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Siarg

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  1. Siarg
    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.
  2. Siarg
    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
  3. Siarg
    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.
  4. Siarg
    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
  5. Siarg
    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.
  6. Siarg
    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“
  7. Siarg
    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.
  8. Siarg
    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.
  9. Siarg
    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.
  10. Siarg
    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.
  11. Siarg
    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.
  12. Siarg
    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.
  13. Siarg
    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.
  14. Siarg
    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.
  15. Siarg
    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.
  16. Siarg
    I’ve mentioned previously about WoM “churn firms” that are basically glorified paper pushers - it’s disappointing that Hacking appears to be one of them. This expiration is usually seen after 1 year of inactivity on the account, for example if it was 221g alone, but none of the requested documents had been submitted. This is absolutely something that your lawyer should know, and should be relatively easy to resolve by contacting them, submitting a request form with USCIS, etc. He is your immigration lawyer, he should be able to answer your questions and assist you with your immigration status/case…. Not just file paperwork and then ignore you. Go full Karen!
  17. Siarg
    I thinks exactly why it’s a phone call, because they’re doing it themselves instead of being forced into the decision by DC/DOS. It was the CO that made the decision to make sure everything is all good rather than the computer.
  18. Siarg
    It seems to me like they’re doing a further check on you in the consulate. “True” AP, where it will take them a likely couple of weeks to investigate. if you were not given DS5535, I don’t think it’s a security check like most of us have received here. “True” AP is actually the consular officers investigating your border crossings, any notes left by CBP, verifying your documents, and making sure the new additions at the interview make sense. The additional travel after DS260 can sometimes trigger this even without a border crossing denial. I don’t think there’s anything major to worry about here, but expect to wait a little longer for a decision. I would guess weeks rather than months.
  19. Siarg
    I think both sides are correct. WoM works because they don’t want new case precedent if they lose in court by actually fighting it. WoM works even though there are plenty of legal technicalities they can hide behind and argue against, but 99% of the time they settle out of court by issuing the visa. The Canadian argument was used in our case specifically because they’re constantly bragging about the Canada-US relationship, how modern and digital it is, instantly providing information and background on travellers. They have all the power, but bureaucracy works against them with filing in court, because it’s a lot of time, money and effort to fight against a case that doesn’t have a lot to defend. Ice qube makes a good point that time is really the only thing they have on their side, but you can also argue that immigration has been the time since you first applied, not just since the interview. It’s just the reality that WoM works because it’s a kick up the butt to DOS, and the legal technicalities of it are rarely followed through.
  20. Siarg
    I’m not sure if this question was for me, but I just crossed to activate, moving next year. Still have to wrap things up in Canada (couldn’t prepare to close down business and leave the apartment while we were waiting and now it’s winter and I have a warm seasonal business). If it was resolved when we interviewed we probably would be there!
  21. Siarg
    Yeah, they mailed in on a Thursday, then it was held over the weekend (delivered to the wrong post office apparently) then delivered Tuesday. it was actually delivered Monday but the post office wouldn’t give it to us because they hadn’t processed it yet.
  22. Siarg
    Seconding PIC Law, you can see my previous post about them, they’re not a WoM churn firm. Communication with your attorney is key, especially if it’s your first time ever suing like most of us. You can also branch out and have a look on AVVO, there are many DC lawyers for immigration!
  23. Siarg
    If you already have the passport submission, you’re very close to being issued, a lawyer would be a waste of money at this point - just be patient, they take a while to process documents (their delivery place is separate from the actual consulate)
  24. Siarg
    Not that you're thanking the government for forcing you, it's that you have spent 12 months in total agony. Stressing, fretting, researching and discussing how awful it is. In my opinion, if it's at all possible, the money is worth it to me to not have to worry any more. I was depressed, stressed, anxious, having difficulty sleeping, obsessing and being distracted at work, unable to function properly. I had multiple near-breakdowns and serious issues handling the anxiety of not knowing what my future held and the inability to have structure or planning for my future really got to me. For me, the money was a lot to spend as well (and I paid a cheap lawyer and then a normal priced lawer), it was painful, but I worked hard for it and still think of it as money well-spent. The feeling of relief has completely turned things around for me. I'm optimistic and hopeful, and no longer struggling through every day. Maybe after a year, you've already gotten to that point, and knowing that its a marriage visa; you know eventually they'll get to it. I think spending ~$7k CAD to finally be with your wife, and not being emotionally fried every day is worth it. That being said, it doesn't change the frustration I feel towards the immigration system, the process they put us through and the issues that are causing it to happen to all of us in the first place. I don't feel thankful that it's pay-to-win, I personally hate it. The reality is that there is no way for us to contact DOS, and the consulate isn't the hold up. Senators and Congress contacting the consulate doesn't help because these are not waiting on the consulate, they're waiting on DOS. You will be waiting until they catch up and figure it out, or you can file a lawsuit and have it over pretty quickly. Mine was 7 days, and jgauthi was 10 days. It's up to you.
