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

[Fayisa 21]

55 minutes ago, Fayisa said:

It is so quiet in here, I guess no one has an update. You can check a precious threads for the WOM, I use to see alot of information about it.

I meant to say previous *

[Superluminal 73]

I wish it were for good reasons, but I think you are right and it is because no one is getting any updates lately.

[anotheronewaiting 2]

8 hours ago, Superluminal said:

I wish it were for good reasons, but I think you are right and it is because no one is getting any updates lately.

Our case was updated weekly post interview in mid August… (7 updates between August 15th and September 11th) but we have had no updates in 3 weeks now. We will likely be filing WOM as soon as possible, seeing that most cases in Montreal are not resolving naturally in a reasonably timely manner... Our lawyer recommended starting our case with them at the 2 month mark and suing at 4 months post interview. I’ll be updating the excel sheet as we go.

[ShawnK 76]

If one is going to file a WOM , please ensure your lawyer has experience fighting cases, if it were to come to that.

 

This summer something has changed, they are now pushing back on this because a judge dismissed a case stating even 16 months is not too long.  

 

So now the US attorney is running with this, they seem to be fed up with WOM cases.

order .Order Mon 07/10 4:47 PM MINUTE ORDER: This matter is before the Court on sua sponte review of Plaintiff's1 Complaint. Plaintiff alleges that Defendants have not adjudicated his pending EB-3 immigrant visa application within a reasonable time as required by statute.   Currently, the application has been in administrative processing for only sixteen months, which is almost certainly a reasonable amount of time. See, e.g. , Eljalabi v. Blinken , No. 21-1730 (RC), 2022 WL 2752613, at *6 (D.D.C. July 14, 2022) (collecting cases). As such, Plaintiff shall SHOW CAUSE on or before JULY 31, 2023 why Plaintiff's Complaint should not be dismissed sua sponte for failure to state a claim. See Turan Petroleum, Inc. v. Ministry of Oil and Gas of Kaz. , 406 F. Supp. 3d 1, 3 n.1 (D.D.C. 2019) (explaining circumstances where court may dismiss complaint for failure to state a claim sua sponte ). Signed by Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly on 7/10/23. (lcckk3)

Edited October 3, 2023 by ShawnK

[Leo The Great 89]

Hi everyone

My parents appeared for IR5 interview at MTL together. My mom has been issued a visa but CO returned the passport of  my dad with 221(g) with "Additional Processing is required. We will contact you when this complete" CO told him that he will receive an email in the couple of days with further instructions. 

Note: When my dad applied was B1/B2 visa 5 years back on his country of origin passport, His visa was delayed (for first time) due to AP and was given 1 year visa instead of 5 years B1/B2 visa(2005 and 2011). He has extensive travel history because of nature of work.

 

Does anyone know what to expect in the email and what sort of information they will be looking for?

 

[Niccie 12]

2 hours ago, ShawnK said:

If one is going to file a WOM , please ensure your lawyer has experience fighting cases, if it were to come to that.

 

This summer something has changed, they are now pushing back on this because a judge dismissed a case stating even 16 months is not too long.  

 

So now the US attorney is running with this, they seem to be fed up with WOM cases.

order .Order Mon 07/10 4:47 PM MINUTE ORDER: This matter is before the Court on sua sponte review of Plaintiff's1 Complaint. Plaintiff alleges that Defendants have not adjudicated his pending EB-3 immigrant visa application within a reasonable time as required by statute.   Currently, the application has been in administrative processing for only sixteen months, which is almost certainly a reasonable amount of time. See, e.g. , Eljalabi v. Blinken , No. 21-1730 (RC), 2022 WL 2752613, at *6 (D.D.C. July 14, 2022) (collecting cases). As such, Plaintiff shall SHOW CAUSE on or before JULY 31, 2023 why Plaintiff's Complaint should not be dismissed sua sponte for failure to state a claim. See Turan Petroleum, Inc. v. Ministry of Oil and Gas of Kaz. , 406 F. Supp. 3d 1, 3 n.1 (D.D.C. 2019) (explaining circumstances where court may dismiss complaint for failure to state a claim sua sponte ). Signed by Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly on 7/10/23. (lcckk3)

Hi, I think you’re right. My lawyer told me they been dismissing a lot of cases recently. I filed after 3 months…just got an extension today, and I reallyyyy hope they won’t dismiss it, but chances are high they will. I thought a lawyer would advise to wait if they thought it’s too soon to file. My lawyer seemed pretty confident while taking on my case. Guess I was just naive. I’m so done with all the waiting. It has been over 24 months since we filed our K1…..

Edited October 3, 2023 by Niccie

[Leo The Great 89]

This is with regards to completing DS-5535 form online. If the same information is already provided in DS-260 application, you do not need to repeat the same information in the form as per instructions. 

Does anyone know what should we write in the mandatory fields(Information already provided in the DS-260 form)  as if you leave it empty it won't allow you to go to next step?

 

Edited October 5, 2023 by Leo The Great

[ajxl888 22]

Hey Everyone,

 

I've been tracking the Google Spreadsheet and it's super disheartening to see that there have been very few updates and approvals.  How is everyone coping?  

