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

[ak47 32]

33 minutes ago, Bestbest7 said:

Yes, I did another medical and new RCMP clearance.

The lady in charge of forwarding medical results to US consulate was so helpful since she also told the Visa office that I have been waiting too long and honestly it worked.

Just to confirm, you receievd both medicals and passport request on Dec 10  ? or was the medicals requested any earlier

[Ds553513 16]

Hi 

@Bestbest7 I am just asking when you had your interview 

thank you 

[LYV 63]

Please whoever has gotten through recently make sure it update your spot on the tracker so that you can help everyone still waiting. If you have not added yourself to the tracker please do so. Thank you  

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/u/0/d/1jV7rzX2eCRVoEDRhOtN9a6hDoHRLNEf1P3ZGZbQ0_Dc/htmlview#gid=0

 

[Bestbest7 9]

January 3rd was when I had my interview.

[Bestbest7 9]

No, I got the mail requesting for passport December 10th.

[APRIL2023 59]

On 12/22/2023 at 3:18 AM, Bestbest7 said:

I was sent to AP after my interview for having the wrong RCMP clearance letter which I finally got the correct one and was hoping all will be cleared and visa issued.

waited in Montreal for 3 months and decided to request for my passport since we were having a new baby in June.

September I got another email to provide new RCMP clearance and do another medical.

i can’t deposit my passport till after the holidays when am back from the States.

 

Very frustrating process lol.

So you plan to mail in your Canadian passport once you are back in US? How does that work? I thought you need your passport in hand while inside US as Canadian? I’m curious to know as I might be in same situation where I can’t afford to wait in Canada for long period of time just for them to return my passport (once my whole AP is cleared). 

[ShawnK 82]

6 hours ago, APRIL2023 said:

So you plan to mail in your Canadian passport once you are back in US? How does that work? I thought you need your passport in hand while inside US as Canadian? I’m curious to know as I might be in same situation where I can’t afford to wait in Canada for long period of time just for them to return my passport (once my whole AP is cleared). 

I think he meant he will mail it in when he is back in Canada.

[ShawnK 82]

Nice to see some minimal movement . Seems like January interviewers in DS 5535 are getting cleared.

 

So those of us who interviewed   in April , can we have some hope of a medical request by March?

Edited December 26, 2023 by ShawnK

[Bestbest7 9]

I was thinking of sending my passport to the U.S. consulate now that am back in the U.S. for visa processing, But am skeptical since I don’t know the red flags that might cause in the long run.

i have a U.S. driver’s license which I don’t need to carry my passport everywhere. I will do some research or talk to a lawyer this week and good from there or wait till am back to Canada in May since I have a year till I send in my passport.

Am with my wife and kids that’s all I ever wanted.

[ShawnK 82]

2 hours ago, Bestbest7 said:

I was thinking of sending my passport to the U.S. consulate now that am back in the U.S. for visa processing, But am skeptical since I don’t know the red flags that might cause in the long run.

i have a U.S. driver’s license which I don’t need to carry my passport everywhere. I will do some research or talk to a lawyer this week and good from there or wait till am back to Canada in May since I have a year till I send in my passport.

Am with my wife and kids that’s all I ever wanted.

 You can send Montreal your passport,  it should be fine. However,  they will only mail the visa within Canada to the location specified before your interview.

 

So you would just need a document to get back into Canada to get your visa. You'd have to use a land border.

 

 

 

 

[LetsGoFast 13]

 

I have a very similar situation as @Bestbest7. Here is my timeline until now. I am still struggling about what's the next steps...

 

My DQ date was 12/01/2021. 

And I received the interview invitation letter on 05/19/2023 for a interview on 07/26/2023.

My case was under EB2-NIW category. I went to the interview together with my husband on 07/26/2023 and received 221g. I received it before for my L1 visa in Dec 2022, so I was not very surprised about that. We was asked to fill out a form online through a link provided on the 221g form and we filled the form out on the same day as the interview. The question were all about the addresses, travel histories in the past years (I don't remember what the form is called exactly). The officer did not collect our passports and told us that we can get back to the US with our valid L1 and L2 visas.

 

So we went back to the US. Then I received the email for mailing back our passports on 10/24/2023. The email is very brief and did not mention what was the time range that we should mail our documents back.

We went back to Canada on 11/01/2023 and mail the passports back to Montreal Consulate upon their instructions through Canada Post.

Then the timeline became strange..

 

11/02/2023 - We mailed passports through Canada Post.

11/07/2023 (Tue) - The tracking showed that the documents were delivered. - Actually the consulate collect the mails from a third-party facility every Monday. So we missed the mail collection for that Monday. And the next Monday is Canada holiday, so our documents stayed in the facility until 11/20/2023. (We confirmed this by calling the third-party facility, my husband found their phone number through Google Map by using their address).

Since 11/02/2023, we sent emails to Montreal-IV-DV@state.gov (usually takes 2 weeks to get a response) a few times to check if they received our passports.

11/21/2023 (inquiry sent on 11/08/2023) - The consulate responded and saying they did not receive the documents yet. They said it takes time to transit from the facility to the visa unit of the consulate.

