had known it was going to be this long I would have refused to let them keep it. They smile in your face and pretend like its going to take a few days to clear up. 

[BatmanFlow 481]

2 minutes ago, deep2ca said:

My medical expires April 12th, I am also going to be asking for my passport back this month. If I had known it was going to be this long I would have refused to let them keep it. They smile in your face and pretend like its going to take a few days to clear up. 

literally told my mom 2 weeks! lmao smh.

 

i know you have some india travel in the past, so does my mom. The one thing i am thinking is that travel history to certain countries is taking longer to validate? or at least thats what i want to believe for this absurd delay and "extreme vetting" of a 63 years old woman.

[darth vader 133]

1 hour ago, BatmanFlow said:

literally told my mom 2 weeks! lmao smh.

 

i know you have some india travel in the past, so does my mom. The one thing i am thinking is that travel history to certain countries is taking longer to validate? or at least thats what i want to believe for this absurd delay and "extreme vetting" of a 63 years old woman.

Does your mom have travel history to any country other than India? I thought travel to India wasn't triggering extreme vetting. Can you please confirm ASAP. I have my interview next week and I am freaked out!!!!

[deep2ca 77]

1 hour ago, BatmanFlow said:

literally told my mom 2 weeks! lmao smh.

 

i know you have some india travel in the past, so does my mom. The one thing i am thinking is that travel history to certain countries is taking longer to validate? or at least thats what i want to believe for this absurd delay and "extreme vetting" of a 63 years old woman.

One thing that stood out about my interview was that they specifically asked me if I had travelled to India in the past 5 years. I clarified that although I had been to india a few times, it was not in the past 5 years.  I think validating travel history might have something to do with the the delays, I read somewhere that they have to reach out to those countries and wait for feedback, and some of those countries are slow to respond. I have been to a bunch of places, its the only thing that seems to make sense to me at this point, that they are waiting to hear back from the several countries I have travelled to. 

Edited April 4, 2022 by deep2ca

[BatmanFlow 481]

2 minutes ago, darth vader said:

Does your mom have travel history to any country other than India? I thought travel to India wasn't triggering extreme vetting. Can you please confirm ASAP. I have my interview next week and I am freaked out!!!!

dont freak out! at this moment DS 5535 is being handed out without any rhyme or reason. Even people who havent visited any crazy countries are getting it! And yes, India is not a country that trump has listed as needing "Extreme vetting"

my mom only has india travel, 2-3 times in the last 15 years. and aside from india she has come multiples times to USA to visit me and my wife. She was born in India but is a canadian citizen since 2005.

 

just do your best at the interview and dont even think about DS 5535 being an option! no bad vibes!

 

 

[darth vader 133]

6 minutes ago, deep2ca said:

One thing that stood out about my interview was that they specifically asked me if I had travelled to India in the past 5 years. I clarified that although I had been to india a few times, it was not in the past 5 years.  I think validating travel history might have something to do with the the delays, I read somewhere that they have to reach out to those countries and wait for feedback, and some of those countries are slow to respond. I have been to a bunch of places, its the only thing that seems to make sense to me at this point, that they are waiting to hear back from the several countries I have travelled to. 

What other countries have you travelled to, if you don't mind me asking?

 

4 minutes ago, BatmanFlow said:

dont freak out! at this moment DS 5535 is being handed out without any rhyme or reason. Even people who havent visited any crazy countries are getting it! And yes, India is not a country that trump has listed as needing "Extreme vetting"

my mom only has india travel, 2-3 times in the last 15 years. and aside from india she has come multiples times to USA to visit me and my wife. She was born in India but is a canadian citizen since 2005.

 

just do your best at the interview and dont even think about DS 5535 being an option! no bad vibes!

 

 

Thank you! For India, I am wondering if religion could have anything to with it?

[From_CAN_2_US 1,106]

2 hours ago, darth vader said:

Thank you! For India, I am wondering if religion could have anything to with it?

I am an Indian with a Muslim name, with some significant living/ travel history in Middle East and some in India, and I was (removed) scared of being issued the DS-5535. I somehow dodged the bullet.

