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

[ice-qube 649]

Sent back my DS-5535 response via email on Thursday, Oct 28. I guess now we wait indefinitely (by this point, this state of being, which I will just call "Waiting Indefinitely", is all too familiar).

 

Has anyone discovered any previous precedents for this situation, that is, Montreal applicants being put into AP and being told to do DS-5535? I have not found anything in the forums as of yet.

[From_CAN_2_US 1,106]

8 hours ago, ice-qube said:

Sent back my DS-5535 response via email on Thursday, Oct 28. I guess now we wait indefinitely (by this point, this state of being, which I will just call "Waiting Indefinitely", is all too familiar).

 

Has anyone discovered any previous precedents for this situation, that is, Montreal applicants being put into AP and being told to do DS-5535? I have not found anything in the forums as of yet.

A couple of cases on this thread. The timeline for approval varies. Took 14 months for one, and only 3 months for the other: 

 

There are several others on the big DS-5535 thread too.

 

Edited October 30, 2021 by From_CAN_2_US

[ice-qube 649]

4 hours ago, From_CAN_2_US said:

A couple of cases on this thread. The timeline for approval varies. Took 14 months for one, and only 3 months for the other: 

 

There are several others on the big DS-5535 thread too.

 

This is getting more depressing by the moment.

[ice-qube 649]

Just thought of something now. Since this is technically a *refusal* of a visa by the US, does this now impact my ability to travel to the US to visit my wife??

 

I didn't ask the consular officer this question but should have. F@#$!

 

 

[Twiz&Toz 240]

1 hour ago, ice-qube said:

Just thought of something now. Since this is technically a *refusal* of a visa by the US, does this now impact my ability to travel to the US to visit my wife??

 

I didn't ask the consular officer this question but should have. F@#$!

 

 

Not 100% sure on that one but I was assume yes. They may think you are trying to move there and refuse entry. But I’m not 100% sure. 

[OG Fan 21]

I'm in the same boat. My interview was on Sept 27th and I'm still waiting. Everything seemingly went well during the interview and in the end they said I just needed to fill out a questionnaire by email. I didn't realize this was the DS-5535, they just made it sound like a simple questionnaire and acted like it was normal protocol.

 

They kept my passport and said it would help speed up the process so unless I needed it for an emergency it's best to let them keep it.

When I tried asking about timelines, they didn't give an answer but made it sound like my responding asap was the bottleneck (ha!). I sent it back the next morning and the same day they said they received it.

 

I emailed after the 2 week and 4 week marks asking for updates but they sent a nice but generic message basically saying "we know it sucks but we'll take as long as we need".

 

As for why this happened, I'm Canadian and have only ever lived here but I am ethnically Pakistani and visited there once a few years ago so I'm assuming this flagged me.

 

[ice-qube 649]

1 minute ago, OG Fan said:

I'm in the same boat. My interview was on Sept 27th and I'm still waiting. Everything seemingly went well during the interview and in the end they said I just needed to fill out a questionnaire by email. I didn't realize this was the DS-5535, they just made it sound like a simple questionnaire and acted like it was normal protocol.

 

They kept my passport and said it would help speed up the process so unless I needed it for an emergency it's best to let them keep it.

When I tried asking about timelines, they didn't give an answer but made it sound like my responding asap was the bottleneck (ha!). I sent it back the next morning and the same day they said they received it.

 

I emailed after the 2 week and 4 week marks asking for updates but they sent a nice but generic message basically saying "we know it sucks but we'll take as long as we need".

 

As for why this happened, I'm Canadian and have only ever lived here but I am ethnically Pakistani and visited there once a few years ago so I'm assuming this flagged me.

