throwitaway

10 hours ago, ohmygod said:

Glad to let you all know that we got our visas issued and crossed the border. Exactly 1 year after the interview at Montreal. We did not go through the Mandamus route. 

Congrats! Hopefully non-mandamus clearances become the norm one day.

21 hours ago, ice-qube said:

Wait, why is it the Ottawa embassy that must answer in your case?

Sounds like non-immigrant visa

19 minutes ago, TBoneTX said:

When you filled out any application or petition, did you type "NMN" in any space where middle name was asked for?

 

The best way (least prone to misinterpretation) is to put dashes:  ---

Nope, I do have a middle name, and it appears in the profile -  but they squeezed NMN between my middle name and last.

Hi folks, I entered the US on an immigrant visa not too long ago.

My SSN has come in, my green card I’m still waiting.

When checking my USCIS portal for my pending I-551, my profile has the letters NMN in my name. I realize this means no middle name, but anybody know if I should be worried this will be printed on my green card when it finally goes into production? Not sure if this is typical for others or if I should send in a typographical error e-request?

I have a feeling it’s an internal USCIS thing, but I also have trust issues and worry someone thinks that’s actually my middle name 😅

6 minutes ago, talkingreckless said:

Goldstein

Nice! Good luck. Hope it moves quickly for you. Also, the 60 day countdown isn’t from date of filing, it’s from the day summons is served on defendants. Josh will file proof of service in a few weeks (pretty sure he serves by certified mail) and it’ll have the date.

12 minutes ago, talkingreckless said:

Filled my WOM today, Embassy (Ottawa) has 9 weeks to reply back.

 

Been 4 months for me since i went for my interview, i was told i have a good case to get approved by WOM because i have been living in US for 11 years and all my stuff is still there and i have been paying for rent/car and other things for the last 4 months while been out of country. Already spent more and potential could spent alot more to move my stuff and cancel my contracts than not going the WOM route

 

Let hope i don't have to wait the whole 9 weeks

Who did you file with? 

25 minutes ago, roshakky said:

My husband’s passport was requested on Sept 15 and was received at the embassy on Sept 20. Few weeks went by with no updates. My husband emailed the embassy 2  wks ago and they responded last week saying they never received his passport. So he emailed back with the tracking and delivery confirmation with signature… well… visa was issued today!!! On our 2 year anniversary!! 
 

point of the story… email them to make sure they are reviewing the documents you send! 

Congrats! Does this mean CEAC is working now? 

Just now, ConsistentCut said:

Well according to that case a "reasonable time frame" is actually one of the conditions of a successful or unsuccessful WOM, but what that is varies by jurisdiction.

 

Who was your lawyer, if you don't mind me asking?

It’s a complex set of conditions required to actually win, and one of them is proving unreasonable delay. But defining “unreasonable” is a losing battle. There’s really no consensus about it in courts, it flip flops based on the judge’s temperament. I was trying to point it out (although poorly) as not something to focus on and is actually a point the government likes to fight, as defining it would be terrible for them. If you’re thinking of filing WoM, make sure you get a good lawyer that can distinguish this and not template file for you.

I went with Chris at Paladino, Isbell and Casazza. 

1 minute ago, ConsistentCut said:

What do you mean fail? Fail to force the government to make a decision, or fail to lead to an approval? They are two completely different things.

Look I’m just saying that the time thing is not as relevant as you both think it is. I filed WoM after one month from interview, and I was issued. Arguing that your citizen spouse has a right to be reunited with their partner is a good argument, showing them that there’s nothing in your background to be concerned about is too, but saying you’ve waited x amount of time to bolster your WoM isn’t. That’s all. I just came out of this lawsuit so my mind is still stuck ruminating in legalese. Apologies if I was unclear.

2 hours ago, ice-qube said:

 rule of thumb--there is no statutory definition--is that any time within six months for a decision is "reasonable"). 

Excerpt from Judge’s opinion in Dastagir v Blinken, District Court of Columbia Case No. 1:20-cv-02286 (TNM)

Dastagir's visa application and other courts have found similar wait times [2018 interview, 2021 lawsuit, 3 years of AP] not unreasonable. More importantly, granting Dastagir relief would allow her to jump ahead of others with no net benefit to anyone but her. While Dastagir and her family may have experienced hardship during the wait, so too have all applicants whose cases are likewise delayed.

