The dreaded DS-5535 thread for Montreal. Post here and support each other (PART 2)

[mam521 2,062]

On 2/3/2023 at 4:17 PM, farzady said:

is there anyone in here or you knew that submitted the hard copy of the medical to Montreal? I just want to know if they accept hard copy or not

I haven't heard of Montreal accepting hard copies since covid.  It's all been fully digital.  

[Siarg 72]

On 2/5/2023 at 3:18 PM, familyapart said:

Hi all. Looking to file a mandamus and would like the names of GREAT lawyers that specialize in this. Of course I see Josh Goldstein- wondering if he’s actually any good. I saw a previous post about PIC law firm- wondering who they are. Any help/guidance would be very appreciated. TIA.  

I’ll +1 for PIC Law - you might’ve seen my post about them but it was way back. 
 

They’re a genuine immigration law firm that deals with complex issues and know the ins and outs. As others have mentioned, you only deal with actual lawyers, not assistants or paralegals. 
 

I personally communicated with mostly Chris Casassaza and Alex Isbel. They’re fantastic, not expensive and actually competent. 

Many of the popular names you see mentioned in forums and group chats are what I call “churn firms” that charge 5k+ USD to submit the same copied and pasted documents with some personal details changed. Really gross behaviour in my opinion. 
 

PIC writes it specifically based on your case, your information, relevant laws and case history that apply to your situation. 
 

I’m framing my copy of the lawsuit. 
 

edit: anyone that ONLY files WoM, in my opinion, is a lazy lawyer. If there is an entire law firm set up to file one of the simpler legal filings in bulk, you’re paying them to file paperwork and not do much else. 

Edited February 6, 2023 by Siarg
Added addendum

[Tiabeanie 39]

Has anyone filed a WoM for being in AP without receiving a questionnaire/DS-5535? I'm deciding to weigh my options if I should continue to wait or consider filing WoM. I've been in AP for 100 days with no questionnaire/DS-5535 given. My category is EB3.

[Siarg 72]

1 hour ago, Tiabeanie said:

Has anyone filed a WoM for being in AP without receiving a questionnaire/DS-5535? I'm deciding to weigh my options if I should continue to wait or consider filing WoM. I've been in AP for 100 days with no questionnaire/DS-5535 given. My category is EB3.

Usually non-5535 is because of a missing document or questions about validity of documents. 
 

if everything was all good and nothing seemed weird, it is probably the same background check as 5535 anyway. The questionnaire usually doesn’t give them much new information 

[Tiabeanie 39]

20 minutes ago, Siarg said:

Usually non-5535 is because of a missing document or questions about validity of documents. 
 

if everything was all good and nothing seemed weird, it is probably the same background check as 5535 anyway. The questionnaire usually doesn’t give them much new information 

Initially I was only given a 221g form and they checked off additional processing is required. I emailed them 2 weeks after my interview and they said I needed to resend my police certificate. I sent it back in early December.

 

Whenever I email them I get this generic message: "This case is currently pending to be reviewed by a consular officer. As soon as the review is complete, the Visa Unit will advise of the next steps if anything else is needed to complete processing the case"

 

I'm stumped because I wasn't given DS-5535 and I thought with them needing my police certificate I'd be approved right away but at the same time I've been in administrative processing for over 90 days and I don't like the lack of transparency and feeling in the dark. I'd hate to file a lawsuit and spend 6k when I would've been approved 2 weeks later if I just waited a little longer. This waiting game has been difficult and I hate the fact I may have to pay thousands of dollars to get my case moving. Sorry for the rant I'm just irritated with the bureaucracy.

[familyapart 0]

4 hours ago, Siarg said:

I’ll +1 for PIC Law - you might’ve seen my post about them but it was way back. 
 

They’re a genuine immigration law firm that deals with complex issues and know the ins and outs. As others have mentioned, you only deal with actual lawyers, not assistants or paralegals. 
 

I personally communicated with mostly Chris Casassaza and Alex Isbel. They’re fantastic, not expensive and actually competent. 

Many of the popular names you see mentioned in forums and group chats are what I call “churn firms” that charge 5k+ USD to submit the same copied and pasted documents with some personal details changed. Really gross behaviour in my opinion. 
 

PIC writes it specifically based on your case, your information, relevant laws and case history that apply to your situation. 
 

I’m framing my copy of the lawsuit. 
 

edit: anyone that ONLY files WoM, in my opinion, is a lazy lawyer. If there is an entire law firm set up to file one of the simpler legal filings in bulk, you’re paying them to file paperwork and not do much else. 

Thank you so much for this. I was in touch with them today. Hoping to schedule a meeting and get things rolling.  Can you share your timeline once filing? 

