Coco_2023

1 hour ago, Texasbound1 said:

My priority date is April 18, 2022 and my DQ date is January 31, 2023. I hope to receive my interview letter in the next batch since the batch that was sent around April 17th included people DQ'd in December 2022 and the consulate in Montreal had a date of January 2023 for DQ of the majority of EB visa interview letters before they removed it.

I think we had somebody here whose DQ was Jan 2023 and got an interview letter in the last batch, if I'm not mistaken 

23 minutes ago, AnnaSalu said:

Hi @Matt77 I see they put you in AP - can you please let us know the reason? Is it progressing? Thanks. 

A friend of mine who is born and raised in the UK and we both got our PhD in IT from Canada was put in AP too. The officer told them holding a doctorate degree in STEM fields raises a security flag in their systems automatically which is insane! 

I speculate that's what is happening to me too, and other candidates with the silimar situation

On 4/23/2024 at 6:12 PM, TheMaverick said:

I guess you are out of options. DV is different from EB. There are only 55000 visa issued every year and they have to be used in the same year. The year starts from Oct 1 and ends on Sep 30. If the visa is not issued by then it’s game over. They had a few exceptions around this during COVID but from your post I don’t think so they are doing that anymore. This definitely needs legal opinion and you should talk to an immigration attorney. 

I guess you are out of options. DV is different from EB. There are only 55000 visa issued every year and they have to be used in the same year. The year starts from Oct 1 and ends on Sep 30. If the visa is not issued by then it’s game over. They had a few exceptions around this during COVID but from your post I don’t think so they are doing that anymore. This definitely needs legal opinion and you should talk to an immigration attorney. 

I guess you are out of options. DV is different from EB. There are only 55000 visa issued every year and they have to be used in the same year. The year starts from Oct 1 and ends on Sep 30. If the visa is not issued by then it’s game over. They had a few exceptions around this during COVID but from your post I don’t think so they are doing that anymore. This definitely needs legal opinion and you should talk to an immigration attorney. 

Good point. It begs the question what happens if similar situation happens to us in EB2/EB2-NIW category like somebody gets AP'd but after getting clearance they run out of quota??

42 minutes ago, neds said:

Thanks! My lawyer tells me that the officer may still ask, and if one doesn’t have a letter (or any proof that they employers are interested to hire them) it may result in AP. 

Your lawyer is wrong!

Neither NIW endeavor types including persoanl (worker/employee) nor entrepreneurship (those who have had their own company and employees for several years before applying) don't need a sponsor

3 hours ago, AJSin1 said:

"As of April 19, 2024, most Immediate Relative and fiancé(e) visa cases being scheduled for interview in Montreal were documentarily complete at the National Visa Center in February 2024; most Family Preference cases with visa numbers available that are being scheduled for interview were documentarily qualified in August 2023; and most Employment cases scheduled for interview were documentarily complete in January 2023."

Montreal consulate updated the page. EB cases now up to Jan 2023. Great to see such a big jump in such a short period of time. Someone on the forum mentioned that they were informed at their consulate interview that the Montreal consulate had hired more officers so they were no longer understaffed. Hopefully this backlog continues to drop quickly.

Seems like adding more staff would be the only reason that justifies this huge leap which is great LOL

7 minutes ago, TheMaverick said:

I would not think too much on what is specified or stated on the certificate in terms of expiry. If you have left your home country and if that certificate was issued to you after you left that place and if you have not visited again you should be good. That is why NVC accepted it and provided the DQ. All the VO needs to know is that you were cleared by your home country. If you have visited again, the rules are open to interpretation. In this case if its not a hassle, I would go with the safest bet of trying to get another one. In my case it was not straight forward to get one, so i made it a point to not travel back until this was resolved.

Thanks @TheMaverick  I'm facing a similar challenge with obtaining a new police certificate from my home country. It typically takes 2-3 months for it to be issued due to extensive bureaucracy

9 minutes ago, Texasbound1 said:

This is interesting and I am also very interested in the experience of others. I will likely bring my entire set of documents that were submitted for approval of my EB2-NIW.

 

The thing is though that supposedly the consulate is not supposed to re-adjudicate your case once it has been approved but I guess that is open to interpretation as to what re-adjudicate actually means. 

