AP_since_May2023

I filed with Rafael Urena

Thank you. I saw this thread too, but it was directed more at USCIS for I-485.
 
My case will be directed to NVC / US Consulate / DHS.

Don't go with them, they have bad customer service. Go with Curtis Lee Morrison, he charges less ($4000) than Goldstein

Hacking is fine too (a bit more expensive). Since AP cases are very easy, they are just using their common lawsuit template putting your name, so it doesn't make sense to pay so much. I would go with Curtis Morrison, because he is doing more difficult litigation than Goldstein or Hacking, and in my experience, more approachable.

Here is the conclusion of my story. -[My immigrant interview was on Nov 29 2022, and the visa was approved on the spot. However, I later received the DS-5535 form, and since Dec 1 2022 the case was stuck in administrative processing. Having waited for two months, I filed the lawsuit on Feb 1 2023 to compel the State Department to issue my visa.
 
The lawsuit deadline is April 24 2023. Magically, on April 4 2023 the US consulate in Amsterdam told me to repeat my medical exam and return my passport for visa issuance.
 
So, if you get the DS-5535, file the mandamus lawsuit on the NEXT day. Don't wait for 2 months, like I did. According to one experienced litigator, the Biden administration (luckily) does not fight these lawsuits at all, and they just print the visa, because it is more work for them to backfire at you. 
 
Otherwise, it takes anywhere from 4 to 11 months for the DS-5535 to get cleared. This has horrible consequences for employment-based immigrants, because the priority date started to retrogress this year.
 
I hope this information would help others to get unstuck

They filed a WoM about two  months after getting AP'ed and got their case cleared a month later.

This helps because at every entry the officer determines intent although regular crossing vs going for an interview are two different things. They have much more access and time at hand to go over your profile and if anything does not fit it’s completely at their discretion. There is nothing we can do about it

Thanks! The WoM definitely pushed our case forward. We started seeing a lot of movement after that. 

Hey guys. I just wanted to post our timeline here in case anyone is interested. 
 
* Application to USCIS - April 19 2021
* USCIS approved, case transferred to NVC - April 29 2022
* NVC DQed - Oct 7 2022
* Interview date - Feb 3 2023
* Put in AP same day
* DS 5535 received 3 days later and form sent in Feb 9
* Writ filed May 2 2023
* Last defendant served May 11 - July 10 answer due 
* June 6 request to send passport
- arrived June 12
* Issued - June 21
* Documents received - June 23
 
Couple of notes:
 
Hacking law - who said criteria for filing more focused on date USCIS approved rather than when placed in admin processing. As long as 12 months from USCIS approval they seemed to think it was fine to file a writ. Part of the reason we went with them so we could file sooner.
 
Didn’t realize we couldn’t import our cars because they don’t have a tire pressure monitoring system. Something to look forward to.
 
Husband has received his social but still waiting on green card. Having some issues with drivers license because even though he’s a permanent resident now apparently when the lady looked him up it says his i94 expires in November so she issued his DL with expiry in Nov too. 
 
Other than that I’m glad it’s all over. Such an unfair process for everyone going through this. Good luck to anyone still dealing with AP!! Hope you guys get some good news soon!

Sorry for the late reply! But no his status did not change then. Stayed as refused until about a week after they received his passport then it changed to issued.

HI, guys please help me, my lawyer told me the priority date announced for August and is back to October 2017 for my category it means I must wait 2 years for my priority case be current and we must voluntary dismiss our case in court? It means I have to wait 2 years my case be currents just because I was in AP 

Hi everyone, been following this thread for a bit. My husband interviewed in Montreal on April 27 and was asked to fill out a DS-5535 which we submitted a few days later. The last update to his case was May 8 until one on July 11. We haven't heard anything from the embassy in regards to that update and it was unsolicited. Curious if anyone else that interviewed around that time has seen any updates or movement or if random updates with no communication is typical. We're over two years in at this point and super frustrated like the rest of you. 

To make matters worse, my friend just got engaged to a girl from South East Asia. She barely speaks English and has no formal training of any kind and they got accepted in under a year. This system is absolutely broken when an uneducated ESL speaker can get in before a university educated native English speaker. Feeling super (removed) off today.

