ice-qube

Sad that we are already now on part 2 of this thread…

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

Montreal’s parameters seem pretty liberal, none of us here know what triggers it. Timeline is several months to a year plus. 5535 was sent to me same night of interview. Don’t send it pre-emptively, they have instructions for how they’d like to receive it, but feel free to start drafting it as the template is easily found online. Yes you can still travel, all the same rules apply.

After waiting 11 and half months I received Immigrant visa. Visa timeline 
Interview was on April 19 2022
DS5535 emailed on April 25
Consulate requested 2nd Medical and RCMP police letter on March 10 
Consulate receeived both medical and Rcmp letter on 28th March
Status changed to issued on April 05 and received passport on 11th April

That's a matter of debate, actually. Although I am not a lawyer, I have always been skeptical of lawyers who claim you should file it before 6 months. In my (non-expert, but considerably educated layman) opinion, in the event the government decided to push back on a suit that was filed before 6 months, it is likely to me that the court would rule in their favour. And really, then the only one who would have won is the lawyer that took your money; you would be no closer (and also poorer), and the taxpayers also lose the costs of defending it in court.

Sorry to hear. It definitely seems Montreal is using this as a strategy nowadays. If it helps, I was a guy who was hit with DS-5535, suffered in AP for over a year, but i travelled to see my wife several times, without problems.

Sorry to hear. It definitely seems Montreal is using this as a strategy nowadays. If it helps, I was a guy who was hit with DS-5535, suffered in AP for over a year, but i travelled to see my wife several times, without problems.

Keep your head up man. I waited a long time for my sojourn in administrative processing to be over, but I managed to do it. I prevailed. And I am sure you will too. 
No such luck on that...

Keep your head up man. I waited a long time for my sojourn in administrative processing to be over, but I managed to do it. I prevailed. And I am sure you will too. 
No such luck on that...

Keep your head up man. I waited a long time for my sojourn in administrative processing to be over, but I managed to do it. I prevailed. And I am sure you will too. 
No such luck on that...

Hey buddy you're absolutely right no one is claiming to give expert advice, we are all just sharing our experiences. But that is different from making statements that are completely inaccurate (i.e. plain wrong). Share your experiences, but don't state your guesses and assumptions as fact.
 
If you are thinking out loud at least preface those statements by saying something like I am not entirely sure but I believe that maybe xyz. The way you're stating your guesses makes it sound like you are stating fact and that could be to the detriment of someone who is new to the process and doesn't know better.
 
I encourage you to share your experiences and even your thoughts, but please be careful with your wording and make sure that when you are not fully sure of something and just sharing what you think that you are stating it in a way that makes it clear that you're sharing your thoughts and not fact/experience. 
 
Welcome to the thread, though. Not sure if I should say happy to have you here because it makes me unhappy to see people stuck in limbo.
 
cheers

Oh for sure, it’s better than no updates at all! The date updates happen when your file is opened for whatever reason, so at the very least you know you are not forgotten. 

You didn’t do anything wrong. If the CO wanted to deny you, they would have, instead you’re in 221g which can be overcome - and for most people, it does. Eventually. I was once there too. 

Ain’t nothing wrong with that. 

Small victories my friend...small victories (looking forward to leafs losing in the first round).
 
On another note, I know this thread is full of dread but if you and your family are healthy, you've won the lottery. 
 
There are folks getting news about masses in their liver, kids with cancer. Lets keep some perspective. 
 
 

To really boil down what is happening, it is that lawyers are making out very well on this (everyone note: i don't blame lawyers for making money, all the power to them, and it is also why someone goes into a profession--to make money), but their premium is basically created by the failures of the government and its immigration system--which can be, I believe, very fairly described at this moment as 'broken', whether by design or not. If the government truly believes these cases in AP need to continue to be security vetted, they would not just give up and start processing the case as soon as they are informed a mandamus suit was filed. The very fact that simply filing these mandamus suits results in them more or less automatically restarting processing on those people's cases exposes the emptiness of the claim that they needed all this extra time to vet them. 
 
Right now there is a race to the bottom wherein people are filing WoM are getting their visas processed ahead of me because they can afford (or believe they can afford) to throw $5,000 USD at a lawyer to file a mandamus suit. Good on them for having the means, but this is a deeply perverse situation. I can throw down all the money I have without regard to any other costs I have on *other* expenses, such as having savings for rental down payments (in South Florida, for example, where rent has skyrocketed to even be more expensive than Toronto where I live now, they require 3 months rent, plus often security deposit in addition to that), money to purchase health care when moving there, student loan payments, whatever it is, I have a lot of costs. Or I can wait indefinitely. And that has me in a horrible, no-win situation. Absorbing costs monthly much different than taking all available savings and throwing it away in one shot.

Assuming you are in DS-5535 processing, they will send instructions to redo his medical once they intend to approve the visa.  Typically once they receive the new medical, it is 3-4 weeks until the passport is returned back to him.  

I have sent a handwritten letter,  a typed letter and an email. All were responded with the generic email response. 

Hey, I also file a WOM with the Hacking law firm once month ago. Got DS-5535 on November 30 2022. Still no news so far. I hope we hear something soon!

Just an update the consulate shipped my passport back yesterday around noon via Purolator and I received my passport this morning. Crossed via Lewiston to endorse my visa and heading down South. I'm relieved this hell is finally over but I feel for those still waiting to be approved.

wow congrats! 10 months later - so long 🥴 I thought the "extension" they can request was up to 90 days in total, disheartening to see that they can go 90 days and then ask for an additional 4 months 

Yay it was issued today!! Can't really wrap my head around it. It's been almost 2 1/2 yrs since we first submitted the I129F
 
Our timeline was-
 
fiance’s interview 5/4/22
DS-5535 emailed to him 5/5
I contacted my congressman and senator in Aug, not sure if that did anything
submitted WOM paperwork to Hacking Law 9/14 (not sure the exact date they filed but shortly after that)
first lawsuit deadline was 12/17, no case updates during that time so Hacking refiled the case in my home state (they had originally filed in Washington DC)
request for new medical and updated passport pics 1/6/23
extension for lawsuit was requested at the end of Jan and granted until 4/7
CEAC status changed to Application Received 3/7
Approved 3/8
Issued 3/10

Sorry I have been quiet. I actually just this week did my landing and been visiting my wife for the week. There is still more transitional logistics type stuff to be done before I physically move, but my legal journey with the dysfunctional immigration system is at least done. Thank G-d.

@Danii it was a long, long road. Thanks to all of you who were there to listen to my impotent raging along the way! 

So glad I decided to lurk today, many many many congratulations, ice-qube. I'm so happy this is over for you. Wishing the best for you and your wife and hoping that all your journeys from here on out go smoothly with no complications 🙏