Mi_Mo

He came on a K1, the day of interview the officer told him everything looked good, but he needed one more paper to give him the visa, and that was the ds5535. He was working at a bank in Beirut and he only traveled to Mexico once. 

You can sue, look for a Lawyer who does Writ of Mandamus.

Nobody knows precisely what triggers a DS-5535 being requested. There are certainly a number of factors in common (places lived/traveled, area of expertise, military experiences, etc.), but other factors may apply and how exactly is just speculation. Maybe somebody he knows or worked with came up as a hit on some list? We'll never know. It could be something as simple as somebody he's friends with or worked with - or somebody with a similar name - might be suspected of being a foreign agent. Again, it's complete speculation, and you'll drive yourself crazy trying to figure it out. Unless there is a valid challenge to the process taken to court and that challenge is won, I wouldn't expect this to change anytime soon.
 
The DS-5535 doesn't indicate a threat to US national security. It's a request for information to determine if there is a threat. Every visa applicant is scrutinized as a potential threat to national security. Some just have additional checks.
 
There's no way to expedite background checks. I'm skeptical that the embassy is just sitting on the case. They're likely waiting to hear results of a background check. They don't conduct certain backgrounds checks themselves...they submit a request and wait for the results.
There's nothing really to do except wait it out.
 
In extreme cases, a Writ of Mandamus (WoM) can potentially be filed with a court to force a decision. But the decision could result in a denial if they have not completed checks...a WoM does not guarantee a positive result. It also takes time and isn't cheap to try to sue, especially the DOS (see the doctrine of consular non-reviewability....any suit at this stage is difficult).
But note this is generally after one has waited an extended period of time after the interview. People wait over a year in AP and this likely isn't the best option still. I'm only mentioning it for completeness, not as a suggestion.

Hopefully so! Ours was received on the 31st of March, and changed to actively reviewing on the 2nd of April. We've been living together overseas for 6 years, married for 2.5 years. We also had no plans to move to the US. Pretty similar situation in a way! Yeah I hope it's just going faster for everyone, for sure!

Congratulations. Did they email you before CEAC said issued? Did they keep your passport the whole time? Thanks

May Allah issue our loved ones visas and bring them to USA safely in this second week of Ramadan.. in this blessed and holy month. May Allah make things easier for all of us. Amen. 
 
❤❤❤

ALHMDULILLAH Today my status changed Administrative Processing to Issued. Your prediction is correct today Tuesday. May ALLAH bless you and you will be also soon soon get visa. My best wishes with you. Ameen
 

Hello all , 
 
 My I129f was approved however while filling out my ds160 i realized that my parents names were spelt wrong well my fathers first name and my mother's middle name on the ds160 I corrected them . However I spelled my father's name incorrect on pervious ds160 before , I didn't notice the spelling until I sat and looked at my birth certificate recently . I also forgot to add a previous employment on my i129f package  , i can't add it to the ds160 because it only allows two previous employments the button is greyed out .  would any of this be consider material misrepresentation ? 

The embassy asked for my passport a week ago and I mailed it to them, today I received my passport with no visa in it! case still showing as refused! Has anybody went through this before?

Reply from them about the clarification regarding K1 visa and the 221g I received which talks of before and after marriage:-
 
Greetings from the U.S. Consulate General Mumbai.

Thank you for your email. The interviewing officer screens the documents submitted and makes the decision. You need to follow instructions in the letter issued to you and submit any and all documents you can, as we cannot comment or verify individual documents at this point. If for any reason you are unable to provide any of the requested documents, please make sure to give a written justification for the same.

We will get in touch with you in case we need any additional information.

We hope you find this information useful.

Sincerely,

Consular Information Unit
U.S. Consulate General, Mumbai

I made a note to myself to be sure to come back here to Visa Journey to share with you all my experience with my filing of the writ of mandamus, whether the results would be good or bad, as I am hoping many of you, who were stuck like me, get the resolve you deserve. I noticed no one has documented enough about it so I'm happy to be the first.
 
My Writ of Mandamus that my lawyer filed forced the Jordanian Embassy to make a decision on our case since being stuck in AP since September 2019. It was a SUCCESS. My fiancé picked up his Visa this morning. Before I get into the process, how long it took, who I hired, etc, I will breakdown my timeline first below. 
 
I'm asking the senior and regular active members here to try to refrain from continuously sharing FALSE information about WoM. In the past several weeks I have read numerous comments from many of the senior members on other WoM posts DISCOURAGING people to move forward yet admitting to not knowing much about it or how it works.  First of all you are not lawyers. Try not discourage on a subject you don't know much about. That's what petitioners and beneficiaries should seek legal consultations for. No two WOM's are alike. Only a lawyer can tell you if you are a good candidate and hopefully, you will consult with a lawyer like mine who insisted he see the petition and hear our case before agreeing.
 