I had my interview at the Singapore Consulate, but yes they requested for the original.

It only changes once printing process initiates, which is usually only when the passport is in their posession.
 
It changes from “Refused” to either “Ready” or “Administrative Processing”. Finally, when the visa is printing, it changes to “Issued”.

Usually DOS’ Blinken, then consul general of MTL, then ambassador to Canada, then the legal affairs office of DOS

Hey guys! Some good news finally! 
After 9 months since my interview, they requested a new medical and my passport.
Does this mean there's a light at the end of the tunnel?

Ill be calling Telus health to rebook another dreaded apointment cause I can't seem to do it online.
And checking courier instructions.
however, I am travelling till beginning of august, is it ok to book my appointment for after? And how long does it take after I do the test and send my passport to issue the visa?
 
Could there be any other obstacles or am I close to the end? Thanks for any insight. 

Today, we have officially filed WoM. 
 
And now, we wait. 

Hi everyone, my wife and I had our interview last month and we finally got approved... Just sharing our journey from getting the interview letter to getting the visa endorsed. This forum has been extremely helpful in getting us prepared for the interview (and even later with crossing the border/importing car etc.). This is a long post but I wanted to cover some of the stuff that was unique to us but will be helpful to others who may find themselves in similar scenarios (e.g. change of citizenships, pregnant during medical exam, request for additional docs etc.).
 
INTERVIEW LETTER:
We got the interview letter around 45 days before the scheduled interview. 6-7 days after we got our interview letters, we started gathering all required docs and called Dr. Lee’s medical center for appointment and asked a few questions about what documents to bring in, x-ray process etc.  
MEDICAL EXAM:
Dr. Lee and his staff were great to deal with. We called for appointment a week after getting the interview letter and we were able to get an appointment on our preferred day of the week. Neither of us had the vaccine records (both of us had gotten the vaccine shots as kids but we didn’t have any records…didn’t grow up in Canada).
1)      What do if you don’t have any vaccination record: TITRES TEST
We asked our primary doctor to get this test done and the turnaround for the results was around a week. Highly recommend getting the titres test report BEFORE your medical. Will make your and the Medical Examiner’s life easier.
2)      Tetnus
I got the tetnus shot from my primary doctor and got the record of that shot from his office. My wife was given the shot 2 years ago which isn’t valid for this medical exam. So, she had to take another one with me.
3)      Covid Vaccine: If you took your Covid vaccine in Canada, get your certificates from here
How to get your COVID-19 vaccine certificate | Ontario.ca
Ontario COVID-19 vaccination service (ontariohealth.ca)
4)      X-Ray (during pregnancy)
My wife was 14 weeks pregnant at the time of our Medical exam. You cannot not have the X-ray done. It was pretty clear that this was a requirement to clear the medical. At first, we almost decided to reschedule the interview (so that we could delay the X-ray until after the delivery). But after weeks of research, and talking to our Primary physician and couple of other doctors , we found out that the chest x-rays are safe and does not impact the baby (they provided shields during the x-ray).
Few days after our medical exam was completed (Apr 29), the date on our CEAC status changed to May 2. I checked with Dr. Lee’s office and they confirmed that the report was sent to the consulate a few days ago.  
 
MONTREAL CONSULATE:
- LOCATION: We reached Montreal a day prior to our interview and checked into a hotel nearby. Drove around the consulate in the evening to make sure that we know where we needed to go the next morning. I’ve been to numerous US Consulates (its been a long journey lol) and was expecting to see the typical US stuff (flag etc) marking the US consulate. But I couldn’t see any of that and it took me a while to realize that the consulate was sort of inside the RBC building.
- PARKING: We reached the consulate 30 mins before our interview and parked the car behind the consulate building. There is a parking lot behind the building and at ~7:45 AM it only had a few cars parked there.
- PHONES: At the main entrance, the security asked for our passports/interview letter and then let us in (not many people were there at that time). They do a airport type security scan at the ground level. You are not allowed to take anything with you except your file. Lockers are available to store cellphones near the security thing. Lockers are small but enough to store wallets and phones (someone had not turned off their phone and it kept ringing in the locker… better to shut down your phones).  
- Restrooms and water fountains are available in the main waiting area.
 
