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

[emergence 47]

5 hours ago, BatmanFlow said:

i remember telling my mom we will be celebrating holidays together, thanksgiving, Christmas, etc......that was last year! and it seems like we wont even get to do that this year...

Same. I’m trying to plan a trip to see my fiancé for Christmas in Canada. Kind of a gut punch considering we thought we’d be married and in the US by now.

[ice-qube 648]

5 hours ago, BatmanFlow said:

i remember telling my mom we will be celebrating holidays together, thanksgiving, Christmas, etc......that was last year! and it seems like we wont even get to do that this year...

What's worse, it looks like they are starting to delay as much as they can on the WOM cases too. I hope I am wrong. I will feel like a HUGE sucker if I actually put down $5k USD to be transported into a new black hole.

[ice-qube 648]

6 minutes ago, emergence said:

Same. I’m trying to plan a trip to see my fiancé for Christmas in Canada. Kind of a gut punch considering we thought we’d be married and in the US by now.

Brutal. Frankly, this has become arguably inhumane. 

[emergence 47]

11 minutes ago, ice-qube said:

What's worse, it looks like they are starting to delay as much as they can on the WOM cases too. I hope I am wrong. I will feel like a HUGE sucker if I actually put down $5k USD to be transported into a new black hole.

Have they successfully shot down a WoM case yet? 

[ice-qube 648]

2 minutes ago, emergence said:

Have they successfully shot down a WoM case yet? 

I think they have already been asking for and getting a *second* extension on some cases, and that does not look good. Only 3 of the WOM cases at Montreal were approved this month, apparently. I am exasperated with this. They are just doing everything they can to slow it down. 

[ice-qube 648]

4 minutes ago, emergence said:

Have they successfully shot down a WoM case yet? 

Quite honestly, I also fear if they did waste the time and the taxpayers' expense to actually go to court, the govt will be successful in many cases only because of how much leeway the judges give them on the issue of what constitutes "unreasonable delay". The merits or demerits of the person's specific immigration case have little-to-nothing to do with the WOM suit, either.

[throwitaway 189]

5 hours ago, ice-qube said:

I think they have already been asking for and getting a *second* extension on some cases, and that does not look good. Only 3 of the WOM cases at Montreal were approved this month, apparently. I am exasperated with this. They are just doing everything they can to slow it down. 

In my opinion this is why competent representation matters. Some lawyers just roll over and consent to limitless extensions because they never intend to fight, and the government seems to know who these lawyers are as you can start seeing patterns if you study pacermonitor enough. 

 

Extensions are just requests, any judge can draw a line in the sand if persuaded. 

[ice-qube 648]

3 hours ago, throwitaway said:

In my opinion this is why competent representation matters. Some lawyers just roll over and consent to limitless extensions because they never intend to fight, and the government seems to know who these lawyers are as you can start seeing patterns if you study pacermonitor enough. 

 

Extensions are just requests, any judge can draw a line in the sand if persuaded. 

Best case scenario, sure, i could believe this hypothesis, though I am skeptical. I don't think there is much evidence to say that the courts are insufficiently deferent to government requests, however. It seems quite the opposite. And a high proportion of people here (though not me) have chosen to go with Goldstein Law, and the judges in many of their cases are, in fact, granting the government their extension requests. 

 

I hope I am wrong.

[LAMA9 118]

Hi Everyone, we made it through.  11 months of DS-5535 hell is over.  We filed a WOM with Goldstein on July 29 and received our Approval notice with tracking number for my visa courier today.  Words can't describe the relief we feel that after 2 years and 11 months since filing our application, we can finally move on with our lives.  I wish all of you who are still waiting the best of luck and strength until you too, make it to the other side.  If you haven't filed a WOM and are considering it, don't wait.  I wish we had filed ours much earlier knowing it would give us our lives back.  

[mymissingpiece 22]

21 hours ago, ice-qube said:

I think they have already been asking for and getting a *second* extension on some cases, and that does not look good. Only 3 of the WOM cases at Montreal were approved this month, apparently. I am exasperated with this. They are just doing everything they can to slow it down. 

There has only been one second extension granted of all WOM cases this year. It is true that WOM is progressively taking longer than it used to (now roughly 3-4 months) but that is not to say the job isn’t getting done. It is not a black hole. Even if it is starting to take longer, WOM still works to get your case moving faster than it would without.

Edited November 1, 2022 by mymissingpiece

[Bog-can 6]

1 hour ago, LAMA9 said:

Hi Everyone, we made it through.  11 months of DS-5535 hell is over.  We filed a WOM with Goldstein on July 29 and received our Approval notice with tracking number for my visa courier today.  Words can't describe the relief we feel that after 2 years and 11 months since filing our application, we can finally move on with our lives.  I wish all of you who are still waiting the best of luck and strength until you too, make it to the other side.  If you haven't filed a WOM and are considering it, don't wait.  I wish we had filed ours much earlier knowing it would give us our lives back.  

Congratulations!  So happy for you!

[candyg 33]

3 hours ago, LAMA9 said:

Hi Everyone, we made it through.  11 months of DS-5535 hell is over.  We filed a WOM with Goldstein on July 29 and received our Approval notice with tracking number for my visa courier today.  Words can't describe the relief we feel that after 2 years and 11 months since filing our application, we can finally move on with our lives.  I wish all of you who are still waiting the best of luck and strength until you too, make it to the other side.  If you haven't filed a WOM and are considering it, don't wait.  I wish we had filed ours much earlier knowing it would give us our lives back.  

A HUGE congratulations to you! You are one of the very few luck people who can enjoy the holidays with your loved ones. Best of luck!!

[ice-qube 648]

A second, unsolicited "last updated on" update occurred yesterday (Nov 1) in CEAC. Perhaps now they are getting communications about the lawsuit? 

[ice-qube 648]

I just checked CEAC again, and this is what it looks like. Expiring Soon???

 

[throwitaway 189]

8 hours ago, ice-qube said:

I just checked CEAC again, and this is what it looks like. Expiring Soon???

 

The consulate can override this I believe, get Jim to contact them.