Danii

39 minutes ago, ice-qube said:

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.

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 🙏

Hope everyone has been doing well! I apologize for not being very active/updating the spreadsheet. If it's still a valuable resource, is there anyone who would be willing to help maintain the sheet with me? I'm hesitant to make it public for everyone to edit due to spreadsheets from other threads being messed with. Please respond to this if you have some free time and I'll share access! 

25 minutes ago, LAMA9 said:

Thank you for doing this @herecomestherain!  Do you think this could take over the old spreadsheet of @Danii's?  It isn't fair to expect her to keep updating it, now that she is well on the other side of this nightmare!  

Perhaps we could even have a column for WOM (date filed, date consulate responds, etc?).  Thoughts?

I don't mind keeping my spreadsheet but another one is always helpful esp if it includes WOM. 

I am having a hard time keeping up with new entries though. I haven't made the sheet public as some groups in the past have had issues with random people messing it up. Is anyone interested in helping me keeping it updated? DM me your email or request access with a little note and I'll make you an editor! 

@Hello100 congratulations, very happy for you and great to hear that mandamus was a positive experience for you. Welcome to the US!! Just want to confirm, did you change your username? Were you previously Tony? 

5 minutes ago, A.Jon.Satko said:

Where do you get or see the spreadsheet?

Please provide:

Date of interview, date you sent DS5535, your visa category and if you were asked to provide any other documents. 

5 hours ago, WishIWasntHere said:

@Krisara I am really thinking about looking into the same thing… considering asking a lawyer if it’s possible to apply for my Canadian Spousal Visa while we wait for the US one and see which one lands first. My spouse owns property in Toronto and we want to sell but we are waiting for a word in some direction. The separation is too much to handle and so I’m considering applying so we can be together. I feel like it will be faster anyway… I’m feeling so ###### stupid for not just trying to move to Canada in the first place. 

Yes I think it's possible to apply for it while waiting for your US visa, I don't think it affects it at all (someone please correct me if I'm wrong). There is an option for your partner to cross directly into Canada and start the process asap while living together, or they could wait it out in the US. Not sure how long it takes to get work authorization for the first option, but gov of Canada has a good explanation of the paths/wait times on their websites.

3 hours ago, SN-2022 said:

Do you guys know if WOM can be filed as a group like a class action lawsuit?

Yes it can be, I've seen one filed by Kuck Baxter immigtation, I think it was against the Manila consulate. I found some posts here on visajourney about it, try searching class action/lawsuit

3 hours ago, syedashah said:

Thanks alot for the information and please can you tell me the link where i can check the status

Np! Unfortunately there's no way to check the status. Same for the green card (that can take up to 90-120 days to arrive). We just have to check our mailbox regularly 😂

Just now, syedashah said:

Hi i have paid 220 fee before i left the UK and please confirm how long it will take to get green card?

 

Ok great. Like I previously said, if 3 weeks pass and you still don't have it, reach out SSN office. 

1 minute ago, syedashah said:

Hi what did you do to apply for SSN i have entered US last week, my attorny said i dont need to do anything it will come directly but on the POE immigrantion officer didnt tell me about it and i am not sure how i can apply and get it please advice

 

Make sure you pay the $220 immigrant fee (Google this, it's on the USCIS page). Otherwise you don't need to do anything. If more than 3 weeks pass, contact local SSN office. 

18 hours ago, ohmygod said:

there are no additions to DS5535 list after February. Did they not hand out any in March? If I see Dani's spreadsheet, we have only until end of February

I haven't seen any new posts so no idea, not on FB or on the other Montreal thread

On 4/6/2022 at 8:48 PM, Fna786 said:

In Feb of this year, we received an email from Montreal requesting updated DS 260, affidavit of support,  passport, police report,  medical etc

The original case status had said Refused because it was in administrative processing.

 

Well today we checked the case status and it's changed and has us concerned!

 

I already have my attorney working on an updated affidavit of support because my mom just passed away and she was the sponsor but now this message is concerning and it contradicts the email we received requesting the documents. 

 

We have been pretty confident since Feb thinking we finally got this if they're requesting the passport.

 

A little background...this is an old case that was originally refused but reinstated, changed embassies,  got hardship waiver approved now finally wrapping things up. 🙏🏼

 

Anyone know what this message means???

 

Seen this a few times when a case has been at NVC for a while. Just call NVC to have them take care of this, they'll normally revert it back to the previous status

8 hours ago, From_CAN_2_US said:

But something I have noticed is Canadian PRs don’t seem to be issued DS-5535s at Montreal. They seem to be issued to Canadian citizens. Why? I don’t know. One reason I can think of - we PRs have been vetted recently by Canada which shares security databases with US, so maybe we have been cleared? Also ties in with my other theory that US has some intelligence of security threat originating in Canada by a Canadian citizen.

 

 

Everything @From_CAN_2_US said about the possibility of being selected for DS5535 is right. It's unpredictable for the most part Getting selected probably depends on so many things, your name, background, travel, work history or maybe even the officer who interviews you. 

Just want to correct this part, I've spoken to two Canadian PRs who got DS5535. Seems like no one is safe

9 hours ago, herecomestherain said:

Yeah I thought so but I saw some things about colour coded sheets and I was going 😬

 

Hope you’re doing well!

There are color coded sheets, but I haven't heard about it at Montreal so I don't think it applies here!

On 3/29/2022 at 5:13 PM, Federico said:

@Danii or someone who made it. How long does it took to get the social security card ?

