emergence

19 hours ago, ak47 said:

Hi Farzady,

 

Do you think you received the passport reuest because of filing WOM ? Was a decision made on the WOM filing ? or Just the embassy reached out to you with the request.

 

 

 

 

At this point I would seriously consider not filing WoM because so many of us are getting through without it, much faster than in 2022. IMO it’s not necessarily correct to attribute getting through to WoM anymore.

14 minutes ago, SalishSea said:

If working was important, K-1 wasn't the best choice.  It is taking up to 8 months to get the work authorization....

Yes, we know that now. Unfortunately we can’t time travel back two years and get married instead. We opted for K-1 at the time because we believed the wait would be shorter, as it was before COVID. From this vantage point, it probably would have been more or less the same wait time and the CR-1 is superior in basically every other respect.
 

We’re hoping to expedite EAD since my fiancés employer wants to continue to employ him in the US and will provide an offer letter to do so.

On a somewhat tangential note, does anyone know of a good guide for what to do and how to time things once you enter the US on a K-1? I know, for example, that you have a specific period of time to get a SSN before getting your green card. We are really hoping to get my fiance able to work as soon as possible because my job situation is a bit dicey. 

9 hours ago, ajxl888 said:

That's exciting!  You'll have to keep us updated.  How long has the wait been for you since the interview/DS-5535?

Our interview was September 14th 2022 and we got DS-5535 the next day. We got the email to send the passport and new medical March 30th, but my fiancé was in the US until mid-April and couldn’t get a medical slot until the beginning of May, so he just got everything sent in today. Hoping everything will be quick!

On 5/9/2023 at 2:11 PM, ajxl888 said:

Any DS-5535 approvals lately?

My fiance just had his new medical done (he was in the US for a while after we got the request for new medical and passport). We are hoping the consulate will process everything quickly!

On 4/4/2023 at 7:21 AM, Icecreamcastles said:

It's exactly 6 months since my interview and the consulate has requested a new medical and my passport! 
I won't really believe it until I have my visa in hand. 
I hope this means DS-5535 cases will be processed more quickly and the yearlong waits are over.
(No WOM filed.)

Super happy for you! Someone at the consulate must have picked up a stack of us September interviews.

On 2/18/2023 at 7:56 AM, Canucklehead said:

Has anyone on here actually went to visit their spouse in the USA after being given the 221(g)? 

Many people on here have said it's ok to visit as long as you respect all requirements (I.e. 6 months in 12 month window) but I can't help but be a little nervous! 

I would love to fly down for a few weeks just to visit and would love to hear anyone else's experiences (I.e. were you hassled by customs or was it clear sailing, etc.).

My fiancé is currently here in the US visiting for a month. No issues at the border.

12 hours ago, Siarg said:

No need to apologize, almost everyone  here has had the same or very similar situation happen to them. 
 

When you’re placed in AP, it very much appears that Montreal does a SAO (Security Advisory Opinion) which is essentially what 5535 is. 
 

Montreal has a reputation for doing this more than almost any other consulate in the world, and nobody knows exactly why. There have been theories, but honestly the thing that makes the most sense to me is that Canada is very easy to immigrate to. There are people that move to Canada just to be closer to America. 
 

Basically whenever you’re placed in AP at Montreal, there are two “pathways” your AP goes. One is with your consular officer, keeping note of your case and what they need to follow up on. The other is DOS background check. 
 

This seems to have been the cause of everyone’s issues, and became very obvious when the Afghanistan withdrawal took over as priority #1 over any other background check. Thousands of visas put into a pile that wasn’t moving, and then 1-2 years of cases backed up by putting them all into the “we’ll do this after the background check” pile. 
 

In this group the wait time varies from 4 months to over a year. Most of the movement has been due to lawsuits, with the occasional organic case movement. 
Obviously it’s up to you, but if you want to have this resolved in the next few months, I would recommend filing a lawsuit if you can. 
 

