US Immigration from Iran

Hello

I would like this community to give me some advice whether I should hire an Attorney or not.

We do have a little bit of a special situation so that's what's has me a little bit concerned.

We're both totally blind, but we are able to work with computers with screen reading software. I live in Iran and my girlfriend lives in the US.

We've been online dating since a year ago and we've met each other, outside of the US, on April of this year, 2023.

We do have thousands of voice messages in between us and some text messages in between, and many many call logs on whatsapp and discord, but i am unsure about how to provide this sort of evidence when preparing our i129f package. I am also not sure if we're supposed to let them know if we're blind so the interviewer is aware.

I've been looking up attorney prices and they cost around 2000-4000 dollars, just for the k1 visa process, excluding government fees. This will add up to my expenses of travelling to turkey or the UAE for my interview and it's going to be very expensive for me.

Please let me know if you have any advice for us

Cheers

Hi everyone.

I had my interview 3 days ago and was hit with AP. The officer said I will receive a questionnaire and my entire world shut down that moment because I knew it's the DS5535. Here's my situation: I'm an Iranian but I was born and raised in UAE. I have completed my education, my family, and my entire life is in the UAE. I have nothing to do with Iran and have nothing there. I have only visited Iran 3 times between the ages of 7 and 11 years old. At the interview, the CO asked to see my military completion or exemption card and I stated that I have neither. I also explained that I don't have the completion card because I was never conscripted into military service due to the fact that I didn't go to Iran after the age of 18, and also that I don't have the exemption card because I'm not exempt (if I visit Iran at my current age, they won't let me leave the country). The officer said "Ok" and at the end put me in AP. I received the questionnaire, and the first questions were the standard 15 years work history, addresses, travel history etc. but towards the end there were 3 questions asking which branch of military I attended, proof of military completion/exemption, and jobs I've taken up in Iran. SERIOUSLY? I had just explained those to the officer. Anyways, I wrote the same explanation in the questionnaire, but my concern is military completion/exemption. I can get neither of them even if I tried. This is really disappointing and we are very disheartened to hear "AP" after being married 5 years. My questions are as follows:

1) Is there anyone in the same situation above? What else can I provide other than explanations?

2) Does anyone know how long an AP will take in this case?

I recently had a H-1B visa interview at the US Embassy in Ottawa, Canada. I had an employment offer from an esteemed university with a start date of October 1st. My interview went smoothly and I thought I could get my visa issued. However, I got a blue slip (administrative processing) and the officer said no additional document is needed. They only kept my CV and a translation of my military exemption card and gave back my passport and the I797 approval document.

• I am wondering whether my case has been sent back to the USCIS given that my I797 approval document was given back to myself.
• Should I expect to hear soon from them?
• Does anyone have experience with the US Embassy in Ottawa regarding AP?

Hello,

My wife (naturalized / previous K1) and I are in the IR-5 process for her parents, who have their interview scheduled for late October 2023. We received an email requesting current / active passport info for her father because the previously uploaded one had expired. We've updated the DS-260 info with his new passport info and will upload a jpeg scan.

Here's the part where I need help. The email also asks us to include all jobs her father ever had. Her dad's only job was 22 years with the Iranian air force, after which he took full retirement in the mid-1990s. We listed this in the DS-260 but didn't include any other employment information. We've since added "None - Retired" to cover the period from 1995-to present. Is this all that's needed?

One other question, her dad worked at several military bases over the 22 years of service and moved his family for each job relocation. He had the same job description, so we only listed one location for his military service on the DS-260. Should we leave this as is or should we list each of his service locations (military bases) along with dates? I'm assuming the latter since we also listed different family residence addresses during the same 22 years.

Thanks for your help!

Greetings All,

Just wanted to start a Mena DS-5535 Forum, as it seems tons of people here go through this process and have no platform to vent. I am not sure how deep this rabbit hole will go but I hope this will become a venue everyone can talk and vent and retain information lost with those throughout this process. As of right now, here is my timeline everybody:

I hope you all gain something from this:

08MAY2023 - Interview Date - Ready

09MAY2023 - Refused 221(G) - Documents not Submitted.
10MAY2023 - Refused 221(G) - Documents Submitted

11MAY2023 - Refused 221(G) - No Action on our Behalf
22MAY2023 - Refused 221(G) - No Action on our Behalf
24MAY2023 - Refused 221(G) - No Action on our Behalf
26MAY2023 - Refused 221(G) - No Action on our Behalf

06JUNE2023 - Refused 221(G) - No Action on our Behalf

20JUNE2023 - WRIT OF MANDAMUS FILED - PETITION FOR WRIT OF MANDAMUS and Complaint for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief against RENA BITTER, ANTONY J. BLINKEN, JAYNE HOWELL

21JUNE2023 - WRIT OF MANDAMUS CASE ASSIGEND - SUMMONS (5) Issued Electronically as to RENA BITTER, ANTONY J. BLINKEN, JAYNE HOWELL, U.S. Attorney and U.S. Attorney General(zrtw)

23JUNE2023 - Refused 221(G) - No Action on our Behalf

28JUNE2023 - STANDARD ORDER for civil cases signed by our Judge

24JULY2023 (Part 1) - RETURN OF SERVICE/AFFIDAVIT of Summons and Complaint - Returned Executed as to Federal Defendant Summons Returned Executed as to U.S. Attorney General - Answer due for ALL FEDERAL DEFENDANTS by 8/21/2023

26JULY2023 (Part 2) - RETURN OF SERVICE/AFFIDAVIT of Summons and Complaint - Returned Executed as to Federal Defendant Summons Returned Executed as to U.S. Attorney General - Answer due for ALL FEDERAL DEFENDANTS by 8/21/2023

28JULY2023 - Refused 221(G) - TODAY.

We had started the process to file a Writ of Mandamus after 40 days and spent $4000.00. We used Morrison-URENA.

There is a Telegram Group called 'mandamus_ap' on Telegram if you give it a search that has a list of verified lawyers to give you some additional guidance that I highly recommend. Although I cannot provide the link here, you can type what I put in bold and the group will pop up.

As for now. Lets see where this goes everyone.

My fiance and I have 10 days left until the Gov't has to respond so wish us luck!