2 hours ago, ConsistentCut said:

They still have to have a legitimate reason to deny you. I'm pretty sure "we extreme vetted him for 12 months after his interview and found nothing" won't hold up in court.

I mean, it can and does hold up in court. Thousands of DV applicants languished in post-interview AP this year and lost their chance, not because they were denied based on the INA, but because the government failed to adjudicate by the fiscal year deadline. Similarly, other visa types are not protected by law with regards to the timeline of adjudication - if the cost of their inaction meant the total loss of a visa to thousands, you think “I waited for a year” is going to mean anything to them? The DC court denied over 50+ WoM and TRO in September alone. 

2 hours ago, ice-qube said:

This is debatable. If the case actually got to court, it might lose on the prospect of it only having been 90 days (according to all I have read, the rule of thumb--there is no statutory definition--is that any time within six months for a decision is "reasonable"). 

Not really, I’ve seen WoM fail for applications that have been in AP for 3-5 years. 

Just now, EB2-NIW said:

Hi, I have a question for those who applied for write of Mandamus and already cleared and got their visa. What was your visa expiry date? was it valid till the end of your medical (6 month after the medical exam) or the the clearance does have an expiry date and visa is valid till clearance expiry. If the latter, how long is the clearance typically valid for? thanks

The visa expires 6 months post medical. As far as their internal clearance for AP goes, the validity of the clearance is based on its type, and ranges between three and 48 months. Given that they don’t reveal what type of clearance they’ve requested for you, it’s difficult to determine where you fall on that time range. The only way you know it’s expired is the next time you apply for a visa you’re put into AP again.

8 minutes ago, ConsistentCut said:

All of your previous canadian passport numbers are listed at the bottom of your current one's photo page. 

I don’t see any previous passport numbers under my photo. Also, was just trying to help and clarify for others that read this thread. Everyone I know that filled this form included all their passports, but you can obviously do whatever you want.

10 hours ago, ConsistentCut said:

So now I'm hearing that under "previous passports" we were supposed to include expired Canadian passports? Is this true? I put N/A and "I have only held a Canadian passport" in my DS5535 email. How do I correct this? How do I even get a copy of an expired passport? Do I include the one when I was a kid, 30 frickin years ago???

 

Is there ever an end to this confusion? I'm about ready to throw in the towel. This almost isn't worth it.

The form states include all passports - meaning yes, every single passport you’ve ever had. I wasn’t sure I had all my passports so I had to contact Passport Canada (you can message me for their specialized email for this) for a certified letter showing my entire passport history. It took two months. 

22 minutes ago, Icecreamcastles said:

Guess I'm the newest member of this grim gang.

Had my interview Oct 4, was told I was approved, but then on Oct. 5 was emailed the dreaded DS-5535. Still in shock.

After applying for K-1 back in April 2021 I thought there was a light at the end of this tunnel, but now there's nothing but uncertain darkness.

We will definitely look into filing a WOM, so lawyer recommendations are welcome. Also plan to request to have my passport returned.

I'm wondering if it is at all worth it to start over and file for a spousal visa instead.

If anyone has any tips, I'd love to hear them. In solidarity with everyone else in this unjust limbo.

The folks over at PIC law are the best, Chris saved us from our first lawyer (popular WoM choice on forums like this) that screwed our WoM up real bad. Spousal visa won’t help, the 5535 is tied to your passport and you will always get it with new visa applications (H1B, who renew every few years, get 5535 infinitum so long as they got it once). 

Asking for your passport back is fine, they’ll email you to submit it again when they’re ready.

7 minutes ago, Vmpt said:

Can you explain what does that mean? I know another case that no required documents nor DS-5535 request, it was computer system crashed at the end of interview (July 15th). She also waited for over 2 months for visa to be issued, which was 10 days ago.

Diversity visa, the deadline was Sept 30 and MTL really ramped up in September, looks like they devoted a lot of resources to it so other visas may have been put on the back burner. Now they’re probably playing catch up.

14 minutes ago, Vmpt said:

Not sure about the long AP for DS-5535, but my husband got 221g for missing an official police certificate from 3rd country. His interview was on July 6th, document submitted on July 15th, and no visa is issued till now other than few dates updated. Email responses from consulate are basically working on the case etc. This is nothing related to background check and we feel so frustrated with the process.

They just wrapped up with DV so that’s probably why.

