The dreaded DS-5535 thread for Montreal. Post here and support each other (PART 2)

[Vmpt 0]

23 minutes ago, ConsistentCut said:

AT LEAST 2 more months

Not sure about the long AP for DS-5535, but my husband got 221g for missing an official police certificate from 3rd country. His interview was on July 6th, document submitted on July 15th, and no visa is issued till now other than few dates updated. Email responses from consulate are basically working on the case etc. This is nothing related to background check and we feel so frustrated with the process.

[throwitaway 189]

14 minutes ago, Vmpt said:

Not sure about the long AP for DS-5535, but my husband got 221g for missing an official police certificate from 3rd country. His interview was on July 6th, document submitted on July 15th, and no visa is issued till now other than few dates updated. Email responses from consulate are basically working on the case etc. This is nothing related to background check and we feel so frustrated with the process.

They just wrapped up with DV so that’s probably why.

[Vmpt 0]

11 minutes ago, Throwitaway1988 said:

They just wrapped up with DV so that’s probably why.

Can you explain what does that mean? I know another case that no required documents nor DS-5535 request, it was computer system crashed at the end of interview (July 15th). She also waited for over 2 months for visa to be issued, which was 10 days ago.

[throwitaway 189]

7 minutes ago, Vmpt said:

Can you explain what does that mean? I know another case that no required documents nor DS-5535 request, it was computer system crashed at the end of interview (July 15th). She also waited for over 2 months for visa to be issued, which was 10 days ago.

Diversity visa, the deadline was Sept 30 and MTL really ramped up in September, looks like they devoted a lot of resources to it so other visas may have been put on the back burner. Now they’re probably playing catch up.

[jgauthi242 35]

3 hours ago, jandeep7519 said:

HUGE CONGRATULATIONS! Very happy for you and your wife. 

 

When did you submit your passport? They requested my husbands passport as well and it was delivered through their courier service on Sept.14, however the consulate is saying they haven't received it yet! We have emailed them with the tracking information to show it was infact delivered but haven't heard back from the consulate. 

 

Not sure if we should wait at this point or hire a lawyer.

We hired Jesse Bless at Bless Litigation (https://blesslitigation.com/). It cost just under $7k (including court fees). You can check his credentials here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jesse-bless-0a5a0044/

 

Lawsuit was filed 21 September. Passport was requested today (5 October). Wife joined me on a work trip in Europe and is flying back early to hand deliver the passport to the consulate if they allow it; otherwise, we'll ship it.  I strongly agree with Siarg that the request for passport submission is the last step before approval.

 

Visa issuance statistics for Montreal also show large numbers of DVs approved in August.

 

August 2022

45 DV

117 CR1+IR1

 

July 2022

37 DV

106 CR1+IR1

 

...

 

January 2022

1 DV

250 CR1+IR1

 

Looks like they've also been issuing a lot of E and F visas lately (more than DV). Believe E is work-related and F is student-related. Given that school year just started, I would imagine that F will go down a lot this month and they'll get to your case without having to sue them. (the ONLY reason I say that is because they already requested your passport back)

 

In terms of what you should do, it's always just an opinion, but I would say: (1) have the US citizen email them on your behalf, (2) tell them you sent the passport back on X using their preferred courier, it was delivered on Y (include screenshot), and tell them to confirm that they've received your passport (even better if you can get signature confirmation from courier), (3) remind them that your police certificate is expiring on Z (i.e., a polite way to tell them to do their *!@#*$# job), and (4) ask them to confirm that they don't need anything else from you.

 

Assume the worst, which is that they won't issue the visa by the time the police certificate expires and request another one. That way, when they fail to do their job for the Nth time, you already have the new document ready. And, if you don't end up needing it, even better.

Edited October 5, 2022 by jgauthi242
Make more clear

[BatmanFlow 481]

not that i have heard anything for my mom's case yet, but seeing that its taking 2-4 weeks to get new police certs, i have asked my sister to get that done for my mom proactively. this way we will have one less thing that will delay us once we get the email to send in all the information they request

[ConsistentCut 17]

So now I'm hearing that under "previous passports" we were supposed to include expired Canadian passports? Is this true? I put N/A and "I have only held a Canadian passport" in my DS5535 email. How do I correct this? How do I even get a copy of an expired passport? Do I include the one when I was a kid, 30 frickin years ago???

