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

[Hello100 50]

Would you guys recommend this?: Emailing the Consulate that you will take legal action if they don't consider your case. Do you think that this will convince them to look at your case and take it seriously?

[Sharma Ali 36]

22 minutes ago, Tony Nikolovski said:

Would you guys recommend this?: Emailing the Consulate that you will take legal action if they don't consider your case. Do you think that this will convince them to look at your case and take it seriously?

I don’t think that would help. Whatever they’re doing is already illegal but trying disguise it under security vetting and AP which has no legal description. This is just one of the many black holes they’ve created to discourage legal immigration. 

[Hello100 50]

19 minutes ago, Sharma Ali said:

I don’t think that would help. Whatever they’re doing is already illegal but trying disguise it under security vetting and AP which has no legal description. This is just one of the many black holes they’ve created to discourage legal immigration. 

Perhaps, however, if this is something illegal that the Consulate is doing, isn't it logical to file a legal lawsuit against illegality?

[Sharma Ali 36]

2 minutes ago, Tony Nikolovski said:

Perhaps, however, if this is something illegal that the Consulate is doing, isn't it logical to file a legal lawsuit against illegality?

Yes it’s logic to file and many people have already done and succeeded. According to their website, it should be done within 60 days, but it may take sometimes years. BTW am for idea of asking for 5535 and AP before the interview but not to play with peoples lives and emotions. 

[Danii 312]

1 hour ago, Tony Nikolovski said:

Would you guys recommend this?: Emailing the Consulate that you will take legal action if they don't consider your case. Do you think that this will convince them to look at your case and take it seriously?

You could do this. Honestly, I was thinking of going the same if I wasn't approved in 60-90 days. I saw one person on here (diff type of visa but equally as delayed as ours at a different visa office) say that they sent an email an explaining that the wait time was unreasonable and that they will be filing a law suit after x number of days. They were issued their visa only a few days later... It could've been a coincidence, but who really knows. Nothing to lose by doing this, as the consulate cannot retaliate against you for informing them of filing a lawsuit which is not illegal. Joshua Goldstein (lawyer who handles a lot of cases like ours) said that one lawsuit was approved after 9 days, and he believes it could be because his client sent the lawsuit directly to the consulate by email. Normally, it takes a while for the consulate to learn about the lawsuit, so that email could've brought it to their attention sooner. Part of me feels like sending a notice of an upcoming lawsuit would have a similar result... 

[Hello100 50]

10 minutes ago, Danii said:

You could do this. Honestly, I was thinking of going the same if I wasn't approved in 60-90 days. I saw one person on here (diff type of visa but equally as delayed as ours at a different visa office) say that they sent an email an explaining that the wait time was unreasonable and that they will be filing a law suit after x number of days. They were issued their visa only a few days later... It could've been a coincidence, but who really knows. Nothing to lose by doing this, as the consulate cannot retaliate against you for informing them of filing a lawsuit which is not illegal. Joshua Goldstein (lawyer who handles a lot of cases like ours) said that one lawsuit was approved after 9 days, and he believes it could be because his client sent the lawsuit directly to the consulate by email. Normally, it takes a while for the consulate to learn about the lawsuit, so that email could've brought it to their attention sooner. Part of me feels like sending a notice of an upcoming lawsuit would have a similar result... 

Yes, I saw the same video––it's what got me to think about this idea. The thing is, my interview was only 26 days ago. Do you think that I should still send this kind of email this early in? You mentioned around the 60-90 day mark. Do you think that I would have any merit sending it 26 days in?

[Danii 312]

5 minutes ago, Tony Nikolovski said:

Yes, I saw the same video––it's what got me to think about this idea. The thing is, my interview was only 26 days ago. Do you think that I should still send this kind of email this early in? You mentioned around the 60-90 day mark. Do you think that I would have any merit sending it 26 days in?

Joshua will take on your case if it's been 12 months since you filed your i130. Hacking and others suggest waiting 6mo in AP. They used to take on cases if it's been 18mo since you've filed i130, but I learned from one of their team members that because of COVID, there are have been more delays in general (and I guess they have more of a case load now) so they've made that change. If you've been in this process for a long time, I think you could send it in. There's also a chance that you're approved in 45-60 days though, so I would at least wait that long. 