[Siarg 72]

2 hours ago, Tiabeanie said:

Initially I was only given a 221g form and they checked off additional processing is required. I emailed them 2 weeks after my interview and they said I needed to resend my police certificate. I sent it back in early December.

 

Whenever I email them I get this generic message: "This case is currently pending to be reviewed by a consular officer. As soon as the review is complete, the Visa Unit will advise of the next steps if anything else is needed to complete processing the case"

 

I'm stumped because I wasn't given DS-5535 and I thought with them needing my police certificate I'd be approved right away but at the same time I've been in administrative processing for over 90 days and I don't like the lack of transparency and feeling in the dark. I'd hate to file a lawsuit and spend 6k when I would've been approved 2 weeks later if I just waited a little longer. This waiting game has been difficult and I hate the fact I may have to pay thousands of dollars to get my case moving. Sorry for the rant I'm just irritated with the bureaucracy.

No need to apologize, almost everyone  here has had the same or very similar situation happen to them. 
 

When you’re placed in AP, it very much appears that Montreal does a SAO (Security Advisory Opinion) which is essentially what 5535 is. 
 

Montreal has a reputation for doing this more than almost any other consulate in the world, and nobody knows exactly why. There have been theories, but honestly the thing that makes the most sense to me is that Canada is very easy to immigrate to. There are people that move to Canada just to be closer to America. 
 

Basically whenever you’re placed in AP at Montreal, there are two “pathways” your AP goes. One is with your consular officer, keeping note of your case and what they need to follow up on. The other is DOS background check. 
 

This seems to have been the cause of everyone’s issues, and became very obvious when the Afghanistan withdrawal took over as priority #1 over any other background check. Thousands of visas put into a pile that wasn’t moving, and then 1-2 years of cases backed up by putting them all into the “we’ll do this after the background check” pile. 
 

In this group the wait time varies from 4 months to over a year. Most of the movement has been due to lawsuits, with the occasional organic case movement. 
Obviously it’s up to you, but if you want to have this resolved in the next few months, I would recommend filing a lawsuit if you can. 
 

A lawsuit guarantees something will happen, waiting could be another year. 
 

I’m very pro-lawsuit after experiencing it here, in DV, and in multiple visa categories. The most happy people are the ones that file a lawsuit and almost everyone wishes they did it earlier. 

[Siarg 72]

1 hour ago, familyapart said:

Thank you so much for this. I was in touch with them today. Hoping to schedule a meeting and get things rolling.  Can you share your timeline once filing? 

I was a Diversity Visa, so I had to have a result as quickly as possible. We had been on 5535 waiting for months and the deadline to be issued a DV visa is September 30th. 
 

I actually filed a WoM and TRO (Temporary Restraining Order) at the same time. The TRO is to get a court response forced, and not allow them to delay. 
 

We got our visa issued within 1 week. Received the visas/passports in the mail a week later. 
 

I contacted Chris and he handled it all for us, and Alex stepped in for a day when Chris was away. 
 

Just let him know your situation, your plan, the relevant dates, etc 

 

WoM is pretty standard and straightforward, the part where having a good lawyer is the relationships they have with the District attorneys of the court. Lazy lawyers don’t do that, but Chris knew the clerks and DAs etc 

[Tiabeanie 39]

17 minutes ago, Siarg said:

No need to apologize, almost everyone  here has had the same or very similar situation happen to them. 
 

When you’re placed in AP, it very much appears that Montreal does a SAO (Security Advisory Opinion) which is essentially what 5535 is. 
 

Montreal has a reputation for doing this more than almost any other consulate in the world, and nobody knows exactly why. There have been theories, but honestly the thing that makes the most sense to me is that Canada is very easy to immigrate to. There are people that move to Canada just to be closer to America. 
 

Basically whenever you’re placed in AP at Montreal, there are two “pathways” your AP goes. One is with your consular officer, keeping note of your case and what they need to follow up on. The other is DOS background check. 
 

This seems to have been the cause of everyone’s issues, and became very obvious when the Afghanistan withdrawal took over as priority #1 over any other background check. Thousands of visas put into a pile that wasn’t moving, and then 1-2 years of cases backed up by putting them all into the “we’ll do this after the background check” pile. 
 

In this group the wait time varies from 4 months to over a year. Most of the movement has been due to lawsuits, with the occasional organic case movement. 
Obviously it’s up to you, but if you want to have this resolved in the next few months, I would recommend filing a lawsuit if you can. 
 

A lawsuit guarantees something will happen, waiting could be another year. 
 

I’m very pro-lawsuit after experiencing it here, in DV, and in multiple visa categories. The most happy people are the ones that file a lawsuit and almost everyone wishes they did it earlier. 