- FIRST WINDOW: First you will be called by your number where they will check your original civil documents. They asked my wife to sit back in the waiting area and it was me who went through the original documents for both of us. If you are going with your spouse, make sure both of you are familiar with each other’s documents/file.
- CHANGE OF CITIZENSHIP:  Both me and my wife had applied and gotten our Canadian citizenships (and passports) AFTER getting DQ’d. In the original DS260 submitted in 2020 there was no mention of Canadian passports and we had given the passport details from our country of origin. (Our country of origin doesn’t recognize multiple citizenships which rendered our original passports sort of invalid). For this reason, I was a bit nervous. I checked multiple forums but couldn’t find an answer. I wasn’t clear if I was supposed to call the consulate and get the passport info updated… would that push my DQ date? What if they decide to use the original passport... which was no longer “valid” to travel…Well we just decided that we will use our new Canadian passports at the interview…
When the lady at the first window asked for our passports I told her that we recently became Canadian citizens and handed both passports (Canadian and country of origin)…  she straight away took the Canadian passport and said “I don’t need the old passport now”. I was relieved BUT this would almost cost me a new job offer from the US that I would get 2 hours after this interview (will come back to that later).
After getting our original Civil Docs (she made copies and returned everything except the passports) she took our fingerprints. She then asked us to wait in the main area.
 
- INTERVIEW: We were called in for the interview about 15 mins later. The visa officer was super nice and very easy to talk to. Questions she asked:
-          What is your area of specialization? (applied thru EB1A)
-          Do you have a PhD in that field? ( I did…told her about the school)
-          What do you plan to do? (told her that I interviewed for a job in the US a few days ago and was expecting to get an answer very soon… she wished me luck and said “I hope you get the job”).
-          Asked me where that job was and then small-talked about that place
-          Where did we travel outside US and Canada in the last 5 years?
That was it…she said she had no other questions and that she intends to approve our visas. We were out of the consulate in 45 mins.
CEAC STATUS: We reached our hotel and started checking the CEAC status. While I was fixated on refreshing the CEAC status, I got an email from the company I had interviewed for. They sent me an offer letter with numbers higher than what I was expecting and a start date which was 4 weeks later (that was the max they could wait before I get my GC and move there). I was ecstatic… But 5 minutes after I got that email, the CEAC status finally changed…. And it had changed from “READY” to “REFUSED” !
 
- EMAIL (DOS FOLLOW UP): Soon after the status change, we both got emails from the consulate asking for additional documents. And the document asked was “the original passport” which had all previous US visa stamps. It was frustrating as 1) we had the passports with us at the time of interview 2) we presented it to the lady…but she said she didn’t need it.
 
- SENDING ADDITIONAL DOCUMENTS: We were probably sitting less than 500m from the consulate but we couldn’t just go and give the documents to them. You are expected to log in to the AISUSVISA.info website account and download a return label and then ship the requested documents to the consulate through Canada Post. We went to one of the CP’s offices listed in the return label instructions page and shipped the additional docs. CP will give you tracking number to see if the packet has been rcvd.
 
- STATUS CHANGES AND WAIT: After that all we could do was wait. Our CEAC status changed the day our packet was delivered to the consulate, then the day after that and then 4 days after that. With my joining date approaching fast I was getting restless day by day…It remained REFUSED until it finally changed to “ISSUED” on the 18th day after our interview. Finally!
 
- GETTING THE PASSPORTS: 3 days later we got the tracking number and then a day later we got texts that the passports were delivered to our selected CP location. You are supposed to take one ID with you which has the same address on it which you had used for passport delivery. If it doesn’t match the address, then CP will most likely not handover the packet to you.
 
- ACTIVATING AND MOVING: After getting the passports, we couldn’t wait long and decided to get the visas activated a few days later… We went to the Lewiston bridge and got the visas activated and also imported our car before doing the final move… We then returned back to Canada the next day. I used the endorsed visa to start my new job remotely while we finish packing and prepare for a long road trip across the border.

