dj222

Is it me or does the ds5355 waiting time seem to be moving fasters(used to be 1-1.5 years 1-2 years ago and now 8 months)? Anyone has info on if they were able to reduce more of the backlogs or change the process? I remember someone mentioning changing the system 2nd half of 2024 earlier this year.

Just curious what your ethnicity is jameslouz? What are your suspicions on why you were given the ds5355?

Any idea what the ds5355 rate is in Montreal? I've heard anywhere between 40%-80%. Might be lower as those would didn't receive one would likely not report in

wow 4 month gap between interview date and ds5535? What was your status after interview?

any idea when this will take into effect? "with immigrant visa vetting to follow sometime in 2024" is kind of broad. Hopefully this will speed up the ds5355 processings.

I was reading the declaration of Carson Wu where it states. " The Department has been actively involved in working with the National Vetting Center to shift security vetting of visa applicants from the KFE vetting system discussed above to the National Vetting Center. The Department transferred the national security vetting of nonimmigrant visa applicants to the National Vetting Center in October 2022, with immigrant visa vetting to follow sometime in 2024. The Department anticipates that moving security vetting to the National Vetting Center will create efficiencies in the vetting process that will ultimately benefit all visa applicants and also enhance border security by providing more robust screening of applicants." Curious what everyone thinks of this? Are they talking about DS5355 specifically?

The google docs tracker wait times seems like its all over the place. Some poeple are waiting 17 months and other are waiting 2 months before getting visa in hand.

ANy confirmation that a male from China is the same as male from MENA countries? Also how much weighting is travelling to other countries factor into a ds5355?

Just curious on everyone's thoughts on if the interviewer can request someone for a DS 5355 form and are there anything you can do in the interview to avoid this. Or is it proven now that all DS5355 is determined pre-interview through some sort of algorithm?

Just curious what your ethnic background is.

Wait so there are cases of DS 5355 being approved under 90 days from Montreal? Whats happening in the background?

did you guys provide stay addresses?

I also read online that you have to provide reason for travel and source of funding along with stay addresses. Can anyone confirm this?

For those of you who have filled out DS5355, just a few questions. When filling out the travel history part, what did you have to fill out? Did you have to provide stay addresses? Did you have to provide transits through airports? What if you visited multiple cities when you traveled to a specific country? I've traveled to 50+ countries and many more cities within these countries. Not sure how detailed I have to be. Sometimes I would stay in multiple airbnb/hotsels etc. Not even sure if I can track down all the addresses I've stayed at.

Anyone know if a Chinese background is the same as a middle eastern background when it comes to the algorithms for DS-5535.

Any reason of why you were given DS5535? Middle eastern background, dual citizenship, history of travel, tal work field? Also

So what happens if you are in AP and asked to fill out a DS5355 and you traveled to a couple of more countries while in AP for over a year? Do you have to resubmit or update the countries that you've traveled to again? Since the DS5355 essentially asks you for the countries you've visited in the last 15 years. Should someone just stay put for over a year and not travel while in AP to avoid any more delays?

Where are you getting the 40% vs 17% statistic? So 40% of all interviews end with a AP or 5535? Thats pretty shocking.

The DS-260 only asks for the times I've entered the United States. I don't believe it asked me to list the countries I've traveled to in the last 5 years. Renewing passports that are about to expire within a few years is likely a common practice before immigrating to the United States. Not sure if immigration officers or the system think you're trying to conceal your travel history by doing so. Most likely someone just wants to avoid the hassle of renewing their passports in a new country and having to reapply to get their visa stamped into their new passport again in a few years.

Thanks for the reply and good advice. Yes 50 is excessive however I doubt immigration can see all the places I've been to (unless i've made a transfer through the United States). Unless there is some international sharing database of this information of all countries of border crossing that I don't know of. Im not going to go out of my way to disclose this if not asked and even if asked, I'll try to keep it as vague as possible unless prompted otherwise. I've also heard that perhaps Montreal is using the DS 5355 forms as a way to reduce the backlog. Now that we're now 3 years removed from covid(and the backlogs should be less than before), are there any trends or data suggesting that this has slowed in any way or if there are less DS5355 from montreal? Has processing of DS5355 gotten faster in 2024 compared to 2023?

