Hopelessincanada

Nothing. They still haven’t looked at it since Aug 22. I called a lawyer- retainer is 5k, so we can’t do that. I called the Washington DC office of my senator this morning (I’m sick of being ignored by the CA office) and finally got a hold of a human, so she’s going to contact the office that is supposed to be taking care of the immigration requests. Other than that, nothing. How about you?

This process in unreal and infuriating to say the very least. I’m now seeing multiple people get their visas who interviewed way after my fiancé AND they had to have additional background checks. My fiancés passport (he didn’t even receive ds5535- has been sitting at the consulate since April. I’ve emailed multiple times with only generic replies. I emailed my senator’s office (California) a month ago, they completely ignored the first request, I called and submitted it all again, and it has been 2 weeks and still nothing. For those who retained an immigration lawyer, did it resolve absolutely anything? I just don’t understand what is happening.

You’re not alone. It’s very difficult to wait for what seems to be very basic paperwork to get done. Our case is similar to the both of you. Fiancé interviewed Jan 16, 2024- 221g for court docs, employment letter- they said send passport with it. We sent everything in April and have had only a handful of updates, half being solicited. Last update was Aug 22. We were supposed to sell our house before mortgage renewal, now we’re on a 6 month term at insane interest. My senators office hasn’t done anything despite 2 requests now as well. I’ll post back here for any updates if they ever come.

We’re nearing 6 months since we’ve submitted passport and docs—- mind you our case isn’t even ds5535. I contacted my congressman 2 weeks ago and called the office today asking about status- they never saw my email even though I got an auto reply from the office. 🙄 Every step of this process has been a nightmare of delays and errors. I resent everything to congressman, and they made sure they saw it this time. So we wait again.

Thank you, I just tried logging in, after putting in case number it goes to the next page asking for invoice number from NVC (is that the one that starts with WAC?) I put the receipt number in that I was provided from NVC and submitted but it says it doesn’t match their records. I’m seriously starting to wonder if our case fell through a bureaucratic black hole.

I wrote the consulate 9/13, I received another generic reply from them 9/24; our case never updated. It’s still at 8/22 for last update. I emailed my senator’s office on 9/24 and have no updates from the office, consulate, and CEAC remains at 8/22. We’re going on month 6 of them having my fiancés passport!

Sorry if this is a silly question. How can you see if that’s re-opened?

I just received a reply to my email I sent on 9/12. Same response as yours: Thank you for your inquiry. As soon as the current review of your case is complete, the Visa Unit will advise of the next steps if anything else is needed to complete processing the case. We hope that this information is helpful in replying to your inquiry. Please let us know if we can be of further assistance. Also, Same reply to the last email I sent. I checked my case status after and it hasn’t even been updated since August 22nd, is that normal to get an email with no date update? We’ve now hit the 5 month mark of the consulate having my fiancés passport. I’m strongly considering going with a law firm at this point. Does anyone mind sharing the costs they incurred going that route? Thanks in advance.

Hi there, his interview was Jan 16. He completed medical on Jan 12. They put him into AP, with 221g asking to send a couple forms along with his passport. We had the complete packet in April and have had nothing since. His medical is now expired so he’s going to have to fly out and do that all over again.

The consulate has had my fiancés passport since April, with generic replies on processing. Our mortgage renewal is Oct 15, we wanted to sell the house well before then and that’s obviously not going to happen. Now we’re going to be on a 6 month term for not signing a 5 year renewal and the mortgage is skyrocketing to 3k per month. The amount of money we’ve wasted because of this visa process…… I hope you both get word on your passports soon, but also be prepared if they hold yours for months.

Hi there, can I ask when you did your medical? I’m pretty sure my fiancé will have to redo his, but I’m seeing different timeframes on the medical expiration. He interviewed 6 days after your spouse. We hit the 180 day mark on Oct 22, so 180 days since we’ve turned in his passport and additional docs. We’re not even a DS case, but I’m seeing people who have additional background checks still getting processed quicker than ours. I don’t understand, but wondering at this point of I should just keep sending emails.