 

Is there ever an end to this confusion? I'm about ready to throw in the towel. This almost isn't worth it.

Edited October 6, 2022 by ConsistentCut

[jujubemom 0]

On 10/4/2022 at 10:48 AM, jujubemom said:

I am keeping track of my update dates: 

 

Interview                                 : 7.15

DS5535 & resume sent        : 7.18

Update (refused)                   : 8.19

Update (refused)                   : 8.03 (reply to my email to acknowledge receipt of DS5535)

Update (refused)                   : 8.18

Update (refused)                   : 9.09

Update (refused)                   : 9.21

Update (refused)                   : 10.03

Update (refused)                   : 10.04 (my husband sent an inquiry email last night, not sure if it was due to the email.

 

Does anyone have a similar pattern for the update? I was really excited when I saw the 8.18 one, but now I am merely confused about why they are updating my case so frequently but nothing really happens.

The status turned to ISSUED this morning (Oct. 05)! My guess of these dates are: on Sept.9 or Sept.21 the final clearance came, but my case was not attended promptly. 
My husband contacted the congressman and their office sent an inquiry on Sept. 30th, that might helped. 

Good luck to all of you!

[BatmanFlow 481]

34 minutes ago, ConsistentCut said:

So now I'm hearing that under "previous passports" we were supposed to include expired Canadian passports? Is this true? I put N/A and "I have only held a Canadian passport" in my DS5535 email. How do I correct this? How do I even get a copy of an expired passport? Do I include the one when I was a kid, 30 frickin years ago???

 

Is there ever an end to this confusion? I'm about ready to throw in the towel. This almost isn't worth it.

When i applied for my spousal visa, and even my moms, never included expired passport info. seems unnecessary but maybe things have changed 

[ice-qube 648]

17 minutes ago, BatmanFlow said:

When i applied for my spousal visa, and even my moms, never included expired passport info. seems unnecessary but maybe things have changed 

I actually did include my expired Canadian passport numbers in the info. Still, some good it did me lol.

29 minutes ago, jujubemom said:

The status turned to ISSUED this morning (Oct. 05)! My guess of these dates are: on Sept.9 or Sept.21 the final clearance came, but my case was not attended promptly. 
My husband contacted the congressman and their office sent an inquiry on Sept. 30th, that might helped. 

Good luck to all of you!

Congratulations! Hope we all follow you someday...

[ice-qube 648]

47 minutes ago, ConsistentCut said:

So now I'm hearing that under "previous passports" we were supposed to include expired Canadian passports? Is this true? I put N/A and "I have only held a Canadian passport" in my DS5535 email. How do I correct this? How do I even get a copy of an expired passport? Do I include the one when I was a kid, 30 frickin years ago???

 

Is there ever an end to this confusion? I'm about ready to throw in the towel. This almost isn't worth it.

I agree man, it almost isn't worth it.

[ConsistentCut 17]

No one knows. Screw it. They got what they got. They're gonna get sued in exactly 4 months if it's not approved by then. I'm sick of this bullshit.

[ice-qube 648]

8 minutes ago, ConsistentCut said:

No one knows. Screw it. They got what they got. They're gonna get sued in exactly 4 months if it's not approved by then. I'm sick of this bullshit.

Your frustration is felt by many. Surely you have both my empathy and sympathy-- I am nearing one year in AP.

[BatmanFlow 481]

11 minutes ago, ice-qube said:

I actually did include my expired Canadian passport numbers in the info. Still, some good it did me lol.

Congratulations! Hope we all follow you someday...

You overshared! Your reward is a year+ in DS 5535 land 

Edited October 6, 2022 by BatmanFlow

[ice-qube 648]

7 minutes ago, BatmanFlow said:

You overshared! Your reward is a year+ in DS 5535 land 

lmao. Yes, silly me. And forced to pay $5,000 USD just to go forward, it seems.