Angiw

So happy for you Andrews! Hope you have a great life in the south! I also received my package with IV today. It expires in Feb 2025, so I plan to enter US to activate in early 2025 before inauguration of DJT.

They requested my passport on Nov 4th. It was before the strike, so I directly used the shipping provided in the ais system. Just bring the piece of paper with barcode and passports to designated postal office to ship. The tracking number I received today for passport returning to me is Purolator.

That's great! They probably just ship once or twice a week. Hopefully we can all get our passports with IV asap.

Update. After the status changed to "ISSUED" on Dec 2nd, I applied for upgrade to Premium Courier Service on ais.usvisa-info.com for both me and my spouse. Delivery to door costs CA$26 each, so CA$52 for us. I also contacted the email address provided by Andrew and received their response on Dec 3rd saying my issue has been resolved. I replied to confirm if my upgrade request actually went through since it was submitted after issue. My CEAC also had an update on Dec 3rd. This morning (Dec 4th, 9 am), I received 2 emails from donotreply@usvisa-info.com and Purolator, providing me with the tracking number of my passport shipment. It has not been shipped as of now, but likely to be shipped later today or tomorrow. So, yes, it is totally fine to request upgrade to premium courier service after issuance of visa, but it is definitely better to do it quick.

Thanks for your suggestion Andrew! I have just sent an email to the address mentioned. Hopefully, they will respond to me fast. Also, on the ais.us-visa.com, I still have the "Request Premium Delivery" button available. Can I just upgrade to premium courier service using that?

My Status just changed to ISSUED! Background: Chinese citizen with Canadian PR, PhD from USA, scientist in Canada, EB1A, application with spouse (also Chinese citizen with Canadian PR) Timeline: Priority date: 08/2020 (from NIW) EB1A approved: 10/2022 NVC DQ: 03/2023 Interview: 09/16/2024, DS5535 requested (only me), CV taken during interview, passport returned Passport request: 11/04/2024 Issued: 12/02/2024 I had Canada Post for passport return. Should I call them to ask for premium service? Any suggestion is much appreciated!

Sorry to hear that... Yeah I made that assumption based on my communication with people who were interviewed in China, most people waited no longer than 6 months for clearance. Have you contacted Montreal consulate for updates?

Yeah it also surprised me when I received the passport req as I was expecting 6-8 months of time. I think it is likely because I am EB instead of FB. As far as I know, in Guangzhou, China, where IV applicants are mostly EB, their AP usually takes 1 ~ 3 months to clear instead of more than half a year. Considering that many AP cases (especially DS 5535) are sent to DC for processing, I would assume the AP clearance time highly depends on whether it is EB or FB. EB usually takes shorter for maybe being more straightforward, just checking employment validation and possible security threat, and FB is longer for them to check like financial support, family history, possible security and even "fake" marriage, etc... In Montreal, probably most applicants are FB, making the average processing time super long

WOW that is LONG I received passport req on Nov. 4th, sent everything on Nov. 5th, and Canada post delivered (shown on package tracker) on Nov. 6th. Last update on my CEAC is still Nov 4th as of now (11:30am EST Nov 15th). Let's see how long it will take for them to stamp...

Hey everyone, Got an update this morning. I am here to again ask if anyone has clue. BG: I am EB1A main applicant with spouse, interviewed on September 16, 2024 and was requested DS 5535. I uploaded the required information through the webpage later September. CEAC information for our cases has remained "Refused" since then. I checked CEAC again this morning around 9 am. It showed "refused" and last update was Oct 30/31 (cannot remember which date exactly). Then, I just received a phone call from my spouse saying she received emails around 11 am from consulate (donotreply@usvisa-info.com) saying "We are writing to request the following documents for you and your spouse to move forward with your immigrant visa application: · Passport " Two consecutive emails arrived, almost identical with the only change being "Processor Comments" in one and "Consular Section Comments" in the other. Then, I checked CEAC again. It is still "refused" but the last update is now today Nov 4th. Then, I checked usvisa-info.com, in my account, the "current status" still shows "appointment"; but in my spouse's account, it shows "send documents". Therefore, I have a couple questions: 1. Does this likely indicate that our IV is basically approved and only waiting for our passport to put sticker on? 2. Why the email was only sent to my spouse, not me, the main applicant?

Thank you guys all for your suggestions! I'll just wait until the consulate contacts me for anything... Good luck to everyone, and to myself

Hey guys. Unfortunate to be a new member here in this thread. EB-1A, Chinese Citizen, Canadian PR, Ph.D. from US, Materials Scientist in Canada DQ: March, 2023 Interview: Sep 16, 2024 My CV was asked during interview, and I was given 221(g) with my passport back. The only requested document was my DS-5535. The officer gave me two OF-194 sheets. One is 12-2010, on which they required Passports x2 (mine and my spouse's) under "you must present the documents listed above and/or the following information", and the other one is 06-2017, on which only the 221g, AP and 5535 squares were ticked. No instructions regarding passports are provided. I filled the form (more like a questionnaire) online yesterday, and send message to my lawyer for confirmation. The lawyer said I should mail the passports immediately to them since it is requested. So, I am quite confused. Do I actually need to mail the passports now, or I should wait for the processing of my DS-5535, and wait for notifications from the consulate? Thanks in advance!