Siarg
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Inveigh reacted to a post in a topic:
The dreaded DS-5535 thread for Montreal. Post here and support each other (PART 2)
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Inveigh reacted to a post in a topic:
The dreaded DS-5535 thread for Montreal. Post here and support each other (PART 2)
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Inveigh reacted to a post in a topic:
The dreaded DS-5535 thread for Montreal. Post here and support each other (PART 2)
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Inveigh reacted to a post in a topic:
The dreaded DS-5535 thread for Montreal. Post here and support each other (PART 2)
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Siarg reacted to a post in a topic:
The dreaded DS-5535 thread for Montreal. Post here and support each other (PART 2)
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Siarg reacted to a post in a topic:
The dreaded DS-5535 thread for Montreal. Post here and support each other (PART 2)
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igoyougoduke reacted to a post in a topic:
Writ of Mandamus
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Jordanian Bride reacted to a post in a topic:
The dreaded DS-5535 thread for Montreal. Post here and support each other (PART 2)
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ice-qube reacted to a post in a topic:
The dreaded DS-5535 thread for Montreal. Post here and support each other (PART 2)
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ice-qube reacted to a post in a topic:
The dreaded DS-5535 thread for Montreal. Post here and support each other (PART 2)
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Yes not for your fiancé in particular - but the reason that Montreal is strict on ALL immigration. Canada has a reputation of being easy to move to, as well as easy to get through fraudulently. It’s possible that because of this, USA is super strict on everyone coming from Canada even Canadian citizens and Canadian-born. It’s just a theory, personally behaving been part of many immigration group chats for the last year, Canada absolutely has an international reputation for being lax on immigration.
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mam521 reacted to a post in a topic:
The dreaded DS-5535 thread for Montreal. Post here and support each other (PART 2)
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LAMA9 reacted to a post in a topic:
The dreaded DS-5535 thread for Montreal. Post here and support each other (PART 2)
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Siarg reacted to a post in a topic:
The dreaded DS-5535 thread for Montreal. Post here and support each other (PART 2)
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I was a Diversity Visa, so I had to have a result as quickly as possible. We had been on 5535 waiting for months and the deadline to be issued a DV visa is September 30th. I actually filed a WoM and TRO (Temporary Restraining Order) at the same time. The TRO is to get a court response forced, and not allow them to delay. We got our visa issued within 1 week. Received the visas/passports in the mail a week later. I contacted Chris and he handled it all for us, and Alex stepped in for a day when Chris was away. Just let him know your situation, your plan, the relevant dates, etc WoM is pretty standard and straightforward, the part where having a good lawyer is the relationships they have with the District attorneys of the court. Lazy lawyers don’t do that, but Chris knew the clerks and DAs etc
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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.
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Usually non-5535 is because of a missing document or questions about validity of documents. if everything was all good and nothing seemed weird, it is probably the same background check as 5535 anyway. The questionnaire usually doesn’t give them much new information
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I’ll +1 for PIC Law - you might’ve seen my post about them but it was way back. They’re a genuine immigration law firm that deals with complex issues and know the ins and outs. As others have mentioned, you only deal with actual lawyers, not assistants or paralegals. I personally communicated with mostly Chris Casassaza and Alex Isbel. They’re fantastic, not expensive and actually competent. Many of the popular names you see mentioned in forums and group chats are what I call “churn firms” that charge 5k+ USD to submit the same copied and pasted documents with some personal details changed. Really gross behaviour in my opinion. PIC writes it specifically based on your case, your information, relevant laws and case history that apply to your situation. I’m framing my copy of the lawsuit. edit: anyone that ONLY files WoM, in my opinion, is a lazy lawyer. If there is an entire law firm set up to file one of the simpler legal filings in bulk, you’re paying them to file paperwork and not do much else.
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Siarg reacted to a post in a topic:
The dreaded DS-5535 thread for Montreal. Post here and support each other (PART 2)
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They are both illegal, the “digital nomad” is just usually overlooked. It’s not even a grey area, it’s not allowed in essentially every country with a tourist visa, but it’s not really monitored. If you are actively pursuing an immigrant visa, I would advise you to stop working remotely for extended periods on a tourist visa. If this were to be pressed, investigated or even asked during your interviews or background checks, you could be denied. And if you lie, and they know you lied, it could be denied. You haven’t found some secret that nobody had ever considered, it’s illegal to do any work in the US on a tourist visa. “Canadians are reminded that U.S. law requires entrants to qualify for the desired stay and purpose of travel at the time of their initial entry. A visitor who intends to live, work, or study in the U.S. and who does not disclose this information to the Consular or CBP officer beforehand may be permanently barred from the United States“
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Siarg reacted to a post in a topic:
The dreaded DS-5535 thread for Montreal. Post here and support each other (PART 2)
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I’ve seen it with all of the recommended ones, however you should be coming up to a response time soon, no? Usually it’s 60 days to respond, and the reason these law firms can be hands off is because the government lawyers usually just settle it before they have to argue against it (leading to a voluntary dismissal). There was a period where they were requesting more time for another 20-30 days, but that seems to have passed now. The paralegal telling you to contact the consulate is just a palming off technique to feel like you’re doing something, they know that no amount of contacting will change the case.
