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All dv winners with EU CN 3x,xxx to 39,999 it's our time will we make it?

EURO2014 said:
After several years in the US under various temporary F, J, L & H1B visa categories, today our DV immigrant visas have been approved by the US Consulate in our home country. It was a simple and rather straight forward process and we were in and out in just under one hour. As promised, a brief summary of our experience below.
The US consulate IV Sections process included three specific steps:
Step 1: Appointment verification, visa fee payment by credit card (Amexco, Visa, MasterCard all accepted) and re-confirmation of local address for Passport and Visa Package delivery (we had registered the address of our relatives through the consulate website previously, before the appointment date). Step 1 took approx. 10 minutes, not longer. After that we waited for approx. 10 min., before proceeding to the next window
Step 2: CO went through the list of documents one by one (birth & marriage certificates, police records, high school transcript & financial documentation) with us one by one and always requested to see originals (which were subsequently returned to us at end of step 3) and one copy of each document for consulate files (important: please bring copies of all documents with you to the interview!). We were slightly surprised they requested financial documentation, yet provided them with latest Fidelity account statement and this resolved the matter. We then provided fingerprint scans, updated photos etc. This step took approx. 20 minutes for our family of five. After that we waited for approx. another 10 minutes.
Step 3: A senior CO officer first checked our fingerprints against the ones provided in step 2, took our oaths (all five at the same time), thanked us for being so patient waiting and then engaged us in some "small talk", in order to confirm the information he already had available (i.e. how many years we have lived in the US and where, US college & school of children etc). After approx. 5 minutes of chatting with us, he told us that our visa application had been approved and that the IV department will proceed to the visa issue phase as soon as medical files have been received from the panel doctor. We told him that we completed medicals yesterday and had received confirmation that everything was fine and the records would arrive at the consulate today. He seemed happy that this information would become available shortly and the process could therefore be completed. He then asked us about the date of our return flight to the US and we told him that our kids had to be back for school shortly. He noted the date of our return flight and promised to assign us a high priority ranking, explaining that due to current printing issues, which he hoped would be resolved in the foreseeable future, the actual printing of visas was currently managed on priority assignment basis. He seemed rather confident that we should be fine (we had planned in some safety days already), yet emphasized that he could not guarantee it (which we had not expected anyway). We thanked him for the excellent communication and support, said our good byes and left. This step took an est. 15 minutes.
We had no real wait time to enter the embassy (dedicated IV line, bypassing temporary visa application line), just 5 minutes or so for security check on entering, had left consulate premises within 5 minutes max. - total time, as mentioned above, just less than one hour, couldn't possibly have gone more smoothly.

Hopefully our experience this morning may be of interest to folks in our cohort, going through the same process shortly. Please feel free to ask if you have any specific questions related to any of the above. Best.
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Awesome. Which embassy was that (if it isn't secret?)
 
EURO2014 said:
After several years in the US under various temporary F, J, L & H1B visa categories, today our DV immigrant visas have been approved by the US Consulate in our home country. It was a simple and rather straight forward process and we were in and out in just under one hour. As promised, a brief summary of our experience below.
The US consulate IV Sections process included three specific steps:
Step 1: Appointment verification, visa fee payment by credit card (Amexco, Visa, MasterCard all accepted) and re-confirmation of local address for Passport and Visa Package delivery (we had registered the address of our relatives through the consulate website previously, before the appointment date). Step 1 took approx. 10 minutes, not longer. After that we waited for approx. 10 min., before proceeding to the next window
Step 2: CO went through the list of documents one by one (birth & marriage certificates, police records, high school transcript & financial documentation) with us one by one and always requested to see originals (which were subsequently returned to us at end of step 3) and one copy of each document for consulate files (important: please bring copies of all documents with you to the interview!). We were slightly surprised they requested financial documentation, yet provided them with latest Fidelity account statement and this resolved the matter. We then provided fingerprint scans, updated photos etc. This step took approx. 20 minutes for our family of five. After that we waited for approx. another 10 minutes.
Step 3: A senior CO officer first checked our fingerprints against the ones provided in step 2, took our oaths (all five at the same time), thanked us for being so patient waiting and then engaged us in some "small talk", in order to confirm the information he already had available (i.e. how many years we have lived in the US and where, US college & school of children etc). After approx. 5 minutes of chatting with us, he told us that our visa application had been approved and that the IV department will proceed to the visa issue phase as soon as medical files have been received from the panel doctor. We told him that we completed medicals yesterday and had received confirmation that everything was fine and the records would arrive at the consulate today. He seemed happy that this information would become available shortly and the process could therefore be completed. He then asked us about the date of our return flight to the US and we told him that our kids had to be back for school shortly. He noted the date of our return flight and promised to assign us a high priority ranking, explaining that due to current printing issues, which he hoped would be resolved in the foreseeable future, the actual printing of visas was currently managed on priority assignment basis. He seemed rather confident that we should be fine (we had planned in some safety days already), yet emphasized that he could not guarantee it (which we had not expected anyway). We thanked him for the excellent communication and support, said our good byes and left. This step took an est. 15 minutes.
We had no real wait time to enter the embassy (dedicated IV line, bypassing temporary visa application line), just 5 minutes or so for security check on entering, had left consulate premises within 5 minutes max. - total time, as mentioned above, just less than one hour, couldn't possibly have gone more smoothly.

