topman
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Posts posted by topman
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Just now, Lil bear said:
On your myUSCIS account.. using the IOE receipt number
Thanks! Sorry, Whats an IOE receipt number? Is that the receipt number from I-130 or I-140 application?
When I entered the I140 receipt number on myUSCIS website, it just said that the application has been forwarded to dept of state for processing.
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Does anyone know where to track the production, printing of Green Card and finally mailing of it via USPS? I have paid the immigrant visa fees and entered US already on immigrant visa.
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13 minutes ago, throwitaway said:
I walked across the rainbow bridge, entered the US, then walked back. In and out in less than 20 minutes.
What about importing cars or other household items? Do we need to declare everything during first visa activation visit?
Also, how much time do we generally have before final move to the US. I will need to sell my house or rent it out, wife needs to find a new job, etc. which may take some time.
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Your lawyer should be able to provide you with the employment letter template. Here is an example that I had received. Hope this helps!
PRINT ON COMPANY LETTERHEAD
<DATE>
U.S. Consulate General Montreal
1134 Sainte-Catherine Street West
Montréal, Québec H3B 1H4RE: Employment Verification for <FULL NAME>
Dear Sir/Madam:
<FULL NAME> has been employed with our company since <DATE> on a full-time basis. We filed an Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker (Form I-140) on behalf of this individual and we continue to support the Form I-140 we filed. We are prepared to offer him a permanent, full-time position as a <TITLE>, earning an annual salary of at least <PAY> at the time this employee’s green card is issued. In this position, this employee will perform the following job duties:
- Add job responsibilities
- Add job responsibilities
- Add job responsibilities
If you have any questions regarding this person’s employment with our company, please contact me at [INSERT TELEPHONE NUMBER].
Sincerely,
[INSERT NAME OF AUTHORIZED AGENT]
[INSERT JOB TITLE]
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8 minutes ago, Coco_2023 said:
Congrats! So happy for you @topman
I think I'm gonna need to file the WoM lawsuit as well. Did you file it thru Hacking firm? How much in total did the whole thing cost in USD?
Thanks! I filed with PIC law. The cost is 4500-5000USD depending on the complexity of the case. All the best!
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7 minutes ago, Coco_2023 said:
I did a bit of research in terms of Administrative Processing (AP) especially to see why and for whom it gets initiated and found the following links super informative, so sharing them here hopefully they would be helpful.
https://www.greencardlawyers.com/answers_for/VisaProcessing/TALFieldsList.html
https://immigration.dinsmore.com/faq/travel/security-advisory-opinions
According to this, and reading some statistics here and there, the chances of me getting into the "Condor" security check which is done as part of AP would be %99 due to my field of work/education in addition to the fact that I was born in "T-7" countries and as it states it doesn't matter if I've got my Canadian citizenship nor the fact that I moved to Canada when I was 11.
@topman, @RKD, @Gha, @farzady, @Benham Are you guys still in AP? I appreciate you sharing the informative links regarding the criteria for placing individuals on AP. Nevertheless, I respectfully disagree with the assertion made in the articles that cases are typically resolved within 30 days. There is compelling evidence indicating that AP cases involving DS-5535 requests have experienced prolonged waiting periods, extending for several months or even years, before obtaining clearance. In many instances, individuals are left with no alternative but to pursue costly writ of mandamus (WOM) lawsuits against the government.
Yes, my case was approved last month after a WOM lawsuit.
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Does anyone know if the newborn child (4-month old) needs to appear for an interview at Montreal? Me and my wife had interview in Montreal in September when she was 7 months pregnant. But like other in this group, we were put on DS-5535. We filed for WOM in Jan, and received request for second medical last month and Montreal added our newborn to the application but wants to interview the child.
I have sent an email to Montreal consulate but have not received a response yet. Does anyone know if I need to take my child to the interview in Montreal or can one of the parents be available in Montreal on her behalf for the interview? It will be tough to travel with a 4 month old for a one hour interview, if it's not required.
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5 hours ago, familyapart said:
Thank you so much for this. How long have you been in ap? I’m just curious about timing- we were denied in June and have been in ap ever since.
We were put in Admin processing at the end of September, so about 4 months into AP, we filed for WOM. We were told by PIC law that the earliest one can apply for WOM is after 60 days. Hope this helps!
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6 hours ago, familyapart said:
Hi all. Looking to file a mandamus and would like the names of GREAT lawyers that specialize in this. Of course I see Josh Goldstein- wondering if he’s actually any good. I saw a previous post about PIC law firm- wondering who they are. Any help/guidance would be very appreciated. TIA.