We’re doing k1 process. My fiancé interviewed Jan 16, issued 221g requesting 2 documents and passport. We sent everything-passport included- in April. Our most recent updates were Aug 9, 13, 22, (they sent generic “your case is being reviewed” email response to my email) then nothing. My fiancé did his medical Jan 12, so that’s long since expire but they have yet to ask for a new medical. So they’ve had his passport 4 months, and now we’re sitting around waiting for them to hold it even longer and before they get around to asking for new medical. We’re giving it til the end of September then requesting the passport back. It’s ridiculous.

K1- fiancé visa. Applied Feb 2022, case created July 11, 2023. Took months for interview date to pop up; Couldn’t get interview until Jan 16, 2024. Fiancé was given 221g, requesting court records, letter from my employer, and passport. We couldn’t get that out until April as we were in the states with my family. Never asked for resume, fiancé has no overseas travel, natural born Canadian. Sent docs April 23. They’ve had passport since.

Going to provide an update, as I hope something is happening. As stated above, last update was June 11 from an email I sent. I sent another email July 12, received no reply so I sent the same email again last Monday Aug 5th- I never got an auto reply from that. Our case updated on Friday the 9th, then again today the 13th. I have not received an email reply, so I hope this means we’re close(?)

It’s definitely getting us worried. We’re together right now, but we are one of the unfortunate families in Canada that has their mortgage renewal due. We have to sell our house by October. Will doing this delay our process even more? He was cleared during interview, but forgot 2 docs which is why they said he can go right ahead and send passport with the docs.

Wow, lucky! I sent an email on July 12. We sent passport, court records, employment letter as part of 221g back in April. I sent an email to confirm they received docs. They confirmed back on June 11th. We’ve had zero updates since June 11, no response to my July 12th email. They’ve had passport for 15 weeks now- this can’t possibly be normal.

Congrats. We’re starting to think there’s a problem now. But who knows at this point.

We sent additional docs for 221g along with passport, as requested back on April 22. They’ve had the passport for 3 months. Last update was June 11 (solicited by our email). We’ve had no movement.

We sent passport April 23, last case update June 11 (solicited), and nothing since. We didn’t get DS- we received 221g- sent docs requested and passport. We’re getting pretty nervous that something is going to set us back again.

Hi Ontarkie, Thanks for the reply. He needed a court record, an updated letter from my employer, and they said to send his passport with that.

Hi EB, Thanks for the reply. I actually used Canada post first with tracking, and they denied it- I have no idea why. Correct address and all. I then used the courier the consulate recommended and it went through. They just never provided tracking for it.

Hello to all trying to patiently wait… I’ve been lurking here a bit and finally decided to sign up as I’m just so exhausted and discouraged. We began our journey for a K-1 visa with initial application being sent in Feb of 2022(!). Every step of this process has been a drag. It seemed like every time we received a document and it said “allow 6-8 weeks for processing” we’d go well beyond that. It got to the point where I’d email after those months passed, then magically we’d get our next packet. We finally received a ready for interview in July 2023(!) but no interviews were popping up. That dragged into October when a January interview FINALLY became available- booked it. Fiancé did medical a week before, did interview- he was barely asked any questions at all, said she didn’t even make eye contact with him. Unfortunately he was missing 2 basic documents- we are still kicking ourselves over it because it sounds like he would’ve received the visa on the spot. They gave him the 221g denial and asked for the 2 docs to be mailed with the passport. We were in the states, being snowbirds, so we waited until returning to mail it. We mailed everything April 23- didn’t receive a tracking number from courier. And we waited. CEAC date updated May 6- still denied. I finally emailed (May 21) asking for confirmation that docs were received. Received reply June 12 saying: “We acknowledge receipt of the documents you have provided. This case is currently pending review by a consular officer. As soon as the review is complete, the Visa Unit will advise of the next steps if anything else is needed to complete processing the case. We hope that this information is helpful in replying to your inquiry. Please let us know if we can be of further assistance.” CEAC dates changes occurred again June 6 then 11, still denied. He’s a natural born Canadian, only traveled to US and DR for holidays. Career isn’t under any extra scrutiny. I’m just getting discouraged and am looking to see if anyone else has a similar timeline and offer some kind of glimmer of hope. Thank you for reading.