So here is my timeline and what happened with my WOM:
 
- Visa Category, K-1
- Fiance's consulate Interview was 9/8/2019 (I-129F petition filed 3/23/2018)
- Agent at window advised we need to wait for a call that would "come in shortly" and returned passport
- Numerous emails sent to the Embassy inquiring what they needed with no response
- October 31, 2019 received an email from embassy asking for proof of relationship....we sent the same exact package they returned to us 10 minutes before his interview. Only thing we added were a few more photos
- No updates or word from them until January 2020 where I saw several updates on CEAC, no communication.
- February 2020 pandemic hit, no word. AP changed to REFUSED
- Researched writ of mandamus just in case we didn't hear anything soon and in fear pandemic will drag our case
- April 2020 located the best lawyer for me with long successful track record and paid for a 30 minutes consultation. After hearing my story and seeing my case, he accepted my case.
- May 15th I started my case. 
- May 22nd my case was sent to the 8 agencies my lawyer was suing. They have 60 days to respond.
- Those 8 agencies are: USCIS,  DEPT OF STATE,  DEPT OF HOMELAND SECURITY,  US CONSULATE AMMAN JORDAN,  SECRETARY OF THE DEPT OF DEPT OF HOMELAND SECURITY,  THE DIRECTOR OF USCIS, SECRETARY OF STATE, CHARGE' D'affaires of the US CONSULATE AMMAN JORDAN. 
- June 29, my fiance receives a call from the US Embassy Amman asking him to update his Medical and send it in with his passport. We wait. 
- July 18, Passport is sent back to my fiance with a list of 10 questions (similar to DS-5535) and to email responses back and wait for a call. Paper states it can take 2-6 weeks.
- July 18 also, US Attorney emails my lawyer and asks for a 60 day extension since its close to deadline. Judge also grants it. 
- July 23, I email the responses to the 10 questions to Embassy.
- August 26, Embassy calls my fiance back to resend his passport again
- September 2, my lawyer receives an email from the US Attorney advising him that the Visa has been issued and CEAC status changes an hour later to "ISSUED"
- September 3, my fiance tracks the tracking number and sees Visa is already at Aramex and goes picks it up.
 
It took a total of about 3 1/2 months from the time they were served to finish. Definitely worth it. I have read some members giving incorrect information that the WoM could cost around $15,000 and read other outrageous numbers. It does not. I checked numerous lawyers before hiring mine and have received quotes anywhere from $4000 to $8000. Definitely have not heard more. I paid for my consultation which was then applied towards my WoM.  My lawyer charged me on the lower end than most.  I hired Jim Hacking of The Hacking Law Firm. I would only recommend him. 
 
Please feel free to message me if you have any questions. Wishing you all love and happiness! 
 
 

I totally understand you! Lebanon is not the exception, different situation but things get worse by the minute there... not fair what they put us through 🥺

I petitioned my fiancé since 2019! I don’t even know if to cry or laugh at this point 🤷🏽‍♀️ It’s ridiculous 

Because everything is harder and takes longer in Middle Eastern countries. I’d bet no one from Mexico gets DS 5535. 

CEAC changing from "Immigrant" to "Non-immigrant" for K1 in the later stages is completely normal since it's ultimately a Non-immigrant visa. It's initially processed by the Immigrant visa section, and interviews are normally done by consular officers for immigrant visas.

I wish u the best, inshallah everything goes ok. 

I am a firm believer in expediting, costs nothing and you never know.
 
We do not know the Consulate involved, seems most Consulates do not take the I 134 very seriously and the one that matters the I 864 is years away.
 
If the beneficiary has no assets, money is tight, makes me wonder again why the K1 was chosen but that has been gone over so many times on here not sure we need to do it again.

Hopefully it doesn’t go as far as 2 years! 
congratulations btw! 
were you in AP?  

Are you still waiting for your visa? 

Wow. 
good you’ve got it. 
I am still waiting. 
interview approved in first week of Nov 2020 with approval paper in hand. 

From looking at past VJ posts it can take anywhere from 2 weeks to 2 years. 
My spouse had interview on Dec11 and just got approval on Feb2.  
 

there is a long discussion here in the VJ forums concerning this form if you check past topics under the title forum above
 
and unforunately,  this extra security is very extensive and your AP will be long while the embassy does the needed security checks concerning all travel the person has done and sites used on internet including him and family 
 
i would expect to see a new flurry of this form used again now that the new administration has lifted many of the former EO orders / just my opinion but using this form has run in cycles

Hi all,
I just want to give a brief update on our CR1 application. I believe it will be helpful for those who are stuck in DS5535. 
CR1 VISA 
Naturalized U.S citizen wife married with Tunisian husband
PD: September 2019
USCIS Approval : April 2020
NVC case created: April 2020
DQ: JUNE 2020
Interview : August 2020
We had all our documents ready for the interview. Interview was approved but DS5535 was given. He was told by officer that everything looks good but he needs an additional security check. My husband had travel history to Turkey twice. He was told that he will receive an email which will have an attachment of Supplemental Questions form. He was also told that the form will be sent to Washington DC. 
He received an email aproxx in 1hour. He filled out the form and send back to Tunis embassy via email. We got a confirmation that the embassy has received the completed form. After that the wait has started. 
Next day of interview we got a CEAC date updated. Which means that they sent the form to DC. After a month we got another CEAC date update. I (petitioner) sent an email to embassy about the CEAC date update but, I was told that there was no update on our case. After 76 days (weekends included) of the interview we got another CEAC date update. Again, I emailed to the Tunis embassy regarding to our CEAC update and my husband received an email after 2 days stating that his AP and the security check is complete, he can drop off his passport for visa issuance. 
We did not involve congressman in our process. Only communication during the DS5535 process was between us and the embassy. 
 

I dont know how being stuck for an indefinite time is worthy of a congratulations, but thanks. 
there are no answers, fairness, or end in sight. Ive seen many ppl on VJ that wait so long that they have to start resubmitting documents and redo their medical. 
Just a thought, cause it is difficult to get police documents in Iraq, if you get close to the year mark since the document was approved by NVC you may want to go ahead and get another. So when they ask for it again you wont have another long delay. Another few weeks and we are at a year past Document Qualified at NVC. 

It’s a very difficult process specially at this time. Eventually we’re all going to get what we’ve been waiting for!