Leo The Great

Just email consulate for status and telling them you provided all documents and waiting for your visa to be issue. Have doctor office confirmed you that they have submitted medical result to consulate? The doctor we went for medical sent us the confirming email that medical results have been electronically submitted to embassy?

The embassy may have handed over your passport to courier service. The delay may be due to courier service as they email you the tracking information just 1-2 days before you receive your passport. I would suggest contacting the courier services first. There has been discussion about how to contact that service in the part 3 of DS-5535 thread or you can browse their web site where you register for passport return service.

Congrats!! How come you got your visa stamped in 3 days? Did you submit your passport in person?

You do not need to repeat the immunity test again or vaccinations except for COVID (Booster is due within the year of next medical). X-RAY, Blood work and Physical/Mental health checks will be done again.

yes - We booked a medical appointment today and the reply email from doctor's office says about this new requirement. Medical is valid for 6 months. Your visa expiry would be same as Medical expiry.

It is better to complete AP. Medical appointments are usually available in few days if you are willing to go to clinic at the first available slot. In the meantime you can complete the next COVID booster if applicable which is due with in a year of your next Medical appointment as per new CDC requirements.

Just want to share an update. Today, We received email from usvisa-info.com to send documents (passport and medical). We have been in AP for exactly 9 months There have been 4 updates to our case in last 2 weeks followed by today's email and another update.

I am not tracking the DQ - interview time this year. My parents were DQ in the middle of May and they got interview email in August for early October interview last year.

For Canada Your parents can go to https://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/en/private-fingerprinting-companies-accredited-by-the-RCMP. This fastest way to get police certificate. They needs to show below requirements (Highlighted below) to that RCMP accredited company for correct police certicate Police Certificates Available Fees: Varies by Province Document Name: Certified Criminal Record Check – Type of Criminal Record Check for Personal Use (*formerly known as Privacy Act) Sub-type: Other (Provide Details) Details of Information sought: RCMP National Repository Entire Holdings

Congrats! Did consulate ask for Canadian police report or your police report is still valid?

Border crossing will be allowed with AP as long you have Canadian passport or visa. If you have visa CBP office may ask you to go the secondary for fingerprinting. I will recommend to avoid border crossing with visa until you get your Canadian passport if possible. You need to carry the proof of ties to Canada. AP is taking few months to 16 months from Montreal consulate for immigrant visa. AP is faster for non-immigrant visas and with Resume only(TAL).

If you do not have a passport, and are returning to Canada, the following documents can denote identity and citizenship: NEXUS card, held by a Canadian citizen, when entering Canada by air (when coming from the U.S.), land, or marine modes FAST card (Free and Secure Trade), issued to a Canadian citizen (when arriving by land or marine modes only) Canadian emergency travel document Canadian temporary passport Certificate of Canadian citizenship (issued from 1954 to present) Enhanced driver's license issued by a Canadian province or territory Enhanced identification/photo card issued by a Canadian province or territory Other acceptable documents for establishing Canadian citizenship The following documents may be used to establish Canadian citizenship. Upon presentation by travellers, the documents should be supported by other government issued photo identification: Certificate of Canadian citizenship (large form issued between January 1, 1947, to February 14, 1977) Certificate of retention (issued between January 1, 1947, and February 14, 1977) Certificate of naturalization (issued before January 1, 1947) Registration of birth abroad certificate (issued between January 1, 1947, and February 14, 1977, by Canadian citizenship authorities) Provincial or territorial birth certificate (individuals born in Canada) Other acceptable documents to support identity The following documents may be used to establish your identity: CANPASS card (air, corporate air, private air, remote area border crossing), held by a Canadian citizen Commercial driver registration program card, held by a Canadian citizen Provincial and territorial driver's license Employment or student card with photo and signature Provincial health insurance card Provincial identity card Canadian Forces identification Police identification Firearms acquisition certificate Credit card Vehicle insurance certificate Vehicle registration Source: https://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/travel-voyage/td-dv-eng.html

Congrats! Since you had already gone thru the Resume and other background checks, Looks like State Dept did not have to do any further background check on you. This happened to another VJ member @ ALC last year. He went thru same SOA checks already few years ago and consulate granted him EB2 visa in 3 months. The annotation "Clearance Received on <date>" on your visa will tell you if the state dept did clearance or not There was no such annotation on his visa although consulate asked him for DS-5535 and Resume.

Did consulate ask you to send new photograph also? Photographs are valid for 6 months

if you get one more update in a week or so, that would definitely a good sign and indicates that they are working on your case.

How many unsolicited updates you got within a month or 6 weeks? Just want to see the pattern. Thanks

Hopefully, you will get passport request soon. Since they asked for DS-5535 and Resume in your case. I am assuming that you will get more overall unsolicited updates to your case when compared to DS-5535 only cases.

Finally!! Congrats! 🙂

@Gha Do you have any other unsolicited updates after May 2? Thanks

Not sure about your visa type. If it is non-immigrant visa, Resume cases are cleared relatively fast but for immigrant visa, it takes more time. In one case (IR1 visa), it took more than 6 months to clear Resume only (without DS-5535) case from Montreal Spreadsheet https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1G2Uy4IANSzFvQVRiywS4djPaujgHSRCfzE0qZK0eQCM/edit?gid=0#gid=0 You may look at Resume only cases without DS-5535 to get an idea about immigrant visa/K visas clearance time.

Did you get few unsolicited updates to your case recently (in month time)?

Your case is not DS-5535. Consulate asked for Resume only and it was pending review by CO in your last communication Right? If that the case not sure why consulate is taking so much time. May be send an email to consulate regularly asking them if the case is still waiting for CO review by quoting the old reply.

May be State Dept started working on your case. Keep an eye on unsolicited update to see if you receive another update in 1-2 weeks.

As you already know there is a backlog of 61,000 SAO(DS-5535) cases as of April 2024. and they clear approx 60,000 applicant per year. I am not sure how the State Dept sources are allocated per region based on expertise of analysts for specific region. There are 2-3 VJ members (Montreal) on spreadsheet who have been issued visa in the last 6 months and one member waited for more than a year. Hopefully things will be quicker in your region as there may not be many applicants who have been issued DS-5535 and female (CR1/IR1) applicants are not issued DS-5535(Very low probability) in your region.

This pretty much template message for AP cases until the visa is issued. Case Last Updated keeps on changing when consulate/State Dept work on your file or you receive email from consulate.