35 minutes ago, jgauthi242 said:

They let 79,000 people in from Afghanistan without proper vetting. They then went back and started vetting everybody. They found several individuals with derogatory information: https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.oig.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/assets/2022-09/OIG-22-64-Sep22-Redacted.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwjWtcnDvcf6AhWXi_0HHeiPD4gQFnoECBYQAQ&usg=AOvVaw1xtpRMrSPVRCPRPZ9OK_5a

 

They then started processing large numbers of SQ visas, all of which require AP. SQ visas are the highest priority tier (i.e., higher than immediate relative). https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/visa-information-resources/visas-news-archive/immigrant-visa-prioritization.html

 

There is a large and growing backlog of cases in AP. You can determine this by looking at these reports: https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/immigrate/special-immg-visa-afghans-employed-us-gov.html#quarterly

 

Difference the numbers going into AP and coming out of it (i.e., "undergoes AP" and "visa issuance). Since January 2021, 4800 people have made it to AP stage, but only 2300 visas have been issued.

 

The reason the only people in AP who get approved are the ones that filed WOM is because they're only processing SQ in AP because there is a large and growing backlog of SQ in AP and they are a higher priority than IR according to State's prioritization system. When you sue them, you're effectively forcing them to work on your case.

I knew about the tiered priority scheme but I had thought that the courts had ruled it illegal - didn’t realize it only stopped them from applying it to DV (although in reality some embassies still do it, like Accra who had a poor DV 22). 

2 hours ago, BatmanFlow said:

yea the lack of zero organic movement is quite depressing and its something that is making me consider pulling the trigger as well. almost $6k is a lot, but i dont know how long to wait. there is no movement for anyone without filing WOM

In my opinion, once you file you’ll regret you waited so long.

5 hours ago, jujubemom said:

I am keeping track of my update dates: 

 

Interview                                 : 7.15

DS5535 & resume sent        : 7.18

Update (refused)                   : 8.19

Update (refused)                   : 8.03 (reply to my email to acknowledge receipt of DS5535)

Update (refused)                   : 8.18

Update (refused)                   : 9.09

Update (refused)                   : 9.21

Update (refused)                   : 10.03

Update (refused)                   : 10.04 (my husband sent an inquiry email last night, not sure if it was due to the email.

 

Does anyone have a similar pattern for the update? I was really excited when I saw the 8.18 one, but now I am merely confused about why they are updating my case so frequently but nothing really happens.

Why are you doing this? This will drive you crazy.

Montreal likes to hold on to people’s passports for a really long time while they do background checks. This can become more than an inconvenience because you might have issues at the border if you try to return before they finish their checks. 

On 9/13/2022 at 12:53 AM, CanadianGirl3 said:

I’m currently married to a US citizens and am residing in the US on a TN visa (work visa). I am DQ’d and waiting for my interview date at the Montréal embassy. My question is, after the interview, does the embassy hold onto your passport? What if I need to get back home to the US or even toronto, how would I travel if they hold the passport for two weeks. Would I have to stay in a Montréal hotel?

Be warned that Montreal is notorious for AP, especially for Canadian citizens. I’m talking possibly months, there are some in the “dreaded” thread close to a year. Wouldn’t AOS be better? 

2 hours ago, LAMA9 said:

Great article.  Would love to see the next one focus on the human conditions aspect of this process (less on how it affects businesses and corporations) how it affects mental health, and dig deeper into the stats of the "epidemic" issuance of the DS-5535 in the first place for family based visas, especially for Canadian Citizens.  A great start none the less!

I can see a Canadian outlet maybe picking it up on that angle - there’s really no reason a Canadian citizen should be subject to extreme vetting - the information systems are shared between the US and Canada, everything they need to know they have access to already so what gives?

On 9/27/2022 at 12:45 PM, Juliantwin said:

Hello, 

Using this platform to see if anyone is or has been in the same boat. 

My spouse was sponsored for an EB3 VISA. after a year of waiting for an interview, it happened in Montreal this past August 22nd. I wasn’t able to provide my medical as my doctor has postponed my appointment because of covid. We attended the interview, my spouse received an approval right away, and I was refused and presented with a 221g refusal letter,  due to lack of medical. That is understandable. The medical was submitted to them electronically two days after the interview (Aug 24th). So far no news and they have my passport.  

As per their page, there was an update made on the file the 16th of Sept (8 business days ago). But nothing yet. I am wondering if I should get concerned? 

Anyone has been through something similar? 

thank you, 

J

Montreal is really slow. I wouldn’t start worrying until you pass the 3 month mark.