Sorry for the late reply, it took 3 weeks for me!

On 3/21/2022 at 3:47 PM, Rosinasaur said:

So, we contacting Hacking Immigration Law to file the Mandamus, and they responded "We are not filing lawsuits if the K1 is at the NVC or the Embassy." So I guess we're out of luck with them.

 

We're going to try contacting a senator because our congresswoman was not helpful at all. We're crossing our fingers. Our last update was Jan 11th, 2022.

I'm so sorry 😔 I do remember reading about this, I think very few law firms do mandamus for K1. I'm not sure why this is the case, I heard that whenever the law firms took on the case, it did not have a good outcome. Maybe do a search on vj to see if anyone has found a good lawyer for K1? 

6 hours ago, SN-2022 said:

Hello, I submitted my DS5535 on Feb 8, 2022, and I am still waiting to hear back. I realized about three weeks ago that I made a typo on my DS5535, but I wasn't too concerned since I have entered the same information correctly on my DS-160 form. Just wondering if anyone else was in a similar situation, and did you follow up with the consulate to correct the information? It has been bothering me a little. The typo was regarding the date i entered under work experience, where instead of typing "2020", I accidentally typed in "2021". 

I sent an updated DS5535 but mentioned the correction in the email body. They confirmed the update, I was eventually approved so it didn't mess with the processing. 

4 hours ago, Hello100 said:

What do you guys reckon is "easier," per se, crossing a land border or airport Port of Entry?

For activating your visa or general travel? I think in general the answer would be the airport, but it varies. From my experience, Montreal is very easy, then Toronto and then Ottawa. Airports are more experienced with activating visas and take only a few minutes. Things have taken longer for some people at land borders and sometimes say things that aren't true because they genuinely don't know anything about the visa/process. However, this probably doesn't apply to very popular land borders such as the peace bridge crossing/Windsor, lots of ppl cross daily without issues. 

22 minutes ago, Hello100 said:

So basically if you have your Visa in hand but your medical expired by the time the Visa was sent to you, you will have to wait for the Consulate to receive your new medical even if you already have your Visa? That would be a weird situation to be in.

I think they wouldn't even send it over if your medical is expired. If it's close to expiry... I'm not sure what would happen 🤔

31 minutes ago, Hello100 said:

What happens if your Visa is approved consequently when your medical just expired? Can you cross the Port of Entry with the issued Visa even if your medical expired, or must both the medical and Visa be current and updated?

No way to know until you get your visa. The last day you will able to cross will be written in there as the expiry. 

Edit: if it's issued/sent to you after medical expiry, you'll probably be asked to redo it before crossing

1 hour ago, Randomwalk said:

I am sorry I don’t know what you mean. Where do I find signatures? 

You'll see someone's signature under their comment. If you're on the mobile version of the website, that's probably why you can't see it. Try changing to the desktop version, and you'll see something under my comment that says "list of all AP cases" which is the spreadsheet

1 hour ago, Randomwalk said:

Where do I find the spreadsheet? 

Check my signature

11 minutes ago, Rosinasaur said:

It's been 161 days since my interview. All hope is lost of this being resolved without legal intervention.

 

Congresswoman Cori Bush's office finally got my fiancé's phone number straight (after literally 5 weeks of ghosting us) and has been contacting the consulate. "They don't know why we aren't issued yet", and "They say you already have your visa"... Like what? My last update was January 11th. My passport was returned to me at the interview and I have not received a request to send it back. I check my spam regularly. I've sent emails to the consulate but only gotten the generic "you're in administrative processing" copy-paste email back.

 

We're going ahead with the Mandamus. I'd like to help my fiancé pay for the lawsuit as it is quite expensive. Does anyone know the best way to transfer a couple thousand dollars from Canada to US? Whenever I look it up on Google, I feel like everyone is trying to sell me their own service and has their own invested interests. I honestly just want the fairest fees and exchange rates.

 

Thanks guys. We're sad and exhausted but goddamn we're going to make sure we can get married. (We're doing K1)

What??? They said that? What does your rep suggest be done now? Are they going to at least ask how that's acceptable? It's the consulates responsibility to at least know the status of the case! That's absolutely ridiculous. I hope that congresswoman keeps sending them inquiries... 

As for money transfer, I'm not sure about the best way, but most people on here suggest using Norberts Gambit to exchange CAD to USD. From what I've seen, that's the cheapest way to get the most out of your exchange. It's a bit complicated though, so I would recommend reading up about it. The one downside I saw was that it takes a few days (and the slight complexity). 

Good luck on mandamus, I really hope it goes well. Please keep us updated on your process 🙏

1 hour ago, hkn1 said:

My medical expires in about 1 month...hoping y'all with closer medical expiration dates hear back this week, fingers crossed. At this point I'm coming to terms with having to do a second medical...another 300$ down the drain, if the cost hasn't gone up yet like everything else in life 😝 hoping for this week to be good news here!

I would advise everyone to avoid the Montreal clinic if they're thinking about it in the future. It was overall a very smooth process but it cost around $540 (standard visit with one vaccine, but that's still around 450ish!) Better to go to Toronto!

1 hour ago, UiiiU said:

Just checked the CEAC website and my DS-260 application stated it was "re-opened" with an expiration date application to be completed by March 30th, 2022-- what does this mean? Has anyone experienced this? (My interview has been over a year already)

I've seen this happen to a few other people and think it's common after many months have passed. I believe this problem was resolved after contacting NVC. Not sure of the details, but I would suggest you contact NVC as soon as you can and see what they say.