We just filed our WOM late last month with PIC law. My experience has been really positive up until now. You deal directly with the lawyers and not paralegals, with extremely quick responses to any questions/concerns.
The great part was they are super-fast in the filing of WOM, after we submitted our docs, they filed the WOM in 3 business days.
Best wishes for your WOM!
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2 minutes ago, topman said:
Appreciate you sharing the expected timeline. Just curious, other than redoing the medical, what other additional documentation did the consulate request? My understanding was that all the documents that were needed were already submitted at the time of the interview.
Never mind. Just looked at the tracker, it has all the info. Thanks!
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1 minute ago, LAMA9 said:
My timeline with WOM from file to visa in hand was 92 days. We are seeing anywhere from 80 - 140 days from filing to approval. In that window, they ask you to redo your medical and send in any additional documentation.
Appreciate you sharing the expected timeline. Just curious, other than redoing the medical, what other additional documentation did the consulate request? My understanding was that all the documents that were needed were already submitted at the time of the interview.
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4 minutes ago, throwitaway said:
If you do a consult with them they can explain the process to you in depth. Once the lawsuit is filed the government has 60 days to respond. It’s not uncommon for them to ask for an extension which can push their response a month or two more. Hopefully their response in the end is to issue the visa.
Thanks! I'm planning to have a consult with them. So, from a timeline perspective, we are potentially looking at 2 months + another 2 months of extension, so a total of 4 months.
And hopefully if approved, redoing the medical - another 30 days? By the time I have a stamped visa on my passport could take a total of 5 months from WOM file date? Am I summarizing this tentative timelines correctly?
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Folks that got their WOM filed by the lawyer, what are the normal steps of progression & anticipated timelines after the lawsuit has been filed? Just trying to understand what does the complete end-to-end process look like?
I'm planning to file WOM with PIC law. I believe the cost is similar to Hacking law group but the payment needs to be made in full at the start, no payment plan option.
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2 minutes ago, Ashley28888 said:
no worries
that’s why we are here to help each other.
you can check status here https://ceac.state.gov/CEACStatTracker/Status.aspx?TSPD_101_R0=0883343043ab200087ac92b5ab7946908ff08250186aa8ecb56b99d99ffc7ab7580c9e78c5242b4c085e3e3332143000559e676cdb91185869e6aeb723dba920a5a557090cb9eb699d6dedc3ff161a88c7952789495e0976ba3ba6ff3402fd2fThanks for sharing the link! I might be the only person who might not know about this site... lol
Appreciate it!
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4 minutes ago, Ashley28888 said:
Yes my visa status changed to issued.
embassy didn’t email me saying it’s approved.
I just got the passport tracking.
recieved passport with the stamp on.
Sorry for a dumb question but I've multiple folks say that there status has changed after the interview. Which system shows the status change? Apologies for an ignorant question.
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1 minute ago, farzady said:
Thanks for the update, the reason that I asked I saw on the tracker said your case approved.
Oh, Gotcha. I'm not sure who updated it to be approved in the tracker, which is definitely incorrect status. I'll try to update the status on the tracker tomorrow to "Administrative processing"
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On 10/27/2022 at 7:41 PM, farzady said:
@topman Did your case approved?
Nope, it was put on admin processing (DS-5535).. here is my interview experience comment.
On 9/30/2022 at 12:19 PM, topman said:Thanks, everyone for the best wishing on our interview. Our interview went alright but unfortunately, we received administrative processing for additional supplemental questions (DS 5535) that needed to be answered. We have responded via email by answering the last 15 years of employment, address, travel history, etc.
While researching on DS 5535, there is no apparent rhyme or reason on why folks receive this check but certainly, individuals having a middle eastern background or from higher security risk countries have a greater probability of getting a DS 5535. There is a separate thread on this forum, especially for individuals waiting on a response from the Montreal consulate after getting a DS 5535. It could take anywhere from 60 to 300+ days to get a response on administrative processing. I’m really hoping it is not another year of waiting to clear administrative processing.
@VA21202, The interview process is exactly like what everyone has already discussed on this thread. However, a few days before my interview, I reviewed 200+ pages of this thread and compiled a comprehensive list of interview questions that were ever asked by MTL. I’ve now added this list of all the interview questions to the EB tracker spreadsheet (interview question tab). The interview questions that were asked by the officer were already in this list. Hopefully, this will help you & others prepare for their interviews.
One additional tip that I can share is to have your resume and unofficial college transcripts printed out along with the requested documents. I did not get asked for these two documents during my interview but I had read that this can be requested by the consular officer for EB cases.
