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October 2017 Visa Bulletin

I don't know if they disqualify that cases at interview but disqualifying them while drawing makes more sense to me. It's easier to disqualify those cases at draw stage, and also it leads reduction of the man power at the embassies. There's another fact that they take money for the interview ofc :)

I know some people who entered the draw and won with DV 2017 photos right now. They're not anonymous, i've met and talked with some of them IRL :)

We'll see what happens at the time of their interview.

Cheers
Yes, it makes sense, but they haven't done it. It also makes sense that the photo validator immediately disqualifies all invalid photos, but it doesn't do that, hence some people are disqualified at interview. Just because you don't know if it happens, doesn't make it so. No 2018 interviews have taken place yet so no one knows.
Of course if you are so unhappy that the people you know won with old photos, you can complain about them to the embassy and see if that takes you anywhere. Kind of sounds like bad karma to me, but hey.


I'd agree that it's bad karma. You can't do anything about it anyway - so forget about it and focus on your own case.
 
Monthly visa issuances for August have been released today. I've made a couple of simple charts showing those stats available here: https://dvcharts.xarthisius.xyz/ if anyone's interested.

Thanks dude.

For those that doubt that DV2017 visas are exhausted, take a look at this data. It shows that despite slow issuances in July and August (because regions had gone current in May) 6 months processing was able to create 30k issuances. So - is it likely that the first 5 months of the year accounted for nearly 20k? Sure it is likely.
 
Hi Britsimon and all! I'm from Russia and my guess about why the number of participants has doubled is again a political climate. People fed up with government and look for ways to escape the country. Not sure if agencies could impact this tendency.
My number is in 2018EU15xxx and currently I'm holding a valid visa, so looking towards AOS process.
 
Hi Britsimon and all! I'm from Russia and my guess about why the number of participants has doubled is again a political climate. People fed up with government and look for ways to escape the country. Not sure if agencies could impact this tendency.
My number is in 2018EU15xxx and currently I'm holding a valid visa, so looking towards AOS process.

What kind of visa do you currently have?
 
Whoa, it's amazing. As @Britsimon mentioned, this pretty much seems like a screw up by DOS for making current since May. 8K visas just in May, wow....

Yep. They decide how many are left to process based on DS submissions. I know of cases where people were submitting their DS260s (and subsequently being scheduled), right up until AUGUST. People were still getting married and having babies. Remember also they had a 2nd draw in September - so those selectees probably took some time to respond.

So when they announced the regions as current in MARCH 9th, it seemed reckless and as we now now - it was reckless.
 
Hi Britsimon and all! I'm from Russia and my guess about why the number of participants has doubled is again a political climate. People fed up with government and look for ways to escape the country. Not sure if agencies could impact this tendency.
My number is in 2018EU15xxx and currently I'm holding a valid visa, so looking towards AOS process.

Political feeling (barring revolution in the streets) doesn't DOUBLE the selectees in one DV cycle. It takes organization to make that happen.
 
So when they announced the regions as current in MARCH 9th, it seemed reckless and as we now now - it was reckless.
For those that doubt that DV2017 visas are exhausted, take a look at this data [...] So - is it likely that the first 5 months of the year accounted for nearly 20k? Sure it is likely.
No, and no.
I considered the decision a sensible one back in March, and I still do. Also, I doubt very much that DV-2017 will see a 50k total in the books. Back in CEAC times we had some 16k issued visas up to March 1. That's a long shot to "visas exhausted."
 
Also, I doubt very much that DV-2017 will see a 50k total in the books. Back in CEAC times we had some 16k issued visas up to March 1. That's a long shot to "visas exhausted."

So ...how do you account for the instruction to stop issuing visas because they're exhausted?! Do you just think they're lying?
 
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So ...how do you account for the instruction to stop issuing visas because they're exhausted?! Do you just think they're lying?
I only look at numbers and I'm not really up to speed re these instructions. I also can't comment on policy. I just find it extremely hard to believe that we can get anywhere close to 55k. That's what "exhausted" means (to me).

The data for Asia shows a huge number of AP clearances in August. So, are we talking about exhausted Iranian visas? That's clearly possible. The one report I read in this forum was a Asian AOS case with August 30 interview w/o visa issuance that possibly lost their visa number at the end of the month.
 
I only look at numbers and I'm not really up to speed re these instructions. I also can't comment on policy. I just find it extremely hard to believe that we can get anywhere close to 55k. That's what "exhausted" means (to me).

The data for Asia shows a huge number of AP clearances in August. So, are we talking about exhausted Iranian visas? That's clearly possible. The one report I read in this forum was a Asian AOS case with August 30 interview w/o visa issuance that possibly lost their visa number at the end of the month.

They've stopped the program for DV2017 as the limit of 50k (per their wording) has been reached. AOS and AP cases are all being denied.

