ice-qube

Very sad to see that people here are still suffering with the unjust and unfair black hole of administrative processing from the capricious use of DS-5535 at Montreal. I wish you all the best in your fight.

Very sad to see that people here are still suffering with the unjust and unfair black hole of administrative processing from the capricious use of DS-5535 at Montreal. I wish you all the best in your fight.

Very sad to see that people here are still suffering with the unjust and unfair black hole of administrative processing from the capricious use of DS-5535 at Montreal. I wish you all the best in your fight.

Very sad to see that people here are still suffering with the unjust and unfair black hole of administrative processing from the capricious use of DS-5535 at Montreal. I wish you all the best in your fight.

Very sad to see that people here are still suffering with the unjust and unfair black hole of administrative processing from the capricious use of DS-5535 at Montreal. I wish you all the best in your fight.

Very sad to see that people here are still suffering with the unjust and unfair black hole of administrative processing from the capricious use of DS-5535 at Montreal. I wish you all the best in your fight.

I am rooting for all of you to settle this nightmare ASAP. I have received my passport with the stamp from the consulate and I am good to go at the time of my choosing. A lot to settle up here first however. I am thinking about entering for a few days and coming back, although I am apprehensive about CBP giving me a hard time about not just moving down in one shot. Some people have reported being hassled by them when entering...

Ladies, gentlemen, others, I am pleased to announce that 3.5 years and a $5,000 USD mandamus suit later, we have lift-off.
 

ice-qube here, been a while since I have been back to check on this stuff since my ordeal that lasted so long. I am sorry to see so many people going through it, I hope you all get out of the nightmare ASAP.

ice-qube here, been a while since I have been back to check on this stuff since my ordeal that lasted so long. I am sorry to see so many people going through it, I hope you all get out of the nightmare ASAP.

I feel cheated at this point, I am like the longest-serving member of this thread, and no sign yet that anything is changing for me, even after the expense of filing the suit. 
 
Best case scenario, it looks like I will spend *at least* several more months in limbo, after 3.5 years of process already. Ladies and gentlemen and whoever else, I am tired and getting low on money at this point.. I hope none of you will have such an embittering, absurd situation with this process as I have had, I would be reluctant to wish this on my worst enemy.

Personal layman opinion here: 60 days is still pretty early. If it was to go to court, I don't think it would be successful, and nowadays it seems the government is starting to push back on these suits. I would at least give it 120 days before you even start considering it. 

Well, update, Hacking Law has sent us a draft version of the mandamus filing to check over. I guess this suit is going forward soon.

Well I have finally done it, signed agreement with Hacking Law for the WoM. I am not happy about the enormous expense, but hoping that this brings some power back to me. 

Sad to see Montreal still handing out AP and DS-5535 willy nilly. Not much to update here at all, as I am O.G. in this thread and nothing much has changed. Over 11 months since my interview and DS-5535, and now a total of 3 years and 3 months and counting in the immigration process. They have ignored my last couple of emails, as per usual. I guess there really is no choice but WOM, and that makes me very angry.

All the points about unsavoury or tacky marketing tactics by lawyers are well-taken, and no doubt some are likely more questionable in their ethics than others, however I still think blaming of immigration lawyers for making money in the situation is like blaming auto body shops for charging money to fix cars damaged in accidents. This is their business. The problem is not really the lawyers, they are merely opportunists doing what they do. What is unconscionable is the government failing to deliver services for which they are tasked to provide.
 
In regards to WOM in specific, the practical question that I think still has not been answered one way or another on this forum is whether it is possible and economical (within reason), with some sweat and research, to prepare and file a writ of mandamus suit without a lawyer doing it, in order to save the non-trivial amount of dollars that are involved. 
 
Some have suggested against this only in vague terms, but I don't think I have seen a concrete argument yet as to why it can't be done or why it would be undesirable.

Thanks for asking! Actually i have been quiet lately, it’s true. But yea I prevailed using the WOM case, in what has become such a common pattern now: i paid $5000 USD to law firm, they changed names and dates on a template, filed the suit, and whoever just said, k, just give him his visa now. It worked, yes; but forgive me if *even now* I remain no less disgusted by having had to do that than I was originally.

Ya. Can you imagine i have been married over 9 years... yet they still put me in AP...

I spoke to someone at Hacking Law this morning. I am seriously considering going with them, as I liked their customer service up front, as well as their payment plan also being more attractive.

My wife is influenced by all the people around her in Miami that immigrate from these latin countries and somehow they get in with no problems, and she even tends to view it like, "just pay a lawyer a few dollars then". No matter how much I explain to her about all of this, she seems to default back to the idea that this expensive mandamus suit isn't necessary, there is some other magical trick for less money that a lawyer can do or something.

As I have said before, I think the default thought a lot of people have is: you must have done something wrong or something. The presumption is that you just haven't tried hard enough because so-and-so who I know came from whatever ####### country and they got their visa a long time ago, etc. That really infuriates me.

This is so tiresome, all of this. Such a drain on one's time, money and emotions.

It was dumb, they could have talked to me. It was  just a consult and I am very aware of the details of my entire case from start to finish. There is nothing my wife would have been able to add on the call that I couldn't address. It's like these guys think somehow I will just choose them to do this suit, why are they so arrogant? They aren't the only law firm around. 

In other (slim) news, my case was updated without explanation or sign of anything two days ago on July 27. May have been just them reading my last email, and continuing to prove how ineffectual my communication is with them.

Speaking of WOM, the other day I was supposed to have a consult with Goldstein Law. They wouldn't speak to me because my wife wasn't on the call--and no one had told me she had to be! That really irritated me, big time.