Good luck with the upcoming interviews, and thanks so much for this support group for helping each other out! I couldn’t have waited this long without you all.
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2 hours ago, Tiabeanie said:
These are the two sheets of paper I got from the officer this afternoon. I wasn't told to submit any other documents as I brought all that was required to the interview.
We received the same refusal paperwork when we were put on administrative processing. The only difference is that in our 221g remarks section for the refusal notice, it requested us to submit additional questionnaire (DS-5535) that will be sent via email. The good news is that the officer did not state that in your remarks section, so hopefully you will not be put on DS-5535. In my opinion, it seems like a general admin processing which should get resolved fairly quicky.. Keep us posted. Good luck!
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22 hours ago, Gha said:
Hi
@farzady sorry for late reply I was busy .the officer put me in administrative processing but interview went very well
thank you
Do you know what type of Admin processing it is? Hopefully, it was not a DS-5535 request.
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59 minutes ago, KDEE said:
A quick question: what is the name of the the test that is used to find the vaccines one has received. I remember it being discussed on the forum but I am unable to find it now.
I don’t have any vaccination card.
thanks in advance
It's called Antibody Titer Test
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35 minutes ago, can_do said:
Thank you so much for sharing this.
Two things I've heard from other applicants:
1. It may be beneficial to have the DS 5535 filled, printed and ready for show if the CO even mentions it.
2. After 60 days, you may file a Writ of Mandamus.
What are your thoughts?
Its been a 2+ years wait and now more of the same... salute to your patience.
All the best.
Thanks for the support. Frankly, during the interview, the CO made it sound like it was a simple routine process, and we just need to answer some additional supplementary questions before the visa can be processed. There was no mention of "DS5535" during the interview but to be fair I wouldn't have even known what that is if CO mentioned it to us.
I'm seriously considering Writ of Mandamus as an option to speed up the process. It seems some folks have been waiting for almost a year to get a response after getting a DS5535, and ultimately the only reason they get a response from Montreal is because WoM has been filed. I'm really hoping I don't need to go through WoM route as its expensive process and probably need to get approval from my employer before it gets filed.
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Hi Folks, I'm in the employment-based visa category and had our interview on Sept 26, 2022. Unfortunately, we received DS 5535, which we responded to yesterday on Sept 29, 2020. I’ve updated the DS 5535 tracker spreadsheet with my info.
It's so heartbreaking to see so many folks waiting for so long to get a response from Montreal after responding to their DS5535. After reading this thread on the forum, it seems like WoM is the only way to speed up the process. Does anyone know how soon can I file WoM after responding to Montreal's DS5535 request? We have already been patiently waiting for 27+ months to get this interview with Montreal, and now thinking of waiting another year or more to get a response is just so painful.
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On 9/28/2022 at 4:37 PM, VA21202 said:
Hi @topman. Hope your interview went well! Appreciate your experience/tips as I prepare to interview in 3 weeks. Thanks!
Thanks, everyone for the best wishing on our interview. Our interview went alright but unfortunately, we received administrative processing for additional supplemental questions (DS 5535) that needed to be answered. We have responded via email by answering the last 15 years of employment, address, travel history, etc.
While researching on DS 5535, there is no apparent rhyme or reason on why folks receive this check but certainly, individuals having a middle eastern background or from higher security risk countries have a greater probability of getting a DS 5535. There is a separate thread on this forum, especially for individuals waiting on a response from the Montreal consulate after getting a DS 5535. It could take anywhere from 60 to 300+ days to get a response on administrative processing. I’m really hoping it is not another year of waiting to clear administrative processing.
@VA21202, The interview process is exactly like what everyone has already discussed on this thread. However, a few days before my interview, I reviewed 200+ pages of this thread and compiled a comprehensive list of interview questions that were ever asked by MTL. I’ve now added this list of all the interview questions to the EB tracker spreadsheet (interview question tab). The interview questions that were asked by the officer were already in this list. Hopefully, this will help you & others prepare for their interviews.
One additional tip that I can share is to have your resume and unofficial college transcripts printed out along with the requested documents. I did not get asked for these two documents during my interview but I had read that this can be requested by the consular officer for EB cases.
Good luck with the upcoming interviews, and thanks so much for this support group for helping each other out! I couldn’t have waited this long without you all.
- can_do, Leeching Spouse, EternalWait and 1 other
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Track Green Card Printing?
in Canada
Posted
Awesome. Thanks so much! It looks like USCIS is asking for "Online Access Code" in order to register to track the status of the case, which I never received previously. I have requested a replacement one.. so hopefully, I can track the status after I get it. Appreciate the help.