12/07/2023 (inquiry sent on 11/21/2023) - The consulate responded and saying they acknowledged the receipt of our documents and the documents were pending review by an officer.

12/18/2023 (inquiry sent on 11/06/2023) - The consulate responded and saying they acknowledged the receipt of our documents and the documents were pending review by an officer.

 

In between we really worried that our passports were lost and luckily they were delivered to the visa unit.

However, I did not expect that the process for getting the visa stamp takes that long according to the records in  http://docs/spreadsheets/u/0/d/1jV7rzX2eCRVoEDRhOtN9a6hDoHRLNEf1P3ZGZbQ0_Dc/htmlview. I was pregnant and will have a baby due in June 2024. So I have to go back to the US for some necessary prenatal tests in a certain range of time. Thus, we made a very hard decision to request our passports back.

 

12/13/2023 - we sent an email to the consulate to request our passports back and has not heard anything back since then.

1. Does anyone know that if this can work and how long does it take to get our passports back??? 

2. Is that possible to fly to Montreal to take our passports back directly from the consulate to make it faster???

3. Did we make a correct decision? I found out this forum stream this morning and realize that "mailing back the passports" is almost the last step...

4. Our medical check was done in early June this year so according to the half year validity, it has expired. After asking for the passports, will the consulate request us to do a second medical check?

 

Thank you all and have a wonderful holiday for everyone!

Edited December 27, 2023 by LetsGoFast

[APRIL2023 59]

11 hours ago, LetsGoFast said:

 

I have a very similar situation as @Bestbest7. Here is my timeline until now. I am still struggling about what's the next steps...

 

My DQ date was 12/01/2021. 

And I received the interview invitation letter on 05/19/2023 for a interview on 07/26/2023.

My case was under EB2-NIW category. I went to the interview together with my husband on 07/26/2023 and received 221g. I received it before for my L1 visa in Dec 2022, so I was not very surprised about that. We was asked to fill out a form online through a link provided on the 221g form and we filled the form out on the same day as the interview. The question were all about the addresses, travel histories in the past years (I don't remember what the form is called exactly). The officer did not collect our passports and told us that we can get back to the US with our valid L1 and L2 visas.

 

So we went back to the US. Then I received the email for mailing back our passports on 10/24/2023. The email is very brief and did not mention what was the time range that we should mail our documents back.

We went back to Canada on 11/01/2023 and mail the passports back to Montreal Consulate upon their instructions through Canada Post.

Then the timeline became strange..

 

11/02/2023 - We mailed passports through Canada Post.

11/07/2023 (Tue) - The tracking showed that the documents were delivered. - Actually the consulate collect the mails from a third-party facility every Monday. So we missed the mail collection for that Monday. And the next Monday is Canada holiday, so our documents stayed in the facility until 11/20/2023. (We confirmed this by calling the third-party facility, my husband found their phone number through Google Map by using their address).

Since 11/02/2023, we sent emails to Montreal-IV-DV@state.gov (usually takes 2 weeks to get a response) a few times to check if they received our passports.

11/21/2023 (inquiry sent on 11/08/2023) - The consulate responded and saying they did not receive the documents yet. They said it takes time to transit from the facility to the visa unit of the consulate.

12/07/2023 (inquiry sent on 11/21/2023) - The consulate responded and saying they acknowledged the receipt of our documents and the documents were pending review by an officer.

12/18/2023 (inquiry sent on 11/06/2023) - The consulate responded and saying they acknowledged the receipt of our documents and the documents were pending review by an officer.

 

In between we really worried that our passports were lost and luckily they were delivered to the visa unit.

However, I did not expect that the process for getting the visa stamp takes that long according to the records in  http://docs/spreadsheets/u/0/d/1jV7rzX2eCRVoEDRhOtN9a6hDoHRLNEf1P3ZGZbQ0_Dc/htmlview. I was pregnant and will have a baby due in June 2024. So I have to go back to the US for some necessary prenatal tests in a certain range of time. Thus, we made a very hard decision to request our passports back.

Sucks that you are stuck in this situation.  Sorry I don’t have an answer for your question, but I do have a few questions for you. 
 

Were you flagged for DS5535 /AP for BOTH L1 and EB2 visa? If yes, how long did it take your L1 AP to clear? 

[LetsGoFast 13]

10 hours ago, APRIL2023 said:

Sucks that you are stuck in this situation.  Sorry I don’t have an answer for your question, but I do have a few questions for you. 
 

Were you flagged for DS5535 /AP for BOTH L1 and EB2 visa? If yes, how long did it take your L1 AP to clear? 

Hi, my L1 visa also had AP (the interview was processed in Vancouver). Here is the timeline:

12/08/2022 L1 interview

01/19/2023 Received email saying AP complete and ask me to mail back the passport

02/02/2023 Issued and sent back my passports

[ShawnK 82]

Quick question,  before the interview I recall setting up the delivery location of the visa. If you move provinces while in AP, can you change where you want them to send your passport when they are finally ready to issue ? Where can you update this?

 

 

[Chamin27 1]

I'm seeing a trend that once asked to send back passport it takes about 1-3 months for the visa to be send back with passport. would you guys recommend my fiance get a nexus card in case it takes long so that he can come and visit me while we wait?