Hopefully our experience this morning may be of interest to folks in our cohort, going through the same process shortly. Please feel free to ask if you have any specific questions related to any of the above. Best.
Click to expand...

Wow, sincere congratulations, Euro2014, to you and your family!

When I think about the fact that your CN is in the same ratio as mine of 36,300-40,150 (your CN much lower, though-makes significant difference), and that you are already done with the successful interview thanks to opting for CP is absolutely amazing!!! Pretty bold move in my mind, but I am glad that it worked for you!!! Plus you can relax now end enjoy visiting your family and friends back home (if any/applicable) on the same expense :), good summer timing for your number to become current!!!

Enjoy and breathe again!!!
 
Just realized that I have pretty much
till the interview :) Considering that about a year ago I was 99.99999999999% sure 40k cohort won't make it I am super excited! Will have to try not to loose it like Arnie's head in the video :D

Two weeks :cool:
 
franko said:
Just realized that I have pretty much
till the interview :) Considering that about a year ago I was 99.99999999999% sure 40k cohort won't make it I am super excited! Will have to try not to loose it like Arnie's head in the video :D

Two weeks :cool:
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Haha Franky - you are nearly there man - and you'll probably have your visa before I have my GC!
 
@Britsimon do you think my actual address is important in interview steps? I'm trying to explain the situation: I did the application with my address, before first of May 2013 the hole address system of my city changed. I did send the forms to KCC with my new address. Do you think is an issue? I think I am free to change my living address anytime yup? So it doesn't meter the address since it stated in the birth certificate!
 
levi2al said:
@Britsimon do you think my actual address is important in interview steps? I'm trying to explain the situation: I did the application with my address, before first of May 2013 the hole address system of my city changed. I did send the forms to KCC with my new address. Do you think is an issue? I think I am free to change my living address anytime yup? So it doesn't meter the address since it stated in the birth certificate!
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I will answer on behalf of simon buddy, your adresse in your home country isn't an important infos for them, because people change adress and phone numbers.....
As long as your identity infos is still the same no worries ;)
 
vladek15425 said:
I will answer on behalf of simon buddy, your adresse in your home country isn't an important infos for them, because people change adress and phone numbers.....
As long as your identity infos is still the same no worries ;)
Click to expand...
Agreed. In our case the CO made a specific effort to reconfirm the home address information for the purpose of passport & visa delivery, even though we had previously registered it on the local US Consulate website. Just indicates prudence from their side, I guess. Best.
 
EURO2014 said:
Agreed. In our case the CO made a specific effort to reconfirm the home address information for the purpose of passport & visa delivery, even though we had previously registered it on the local US Consulate website. Just indicates prudence from their side, I guess. Best.
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Thank you too EURO2014. Good luck
 
levi2al said:
@Britsimon do you think my actual address is important in interview steps? I'm trying to explain the situation: I did the application with my address, before first of May 2013 the hole address system of my city changed. I did send the forms to KCC with my new address. Do you think is an issue? I think I am free to change my living address anytime yup? So it doesn't meter the address since it stated in the birth certificate!
Click to expand...

