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

[PNWUnited 15]

After additional documents were submitted (more specifically after receiving a 221g only post interview), when the status changes from "refused" to "Application Received- Your case is open and ready for your interview, fingerprints, and required documents. If you already had your interview, please check your status after two business days", can the application linger in this stage for a while just like every other step does? The status changed on the 29th but surprise, surprise, there are no updates today yet. It also has the "application received" status now when I look it up under nonimmigrant visa. 

 

From previous posts it seemed like this status is supposed to be quite brief, but nothing seems to be straightforward. Anyone have any recent experience on this? 

[PZibran325 112]

59 minutes ago, PNWUnited said:

After additional documents were submitted (more specifically after receiving a 221g only post interview), when the status changes from "refused" to "Application Received- Your case is open and ready for your interview, fingerprints, and required documents. If you already had your interview, please check your status after two business days", can the application linger in this stage for a while just like every other step does? The status changed on the 29th but surprise, surprise, there are no updates today yet. It also has the "application received" status now when I look it up under nonimmigrant visa. 

 

From previous posts it seemed like this status is supposed to be quite brief, but nothing seems to be straightforward. Anyone have any recent experience on this? 

It looks like they're saying that if you've already had your interview to check the status after two business days. Has it been 2 business days yet? If not, I'd see what it changes to on the third business day. 

[BatmanFlow 481]

So my congressperson got a response that embassy was waiting for documents and how it goes to third party location etc. 

this was a week after documents were sent. 
she will follow up again this week. 
 

Every part of this process is so slow. How long does it take to take the packet of documents and drive it to the embassy?!

[kryptonite 43]

17 minutes ago, BatmanFlow said:

So my congressperson got a response that embassy was waiting for documents and how it goes to third party location etc. 

this was a week after documents were sent. 
she will follow up again this week. 
 

Every part of this process is so slow. How long does it take to take the packet of documents and drive it to the embassy?!

How was your experience in contacting your congressperson? What state is it if you don’t mind me asking? My case doesn’t require me to submit any documents and I still haven’t heard back after 4 weeks from my interview date. Thinking I might reach out to my congressperson.

[BatmanFlow 481]

Just now, kryptonite said:

How was your experience in contacting your congressperson? What state is it if you don’t mind me asking? My case doesn’t require me to submit any documents and I still haven’t heard back after 4 weeks from my interview date. Thinking I might reach out to my congressperson.

They aren’t a lot of help in general cause they can’t do much anyways. You get assigned a case worker and that case worker reaches out to embassy. 
but what does help is that embassy definitely reviews your case and gives the congressperson an actual response rather than copy paste stuff we get when we email embassy directly. 
 

for me I asked to actually speak with congressperson and I got a one on one meeting with him. He promised to write a letter on my moms behalf and send it to embassy. this took like 2-3 months to actually happen. But before they even sent the letter, my moms DS 5535 cleared. 
but once they sent the letter the embassy looked at the case and finally sent the email asking for documents, like passport medical again. From Clearing 5535 to sending me email about documents it took embassy 28 days. And it only happened cause congresspersons letter went to them. So in that case it did help. 
 

 Now since they have the documents I’m emailing my congressperson to follow up with embassy since the AP is, almost, done and they need process the documents we sent. I believe in this stage congressperson contact is helping. 

in conclusion I think you should get your congressperson involved and push for a meeting with him or her. They might say 4 weeks isn’t too long but worth a shot. 
my moms 5535 cleared after a year. 
 

I'm in California 

[kryptonite 43]

17 minutes ago, BatmanFlow said:

They aren’t a lot of help in general cause they can’t do much anyways. You get assigned a case worker and that case worker reaches out to embassy. 
but what does help is that embassy definitely reviews your case and gives the congressperson an actual response rather than copy paste stuff we get when we email embassy directly. 
 

for me I asked to actually speak with congressperson and I got a one on one meeting with him. He promised to write a letter on my moms behalf and send it to embassy. this took like 2-3 months to actually happen. But before they even sent the letter, my moms DS 5535 cleared. 
but once they sent the letter the embassy looked at the case and finally sent the email asking for documents, like passport medical again. From Clearing 5535 to sending me email about documents it took embassy 28 days. And it only happened cause congresspersons letter went to them. So in that case it did help. 
 

 Now since they have the documents I’m emailing my congressperson to follow up with embassy since the AP is, almost, done and they need process the documents we sent. I believe in this stage congressperson contact is helping. 

in conclusion I think you should get your congressperson involved and push for a meeting with him or her. They might say 4 weeks isn’t too long but worth a shot. 
my moms 5535 cleared after a year. 
 

I'm in California 

Thanks for the response! I might follow up after a week or so to allow for some more time for them to do their processing. 

[LAMA9 118]

6 hours ago, Tikitch said:

Deprioritize is one thing, but they're saying "resume" the application, which I think is more concerning? I really dont know..  I really want to applaud everyone for their strength during this process. I'm personally really starting to lose it. 

but on the upside, that's some info my lawyer shared from an immigration conference he attended:

1. The State Dept. rep. claimed “within 60 days” the AP situation will get better. The ex-Consular Officer yesterday also said they are now trying to better track AP cases to get them done faster.

 

Hope so for all of us here! I've personally decided to ask for my passport back and my husband and I will be figuring out where else we can live in the meantime... We've been married for almost 2 years now and we still haven't been able to live together. 