  25. Siarg
    Hey everyone, good news! We FINALLY got our issuance and crossed the border last night to get the visa stamped. I will give a rundown here because VJ doesn't have a category for Diversity Visa on the timeline. I also understand that many people have been waiting longer than us, but please realize that Diversity Visas are only able to be issued until September 30th for each year, after that you are unable to obtain the visa and have to enter the lottery again. We entered for the 2022 DV in 2020, so we have been waiting 2 years for this. Interview: June 9th 2022, Principal applicant was issued, beneficiary (Canadian citizen spouse) was Refused/221g/AP/DS-5535. There was no obvious reason for why the "extreme vetting" was required, as with many people in this forum. No criminal history, no TAL degree or job, no travel history. It is possible there was a name check match as they have a common spanish last name. We realized through this group that DS5535 can take an unlimited amount of time, and even worse: Montreal had a 50-60% AP refusal rate per interview. Yes, that's right, for every DV interview montreal did, there was a 50% chance of being placed on AP. We figured this out from the CEAC data collected for DV by consulate on xarthisius' website. Anecdotally in Montreal DV group chats, every person we spoke to except for 1 had been given the DS535. Many are Canadian citizens. We hired a cheap lawyer (do not reccomend) and filed a Writ of Mandamus in July, thinking it would be a backup if they delayed until September to get us an issuance before the cutoff time. That first case was a mess, was transferred between courts and largely ignored by the government. It literally just showed up in a new district yesterday. Through this whole time we got the standard template emails of "We cant tell you anything just wait" when we tried to contact Montreal. The only variation we received was a recommendation that I activate my visa without my spouse. I don't think they understand how emotionally devastating this process is, and the lack of transparency could make anyone go insane. We had spent the last 4 months heavily researching everything we could about 9FAM, 5535, lawsuits, INA sections etc and had talked to other lawyers about our options. Every lawyer we spoke to in the group chats/forums were quoting us up to 15k USD to do a last-minute lawsuit. I truly believe some of them are preying on people's desperation the closer it gets to the DV deadline. One even quoted us 6k USD, then a week later said "now it is 12k USD". We made the decision to try to find a lawyer that would help us for the original quote of 6k USD. We went on pacermonitor and searched through all of the WoM lawsuits that were filed in DC recently and emailed around 20 with our story, and our budget. We got a few replies, but the fastest to reply was Christopher Casazza from PIC Law. We had a consulatation with him and he agreed to file our Temporary Restraining Order/Writ of Mandamus for us. Please be aware that a TRO is not always applicable, but in our unique circumstance, it was. We had all of our correct documents, one of us was approved, the candian refused and in AP for 4 months, the only requirements to DV eligibility outside of coutnry is high school graduation. If anyone is looking for a lawyer outside of the standard reccomended lawyers, I would really, really, really strongly reccomend this lawfirm (PIC Law). Many of the other lawyers (Goldstein, Hacking, Nimer, Murthy, Raju) seem to be WoM churn firms. No judgement on that, but having filed with Raju, then filing with Chris Casazza, there is a HUGE difference when you pick an attorney that actually cares about your case. If you're like me, I want to be able to talk about the lawsuit, not just file it and forget. PIC Law is a genuine immigration lawfirm and not a WoM churn farm trawling forums for desperate people. Long story short, we filed the lawsuit, and a week later we had the visa approved. The "CLEARANCE RECEIVED" date is September 20th, CEAC updated to issued on September 21st, and on the physical visa it was printed on September 22nd. DOS contacted Montreal and then asked us to dismiss the lawsuit because it was issued. These lawsuits really seem to be what everyone thinks, the case is just sitting there and the lawsuit prioritzes your clearance. Once we received the passport in the mail, we went straight to Niagara and crossed to stamp the visa. After 4 months of fried nerves, it is finally over and we can't believe it. Looking at the Montreal issuance rates, with 1 day left (because they're taking a vacation on Sept 30th), it really seems to me that this lawsuit was 100% responsible for us getting our visa approved in time. There are 149 DV Cases issued (249 visas) and 27 cases on 221G/5535 (49 visas). It is very possible that 49 people lose their chance of getting a green card because of Montreal's high 5535 rate. They sped up towards the end of the year, but wow. It is horrific what they are doing, and apparently mostly to Canadian citizens. Once more, I can't thank Christopher Casazza enough. I can't post a link here, but Chris, Alex Isbel (two name partners) and Caitlin Costello all helped with our visa at the lawfirm PIC Law (Philadelphia Immigration Lawyers).
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