I haven't got my interview date yet. I DQ also 3 years ago, and my PD is up in about 2 months. My guess is my interview with be in the 6-12 month time frame. Family-based immigration is tricker. My wait time is 9 years until my priority date is current. I've been almost waiting for 10 years to enter the US. I never got to settle down and laid roots or foundation in Canada. I never bought real estate in Canada, and because of my category is unmarried sons of US citizens, I've also steered away from marriage. My only solace is traveling and seeing the world which is an aspiration of mine. The mental stress of these years is taking a toll. I'm in my mid-30s now and am considering if I would be better off not even immigrating in the first place as I would probably be more established in Canada. This even more apparent if somehow I don't get approved. Although I would love to live in the United States don't get me wrong. Some comments on this thread... 1. I still don't see how renewing your passport before the interview will trigger any red flags. I was considering renewing my passport before I even found out that my travel history may trigger ds5355. Im sure a lot of people may want to renew their passports before they move to a new country especially if the expire date is within 2 years or so or even less. This may be common practice. 2. I agree that the USA can see entry and border crossing into the United States and maybe even EU countries or whatnot (although not 100% certain of this), not sure if there is such thing as a global record keeping of passport and entry and exits of all countries and where all countries share this amongst each other. Anyway, if Im asked to fill out a DS5355, I might as well be honest. I am however kind of scared and debating if I should include my travel to Cuba because I'm sure Cuba doesn't share info with the US and they don't stamp my passport either. Not sure how immigration would view my trip to Cuba as well. 3. Although I get the whole life is all about having a career, family and work to make end meets and working the 9-5 grind and this makes the most sense to immigration officers, there are many different types of people out there in the world. Not everyone is confined to the same financial restraints. People may not even view and have an outlook on life compared to the Western hamster wheel lifestyle of work, having a family, saving for rrsp/401k, retire and die. In fact, some people might consider that insanity. I'm sure there are many american that view it this way as well. We should all have life liberty and the pursuit of happiness(which is different for everyone). 4. Hopefully because this thread is full of people who have had a DS-5355 notice sent to them, the replies may be a little biased. Yes, I'm worried but maybe the chances of me getting a DS-5355 are 50/50 or even less. Although 40-50 countries is a little excessive, I doubt all people with a history of travel(say 10+) countries will get served with AP. I feel for all of you guys, however. I pray I don't get served with a DS-5355.

Thanks for the reply. Yeah I would assume that they have info my border crossing to the United States but for example my trip to Turkey and Egypt, I flew to UK from Canada, then to France, then Greece, then Egypt and turkey. Afterward I went to another country and flew back to Canada. These are all on different flight and I didn't book them at the same time. For the passport, I only have 3 years left on my passport anyways and only have a couple of pages left. If immigrated to the US, I probably would want to renew it earlier before I moved rather than later and have to renew it in another country. Makes sense I think.

I'm not sure if US immigration has data on my travels unless I used a US airline and flew to the United States through a transfer, although im curious to hear you guys' thoughts. I'm not even sure if my category (son of a US citizen) would be required to give information such as profession or travel in the interview. Anyway, I think it would be a safer bet to get a new passport as I have a lot of travel stamps in my current one. Also is it just the EB visas that are being asked for a CV? Or are spouses/fiance of US citizens being asked for them as well? This would be kind of weird if that was the case. Do they even screen by profession when considering spouses/fiances of US citizens when it comes to AP? Does anyone have any data suggesting if AP or DS5355 is decided before the interview by a system or by the interviewer? Or maybe both?

State department DC means its sent to USA? If so there is no reason why DS5355 should be process slower for montreal cases compared to other countries.

So I've been to about 50 different countries in the past 5-10 years. Will this raise some red flags? How likely will I be ds5355ed? I've also traveled to Turkey and UAE in the Middle East. I've had jobs where I was extremely successful and was able to negotiate more vacation time and travel on my dime. World travel is always an aspiration for me and don't regret it. I doubt anyone working for the government would be able to relate to my situation or else they will probably not be working there. Just curious, why is Montreal more likely to receive ds5355? I mean there are embassies in parts of the world that I would assume are more likely to be vetted for security threats. If anything Canada is one of the US's closest allies and shares a lot of intelligence. I doubt the Iranian government would share information about their citizens trying to immigrate to USA. Is there actual evidence rather than anecdotal that Montreal is special when it comes to ds5355? Also once a ds5355 form is submitted, does anyone know where it is processed? Is it processed in Montreal? Or does it get sent to be processed in a central agency in the United States?