 

 

 

Thanks for the intel.  AP cases (simply missing or incomplete documents, medical hasn't arrived or RFEs) are one thing but DS-5535 is a whole other ballgame.  Did they specifically comment on the DS-5535 case wait to improve?  

It seems there is now a mix on this thread of just 221g APs and DS-5535 cases, which can make it confusing as to what people's circumstances are.  Waiting 30 days in DS-5535 is nothing and you can expect months to go (dare I say could be a year or longer).  We tried the congressman and senator route while  a few months into DS-5535 and it went absolutely no where.  They got the same canned response we did and they don't hold any jurisdiction over federal department of state to get them to move any faster on "security issue vetting" which DS-5535 is. (all of us criminal Canadians).  

Whichever camp you are in (AP or DS-5535) I wish you best of luck!  My DS-5535 cleared last month after 11 months and 3 ish months after filing a WOM. 

[PNWUnited 15]

1 hour ago, BatmanFlow said:

So my congressperson got a response that embassy was waiting for documents and how it goes to third party location etc. 

this was a week after documents were sent. 
she will follow up again this week. 
 

Every part of this process is so slow. How long does it take to take the packet of documents and drive it to the embassy?!

When the documents arrive to the mail processing location, they only get picked up on Mondays and Thursdays- so depending on the time they arrive, it may add a few extra days to actually get picked up. My document arrived at the facility on the Friday before Canadian Thanksgiving, so it unfortunately added an additional week before it even got picked up. Even after that, it took 6 weeks and 5 days for the status to change to "application received" (so 7.5 weeks from the time it arrived at the mail facility), which I assume is when they finally manage to look at the document. The process is certainly painfully slow

[BatmanFlow 481]

3 hours ago, PNWUnited said:

When the documents arrive to the mail processing location, they only get picked up on Mondays and Thursdays- so depending on the time they arrive, it may add a few extra days to actually get picked up. My document arrived at the facility on the Friday before Canadian Thanksgiving, so it unfortunately added an additional week before it even got picked up. Even after that, it took 6 weeks and 5 days for the status to change to "application received" (so 7.5 weeks from the time it arrived at the mail facility), which I assume is when they finally manage to look at the document. The process is certainly painfully slow

ah thanks for the timing information. and yea from what i see, the turnaround time from when they get documents to visa issues is about 5-6 weeks

[Tikitch 21]

15 hours ago, LAMA9 said:

Thanks for the intel.  AP cases (simply missing or incomplete documents, medical hasn't arrived or RFEs) are one thing but DS-5535 is a whole other ballgame.  Did they specifically comment on the DS-5535 case wait to improve?  

It seems there is now a mix on this thread of just 221g APs and DS-5535 cases, which can make it confusing as to what people's circumstances are.  Waiting 30 days in DS-5535 is nothing and you can expect months to go (dare I say could be a year or longer).  We tried the congressman and senator route while  a few months into DS-5535 and it went absolutely no where.  They got the same canned response we did and they don't hold any jurisdiction over federal department of state to get them to move any faster on "security issue vetting" which DS-5535 is. (all of us criminal Canadians).  

Whichever camp you are in (AP or DS-5535) I wish you best of luck!  My DS-5535 cleared last month after 11 months and 3 ish months after filing a WOM. 

I got a DS-535 but they kept my passport. I just don't understand how Im supposed to not have my passport for a year while they process my application... And then they say my application will be paused if I ask to retrieve my passport. Just doesn't make sense.

[PZibran325 112]

6 hours ago, Tikitch said:

I got a DS-535 but they kept my passport. I just don't understand how Im supposed to not have my passport for a year while they process my application... And then they say my application will be paused if I ask to retrieve my passport. Just doesn't make sense.

Not a whole lot of this process is understandable unfortunately. But I am praying all of us start hearing some good news in near future.

[LAMA9 118]

7 hours ago, Tikitch said:

I got a DS-535 but they kept my passport. I just don't understand how Im supposed to not have my passport for a year while they process my application... And then they say my application will be paused if I ask to retrieve my passport. Just doesn't make sense.

What's your visa category again?  I'm sorry if you already said, but I don't have he energy to go back and find it and your profile doesn't contain it.  It could be that for your particular visa they plan to process it faster, hence keeping your passport, which has happened in some visas that are not K1& IR-1/CR-1.  And perhaps for your visa category, there is a rule that they need to have it for your case to remain in que.  They continue to process family based visas with or without a passport as they expect people need to have their passports to visit their fiancees and spouses while they wait (how kind of them).  Are you DV,  or employment based? 

[Tikitch 21]

On 12/2/2022 at 5:41 PM, LAMA9 said:

What's your visa category again?  I'm sorry if you already said, but I don't have he energy to go back and find it and your profile doesn't contain it.  It could be that for your particular visa they plan to process it faster, hence keeping your passport, which has happened in some visas that are not K1& IR-1/CR-1.  And perhaps for your visa category, there is a rule that they need to have it for your case to remain in que.  They continue to process family based visas with or without a passport as they expect people need to have their passports to visit their fiancees and spouses while they wait (how kind of them).  Are you DV,  or employment based? 

I'm CR1-Ir1

[MKH22 0]

Hi everyone,  Consulate sent back only my passport, but not my spouse .  Does anyone have this experience?

 

Thank you, 

[throwitaway 190]

36 minutes ago, MKH22 said:

Hi everyone,  Consulate sent back only my passport, but not my spouse .  Does anyone have this experience?

 

Thank you, 

You haven’t provided enough info