OG Fan

On 11/25/2021 at 12:02 PM, Danii said:

Hi @OG Fan, I was wondering if you received your passport in the mail yet? 

Yes, sorry for the lack of updates.. for some reason I need to go through "Forgot Password" every time I want to sign in into this site.

I picked up my passport about a week after I got my approval email. And then the week after that I made my move to the US via YYZ. Everything went smoothly, the agent doing the processing was very nice and even helped me update my nexus status as well. 

8 hours ago, DrJanko10 said:

How long did it take them to reply to your emails? They haven't replied to me yet and I emailed them on Monday (Nov. 1st). 

It took about 1 week each time. I think I saw somewhere that they aim for 5 business days for getting back to emails. I replied to the email they had sent me for the DS-5535.

Regarding potentially why I was flagged, other than being Muslim and visiting Pakistan, I'm also a software developer so it's possible that could be related. I haven't had any issues anywhere else with my name matching some one else's so I have a feeling that's not it

I'm in the same boat. My interview was on Sept 27th and I'm still waiting. Everything seemingly went well during the interview and in the end they said I just needed to fill out a questionnaire by email. I didn't realize this was the DS-5535, they just made it sound like a simple questionnaire and acted like it was normal protocol.

They kept my passport and said it would help speed up the process so unless I needed it for an emergency it's best to let them keep it.

When I tried asking about timelines, they didn't give an answer but made it sound like my responding asap was the bottleneck (ha!). I sent it back the next morning and the same day they said they received it.

I emailed after the 2 week and 4 week marks asking for updates but they sent a nice but generic message basically saying "we know it sucks but we'll take as long as we need".

As for why this happened, I'm Canadian and have only ever lived here but I am ethnically Pakistani and visited there once a few years ago so I'm assuming this flagged me.

Hi, sorry for the late update on my husband's interview (9/27).

My husband was not approved at his interview, though they did keep his passport. They didn't tell him he was refused either, but he was given a refusal worksheet with Section 221(g) selected as the reason. They told him he would be emailed a request for some additional information. The email they sent mostly asked for things that were already included on his initial petition application, but 2 items were new. They asked for the names and DOBs of his siblings and also a longer travel history (15 years instead of 5 years required on the initial petition application).We're not sure why they wanted this additional information. Based on what he told me about the interview, it might have been because he misheard a question (they asked whether he'd ever lived in any country other than Canada, and he thought they were asking about travel history so he responded affirmatively). Even though the confusion was cleared up during the interview, they still gave him this refusal worksheet and follow-up questionnaire. The travel history question required us to detail the dates, cities traveled, and source of funds for each trip he had taken in the last 15 years outside of Canada. It required a lot of legwork (thankfully, he never deleted any of his itineraries from his email), but we were able to complete the information and submit it the same day but have not heard back since.

When I check the visa status it says refused, but we're hoping the fact that they kept his passport is a good sign. They acknowledged receipt via email but did not give any indication of how long it would take to review the additional information or when we could expect a decision. Even during his interview, the immigration officer would not give even a rough estimate of how long it could take. He simply said "there's no way to possibly know". It's a little nerve-wracking because in many other accounts, people were still assured that they would eventually be approved if the additional information was provided or at least given some timeframe. Anyway, just trying not to get too down about it and are patiently waiting. Again. Congrats to everyone else who had better luck!

8 hours ago, annierob said:

That's what I am saying to myself. I had kinda made peace with that idea, since looking at the spreadsheet, and tried to see patterns and noticed the last 2 rounds gave interviews for about 13-14 days of DQ dates:

 

JULY
Sept 9 - 21
13 days

 

AUG
Sept 22 - Oct 5
14 days

 

So I assumed:

SEPT
Oct 6 - 18
13 days

 

OCT
Oct 19 - 31
13 days

 

But...I think seeing another Oct 20 DQ made me a little sad. I also see that @irisheyes123 and @OG Fan have not posted anything yet, and they're Oct 20 too.

 

So, it will be next month! HA, 365 days after being DQ'ed!

 

 

We received our interview letter today, for September 27th. I'm so sad to see that some people from our DQ date didn't get their IL today too, but hopeful that you will be next. Praying there may be more ILs that go out tomorrow. Sending you all lots of love and strength, almost there! 

Hi,

I've been following this thread and its previous iterations for almost a year now, but haven't been able to get our DQ date (Oct 20, 2020) on the spreadsheet because the message board won't allow me to send messages to @Hawk Riders. If we could be added, it would help the spreadsheet better reflect the current numbers for October 2020 DQ folks and better predict the next rounds of ILs. If everything stays on track, we're hoping to get our IL letter in August-- this group has been such a help to us, especially with managing our expectations. With so little information from the consulate itself, this has been our only source of reliable information. Thank you so much for keeping it going! Wishing everyone luck in the process and I hope we can be reunited with our families soon!