I really appreciate reading your posts and how detailed oriented and thorough you are with explaining your experiences filing a lawsuit with PIC Law. Your experiences has influenced me in sending an inquiry to PIC law firm with regards to my case. Hopefully I hear back from them soon and if I go through with hopefully I get positive results. It might be costly but it beats being left in the dark for God knows how long.

Edited February 7, 2023 by Tiabeanie

[emergence 47]

12 hours ago, Siarg said:

No need to apologize, almost everyone  here has had the same or very similar situation happen to them. 
 

When you’re placed in AP, it very much appears that Montreal does a SAO (Security Advisory Opinion) which is essentially what 5535 is. 
 

Montreal has a reputation for doing this more than almost any other consulate in the world, and nobody knows exactly why. There have been theories, but honestly the thing that makes the most sense to me is that Canada is very easy to immigrate to. There are people that move to Canada just to be closer to America. 
 

Basically whenever you’re placed in AP at Montreal, there are two “pathways” your AP goes. One is with your consular officer, keeping note of your case and what they need to follow up on. The other is DOS background check. 
 

This seems to have been the cause of everyone’s issues, and became very obvious when the Afghanistan withdrawal took over as priority #1 over any other background check. Thousands of visas put into a pile that wasn’t moving, and then 1-2 years of cases backed up by putting them all into the “we’ll do this after the background check” pile. 
 

In this group the wait time varies from 4 months to over a year. Most of the movement has been due to lawsuits, with the occasional organic case movement. 
Obviously it’s up to you, but if you want to have this resolved in the next few months, I would recommend filing a lawsuit if you can. 
 

A lawsuit guarantees something will happen, waiting could be another year. 
 

I’m very pro-lawsuit after experiencing it here, in DV, and in multiple visa categories. The most happy people are the ones that file a lawsuit and almost everyone wishes they did it earlier. 

Even the theory that people move to Canada to be close to the US is odd. My fiancé was born and raised in Canada. He’s never traveled anywhere outside the US or Canada. 
 

This seems to happen to a lot of people born and raised in Canada. It just doesn’t make sense. 
 

I got in touch with PIC law. It’s been nearly 150 days since our interview, and that is enough.

[Siarg 72]

2 minutes ago, emergence said:

Even the theory that people move to Canada to be close to the US is odd. My fiancé was born and raised in Canada. He’s never traveled anywhere outside the US or Canada. 
 

This seems to happen to a lot of people born and raised in Canada. It just doesn’t make sense. 
 

I got in touch with PIC law. It’s been nearly 150 days since our interview, and that is enough.

Yes not for your fiancé in particular - but the reason that Montreal is strict on ALL immigration. 
 

Canada has a reputation of being easy to move to, as well as easy to get through fraudulently. 
 

It’s possible that because of this, USA is super strict on everyone coming from Canada even Canadian citizens and Canadian-born. 
 

It’s just a theory, personally behaving been part of many immigration group chats for the last year, Canada absolutely has an international reputation for being lax on immigration. 

[Canucklehead 102]

I had my interview on Feb 1st and still have not received my email. Should I be contacting the consulate? I feel like I remember the officer saying I'd hear in 24-48 hours...

[dennisv 23]

On 2/6/2023 at 8:08 AM, Mmk2112 said:

If you go out of USA before 180 days lets says 178th day and come back after a month for two weeks more. Would you get denied at airport?

@Mmk2112My understanding of the whole "12 month rolling" is this limited but a good example would be if I crossed today (Feb 07 2023). We would need to look at the previous 12 months from that day and see how many days I have been in the USA.. So based on question, that would be an overstay. 

Edited February 7, 2023 by dennisv

[Mmk2112 34]

2 minutes ago, dennisv said:

@Mmk2112My understanding of the whole "12 month rolling" is this limited but a good example would be if I crossed today (Feb 07 2023). We would need to look at the previous 12 months from that day and see how many days I have been in the USA.. So based on question, that would be an overstay. 

Thank you for your response. Yes, I would agree however I have heard from many snow birds that they have been crossing borders like this with no questions asked by officers. Not sure what's the 100 % correct answer for it ..

[dennisv 23]

2 minutes ago, Mmk2112 said:

Thank you for your response. Yes, I would agree however I have heard from many snow birds that they have been crossing borders like this with no questions asked by officers. Not sure what's the 100 % correct answer for it ..

Totally hard to say right, only know based on experience or what we read on here. Of course, our situation is a little different than a snowbird where they aren't seeking to be PR on the US. I know that CBP might not prevent you from crossing and yield much warning about your "time" in country. Of course Onus is on the traveller right.