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

[Danii 312]

@Sharma Ali congratulations!!! I am so happy for you and your family, hope you will be reuniting very soon! And no problem at all, it was my pleasure. Having a support group during these times is such an important thing! 

[Redie 124]

8 hours ago, Sharma Ali said:

Dear friends, 

I wanted to share with you that my long wait is offer and I’ve received my passport back today. While I was over the moon and beyond exhilaration, I was equally commiserated for this great community and members. I wanted all of us to be cleared around the same time. But am sure you’ll make it God willingly. 
 

I’ve ceaselessly been checking on ceac and this group since I was blessed under 5535, but tried to take a break for two days and guess what, that’s when I received a trucking number on Thursday January 20th . My clearance was received on the 19th and my visa printed on the 20th as per print on the visa. I kinda think they’re understand our situation. 
 

Please don’t loose hope and don’t be hard on yourselves, your visas will soon be issued Inshallah. Also, please have your spouses contact their reps/senators. We did contact a senator before 8 days and kinda feel that might have reminded them about our case, even though we’ve had two updates lately. 

 

I wanna thank each and everybody in this group for their support and encouragement for the last two years. Without this community, I don’t even know how I would be now. I would specifically would thank @Danii who brought me to this group after the cursed 5535, danii told me, we would make through this and would support each other. Thank you @Danii and @From_CAN_2_US who’s been very informative about this whole process and even prepared for the 5535 before her interview. The only time I had about this form was the moment I was handed and that’s when all hell broke loose. 
 

interview December 6th, 2021
 

Thanks 

Congratulations!! 

[Rosinasaur 58]

So I've noticed that everyone who has gotten their visa issued for this group has gotten it issued in 58 days or fewer. There are 20 of us not yet issued at over 58 days right now, and 8 of us at more than 89 days. It sounds like if you don't get approved within 2 months, you're not going to approved until well after 3 months. I hope one of us long-haulers gets approved soon.

 

I'm so exhausted with it.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1L8T4Yp7oWm0imRrEOEES_28QicBY1DsKKvMmEGMVPd4/edit#gid=0

[ice-qube 648]

2 hours ago, Rosinasaur said:

So I've noticed that everyone who has gotten their visa issued for this group has gotten it issued in 58 days or fewer. There are 20 of us not yet issued at over 58 days right now, and 8 of us at more than 89 days. It sounds like if you don't get approved within 2 months, you're not going to approved until well after 3 months. I hope one of us long-haulers gets approved soon.

 

I'm so exhausted with it.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1L8T4Yp7oWm0imRrEOEES_28QicBY1DsKKvMmEGMVPd4/edit#gid=0

This is very discouraging, yes. I am going to hit 90 days this week. My medical expires in March. Cutting it very close already.

[Rosinasaur 58]

10 minutes ago, ice-qube said:

This is very discouraging, yes. I am going to hit 90 days this week. My medical expires in March. Cutting it very close already.

Honestly, my medical expires near the end of March, but other an being expensive, was a really easy part of this process. It only took a couple days. If I need to repeat it, so be it. I just want to start on the next portion of my life.

 

[Federico 147]

1 hour ago, Rosinasaur said:

Honestly, my medical expires near the end of March, but other an being expensive, was a really easy part of this process. It only took a couple days. If I need to repeat it, so be it. I just want to start on the next portion of my life.

 

If medical expires it is like another AP, at least 15 days or a months(being optimistic) and who knows, in the spreadsheet  are people waiting for 80+ days just because the medical wasn’t delivered on time. Hoping with all of my heart nobody has to faces this situation.

 

If someone fall in that trap we will have to wait until they finish the DS process, wait for a letter to redo the medical, and wait in AP until a CO review the medical again. 
 

In my case I have almost 3 months remaining but this is something to worrying about, the other problem with is if they approved your DS approaching your medical expiration date means you will only have a visa valid for a few days which means you need to travel almost immediately without time to organize your departure, in my particular case that could be something complicated.

[Rosinasaur 58]

6 minutes ago, Federico said:

If medical expires it is like another AP, at least 15 days or a months(being optimistic) and who knows, in the spreadsheet  are people waiting for 80+ days just because the medical wasn’t delivered on time. Hoping with all of my heart nobody has to faces this situation.

 

If someone fall in that trap we will have to wait until they finish the DS process, wait for a letter to redo the medical, and wait in AP until a CO review the medical again. 
 

In my case I have almost 3 months remaining but this is something to worrying about, the other problem with is if they approved your DS approaching your medical expiration date means you will only have a visa valid for a few days which means you need to travel almost immediately without time to organize your departure, in my particular case that could be something complicated.

I'm not sure why you think having to get another medical will extend your administrative processing. From my understanding, AP is essentially an extensive background check. Your medical has nothing to do with your background check and shouldn't affect it. You will absolutely get a 221g without a medical, or you can get a 221g for AP, or you can get a 221g for both. The people who got the 221g for missing a medical only are not on administrative processing and get approved within a couple weeks of the results arriving at the consulate.

