let me take clear up a few things that are mystery and not any more (from my limited knowledge) :
- Immigrant and K1 DS-5355 is done by Office of Screening, Analysis and Coordination (SAC).
- all other non-immigrant visa checks for DS-5355 are done by National Vetting Center
you can read up on this in detail (this is a statement under oath in court by the person running the Immigrant Visa DS5355 vetting):
https://redeaglelaw.com/blog-1/f/administrative-processing-backlog-of-66000-visa-applicants
So given this people who are in immigrant Visa status and given a DS5355 need to compare their timeline with other people who have the same situation
I also agree that Iranian applicant are screened more thoroughly, but what about applicant from Canada, on VJ there is a thread for Canada consulate and all the people there have been waiting for their medical who had a interview since Jan 2023. the last visa approval/Medical on that forum was from Sept 2023....
So everyone who is trying to make sense of DS-5355 but the data seems to point to a long wait if you are an immigrant visa applicant with DS5355.