A lawsuit guarantees something will happen, waiting could be another year. 
 

I’m very pro-lawsuit after experiencing it here, in DV, and in multiple visa categories. The most happy people are the ones that file a lawsuit and almost everyone wishes they did it earlier. 

Even the theory that people move to Canada to be close to the US is odd. My fiancé was born and raised in Canada. He’s never traveled anywhere outside the US or Canada. 
 

This seems to happen to a lot of people born and raised in Canada. It just doesn’t make sense. 
 

I got in touch with PIC law. It’s been nearly 150 days since our interview, and that is enough.

18 hours ago, Canucklehead said:

Once you receive this email after 221(g) are you expected to mail the passport in immediately? Honestly, part of me wants to just fly to the USA and enter as a tourist. I don't even mind that I'll have to fly back to send the passport- just want to be with my spouse. Also don't want to mess anything up at this stage either so is this even an option? Any help would be appreciated!

There's no need to mail in your passport until the consulate requests it, typically right before your visa is issued. 

You can still travel as a tourist. 

14 minutes ago, dennisv said:

Congrats @ice-qube... What kepts you going all those years??? Was it not a possibility to have the spouse come to Canada?

 

Anyone think, at what point do you think, F** it and maybe have the spouse immigrate to Canada???

We are definitely considering this. 
 

The thing that really sucks about this option is that we would have to get married to do it, which would mean completely abandoning our K-1. 

I have to rant a moment. The absolute worst care scenario I feared when we were given DS-5535 has come about. I work in tech and I was laid off today. This isn’t super surprising to me given macroeconomic trends and the wave of layoffs across the tech industry. I was worried it might happen when we were given DS-5535. Instead of my fiancé being here, able to get me on his health insurance and help financially with the mortgage, I am in the situation of dealing with all of this alone and trying to do it as fast as I can to make sure this doesn’t mess up immigration.  This situation would be immeasurably easier if we weren’t put in AP for no good reason. 
 

This sucks.

2 minutes ago, throwitaway said:

I don’t think it will be paused, they’re waiting for the relevant agencies to return an opinion on you and it’s not like those agencies have your physical passport.

 

If you’re really concerned you can get a white temp passport. Tell Passport Canada the duration of your upcoming work trips and that your passport is in the possession of a foreign embassy. 

It would be worth asking the consulate about that language. It certainly seems possible that they could get clearance from the relevant 3 letter agencies but deprioritize actually issuing the visa if they don’t have your passport in hand. Many people who have filed WoM have gotten nearly immediate replies, which seems to imply that the consulate already has the necessary clearances and just hadn’t finished processing the case on their side. 

1 hour ago, PZibran325 said:

It helps them clear the interview queue. They have a backlog of interviews from covid times during which they were working under limited operations so they were not scheduling many interviews during that time they had an appropriate excuse for not being able to scheudle interviews in a timely manner. Now that that "emergency" is over and they are back to full operations there is pressure to schedule interviews in a timely manner. There's not much of an excuse they can give to delay interviews, so they have been scheduling those in a timely manner however that may have resulted in them not having the time to perform additional checks on the documents they have received from the NVC which they would have under normal circumstances. So while they have scheduled interviews in a timely manner, they haven't necessarily been able to perform second checks on the interviewees documents etc. So some of us believe this is why they put applicants under AP and push that part down the line. Because with AP they can keep saying there is not time limit for that process but for setting interviews they cannot say that. It's circular and convoluted and only pushes the bucket down the line, but I hope that clears up why some of us think that way. Also do note that once the case it is not necessarily the consulates job to perform checks, so they clear their own queue but pass the buck to someone else.

Interesting. I still somewhat doubt this based on how some officers explain the DS-5535 - “The system flagged you”, more or less. It was clear from how the officer interacted with my fiancé that he had been flagged beforehand and that the interview was more or less a formality at that point. He barely asked any questions. 
 

I would love to get in touch with the higher ups at the state department to get some answers, but I’m sure that’s functionally impossible.