Here's an embassy notice https://tr.usembassy.gov/shortcode/...-dv-program-reached-mandated-numerical-limit/
AOS cases are being denied with similar letters (obviously without talking about AP
 
No, and no.
I considered the decision a sensible one back in March, and I still do. Also, I doubt very much that DV-2017 will see a 50k total in the books. Back in CEAC times we had some 16k issued visas up to March 1. That's a long shot to "visas exhausted."

I strongly disagree. Not a long shot at all. Let's say we had 16k. Add in the 30k we know were issued from March to August, that's 46k. Add in 1k Aos. So - do you really think it's hard to imagine 3k extra visas in September and perhaps the 16K being more like 17 or 18. Hardly a long shot at all. And do you really think they would be so suddenly stopping visas and AOS cases on the same day. Feels like we hit a brick wall - not a fanciful whim. And reckless it most certainly was. Every month the VB progression ensures careful progression of around 4.5 to 5k issued visas per month. It's a carefully well planned exercise. Then they went CRAZY in May issuing 8400 visas in a month (PLUS whatever AP cases went in the pot that month). It was like the wild west.

ALL embassies are reporting the same thing. ALL Field offices. All regions. Sorry you find it hard to believe, but it happened. And it shouldn't have. That is a monumental screwup in anyone's books.
 
I strongly disagree. Not a long shot at all. Let's say we had 16k. Add in the 30k we know were issued from March to August, that's 46k. Add in 1k Aos. So - do you really think it's hard to imagine 3k extra visas in September and perhaps the 16K being more like 17 or 18. Hardly a long shot at all. And do you really think they would be so suddenly stopping visas and AOS cases on the same day. Feels like we hit a brick wall - not a fanciful whim. And reckless it most certainly was. Every month the VB progression ensures careful progression of around 4.5 to 5k issued visas per month. It's a carefully well planned exercise. Then they went CRAZY in May issuing 8400 visas in a month (PLUS whatever AP cases went in the pot that month). It was like the wild west.

ALL embassies are reporting the same thing. ALL Field offices. All regions. Sorry you find it hard to believe, but it happened. And it shouldn't have. That is a monumental screwup in anyone's books.

It was a screwup yes, but I'm still not convinced it was monumental. We all know that the number of visas typically issued in the last few weeks of the FY is a very small percentage of the year's issuance. It's really horrible for the people involved, but it's likely to be in the hundreds rather than thousands of people affected - which is (to be blunt) a rounding error when you're talking 50k - not "monumental".
 
It was a screwup yes, but I'm still not convinced it was monumental. We all know that the number of visas typically issued in the last few weeks of the FY is a very small percentage of the year's issuance. It's really horrible for the people involved, but it's likely to be in the hundreds rather than thousands of people affected - which is (to be blunt) a rounding error when you're talking 50k - not "monumental".

Not having visas for cases finishing AP or rescheduled is understandable. BUT the sudden stop on AOS cases was AWFUL.
 
Not having visas for cases finishing AP or rescheduled is understandable. BUT the sudden stop on AOS cases was AWFUL.

Is there legally a way to deny one without doing the same to the other, though? Perhaps they should start reserving visas when they schedule AOS interviews the same way they do for CP as a way of getting round it.
Though.... I'm not really sure it's any more awful than someone who's been waiting on AP for months, then gets told that they're denied for no more visas. In neither case does the applicant really have control over the timing. And, not always but certainly more than someone on AP in CP, AOSers often have a plan B or at least a chance of one.
Rescheduling is more of an at your own risk kind of thing, and I know a number of embassy websites do warn people about the risks of rescheduling.

I DO think that if they stuff up on visas like this and people are denied through no fault of their own that their fees should at least be refunded.
 
Is there legally a way to deny one without doing the same to the other, though? Perhaps they should start reserving visas when they schedule AOS interviews the same way they do for CP as a way of getting round it.
Though.... I'm not really sure it's any more awful than someone who's been waiting on AP for months, then gets told that they're denied for no more visas. In neither case does the applicant really have control over the timing. And, not always but certainly more than someone on AP in CP, AOSers often have a plan B or at least a chance of one.
Rescheduling is more of an at your own risk kind of thing, and I know a number of embassy websites do warn people about the risks of rescheduling.

I DO think that if they stuff up on visas like this and people are denied through no fault of their own that their fees should at least be refunded.

Agreed on the refunds - some people will have spent thousands of dollars only to see the FO arrogantly bundle all their work to the last minute, and KCC to not allocate enough slots into AMSWEB. We have seen closing AP cases being told no visas, but we have never seen the shutdown on AOS.
 
My two cents... I checked one Russian forum and Russia's Case Numbers are distributed from small to big numbers. The highest for Ukraine I've seen is 17***. So, the situation is somehow similar to previous year(s). It would be fair to assume that the density will decrease after U2 are exhausted after ~18000.
 
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