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Just going to post again to reiterate as has been seen by ice cube - I really advise against using writ of mandamus churn firms. It’s simply a cash cow and if you aren’t able to speak directly with the attorney, you aren’t getting your moneys worth. You can go on the website AVVO and search for immigration attorneys. Almost every single attorney will be licensed to practice in DC so their state isn’t relevant (as long as they can file in DC). I found my lawyer who was never mentioned on any forums by looking at Law360 and finding successful WoM cases filed in DC. For reference I used Chris Casazza at PIC Law. Every single time I communicated with them, it was with Chris (name partner) directly, or another name partner. The lawyers that churn out WoM as their entire practice seem to just file and forget, because it can work out for them hands off. It’s genuinely possible for them to work harder for you and communicate with the government attorneys. Not having at least a direct email to them should not be acceptable. I had a direct cell number to Chris.
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Siarg reacted to a post in a topic:
Incompetence of USPS
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Siarg reacted to a post in a topic:
Incompetence of USPS
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A visitor visa is very different from citizen sponsored immigration and you know that. It doesn’t need to be said that if there is fraud or hidden crimes, obviously a WoM will not magically work in your favour. None of this is legal advice and no one here is operating under that presumption. If a question is asked in an immigration forum, the presumption should be that they are legally eligible, not the opposite. Yes we see a lot of fraud and a lot of people trying to hide their crimes, they state it blatantly! This thread did not. Two strawman arguments in a row after piling on the OP as though it’s their fault for asking a question. The presumption of wrongdoing is completely ignoring the hundreds or thousands of cases on this website of visas that have been held for no reason at all. The department of state is perfectly capable of processing their background checks faster than 3 years and everyone here knows it.
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Siarg reacted to a post in a topic:
Writ of Mandamus
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Literally the only time it doesn’t work is when they have a legal reason for denial. Even if you “lose” the lawsuit, they continue to process under AP. They legally cannot deny a visa just because they want to. There has to be a defined specific instance of ineligibility. I really don’t know why this forum is so anti-litigation. Everyone here knows that there are issues with immigration, delays, convoluted rules and absurd administrative processing. Any time you have seen a denial on here there is a specific reason.
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Correct, historically requesting a medical means they are ready to process the visa, otherwise it literally is a waste of time and money, creates more paperwork for them to process and if they are not ready to issue the visa, that is caused by the consulate. It is possible to be in AP without an active medical, and regularly people have an expired medical after 1-2 years and when they are advised to get a new medical it indicates they are ready for processing. Of course they are not obligated to issue a visa after that, but it is entirely unnecessary to have an active medical for them to do the checks. There was an active medical for 6 months, so they cannot claim they expect medical to be grounds for inadmissibility.
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The doctrine of consular nonreviewability applies to decisions such as denials and complete refusals. it has been agreed time and time again by federal courts that Administrative Processing is not a final decision or final refusal, though they continue to claim it is. The established immigration case law and judges decisions have proven year after year that AP is not a final decision, and is not protected by the clause.
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Would recommend PIC Law, and filing the WoM. The person that said it would force a “no” is incorrect. The only reason there would be at forced no is if there is a lawful ground to deny the visa such as your husband having a criminal background, etc. They can’t deny a visa because they didn’t complete a background check in 3 years, there has to be a lawful reason that is disclosed to deny a visa which is written out clearly in 9FAM. It also would have been a better situation if you had accepted the visas, immigrated and then filed WoM. As also mentioned above because you have citizen relatives that is helpful. I went with PIC law to file my WoM for Diversity Visa and also did a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) because we needed an answer ASAP towards the end of the deadline for our visa. This forced our visas to be approved and mailed in a week. Speak to Chris or Alex at PIC and they will be able to tell you your options. I had started a lawsuit with another firm that churns out WoM and after months with nothing happening and a court transfer, I fired them and went with Chris.
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Side note, @throwitaway went through this exact same situation with DV2022, he would be the best to answer your questions, DV is rare in this forum.
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His immigrant visa expires in march, yours has no expiration yet because you have not been issued yet. You have interviewed, but you have no visa. Your husband can cross and activate his and your child’s, but you won’t be able to move until your visa is issued. I would really recommend you read through this thread if you haven’t already, because honestly there are hundreds of pages of people being separated from their family and children because of US immigration. They will do that and don’t care, many of the people in this thread have been separated from their families for extended periods. This is not a fast-resolving issue most of the time, and it is a very real possibility that your visa could still not be issued by the end of the fiscal year next year. Which means you could be unable to use DV to immigrate. I’m not saying that is going to happen, but last year there were many people that waited until the very end to get their DV visa, and many including my husband had to file lawsuits to get that. there is nothing you can do right now except wait, but I would start setting aside money now for the idea of filing a lawsuit (estimate around 5kUSD). If you save up over Months it’s a lot easier to stomach than getting to June and realizing you have to come up with a bunch of money.
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