Yes the current address us completely unimportant.
 
2014Euro40XXX said:
Wow, sincere congratulations, Euro2014, to you and your family!

When I think about the fact that your CN is in the same ratio as mine of 36,300-40,150 (your CN much lower, though-makes significant difference), and that you are already done with the successful interview thanks to opting for CP is absolutely amazing!!! Pretty bold move in my mind, but I am glad that it worked for you!!! Plus you can relax now end enjoy visiting your family and friends back home (if any/applicable) on the same expense :), good summer timing for your number to become current!!!

Enjoy and breathe again!!!
Click to expand...
A brief update on the status of our CP case, as it possibly may be indicative of current DV visa processing time requirements for our cohort: US Consulate confirmed today, 08/04, that all our medical records have been received on 08/01 (medical visit 07/28, consulate interview 07/29), that visa processing can therefore continue and be finalized, yet without any formal commitment for our passports & visa mailing date, yet. Not a hugh problem for us at the moment, while we truly enjoy our family travel & holidays in France, yet this may well change once the date of our booked return flight approaches. Probably a good idea for everyone to plan in more than enough time, until visa IT issues & backlog have been effectively resolved! Cheers!
 
EURO2014 said:
A brief update on the status of our CP case, as it possibly may be indicative of current DV visa processing time requirements for our cohort: US Consulate confirmed today, 08/04, that all our medical records have been received on 08/01 (medical visit 07/28, consulate interview 07/29), that visa processing can therefore continue and be finalized, yet without any formal commitment for our passports & visa mailing date, yet. Not a hugh problem for us at the moment, while we truly enjoy our family travel & holidays in France, yet this may well change once the date of our booked return flight approaches. Probably a good idea for everyone to plan in more than enough time, until visa IT issues & backlog have been effectively resolved! Cheers!
Click to expand...

Did you check the status on CEAC?

FYI, others that have reported being told they mnight have to wait a month for the printed visa have actually received them within a week or two.
 
EURO2014 said:
A brief update on the status of our CP case, as it possibly may be indicative of current DV visa processing time requirements for our cohort: US Consulate confirmed today, 08/04, that all our medical records have been received on 08/01 (medical visit 07/28, consulate interview 07/29), that visa processing can therefore continue and be finalized, yet without any formal commitment for our passports & visa mailing date, yet. Not a hugh problem for us at the moment, while we truly enjoy our family travel & holidays in France, yet this may well change once the date of our booked return flight approaches. Probably a good idea for everyone to plan in more than enough time, until visa IT issues & backlog have been effectively resolved! Cheers!
Click to expand...
Try to relax, you still have couple of days, but mentally prepare (costly) back up plan!
Stressful-yes, but at the end, it is going to be worth it!
Good luck!
 
Well we were not that lucky :-(

Went to the consulate this morning 07 August at the appointed time. The interview went very smooth and we were informed that our case was approved and all documents were fine, but that there now is a hold on issuance of DV visa due to high demand. It was not clear if it was for EU or world wide. The lady informed me that they were waiting to hear if there were any visas left world wide to distribute to our case and that we would be contacted by mail. The we got the dreaded AP paper with the note "Additional processing - Waiting for visa allocation".

I tried to quiz her on the chances, but she said that the demand had been higher than expected and because the fiscal year was ending everything was put on hold now until they have a clear picture of how many, if any, visas there were left to distribute to case numbers such as mine 38xxx
 
Coincidentally I ran the EU extract today. Eu has grown by 300 in the last week, roughly on track with the numbers I predicted from August interviews. In order to clear all EU August interviews they would get to around 17k. Aos cases are probably around 700/800 currently so that takes us to 18k max. AP clearing could add a couple of hundred to that. So it is unlikely that EU can surpass 18.5 by the end of August.

Meanwhile AF region looks unlikely to pass 19k by the end of August and AS can only get to about 8k. SA and Oc combined might add 2.5k. So, end of August looks like being 48k, maybe 49k. In other words I think all August interviews will be fine, but they may be holding back EU for the built up readies to see if they are going to process as latecomers. I am seeing a few of those, but not a surge.

I,ll run AF and AS regions tonight to see if there has been any big changes there in the last week.
 
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