The dreaded DS-5535 thread for Montreal Only. Post here and support each other (PART 3)

[AP_since_May2023 37]

11 hours ago, frhm said:

I’m an Electrical Engineer. I work in construction management. I’ve been living in Canada for less than a year only as a PR. Why do you think my chance is low to average? 

 

Because you're not a dual citizen, and it doesn't seem like you are working in the TAL list (see below).

 

PS. You barely arrived in Canada, and already leaving to the US so quickly. Seems like you saw the light 

 

Technology Alert List

i. Conventional Munitions;
ii. Nuclear Technology, Physics, and Engineering;
iii. Rocket Systems and Unmanned Air Vehicle;
iv. Navigation, Avionics and Flight Control;
v. Chemical, Biotechnology and Biomedical Engineering;
vi. Remote Sensing, Imaging and Reconnaissance;
vii. Advanced Computer/Microelectronic Technology;
viii. Materials Technology;
ix. Information Security;

x. Laser and Directed Energy Systems Technology;
xi. Sensors and Sensor Technology;
xii. Marine Technology; and
xiii. Robotics Urban Planning 

[AP_since_May2023 37]

2 hours ago, dj222 said:

Anyone know if a Chinese background is the same as a middle eastern background when it comes to the algorithms for DS-5535. 

 

Dual citizen? 

[tdot2nj 23]

I just saw a post from red eagle law on Twitter from earlier today that the gov has announced 2024 to be the “Year of the Immigrant Visa”. They will be rolling out some measures to help reduce the back log. Praying this will shine through to us and bring positive news. 

[DS5535_Child 6]

Quick question, maybe someone has experience. My parents both applied. Father was approved, mother is in AP (DS 5535).

 

How should they proceed? Father needs to activate his green card, while mother needs to wait?

Can they visit with father activating green card and mother coming in as a visitor? Wondering if my mother would get denied at the border.

 

They've visited twice while on NVC and no issues.

[Irish89 24]

18 hours ago, dmitrych said:

 

Was there any other recent activity on your case? Any notifications from the consulate? Or did you notice it's reopened only because you logged into your account? As Leo The Great said, when the consulate is ready to finish the processing, they ask to update the DS-260 if it's older than a year (for which your DS-260 has to be reopened). I don't recall anyone in this topic mentioning DS-260 being reopened without any other activity though.

No recent activity at all. Last update was in December which coincided with a generic response to an email I had sent. Pity I haven't kept an eye on it until now so I could have known when it was re-opened.

18 hours ago, dmitrych said:

 

Was there any other recent activity on your case? Any notifications from the consulate? Or did you notice it's reopened only because you logged into your account? As Leo The Great said, when the consulate is ready to finish the processing, they ask to update the DS-260 if it's older than a year (for which your DS-260 has to be reopened). I don't recall anyone in this topic mentioning DS-260 being reopened without any other activity though.

No recent activity at all. Last update was in December which coincided with a generic response to an email I had sent. Pity I haven't kept an eye on it until now so I could have known when it was re-opened.

18 hours ago, dmitrych said:

 

Was there any other recent activity on your case? Any notifications from the consulate? Or did you notice it's reopened only because you logged into your account? As Leo The Great said, when the consulate is ready to finish the processing, they ask to update the DS-260 if it's older than a year (for which your DS-260 has to be reopened). I don't recall anyone in this topic mentioning DS-260 being reopened without any other activity though.

No recent activity at all. Last update was in December which coincided with a generic response to an email I had sent. Pity I haven't kept an eye on it until now so I could have known when it was re-opened.

18 hours ago, dmitrych said:

 

Was there any other recent activity on your case? Any notifications from the consulate? Or did you notice it's reopened only because you logged into your account? As Leo The Great said, when the consulate is ready to finish the processing, they ask to update the DS-260 if it's older than a year (for which your DS-260 has to be reopened). I don't recall anyone in this topic mentioning DS-260 being reopened without any other activity though.

No recent activity at all. Last update was in December which coincided with a generic response to an email I had sent. Pity I haven't kept an eye on it until now so I could have known when it was re-opened.

[Irish89 24]

18 hours ago, dmitrych said:

 

Was there any other recent activity on your case? Any notifications from the consulate? Or did you notice it's reopened only because you logged into your account? As Leo The Great said, when the consulate is ready to finish the processing, they ask to update the DS-260 if it's older than a year (for which your DS-260 has to be reopened). I don't recall anyone in this topic mentioning DS-260 being reopened without any other activity though.

No recent activity at all. Last update was in December which coincided with a generic response to an email I had sent previously. Pity I haven't kept an eye on it until now so I could have known when it was re-opened.

[Phil_K_IR1 83]

2 hours ago, AP_since_May2023 said:

 

Dual citizen, so your spouse is in AP (even without DS-5535)

Spouse had to rescind the Chinese citizenship to become Canadian, currently has no ties to the country... our suspicion is since it's biomedical, it's the TAL list. 

[Abriel 1]

Hi all! 