36 minutes ago, PZibran325 said:

I'm not sure if I understand the thought process behind  extreme vetting (which is what DS 5535 is ) of Canadian passport holders who can easily cross the border without ever going through the immigration process. Regular background checks and clearances should in general be enough. I don't think it is a process that should be used as frequently as it seems to be used by the Montreal consulate.

 

I know many have disagreed with you in the past when you have suggested they are using it to clear their interviewing queues, but I'm inclined to consider that is probably the reason for putting so many through AP. Especially since During the course of my research, I have read that The U.S. consular officer decides on the day of the visa interview which applicants must complete the DS-5535. So it would seem that It is gross ineptitude and inefficiencies on their part that has lead to such alarmingly increasing numbers of AP with DS 5535 .  Other than this possibility, putting Canadian passport holders through this process seems to defy logic regardless of whether it takes months or years to clear. 

 

As for the WOM, I understand it is being delayed for you have you seen it being delayed for others?

How would this realistically help them close interviewing queues? Approvals mean they don’t have to see the applicant ever again. DS-5535 keeps people in the system longer - the opposite of what should, logically, be their objective.

We’re coming up on 60 days since we got the DS-5535. I will probably send an inquiry to the consulate in the coming days. 
 

Any recommendations on when we should start thinking about WoM?

11 minutes ago, ice-qube said:

What's worse, it looks like they are starting to delay as much as they can on the WOM cases too. I hope I am wrong. I will feel like a HUGE sucker if I actually put down $5k USD to be transported into a new black hole.

Have they successfully shot down a WoM case yet? 

5 hours ago, BatmanFlow said:

i remember telling my mom we will be celebrating holidays together, thanksgiving, Christmas, etc......that was last year! and it seems like we wont even get to do that this year...

Same. I’m trying to plan a trip to see my fiancé for Christmas in Canada. Kind of a gut punch considering we thought we’d be married and in the US by now.

5 minutes ago, Mmk2112 said:

Ok please stay in touch if you hear anything 

That's sad 

I’m just sad to hear that so many people are getting DS-5535 that close together. The overall percentage of interviewees going into AP must be stupidly high.

2 hours ago, Mmk2112 said:

My interview was on Sept 12th.. AP case 5535.. CR1.. sent 5535 next day

 

Case Status showing updates Sept 13th, Sept 15th, Oct 12th, Oct 18th, Oct 21st.. 

 

At least I know they are working on my file. Fingers crossed. 

 

Any one else in similar situation?

Yes. Our interview was the 13th. We had updates Sept 16th, Oct 11th, and Oct 12th. Nothing since, which is discouraging.

9 minutes ago, Jorgedig said:

Being asked to do the DS-5535 is not related to having gotten a 221g for a missing medical.

I’m aware, thanks. We received both. Finally got an answer back from Telus today that they accidentally sent a partial medical and sent the rest over the day after his interview. Now all we can do is wait out the DS-5535.

11 minutes ago, Throwitaway1988 said:

I think in the past it’s taken six weeks to get a response after sending in a missing document. May be longer now.

Yikes. 
 

The especially annoying aspect of this is that Telus swears the consulate got his medical a solid week before his interview, but the consulate claimed they don’t hate it. They use an electronic platform, so it’s difficult to see how it could’ve gotten lost. 

How long does it typically take to get a response from the consulate? We emailed them on the 14th to confirm they have received my fiancé’s medical (one of the reasons we received the 221(g)), but we still haven’t heard back from them. Telus hasn’t been able to reach them either. It’s likely that this isn’t the only reason we received DS-5535, but it would be really nice to get it cleared up!

12 hours ago, roshakky said:

No they gave all the documents back after interview.

 

They wanted to see the resume to look at job duties...maybe because he's a chemical engineer.

It would be interesting to see FOIAs on our cases. I imagine a number of people with STEM skills come through Montreal, which could explain the excess of DS-5535s coming from there.