I had an EB-1A interview, everything seemed fine, but then I received a letter from the consulate — a request to complete form DS-5535. It says they can’t approve the visa and need additional information. Has anyone been through this — what does it mean and how does it usually end?
DS-5535 is a request for additional processing that the consulate sends when it wants more information before making a decision. I’ve heard it can’t be filled out manually — only through the official portal. Sometimes they don’t give the standard checkbox form but just a list of questions — it’s the same thing, just a different sheet format. How it ends varies: for some people everything turns out fine in the end, but the wait can be very long. By the way, there’s an article on the forum about consulates by country that covers different situations — it might be useful.
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It’s basically impossible to predict timelines for DS-5535 — for some people it’s a couple of weeks, for others it’s been pending for over a year. And nobody will tell you exactly what triggered the administrative processing (AP) — that’s the State Department’s internal business.
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