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

[Fna786 9]

6 minutes ago, F3MTL said:

Oh wow, that’s pretty quick. Looks like you’re almost there, as I’m assuming they’re ready to issue your visa. What’s your category if you don’t mind me asking? Ours was F3.

I don't understand though how the officers work updating caae once a week...I don't know why they can't. Make 1 final review of everything in one day and move to next case

[ClemsonC 62]

15 hours ago, Fna786 said:

Mines ir1 spouse visa.. my husband's case was complicated but finally we are in the last stage hopefully...the part that really socks is I lost my mom during the process in January and she was my main reason to move back 💔 I'll still move back to be near siblings though 

May I ask what made his complicated? We are ir1/ir2 as well

[Fna786 9]

31 minutes ago, ClemsonC said:

May I ask what made his complicated? We are ir1/ir2 as well

It's a really long story but nothing too horrible just my husband doing something foolish before we met...booking a one way ticket because he wasn't exactly sure when he planned to go back to his home country...I still risked everything and married him but I sponsor him to Canada also since i was born here which he got approved for...but I'd prefer any day for us to live near family in Texas 

34 minutes ago, ClemsonC said:

May I ask what made his complicated? We are ir1/ir2 as well

What stage are you in?

[Fna786 9]

22 hours ago, F3MTL said:

Oh wow, that’s pretty quick. Looks like you’re almost there, as I’m assuming they’re ready to issue your visa. What’s your category if you don’t mind me asking? Ours was F3.

I don't understand though how the officers work updating caae once a week...I don't know why they can't. Make 1 final review of everything in one day and move to next case

[FromLebanon 6]

Lawyers charging upwards of $6,000 to file WOM lawsuits should be ashamed considering the work involved in each lawsuit is basically a rinse and repeat for the next client. They aren’t constructing new laws here. 
 

If they really wanted to fight the good fight with the discriminatory practices of the DS-5535 and 221(g) Administrative Processing would be to challenge the top involving hall levels of Congress and the State Department. Not on an individual client level…but we all know that isn’t nearly as lucrative.

 

Goldstein’s Facebook group is so spammy with his second Facebook account, run by his team, commenting the same thing on every post, soliciting immigrants and their families, who are on their last hope, to give him their business. It’s tacky, and further, they’re not even keeping record on who they reply to, often double commenting to people (who are only looking for direction) they have solicited in the past. I was so unimpressed with their “consultation”. It was a Zoom consult and not only was the meeting not opened at the meeting time, leaving me hanging not knowing what is going on in the middle of the workday I had to arrange time to make myself available for. When someone from his office finally did open the line 30 minutes past meeting time, they said the attorney would call me back as soon as he became available. Well, someone finally got back to me at 9pm at night and again it was someone from his office, not the attorney. They didn’t ask any specifics about my case, so it’s b.s. they say they don’t give pricing without a consult because there are no case specific questions asked in the consult under the guise of “each case in unique.” They were unable to answer any law-related question I had because at that point, that was all I had, to feel confident in the people I was going to give my case to. They, again, said he would give me a call back with answers to my questions the next day. They never did. Days later, again, it was someone from his office stumbling their way into answers to my questions. Was super put off by the whole interaction and didn’t feel any kind of confidence in them handling any case. After this exchange, they even had the audacity to reply to a comment I left saying they’d be happy to give me a consultation a few months later. I’m happy for those who’ve have success with his office, truly, but he just wasn’t for me. 
 

I’m hoping at some point there will be someone out there to truly challenge the injustice happening to those who are told nothing more than to “wait.”

 

-waiting 302 days

[Siarg 72]

I have had the same opinion of everything you said and completely agree. Once I found out how simple a Writ of Mandamus is, I was shocked at these law offices charging so much for a simple filing. They use a template and just change out some specifics. They don’t have to put in any effort and don’t expect to fight it in court or even appear before a judge. I guess the way to become a millionaire out of law school is to be an immigration lawyer preying on desperate people. 
 

The ones that trawl immigration forums and telegrams are the worst, encouraging people to file writs for normal wait times, for cases they have no standing in. The worst of them charge more money as time goes on, there are multiple examples of this in Diversity where they charge more the closer it gets to the Sept 30 deadline. 

Goldstein specifically seems to make mistakes pretty regularly looking at Pacermonitor; having to file corrections on many of the cases attached to his name. 
 

I’m in a 5535 group chat and Nimer has the best reputation, but I believe they’re around 7k. 
The next would be Raju, he’s cheap/the cheapest at 3.5k but seems to be pretty simple - pay for the filing, but don’t expect much else in terms of explanation or communication. 
 

I don’t think we’ll ever find out what is going on at Montreal to cause the noticeably higher rate of AP/5535. 

[ice-qube 648]

1 hour ago, Siarg said:

I have had the same opinion of everything you said and completely agree. Once I found out how simple a Writ of Mandamus is, I was shocked at these law offices charging so much for a simple filing. They use a template and just change out some specifics. They don’t have to put in any effort and don’t expect to fight it in court or even appear before a judge. I guess the way to become a millionaire out of law school is to be an immigration lawyer preying on desperate people. 
 

The ones that trawl immigration forums and telegrams are the worst, encouraging people to file writs for normal wait times, for cases they have no standing in. The worst of them charge more money as time goes on, there are multiple examples of this in Diversity where they charge more the closer it gets to the Sept 30 deadline. 

Goldstein specifically seems to make mistakes pretty regularly looking at Pacermonitor; having to file corrections on many of the cases attached to his name. 
 