Just wanted to share a few email responses we got. My fiance was placed in AP in November 2023 for what we believe was traveling to the Middle East. Our wedding date is scheduled for November 2024, we set the date after scheduling our interview and before we knew about the ds-5535. We set the date a year and a half in advance because we didn't think there would be any delays (haha). Anyway, here we are. A lawyer advised us to email the consulate and explain our situation, show them proof of contracts, deposits etc due to not being able to change the wedding date. In the Jewish religion, once you set a wedding date that is your destiny and you cannot change it. I think I emailed the consulate about 5 times since but the last 2 emails I wrote explained how we have a wedding date set with contracts signed and deposits put down. Yes, maybe we shouldn't have have set a date until the visa was issued that was our mistake. We had no clue about this possibility and were eager to start our lives. So here are the responses I got after about 3 weeks of waiting lol

[Phil_K_IR1 83]

3 minutes ago, Abriel said:

Hi all! 

Just wanted to share a few email responses we got. My fiance was placed in AP in November 2023 for what we believe was traveling to the Middle East. Our wedding date is scheduled for November 2024, we set the date after scheduling our interview and before we knew about the ds-5535. We set the date a year and a half in advance because we didn't think there would be any delays (haha). Anyway, here we are. A lawyer advised us to email the consulate and explain our situation, show them proof of contracts, deposits etc due to not being able to change the wedding date. In the Jewish religion, once you set a wedding date that is your destiny and you cannot change it. I think I emailed the consulate about 5 times since but the last 2 emails I wrote explained how we have a wedding date set with contracts signed and deposits put down. Yes, maybe we shouldn't have have set a date until the visa was issued that was our mistake. We had no clue about this possibility and were eager to start our lives. So here are the responses I got after about 3 weeks of waiting lol

Interesting never saw that bit about trying to improve their process in the email reply we got back where they said the same general "sensitive to times" and so on.

 

curious indeed 

[Irish89 24]

On 3/18/2024 at 7:04 PM, Phil_K_IR1 said:

We got an email reply on March 14, albeit the usual template.

 

I have a list to myself of cases I'm following closely, and some have gotten approvals in recent weeks. They're doing things, just slow as always. Don't lose hope! (Plus for us, as agonizing as it is, we weren't even asked a 5535 just a CV but now over 4 months since interview when we were told here by other VJ members it'd be fast lol) 

Are these approvals from Montreal that were in AP? DS-5535? Or resume?CV?

[Phil_K_IR1 83]

1 minute ago, Irish89 said:

Are these approvals from Montreal that were in AP? DS-5535? Or resume?CV?

No clue. I'm just entering MTL case numbers and logging them on a somewhat regular basis for any movement, no visibility into why they were in AP. 

[Leo The Great 90]

45 minutes ago, DS5535_Child said:

Can they visit with father activating green card and mother coming in as a visitor? Wondering if my mother would get denied at the border.

Your mom can accompany your dad a visitor while activating green card. It is better she carries some proof of ties to Canada just in case although they did not ask in our case.

Edited March 20 by Leo The Great

[Irish89 24]

7 minutes ago, Phil_K_IR1 said:

No clue. I'm just entering MTL case numbers and logging them on a somewhat regular basis for any movement, no visibility into why they were in AP. 

That's a good idea. Do you get to see how long they've been in AP?

[ajxl888 22]

Hi All,

 

I just received this email from the MTL consulate.  Is this any different from what I've been in since being placed in AP?  Or is this the final decision by the embassy?  I'm coming up to the year mark since my interview... Being in AP is one thing but I truly have no idea why I would be denied.  If anyone has any insight it would be appreciated. 

 

Good afternoon,

 

The consular officer, after carefully considering your application and reviewing all available information, determined you have not established that you are eligible for a visa and denied your visa application under INA 221(g).  Additional security screening is being conducted.  Depending on the screening results, a consular officer may reconsider your eligibility for the visa.

 

Thank you for your patience and cooperation.

 

Regards,

[Phil_K_IR1 83]

27 minutes ago, ajxl888 said:

Hi All,

 

I just received this email from the MTL consulate.  Is this any different from what I've been in since being placed in AP?  Or is this the final decision by the embassy?  I'm coming up to the year mark since my interview... Being in AP is one thing but I truly have no idea why I would be denied.  If anyone has any insight it would be appreciated. 

 

Good afternoon,

 

The consular officer, after carefully considering your application and reviewing all available information, determined you have not established that you are eligible for a visa and denied your visa application under INA 221(g).  Additional security screening is being conducted.  Depending on the screening results, a consular officer may reconsider your eligibility for the visa.

 

Thank you for your patience and cooperation.

 

Regards,

Wow I've never seen this kind of email personally.

 

221(g) is the standard refusal, but not a final refusal. They're saying you're in AP for security screening (SAO) like most likely everyone here at minimum. 
 

The wording is... weird, but I'm pretty sure they're just saying once the security screening results come in you'd be eligible for the visa (as in the visa officer would "reconsider" your case and adjudicate it again, likely an approval). 
 

Anyone else can chime in though, this is the first time I've seen this wording.