BatmanFlow

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

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.

Today is a year since my moms interview. Can’t believe we’ve been in this limbo for a year now

Today is a year since my moms interview. Can’t believe we’ve been in this limbo for a year now

Today is a year since my moms interview. Can’t believe we’ve been in this limbo for a year now

Hey guys they kept my longform birth certificate when I did the interview.
 
I didn't think too much of it then because I specifically ordered it for the interview.
 
However, it seems like I will need it again for future steps in the immigration process? Should I ask for it back? Do you think they would even send it back? Would Ontario get mad if I ordered a new one?
 
My one year DS5535 anniversary is in 2 days. 🥳

so when i did the call with them, they insisted that my mom be on the call, i told them she doesnt speak good english but they still insisted. so when the call came, i had her dial in from Canada....and they didnt even ask her any questions nor did they care she was on the phone. 😑

so when i did the call with them, they insisted that my mom be on the call, i told them she doesnt speak good english but they still insisted. so when the call came, i had her dial in from Canada....and they didnt even ask her any questions nor did they care she was on the phone. 😑

Hacking
Nimer - best reputation I’ve seen but still 7-8k
Goldstein
Jesse Bless
Curtis Morrison
Raju Mahajan - seems to be cheapest around 3.5k, make sure he files in DC not Maryland (he has license for both but some maryland cases are starting to get transferred to DC in the 5535 telegram)

a month away from a year in this hell! damn did not think it would be a year and nothing.
sure beats the 2-3 week timeline the officer told my mom.....

From everything I’ve read, the lawyers are pretty much helping file paperwork. And I’ve read so many people having mistakes that they have to correct. Wonder if they are just reusing same template over and over again. 
 
tbh if I knew how to file this suit, I would do it on my own and if it got complicated, I would hire lawyers to help

a month away from a year in this hell! damn did not think it would be a year and nothing.
sure beats the 2-3 week timeline the officer told my mom.....

a month away from a year in this hell! damn did not think it would be a year and nothing.
sure beats the 2-3 week timeline the officer told my mom.....

Lawyers charging upwards of $6,000 to file WOM lawsuits should be ashamed considering the work involved in each lawsuit is basically a rinse and repeat for the next client. They aren’t constructing new laws here. 
 
If they really wanted to fight the good fight with the discriminatory practices of the DS-5535 and 221(g) Administrative Processing would be to challenge the top involving hall levels of Congress and the State Department. Not on an individual client level…but we all know that isn’t nearly as lucrative.
 
Goldstein’s Facebook group is so spammy with his second Facebook account, run by his team, commenting the same thing on every post, soliciting immigrants and their families, who are on their last hope, to give him their business. It’s tacky, and further, they’re not even keeping record on who they reply to, often double commenting to people (who are only looking for direction) they have solicited in the past. I was so unimpressed with their “consultation”. It was a Zoom consult and not only was the meeting not opened at the meeting time, leaving me hanging not knowing what is going on in the middle of the workday I had to arrange time to make myself available for. When someone from his office finally did open the line 30 minutes past meeting time, they said the attorney would call me back as soon as he became available. Well, someone finally got back to me at 9pm at night and again it was someone from his office, not the attorney. They didn’t ask any specifics about my case, so it’s b.s. they say they don’t give pricing without a consult because there are no case specific questions asked in the consult under the guise of “each case in unique.” They were unable to answer any law-related question I had because at that point, that was all I had, to feel confident in the people I was going to give my case to. They, again, said he would give me a call back with answers to my questions the next day. They never did. Days later, again, it was someone from his office stumbling their way into answers to my questions. Was super put off by the whole interaction and didn’t feel any kind of confidence in them handling any case. After this exchange, they even had the audacity to reply to a comment I left saying they’d be happy to give me a consultation a few months later. I’m happy for those who’ve have success with his office, truly, but he just wasn’t for me. 
 
I’m hoping at some point there will be someone out there to truly challenge the injustice happening to those who are told nothing more than to “wait.”
 
-waiting 302 days

Just waiting for a post from someone “my pet has been issued a DS 5535” 😝

i have a meeting with my congressperson on thursday. lets see how it goes. i will give him all the information i have and bring up whats ive noticed lately in terms of DS 5535. Not hopeful in how this will help, but worth a shot and i will try to ask for answers from him.

i have a meeting with my congressperson on thursday. lets see how it goes. i will give him all the information i have and bring up whats ive noticed lately in terms of DS 5535. Not hopeful in how this will help, but worth a shot and i will try to ask for answers from him.

yea i dont think anyone here has had any movement from the October group without filling WOM.

That is great news!!! Fingers crossed for smooth process from here on out 

That is great news!!! Fingers crossed for smooth process from here on out 

Walked out of the interview today with the officer telling me he would approve my visa and I could expect it within 2 weeks. No documents missing or anything. I was so happy. Then a few hours later, I got the DS 5535 email. I am devastated looking at this thread and seeing the kind of delays people are experiencing. 
 
We were approved for an expedited request as my wife has a life-threatening condition. Obviously this does not matter to them. 
 
I have never travelled outside Canada or the U.S. Both my parents are French Canadians. I don't work in a sensitive field. I have a pretty uncommon French Canadian name. I work in finance and banking, I have a security clearance from Quebec's National Assembly...  It makes no sense. I can't put into words how I feel today. Just the worst. 

yes i did ask my moms passport back. i got it back and guess what? they allowed her to cross the border and come to USA as a tourist while they are extremely vetting her for whatever threat she presents. Hopefully the absurdity of this entire situation is not lost on anyone

yes i did ask my moms passport back. i got it back and guess what? they allowed her to cross the border and come to USA as a tourist while they are extremely vetting her for whatever threat she presents. Hopefully the absurdity of this entire situation is not lost on anyone

yes i did ask my moms passport back. i got it back and guess what? they allowed her to cross the border and come to USA as a tourist while they are extremely vetting her for whatever threat she presents. Hopefully the absurdity of this entire situation is not lost on anyone

Ouch. Our condolences for joining this dreaded group. Hope your stay is short.