Agreed.  I am also wondering if we are allowed to bring that much documents ie books, articles, etc. with us to the consulate

4 minutes ago, TheMaverick said:

Although USCIS increased validity to two years I would still go with what is mentioned on the Montreal site. In my case the certificate was older than 2 years but even it was not I would still go with the latest one. It does not make any sense to risk it. Also I last travelled to my home country in 2018 and after I submitted the docs to NVC I did not travel back so I just went with what I submitted to NVC. They looked at it and returned it back. If you travel even for a single day and if that travel reflects on your ds 260 they will expect a police certificate if the total length of stay after you turned 18 was more than 6 months for that country. I would not risk it and apply for one else that is good reason to be put in administrative processing. Also remember rules of USCIS are not the same for DOS. recently USCIS made a change for the medical rule that if you have once done medical even if there was a delay you do not need to do medical again but that is not the case with the consulate. 

@TheMaverick Does your police cert from your home country state an expiry date e.g. 6 month, etc.?

Anybody in the EB2-NIW crew got the lowdown on what extra docs we need to bring for this interview aside from the ones listed in the interview check list, since I hear some folks are asked to show the original or cerificied copies of their academic and other merit based documets during the interview?

I'm asking since some folks like myself in EB2-NIW specifically might need a suitcase for all the eligibility documents submitted to USCIS initially. It's just to stay prepared in case the officer throws a random request our way. Gotta be ready for anything:) 
 

2 hours ago, Froozion said:

Uscis changed the police certificates to two years. Montreal website still says one year as they never updated the form. 

 

It is definitely two years from the date of the interview. Basically if you are close to 6 months left on the rcmp police record and anticipate the interview soon I would get a new one to prevent any issues. 

@Froozion You're right but there are concerns in my case, one that I can't find a definitive description of what "...have not returned..." means in their statement ie does it mean residency there for 6 months+, or just visiting for a shorter period of time, etc.

2nd, it clearly states "this cert expires in 6 months" in my police certificate that I've got 1 year ago for my back home thru it's embassy, so I'd appreciate it if anybody can share their experience of a similar case

7 minutes ago, Adam RS said:

EB2-NIW

Filing date was November 2021

That's great news since the latest ILs Montreal sent out were for July-August 2022 DQs, if I'm not mistaken. 

Not sure if the processing time for EB2-NIW and EB2 subcategories are the same though. (I am EB2-NIW too)

@Froozion Am I right?

10 minutes ago, Adam RS said:

As I could n't login my previous ID to this website, so I created a new one today.

I received my Interview Letter today morning. My DQ date was December 19th, 2022. 

Congratulations @Adam RS for the invite!

Are you in EB2-NIW category or EB2, and what's your filing date?

5 hours ago, Froozion said:

One month progress. Apr 2022-may 2022

Gee, this means that I'm looking at roughly a year from now to get an interview...and another 4-11 months for DS-5535😦

18 minutes ago, northface said:

 

     Don't worry,  just prepare well and pass in 90%+. 

My lesson is that  should have paid more attention on mock interview, first impression was very crucial to VO, especially ladies' 6th sense you know. I had 8 US NIV visa interviews in my life, giving me pass were all gentlemen. Just for a holiday fun 😊.

    Another thing is check yourself on USCIS  status portal  with A# number in advance, which is in notice of action letter from  USCIS. Make sure is clear without any flag comment. That number  will  be your Green card number , might you already knew.

  VO has no reason to reject  IV except he/she has strong evidence to convince USCIS. 

 

Thanks a lot. A question though - how do I check my case on USCIS  status portal  (with A# number)?

I just became current on the latest visa bulletin so I am expecting the IL, perhaps in a few months hopefully...

22 minutes ago, ak47 said:

Not sure if anybody here has mentioned about it. 

 

When did you interview and how long did you wait before rejection?

 

Also what was the reason for rejection?

This actually hasn't happened to me or anybody I know (fortunately!) I'm just wondering to see what is waiting for us at the end of this dark tunnel and what the odds are, since I am almost certain that I'm getting 221g too at the interview day

Hi everyone - Has there been anybody whose EB2 visa was "rejected" (as opposed to "refused") after a few months of getting a 221g/DS-5535, regardless if WOM is filed or not?