 

There are a few people who have gotten the 221g for AP and for their medical in this group.

 

Once the AP is done, I expect they send you a message asking for a new medical if yours is expired. Once that's done they don't need to do more background checks.

 

The absolute worst AP case I've seen for K1/marriage visas took 15 months and admittedly he repeated his medical Dec 2020 (11 months in) and was only issued in April 2021(4 months later), but he seemed to be the exception to the rule. They certainly didn't double his time once he got the second medical.

[ice-qube 648]

27 minutes ago, Rosinasaur said:

I'm not sure why you think having to get another medical will extend your administrative processing. From my understanding, AP is essentially an extensive background check. Your medical has nothing to do with your background check and shouldn't affect it. You will absolutely get a 221g without a medical, or you can get a 221g for AP, or you can get a 221g for both. The people who got the 221g for missing a medical only are not on administrative processing and get approved within a couple weeks of the results arriving at the consulate.

 

There are a few people who have gotten the 221g for AP and for their medical in this group.

 

Once the AP is done, I expect they send you a message asking for a new medical if yours is expired. Once that's done they don't need to do more background checks.

 

The absolute worst AP case I've seen for K1/marriage visas took 15 months and admittedly he repeated his medical Dec 2020 (11 months in) and was only issued in April 2021(4 months later), but he seemed to be the exception to the rule. They certainly didn't double his time once he got the second medical.

There is little reason to believe that a second medical *would not* delay your AP more and significant reason to believe it *would*. People on this thread  were or have been waiting in AP just for confirmation of their medical for many weeks. Now think what would happen if it comes down to the extra complication of having to get a second one. The consulate is is in no hurry to clear people just because of the medicals, obviously, so why would you think that it would be likely that a second medical would not *also* delay it several weeks or months?

[ice-qube 648]

34 minutes ago, Rosinasaur said:

From my understanding, AP is essentially an extensive background check. Your medical has nothing to do with your background check and shouldn't affect it.

This statement is inaccurate. "Administrative processing" is not any particular thing but a catch-all term for any additional work that needs to be done on the case. In some of our cases, AP was because of background checks (DS-5535 is a background check for security reasons). In others, it was just for medicals. If you look at the spreadsheet from this thread that @Danii created, there are people on here who were only in AP for their medicals, and several of them, a very high percentage of them, are currently already at 70 days or more. One is at 82 days. 

 

The concern about having a second medical delaying us is real. 

[ice-qube 648]

1 hour ago, Federico said:

If medical expires it is like another AP, at least 15 days or a months(being optimistic) and who knows, in the spreadsheet  are people waiting for 80+ days just because the medical wasn’t delivered on time. Hoping with all of my heart nobody has to faces this situation.

 

If someone fall in that trap we will have to wait until they finish the DS process, wait for a letter to redo the medical, and wait in AP until a CO review the medical again. 
 

In my case I have almost 3 months remaining but this is something to worrying about, the other problem with is if they approved your DS approaching your medical expiration date means you will only have a visa valid for a few days which means you need to travel almost immediately without time to organize your departure, in my particular case that could be something complicated.

I agree with this concern. A second medical will have to be reviewed, and there is little to no reason to believe that the consulate will be any faster at reviewing a second medical than they were with the first one, meaning that a second medical could delay any person unlucky enough to have to do it by weeks or months. It is not an idle worry that is being expressed about this.

[Rosinasaur 58]

24 minutes ago, ice-qube said:

This statement is inaccurate. "Administrative processing" is not any particular thing but a catch-all term for any additional work that needs to be done on the case. In some of our cases, AP was because of background checks (DS-5535 is a background check for security reasons). In others, it was just for medicals. If you look at the spreadsheet from this thread that @Danii created, there are people on here who were only in AP for their medicals, and several of them, a very high percentage of them, are currently already at 70 days or more. One is at 82 days. 

 

The concern about having a second medical delaying us is real. 

Please don't take this the wrong way. I'm glad we're having this discussion and I don't want to minimize your concerns. I just really don't believe it's as bad as you say it is. I think the people who are supposedly in "just for the medical" are also having an additional background check done. After being put on AP in the first place, I did a lot of research on what it was. I'm at 111 days since interview so I empathize with you completely.

This article states that it is a security check. https://pennstatelaw.psu.edu/sites/default/files/documents/pdfs/Immigrants/Administrative-Processing-FAQ.pdf

This article states that it is for "additional review or security clearances". The "additional review" might support your side but the "who is subjected" section indicates nothing concerning missing/expired medicals. https://www.hio.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/HIOFiles/Administrative Processing FAQ_0.pdf

This article states it is either security checks, fraud check, arrest check, "chosen for review by a supervisor", withdrawn application, or the brief 3-5 day period between approval and issue date. I guess medicals could  fall under the "chosen by the supervisor" section, but that seems like a strange choice. https://lawandborder.com/administrative-processing-black-hole-visa-applicants 

 

This article also states that administrative processing is for "Security Advisory Opinions". https://www.nnuimmigration.com/administrative-processing/

These are just a few of the first page of Google articles when you search up "What is administrative processing". None of them mention missing medicals or documents at all. 