 

Religion in itself is not a parameter. There is no way for them to know your religion. It is not in any of your documents. (I am atheist, but my birth name is Arabic/ Muslim, so name doesn’t necessarily indicate religion.) That being said, the way I understand it, the primary reason for being issued a DS-5535 is a match with an individual in their database of people deemed a security risk. It’s reasonable to assume a good portion of those are with Muslim names, so yeah, I was scared on that basis. 
 

But something I have noticed is Canadian PRs don’t seem to be issued DS-5535s at Montreal. They seem to be issued to Canadian citizens. Why? I don’t know. One reason I can think of - we PRs have been vetted recently by Canada which shares security databases with US, so maybe we have been cleared? Also ties in with my other theory that US has some intelligence of security threat originating in Canada by a Canadian citizen.
 

A lot of this speculation of course.

 

Bottom line, as you wait for your interview, there is no way to predict whether or not you will be targetted. So best you can do it go in with the hope and confidence you will be approved on the spot, but being mentally prepared for the DS-5535 should you unlucky enough to get it. @Danii recommends even filling the form in advance and keeping it ready. Maybe even whipping it out should the CO say you will be issued Supplementary questions.

 

In summary, you cannot predict if you will be issued DS-5535, but what you can do is prepare for it.

 

 

Edited April 4, 2022 by Ontarkie
by-passing language filter

[deep2ca 77]

52 minutes ago, darth vader said:

What other countries have you travelled to, if you don't mind me asking?

 

Thank you! For India, I am wondering if religion could have anything to with it?

I have been to Iceland, England, France, Italy, India, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Colombia, Mexico, and USA. 

[darth vader 133]

1 hour ago, From_CAN_2_US said:

I am an Indian with a Muslim name, with some significant living/ travel history in Middle East and some in India, and I was s&@t scared of being issued the DS-5535. I somehow dodged the bullet.

 

Religion in itself is not a parameter. There is no way for them to know your religion. It is not in any of your documents. (I am atheist, but my birth name is Arabic/ Muslim, so name doesn’t necessarily indicate religion.) That being said, the way I understand it, the primary reason for being issued a DS-5535 is a match with an individual in their database of people deemed a security risk. It’s reasonable to assume a good portion of those are with Muslim names, so yeah, I was scared on that basis. 
 

But something I have noticed is Canadian PRs don’t seem to be issued DS-5535s at Montreal. They seem to be issued to Canadian citizens. Why? I don’t know. One reason I can think of - we PRs have been vetted recently by Canada which shares security databases with US, so maybe we have been cleared? Also ties in with my other theory that US has some intelligence of security threat originating in Canada by a Canadian citizen.
 

A lot of this speculation of course.

 

Bottom line, as you wait for your interview, there is no way to predict whether or not you will be targetted. So best you can do it go in with the hope and confidence you will be approved on the spot, but being mentally prepared for the DS-5535 should you unlucky enough to get it. @Danii recommends even filling the form in advance and keeping it ready. Maybe even whipping it out should the CO say you will be issued Supplementary questions.

 

In summary, you cannot predict if you will be issued DS-5535, but what you can do is prepare for it.

 

 

I do not have time nor sanity right now before my interview to put together DS5535. Anyway, how long does it usually take to receive and send back DS5535 after interview? If it adds a week or two to the process, who cares at that point if you are already in for a long ride.

[BatmanFlow 481]

12 minutes ago, darth vader said:

I do not have time nor sanity right now before my interview to put together DS5535. Anyway, how long does it usually take to receive and send back DS5535 after interview? If it adds a week or two to the process, who cares at that point if you are already in for a long ride.

uhh people have been waiting 6 months since sending in the form, me included. we wish it was 2 or 3 weeks.

 

why are you thinking about this form, you gotta do your interview! dont jinx yourself

[darth vader 133]

34 minutes ago, BatmanFlow said:

uhh people have been waiting 6 months since sending in the form, me included. we wish it was 2 or 3 weeks.

 

why are you thinking about this form, you gotta do your interview! dont jinx yourself

I was talking about time taken to receive the form and fill it and send it back, not the actual DS5535 processing time, which I know can be more than 6 months. If the time in receiving and sending the form back adds only one or two weeks to the whole dreaded process, I would rather not waste time before interview in filling it. Hope that makes sense. And yes, I am done worrying about this. Off to gathering and double checking all the interview documents. Thank you!

Edited April 4, 2022 by darth vader