22 minutes ago, Texasbound1 said:

November 2023 visa issuance stats just released. Very low numbers for E class visas.

 

https://travel.state.gov/content/dam/visas/Statistics/Immigrant-Statistics/MonthlyIVIssuances/NOVEMBER 2023 - IV Issuances by Post and Visa Class.pdf

 

Thanks for sharing this.
Looks like Seoul has issued 417 visas which is the highest number in E2 category in the world, but the rest of the posts are mostly single digits!!
 

January visa bulletin looks promising, if they don't get retrofitted again in the next few months though LOL

Do we have a rough estimate of the time gap from becoming current and the first batch of interview invites?


 

23 minutes ago, Texasbound1 said:

Use this site for all US travel history - https://i94.cbp.dhs.gov/I94/#/home. The rest you will likely need to get from memory!

Thank you so much @Texasbound1

I thought they'd ask for all my international travels from Canada to other destinations than the States so I should have got it from Canada or something 

Hi @ALL

Does anybody know how to get a 5yr travel history for the interview since seems like it is frequently asked during the interview so I'd like to get prep'd?

6 minutes ago, topman said:

I appreciate you sharing the informative links regarding the criteria for placing individuals on AP. Nevertheless, I respectfully disagree with the assertion made in the articles that cases are typically resolved within 30 days. There is compelling evidence indicating that AP cases involving DS-5535 requests have experienced prolonged waiting periods, extending for several months or even years, before obtaining clearance. In many instances, individuals are left with no alternative but to pursue costly writ of mandamus (WOM) lawsuits against the government.

 

Yes, my case was approved last month after a WOM lawsuit.  

Congrats!  So happy for you @topman

I think I'm gonna need to file the WoM lawsuit as well. Did you file it thru Hacking firm?   How much in total did the whole thing cost in USD?

11 minutes ago, Coco_2023 said:

I did a bit of research in terms of Administrative Processing (AP) especially to see why and for whom it gets initiated and found the following links super informative, so sharing them here hopefully they would be helpful. 

 

https://www.greencardlawyers.com/answers_for/VisaProcessing/visasecuritychecks.html#The Visas Condor: Heightened Security Checks

 

https://www.greencardlawyers.com/answers_for/VisaProcessing/TALFieldsList.html

 

https://immigration.dinsmore.com/faq/travel/security-advisory-opinions

 

According to this, and reading some statistics here and there, the chances of me getting into the "Condor" security check which is done as part of AP would be %99 due to my field of work/education in addition to the fact that I was born in "T-7" countries and as it states it doesn't matter if I've got my Canadian citizenship nor the fact that I moved to Canada when I was 11.

 

@topman, @RKD, @Gha, @farzady, @Benham Are you guys still in AP?

 

Oh, I forgot to mention, those who have educational background or worked in the "TAL" like myself who have a PhD in AI and am working in this field are subject to another security check called "Visas Mantis"...

I did a bit of research in terms of Administrative Processing (AP) especially to see why and for whom it gets initiated and found the following links super informative, so sharing them here hopefully they would be helpful. 

https://www.greencardlawyers.com/answers_for/VisaProcessing/visasecuritychecks.html#The Visas Condor: Heightened Security Checks

https://www.greencardlawyers.com/answers_for/VisaProcessing/TALFieldsList.html

https://immigration.dinsmore.com/faq/travel/security-advisory-opinions

According to this, and reading some statistics here and there, the chances of me getting into the "Condor" security check which is done as part of AP would be %99 due to my field of work/education in addition to the fact that I was born in "T-7" countries and as it states it doesn't matter if I've got my Canadian citizenship nor the fact that I moved to Canada when I was 11.

3 minutes ago, David San said:

I see in excel sheet, country of chargeability ROW. which country is ROW?

ROW = Rest Of the World (applicants who are born in any country other than China, India, Philippines)

NIW = National Interest Waiver (a category of employment based immigration visa which you don't need a sponsor.

Hope this helps.

1 minute ago, New_123 said:

Can we travel to the US on a non-immigrant visa while awaiting our IV interview at Montreal consulate? Would this affect the interview outcome in anyway?

I've traveled to the States 2 times from Canada since I got DQ'd once flew and once drove, there was no issue at the border whatsoever