I still believe there is a small chance you are correct. They are delaying a lot of us with very little to no reason. However, I don't feel like stressing over an unlikely scenario is going to do me any good. There is literally nothing I can do to prevent an expired medical from delaying me if that happens. I really just want them to start processing from the top of the list and get everyone reunited with their families.

Edited January 23, 2022 by Rosinasaur
spelling

[ice-qube 648]

1 minute ago, Rosinasaur said:

Please don't take this the wrong way. I'm glad we're having this discussion and I don't want to minimize your concerns.

Don't worry I am not taking it that way. At the end of the day, I don't *know* what this will do, so I have some humility about that. I just don't think it is an idle concern. You have found some secondary or tertiary sources here that I will check out. 

 

At the end of the day, we both want the same thing. I think this has taken way too long. I am already past 2.5 years for this entire process.

[ice-qube 648]

14 minutes ago, Rosinasaur said:

Please don't take this the wrong way. I'm glad we're having this discussion and I don't want to minimize your concerns. I just really don't believe it's as bad as you say it is. I think the people who are supposedly in "just for the medical" are also having an additional background check done. After being put on AP in the first place, I did a lot of research on what it was. I'm at 111 days since interview so I empathize with you completely.

This article states that it is a security check. https://pennstatelaw.psu.edu/sites/default/files/documents/pdfs/Immigrants/Administrative-Processing-FAQ.pdf

This article states that it is for "additional review or security clearances". The "additional review" might support your side but the "who is subjected" section indicates nothing concerning missing/expired medicals. https://www.hio.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/HIOFiles/Administrative Processing FAQ_0.pdf

This article states it is either security checks, fraud check, arrest check, "chosen for review by a supervisor", withdrawn application, or the brief 3-5 day period between approval and issue date. I guess medicals could  fall under the "chosen by the supervisor" section, but that seems like a strange choice. https://lawandborder.com/administrative-processing-black-hole-visa-applicants 

 

This article also states that administrative processing is for "Security Advisory Opinions". https://www.nnuimmigration.com/administrative-processing/

These are just a few of the first page of Google articles when you search up "What is administrative processing". None of them mention missing medicals or documents at all. 

I still believe there is a small chance you are correct. They are delaying a lot of us with very little to no reason. However, I don't feel like stressing over an unlikely scenario is going to do me any good. There is literally nothing I can do to prevent an expired medical from delaying me if that happens. I really just want them to start processing from the top of the list and get everyone reunited with their families.

I have reviewed these sources you gave. I am not sure they can settle the case of whether "administrative processing" is defined, per se, as a background check in the strict sense of that word or can it be just for reviewing a medical. We will need additional research and probably best from primary (i.e. US govt) sources to decide whether that is actually the case.

[Rosinasaur 58]

1 minute ago, ice-qube said:

I have reviewed these sources you gave. I am not sure they can settle the case of whether "administrative processing" is defined, per se, as a background check in the strict sense of that word or can it be just for reviewing a medical. We will need additional research and probably best from primary (i.e. US govt) sources to decide whether that is actually the case.

I know secondary and tertiary are not great. I really wish there were more primary sources to look at. We've got this tiny article here https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/visa-information-resources/administrative-processing-information.html and that's basically it.

 

"When a consular officer refuses a case under 221(g), she or he will convey to the applicant whether the applicant is required to provide any further documentation or information, or whether the case requires additional administrative processing."

I interpret that as additional documents (aka medical) are a different thing than "additional AP". With that interpretation, applicants missing documents are not in AP.

However, it could instead be interpreted as missing documents are normal AP, and further security check are "additional AP". This supports your idea.

I honestly wasn't sure how to interpret it when I first read it, which is why I looked up the secondary sources.

[Redie 124]

8 hours ago, Rosinasaur said:

I'm not sure why you think having to get another medical will extend your administrative processing. From my understanding, AP is essentially an extensive background check. Your medical has nothing to do with your background check and shouldn't affect it. You will absolutely get a 221g without a medical, or you can get a 221g for AP, or you can get a 221g for both. The people who got the 221g for missing a medical only are not on administrative processing and get approved within a couple weeks of the results arriving at the consulate.

 

There are a few people who have gotten the 221g for AP and for their medical in this group.

 

Once the AP is done, I expect they send you a message asking for a new medical if yours is expired. Once that's done they don't need to do more background checks.

 

The absolute worst AP case I've seen for K1/marriage visas took 15 months and admittedly he repeated his medical Dec 2020 (11 months in) and was only issued in April 2021(4 months later), but he seemed to be the exception to the rule. They certainly didn't double his time once he got the second medical.

I  received a 221g for missing medical only and I am on day 82 and still waiting for approval. No further documentation was required. The CO told me as soon as my medical was received my visa would be issued within 2-3 weeks. The consulate received my medical 2 days later 

 

When a 221g is issued you are automatically put into AP. There are a few of us on this forum that are waiting way beyond the 2 week period ( that you referenced above) for missing medicals.