 

I'm just at a loss and can't believe it's been now almost 6 months since my interview.  Filing for WOM is something we don't really have the bandwidth for but is this the only way forward?  This whole situation is just mind-boggling... 

[Fayisa 21]

9 hours ago, Leo The Great said:

This is with regards to completing DS-5535 form online. If the same information is already provided in DS-260 application, you do not need to repeat the same information in the form as per instructions. 

Does anyone know what should we write in the mandatory fields(Information already provided in the DS-260 form)  as if you leave it empty it won't allow you to go to next step?

 

I have actually repeated everything was on DS-260 on the form again. I didn't want to give them a chance to say anything. Will see what others say about it. 

[Fayisa 21]

29 minutes ago, ajxl888 said:

Hey Everyone,

 

I've been tracking the Google Spreadsheet and it's super disheartening to see that there have been very few updates and approvals.  How is everyone coping?  

 

I'm just at a loss and can't believe it's been now almost 6 months since my interview.  Filing for WOM is something we don't really have the bandwidth for but is this the only way forward?  This whole situation is just mind-boggling... 

It is really hard situation staying away from your partner for this long. The process itself was a hectic and being on AP for no obvious reason make it worse. You start questioning if it is really far sperating families specially when you have kids. I don't know what is going on, but they are processing everything slowly nowadays. 

[cala2023 11]

28 minutes ago, ajxl888 said:

Hey Everyone,

 

I've been tracking the Google Spreadsheet and it's super disheartening to see that there have been very few updates and approvals.  How is everyone coping?  

 

I'm just at a loss and can't believe it's been now almost 6 months since my interview.  Filing for WOM is something we don't really have the bandwidth for but is this the only way forward?  This whole situation is just mind-boggling... 

It's definitely disheartening. My husband is also right at the 6 month mark come the end of October. I decided to email the consultant two days ago as it is close to the 180 day mark they recommend contacting them around. I haven't received a response yet but will update if I do. We also have not filed a WOM. Looking at the most recent spreadsheet and those who have successfully made it through, there is something of a pattern of 275-300 days from interview to passport back in hand for what that's worth.

[Superluminal 73]

1 hour ago, ajxl888 said:

Hey Everyone,

 

I've been tracking the Google Spreadsheet and it's super disheartening to see that there have been very few updates and approvals.  How is everyone coping?  

 

I'm just at a loss and can't believe it's been now almost 6 months since my interview.  Filing for WOM is something we don't really have the bandwidth for but is this the only way forward?  This whole situation is just mind-boggling... 

I also am keeping a pretty close eye on the spreadsheet for evidence of other people's updates. Here are some potential factors I was able to find online about our consulate:

 

- Ana Escrogima was the consul general up until Jul 2023. Robert P. Sanders started a couple of months ago (maybe some time in August?). 

- The Deputy Chief of Mission to Canada was Katherine Brucker until at least the summer, then Elizabeth C. Power was the active Deputy Chief at least as soon as Aug 16th. The current Deputy Chief is Marybeth Turner. Not sure exactly when these transitions happened but since they didn't have someone lined up, it could have been quite disruptive.

 

I have no idea how much these individuals and changes in leadership may influence how things move as far as our process goes. That being said, internal changes in management could cause a temporary slow down in any organization.

 

I am going to remain as positive as possible that things will pick up again soon.

 

(Note: for those wondering how I found this out. I looked up old versions of the consulate and embassy's website on https://web.archive.org/. In particular, I was looking at versions of https://ca.usembassy.gov/embassy-consulates/montreal/consul-general/ and https://ca.usembassy.gov/embassy-consulates/ottawa/dcm/ since they show who is currently in the seats of those positions)

[Leo The Great 89]

16 hours ago, Fayisa said:

I have actually repeated everything was on DS-260 on the form again. I didn't want to give them a chance to say anything. Will see what others say about it. 

@Fayisa or anyone else - Did we send resume as an pdf attachment in reply email for DS-5535 (montreal-iv-dv@state.gov)? My father submitted resume and got following response

Thank you for your inquiry to the Immigrant Visa Unit at U.S. Consulate General Montreal.....

Edited October 6, 2023 by Leo The Great

[Irish89 24]

Just wanted to add in here that September 30th was the DV visa deadline and that was just last week. Historically the amount of Visa’s issued by the consulate in most categories goes down while the amount of DV visa’s they issue goes way up in September. All in all I believe they focus mostly on DV visas in September so hopefully going forward they will resume focus on all other categories. You can track how many visas they issue and what categories there in online by year and month. I can’t attach a link here but if you Google US Visa issuance statistics you should find it. Takes some digging but you’ll find Montreal in there somewhere.
 

Stay strong!! 

[Fayisa 21]

3 hours ago, Leo The Great said:

@Fayisa or anyone else - Did we send resume as an pdf attachment in reply email for DS-5535 (montreal-iv-dv@state.gov)? My father submitted resume and got following response

Thank you for your inquiry to the Immigrant Visa Unit at U.S. Consulate General Montreal.....

Hello Leo, yeah you can attach it as a PDF document to the email. As long you mentioned in the email that you attached it. I always write few words so they will know that it is there. That response is just a automated responses. You can wait for a week or so and ask them to confirm getting your documents.