Edited January 5, 2022 by Danii

[ice-qube 648]

4 minutes ago, Danii said:

You could do this. Honestly, I was thinking of going the same if I wasn't approved in 60-90 days. I saw one person on here (diff type of visa but equally as delayed as ours at a different visa office) say that they sent an email an explaining that the wait time was unreasonable and that they will be filing a law suit after x number of days. They were issued their visa only a few days later... It could've been a coincidence, but who really knows. Nothing to lose by doing this, as the consulate cannot retaliate against you for informing them of filing a lawsuit which is not illegal. Joshua Goldstein (lawyer who handles a lot of cases like ours) said that one lawsuit was approved after 9 days, and he believes it could be because his client sent the lawsuit directly to the consulate by email. Normally, it takes a while for the consulate to learn about the lawsuit, so that email could've brought it to their attention sooner. Part of me feels like sending a notice of an upcoming lawsuit would have a similar result... 

I hesitate to use the threat of lawsuits, as they are adversarial by nature. While this may seem overly cautious (and yes I am being risk averse at this point when being vetted for security reasons), the people who work as bureaucrats and the consular officers under them are no less human, despite the appearances, than anyone else, and could well--because of the desire for maintaining institutional control, plain spite or something else-- discover new ways of dragging it out and requiring new evidentiary hurdles, or seek to find some technicality for not approving the case.

 

When getting legal advice... well this is not to say a lawsuit is never called for, but lawyers have vested interests in someone filing and I think must be viewed with at least some degree of skepticism, as their interest is not bound up with whether you are successful or not. It is hard to say whether 60-90 days is going to be seen by a court as an unreasonable amount of time for *this* process. I am also skeptical that a consulate can somehow be spooked this easily into approving cases, just by threat of a mandamus lawsuit.

[ice-qube 648]

8 minutes ago, Tony Nikolovski said:

Yes, I saw the same video––it's what got me to think about this idea. The thing is, my interview was only 26 days ago. Do you think that I should still send this kind of email this early in? You mentioned around the 60-90 day mark. Do you think that I would have any merit sending it 26 days in?

Quite frankly, I don't think they are going to be moved by the "threat" of lawsuit. 

[Hello100 50]

4 minutes ago, Danii said:

Joshua will take on your case if it's been 12 months since you filed your i130. Hacking and others suggest waiting 6mo in AP. They used to take on cases if it's been 18mo since you've filed i130, but I learned from one of their team members that because of COVID, there are have been more delays in general (and I guess they have more of a case load now) so they've made that change. If you've been in this process for a long time, I think you could send it in. There's also a chance that you're approved in 45-60 days though, so I would at least wait that long. 

My I-130 was filed almost 15 months ago. However, ice-qube is saying that it might be risky. I'm eager to send such email though!

[ice-qube 648]

1 hour ago, Sharma Ali said:

I don’t think that would help. Whatever they’re doing is already illegal but trying disguise it under security vetting and AP which has no legal description. This is just one of the many black holes they’ve created to discourage legal immigration. 

Yes. I do not believe that threatening them with lawsuits will do anything. They know they lawfully have very broad latitude for this stuff.

[ice-qube 648]

1 minute ago, Tony Nikolovski said:

My I-130 was filed almost 15 months ago. However, ice-qube is saying that it might be risky. I'm eager to send such email though!

Let's put it this way: the risk of downside might be fairly low, I don't know, can't really judge with precision, but I am more confident the chances that a mere email threat to file suit will be effective are pretty low. 

[Hello100 50]

3 minutes ago, ice-qube said:

Quite frankly, I don't think they are going to be moved by the "threat" of lawsuit. 

Perhaps not. However, do you think that they would be moved by the fact that my 2-year wedding anniversary is 23 days away and my CR-1 status changing to an IR-1? This would mean that I wouldn't have to pay to lift conditions of the CR-1 and automatically be eligible for a 10-year GC as opposed to a 3-year (I think its 3).

[ice-qube 648]

Just now, Tony Nikolovski said:

Perhaps not. However, do you think that they would be moved by the fact that my 2-year wedding anniversary is 23 days away and my CR-1 status changing to an IR-1? This would mean that I wouldn't have to pay to lift conditions of the CR-1 and automatically be eligible for a 10-year GC as opposed to a 3-year (I think its 3).

My feeling is that this probably gives the system too much credit. I am very skeptical that the bureaucracy has so efficiently factored in details like that. I think that functionaries are very focused on their own narrow areas of concern.

[ice-qube 648]

47 minutes ago, Sharma Ali said:

Yes it’s logic to file and many people have already done and succeeded. According to their website, it should be done within 60 days, but it may take sometimes years. BTW am for idea of asking for 5535 and AP before the interview but not to play with peoples lives and emotions. 

*Who* said that a lawsuit should be filed "within 60 days"?