 

Interesting, I mean, I have noticed that many people who have been subject to this have been Pakistani or from other countries in the ME and North Africa. I was born here and my parents were born here. Not Muslim, either, and my skin is 'white'. I have only ever visited three foreign countries, one being the United States, and the other two being Ireland and the UK--not countries that one usually thinks of as "problematic" from the US perspective. I have no arrests or convictions. I had all my documentation in order. I have zero real idea why I would have been flagged, although of course when wracking my brain I have come up with all sorts of guesses, none of which seem very strong.  I am not sure now whether I can even travel to the US as a visitor while I am in this process because now technically my status in their system is visa refused. 

 

You are lucky they kept your passport. I was in shock when they handed mine back, which basically I interpret as: they don't plan on giving me the visa any time soon.

[From_CAN_2_US 1,106]

7 hours ago, ice-qube said:

Interesting, I mean, I have noticed that many people who have been subject to this have been Pakistani or from other countries in the ME and North Africa. I was born here and my parents were born here. Not Muslim, either, and my skin is 'white'. I have only ever visited three foreign countries, one being the United States, and the other two being Ireland and the UK--not countries that one usually thinks of as "problematic" from the US perspective. I have no arrests or convictions. I had all my documentation in order. I have zero real idea why I would have been flagged, although of course when wracking my brain I have come up with all sorts of guesses, none of which seem very strong.  I am not sure now whether I can even travel to the US as a visitor while I am in this process because now technically my status in their system is visa refused. 

 

You are lucky they kept your passport. I was in shock when they handed mine back, which basically I interpret as: they don't plan on giving me the visa any time soon.

What’s your education and job? Are you or ever been in a science / technical field?

Edited October 31, 2021 by From_CAN_2_US

[Twiz&Toz 240]

I saw u posted a while ago about ur partners tax’s I’m wondering if that might have flagged something. 

[From_CAN_2_US 1,106]

I have been reading on Quora about why the DS-5535 is issued. By and large the answers there (looking at answers posted by people who claim to be COs at consulates or by US security officers) say that the main reason it is issued is the name and date of birth roughly matching someone on the US security black list/ bad guy list.

 

The name doesn’t have to match exactly, it can just be similar. Also it is not necessary they are middle eastern  sounding names.  I am sure there are people from all racial/ cultural backgrounds on the black list/ bad guy list. On VJ we see people from Brazil, Canada, Europe etc with no connection with the Middle East getting put into AP with DS-5535.

 

Basically it can happen to anyone unfortunately, which is so scary. The good news is that 90% of the time people issued DS-5535 get issued their visa. For people with no history in Countries that are difficult to get records from (eg: Pakistan) it can take as less at 60 days.

 

Now that I look back, there have been others on this thread who were refused without being a reason, and then were cleared after 2/3 months. We didn’t hear from them explicitly that they were issued the DS-5535, but they might just have not posted…

 

I feel really bad for those issued 221G with the DS-5535, and terrified of being in the same boat when I interview. I just hope the processing will be faster and not go beyond 60 days…

Edited October 31, 2021 by From_CAN_2_US

[ice-qube 649]

5 hours ago, Twiz&Toz said:

I saw u posted a while ago about ur partners tax’s I’m wondering if that might have flagged something. 

Geez I would hope not, I didn't say anything wrong or bad.

12 hours ago, From_CAN_2_US said:

What’s your education and job? Are you or ever been in a science / technical field?

Sort of... I am a technical writer so it could be considered maybe. 

[ice-qube 649]

I just sent an amendment email to my DS-5535, because I just remembered that I didn't put *this* social media account in there--I didn't even think of that when I was filling it out! 

 

Man, I really hope that I didn't destroy myself here.

 

 

 

[ice-qube 649]

Anyone received any updates on their cases here?

[deep2ca 77]

I submitted my DS-5535 today. Entire form was 20 pages long. Took awhile to put together 15 years of history. 

[From_CAN_2_US 1,106]

1 hour ago, deep2ca said:

I submitted my DS-5535 today. Entire form was 20 pages long. Took awhile to put together 15 years of history. 

Good luck. Hope you get approved soon.