I believe we all share the same experience. We had thought that the interview was going to be the final step, only to be slapped in the face by AP...

Hi There,
 
I’ve been following along silently for a couple weeks. It’s nice to be able to read everyone stories for some comfort that we’re not alone on this. My husband and I went for our interview for our EB-1A visa May 26th 2023. We had no idea the DS5535 was even an option. I knew some people got chosen for extended processing but anything I saw was the person had been refused entry to the states before. That there was a reason. For us there is no reason. Our lawyer didn’t prepare us for this possibility. It’s been 5 years since my husband started the process, he added me on his and it’s been two years for me. Our lawyer said you’re already approved so there shouldn’t be a problem. We walked into that embassy happy as clams. We assumed when answering questions just to answer simply and not extrapolate  which I now think was the mistake. But usually at border crossings that’s how you answer so it’s what we did. We answered about 3 or 4 basic very conversational almost questions of the officer. She was super nice.
 
She said, So what will you be doing in the states? My husband answers I’ll be working in the industry in LA., (I didn’t answer here and maybe I should have about my job etc but she was on to the next question)
 
Have you been working on anything recently? Yes (listed tv show name he is working on) 
 
Have you lived anywhere outside of the US or Canada? No 
 
Where have you travelled to over the last 5 years? Listed South Africa, USA, Costa Rica, Mexico, and Portugal. 
 
My husband did most of the talking. Not for any reason it just kind of happened that way. I’m not sure if I should’ve spoke up more. She said okay I’m going to
give your passports back to you. We looked shell shocked. And she said you’ve been randomly selected for extensive processing. This happens sometimes. I said something to my husband about how he answered one of the questions. She heard and said it was nothing that you said. It typically takes two weeks for processing. She said I could keep your passports but sometimes it takes longer so I’m going to give them back. 
 
That was it. We went back to the hotel and got the email in the afternoon. It took us almost 2 weeks to fill everything out because we’ve travelled a lot and I grew up in a border town and a lot of my family is in the states so I had to figure out as many times as I could every time I went to the states (usually 5 times a year or more) Plus backpacking through Europe after college and various other trips. So we sent it in on June 7, 2023. Two weeks has past and nothing. I mean I didn’t expect it since what I’ve seen on here but I think my husband wanted to be hopeful. I’m 37 and we are wanting to start a family soon. It’s so hard to do that with this looming. I think I read on here or somewhere else that someone had a baby while on DS5535 and then the embassy wanted another interview with in Montreal with the 7 month old baby present. I don’t want to complicate things more. But who knows how long this will take.
 
I also found this company on YouTube who is made up of ex-immigration officers and it made me even more upset that I just trusted the lawyer and didn’t do more research which I usually always do crazy too much research with stuff like this. They said that when you go there the officer has never seen you case before. That if you bring extra proof and stuff in that you should find ways to give as much information as possible to the officer because they start at “this person does not deserve to be approved” and you are basically convincing them otherwise! Which I thought was insane. Why do you go through all the paperwork and approval process then? It makes no sense… and if that’s what they want more extrapolated answers then why isn’t this communicated in any way? 
 
So now we are on this waited game again. Hoping it’s going faster now post pandemic but we’ll see I guess. I was wondering has anyone started an Excel sheet for tracking everyone’s cases and dates, and approvals? I know they do that on other threads for the first part of the approval process to kind of get an idea of where they might be in the line of approvals.  

Hi SalishSea,
That is the truth, the consulate would like to send out  DS5535 rather that a simple approve. I am Australian citizen and also be stuck in the process from 7 March this year. 

Successfully crossed the border yesterday morning via Pearson and reunited with my wife and baby girl. No issues on crossing. They took my fingerprints again and had my verify my US residential address. Now just wait for the physical card

Any idea why some applicants wait a short while (<3 months) while others wait almost 1 year despite both receiving DS-5535? 
 
Anyone receive DS-5535 despite not having any relations to MENA countries/heritage?

Thank you!! Our last defendant was served May 11th and their answer to the lawsuit due by July 10th. So June 21st status changed to issued and then got the passport on the 23rd which is way faster than we expected!