Superluminal
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Everything posted by Superluminal
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Rough luck. This is almost the exact same interaction I had with the CO. My interview was almost a year ago and I'm still waiting. I won't sugar coat it... my advice is to buckle up for an 8 - 16 month wait and hope it goes faster. Lots of folks here have been caught up in AP with a DS-5535 with little to no issues at the interview phase.
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I'm not sure who keeps marking Daft_Cat as completed (highlighted green) in our tracker spreadsheet. Until they have their Visa in hand they are still working through the process. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1jV7rzX2eCRVoEDRhOtN9a6hDoHRLNEf1P3ZGZbQ0_Dc/edit#gid=0
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I just received a response from the consulate. It scared the hell out of me but after reading it again, it seems like it is in the standard response folks are getting when they have not completed the review. Did either @Daft_Cat or @WMBB get an email like this in the last few months? " Good afternoon, Thank you for contacting us. The consular officer, after carefully considering your application and reviewing all available information, determined you have not established that you are eligible for a visa and denied your visa application under INA 221(g). Additional security screening is being conducted. Depending on the screening results, a consular officer may reconsider your eligibility for the visa. Thank you for your patience and cooperation."
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Congrats! I went back and read your previous messages and it looks like you've had a long and hard road (F2A, interview Nov 2022). Glad there is light at the end of the tunnel here for you. Between you and Daft_Cat, that's 2 people with passport requests inside a couple of weeks.
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I'm not holding my breath. I did send an email 3 weeks ago. However, I have not received a follow up. I am keeping a close eye on CEAC to see if there are any more updates. @ak47 my interview was April 27th 2023 and I submitted my DS-5535 on May 1st 2023.
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If I get anything positive from the consulate I will (1) Immediately call my wife, and (2) post here right after. Some of you will probably find out before her depending on how quick she sees the message haha
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@Daft_Cat you inspired me to check my status and we got an update on CEAC. However, I sent them an email 17 days ago so I won't hold my breath. First update since October 6th
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I believe what we are all interested in knowing is: - Are worldwide cases of AP, and those with a DS-5535 in particular, currently processing very slowly or at a standstill? - Is this just a Montreal phenomenon? - What is the reason for the standstill? - When will the standstill end? As many people have pointed out, the majority of folks who got into AP at the end of 2022 seem to all be through the gates. However, the last time a person in AP heard back from the consulate to provide medical / passport was in October, which means nothing has come out of the Montreal consulate in almost 6 months.
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Nothing on our end
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Did they contact you at some point recently to send your 2nd medical and passport back to them?
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I'm starting to feel we need a FAQs section for this discussion.
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I'm pretty sure they can triangulate. For example, I found if I put my previous passport number into the I-94 website, it pulls up travel information for my current passport number.
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I would be skeptical about the opinion of a lawfirm who provides WoMs as a service to be bias free about the efficacy of WoMs.
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My interpretation of this is different then the lawyers. First-in first-out means if your case is next in line that they can't complete any other cases until yours is complete. However, some cases take longer than others and they are likely doing several in parallel. As a result, some cases will clear faster than others. That does not mean that they don't process the DS-5535s in a particular order.
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Given the steady frequency of updates and you're next in line on our tracker based on when you submitted the DS-5535, we all can only hope they are actively processing your case.
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I had a couple of updates that were WOM related. One shortly after the consulate received news of the WOM, and the 2nd shortly before we got a Motion to Dismiss. My guess is it had something to do with them pulling information from my file. Crickets since then as I've never asked them for an update directly.
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I second this piece of advice. I have found land travel to the US much more difficult than air travel, which I attribute to the fact that I always have a return flight to Canada booked. Hard to prove when you will return if you are driving in and out of the country. For the new folks worried about travelling while under DS-5535: I'm actually writing this at Pearson on my way to see my wife in the US after clearing customs. I have gone back an forth over a dozen times without too much difficulty. Be honest your current status if they ask you questions about your immigrant intent. Try and have several reasons you will return back to Canada (i.e. flight back, work, medical appointments) with supporting evidence. 9 times of out 10 they don't ask but it pays to be prepared if they do.
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Looks like we are back to radio silence from Montreal. It's truly amazing how many folks are getting added to the list and how few have been processed. I also think most of the folks who have heard back did so back in September / October. Has anyone been asked for a 2nd medical / to have their passport sent into the consulate in Nov / Dec / Jan?
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Its unclear to me how this relates to DS5535 folks coming out of Montreal.
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Visa category seems to have an impact on timeline for DS-5535 processing. Some EB visas seem to process faster, I suspect because of economic interests. This doesn't apply to everyone with an EB application though.
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While I generally agree with that statement, we haven't seen any evidence to suggest that is how it works.
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I personally have avoided emailing them for a few reasons: 1) They basically said on their website to not ask for updates until you are waiting for at least 6 months. This no longer applies to me since we've been waiting over 9 months at this point. 2) I left it to our lawyers to coordinate since they were filing a WOM. This also doesn't really apply to us anymore since we decided to not fight the MTD we got in October. 3) I would rather learn of unsolicited updates from CEAC then be getting regular updates from me e-mailing them. Maybe this isn't a good idea though since someone had just mentioned about "building a case". It would seem there is no "right" thing to do
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I would vote against this. Perhaps I'm biased being from a pretty vanilla British / Irish ancestry background, but I feel like it is a bit of a red herring. It seems there is no way to know for sure the reason any individual ended up in AP at the Montreal Consulate. It seems relatively well known that travel history, education, name commonality, previous citizenship seems to be linked to an increased chance of AP, but the fact anybody can get AP (including apparently 6 month old baby), there is always the chance that you got unlucky. I think we even struggle to differentiate DS-5535 vs missing documents vs resume requests in our tracker, which I am pretty sure are all different categories of 221(g).
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We hired a firm in Toronto to take care of our application. They were actually pretty incompetent and made several mistakes throughout the process. They probably added 9 to 12 months to the overall process and then we get hit with AP / DS-5535.
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The group in here is a biased sample set as people who get put in AP and are out "quickly" are less likely to join a forum and figure out what's going on. It does look like a few people have gotten unsolicited updates last week which may mean things are starting to get moving. I for one have not gotten an update but my interview date was the end of April.