I’m in a 5535 group chat and Nimer has the best reputation, but I believe they’re around 7k. 
The next would be Raju, he’s cheap/the cheapest at 3.5k but seems to be pretty simple - pay for the filing, but don’t expect much else in terms of explanation or communication. 
 

I don’t think we’ll ever find out what is going on at Montreal to cause the noticeably higher rate of AP/5535. 

All the points about unsavoury or tacky marketing tactics by lawyers are well-taken, and no doubt some are likely more questionable in their ethics than others, however I still think blaming of immigration lawyers for making money in the situation is like blaming auto body shops for charging money to fix cars damaged in accidents. This is their business. The problem is not really the lawyers, they are merely opportunists doing what they do. What is unconscionable is the government failing to deliver services for which they are tasked to provide.

 

In regards to WOM in specific, the practical question that I think still has not been answered one way or another on this forum is whether it is possible and economical (within reason), with some sweat and research, to prepare and file a writ of mandamus suit without a lawyer doing it, in order to save the non-trivial amount of dollars that are involved. 

 

Some have suggested against this only in vague terms, but I don't think I have seen a concrete argument yet as to why it can't be done or why it would be undesirable.

[Siarg 72]

6 hours ago, ice-qube said:

All the points about unsavoury or tacky marketing tactics by lawyers are well-taken, and no doubt some are likely more questionable in their ethics than others, however I still think blaming of immigration lawyers for making money in the situation is like blaming auto body shops for charging money to fix cars damaged in accidents. This is their business. The problem is not really the lawyers, they are merely opportunists doing what they do. What is unconscionable is the government failing to deliver services for which they are tasked to provide.

 

In regards to WOM in specific, the practical question that I think still has not been answered one way or another on this forum is whether it is possible and economical (within reason), with some sweat and research, to prepare and file a writ of mandamus suit without a lawyer doing it, in order to save the non-trivial amount of dollars that are involved. 

 

Some have suggested against this only in vague terms, but I don't think I have seen a concrete argument yet as to why it can't be done or why it would be undesirable.

I think the main reason is that appearing “pro se” has the risk of a mistake being made in filing or a response and the case being dismissed. The filing fee is $400 USD, and most of the paperwork is received and sent through the legal system you have to pay for (or may need to be a lawyer?). From your end it might need to be paper and mail for filing the case, receiving approved summons, getting summons approved, sending the summons to the individuals, paying for a process server if you want a summons received notice. After all of that (barriers that are nothing to a lawyer but might prove very frustrating for a normal person without access) it takes up to two months for them to look at it. It’s very possible they may choose to fight it after seeing self representation, especially if they think you aren’t able to travel to appear in court. They could file motion to dismiss or transfer the location, file extensions, all of which are just delays or run the risk of an incorrect response with docket filing or summons. 
 

It’s also possible they just resolve it as normal, because to be honest they hardly ever do anything with a Writ of Mandamus, it’s just filed and then they fix the issue before the 60 days. 
 

It just isn’t as simple as writing the court letter and submitting it. I think you could do it, I considered it myself, I just realized that there are many artificial hurdles that are difficult to find out about in advance, and some of them give you less than 24 hours to resolve before automatic dismissal. 
 

If you haven’t already, check out pacermonitor, look up a name that appears on many WoM like Blinken, set the case type to Immigration- Other immigration actions and have a look at them. You can pay to see more than the 20ish cases a day, and you can pay to see some of the documents filed. 
 

Also RE: lawyers making money, I don’t hate that they’re making money, it seems like a great gig! It even crossed my mind to start an immigration firm and hire a lawyer as an employee to file them because you could churn these out for cheaper than everyone and still be making money hand over fist. I hate that I’ve seen them encourage people to file when they don’t have standing. In my opinion, encouraging a lawsuit for $5k or more when you know legally there is no standing, have previous dismissals stating so, and you’re recommending a lawsuit to everyone complaining without knowing any details of the case- that’s the kind of slime I’m complaining about. 

[P3P 4]

Hi everyone. My medical expired today. This is just insane.

[ice-qube 648]

Sorry to hear. When my medical expired, it felt like a blow. And here I am still waiting too. May we find our way out somehow without destroying ourselves financially.

[Fna786 9]

30 minutes ago, P3P said:

Hi everyone. My medical expired today. This is just insane.

How long is medical valid for...my hubby did his in march

[ClemsonC 62]

2 minutes ago, Fna786 said:

How long is medical valid for...my hubby did his in march

6 months

[BatmanFlow 481]

i met with my congressman, so useless. same BS political jargon. he said he would write a letter to montreal to see if they can give him answers but said we are stuck with government bureaucracy, blah blah blah. useless.

[WishIWasntHere 53]

On 8/18/2022 at 11:36 AM, Ap 5535 said:

Yes sorry it get posted here . This post was belong WOM group. As lama mention hep b is new requirement i strongly suggest please to all of you . Please check your  immunity against hep b. If you do not have immunity against it. Please start working on it as there is long duration between vaccines. Rest of it in my post it was just a rant against consulate . They should have issued visa first place without being so late and filing a wom. It doest not seem its a lengthy procedure it took them 10 days after summon to work on my file. Its sad.

Absolutely get checked for immunity, find your records, or get the shots! They WILL however, accept just the first shot in the immunity series, with the understanding you’ll eventually get the rest 

[Ontarkie 14,191]

This is not the same situation as this guy is doing ROC but the FOIA made me think just maybe it can help with Montreal too. Might be something to try.  If you click on Villanelle's name it will take you to her post. 

 

 

Edited August 22, 2022 by Ontarkie