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Britsimon's right ... don't send your documents to the embassy. They'll send you a list of documents you need to bring with you to your interview - originals plus photocopies. You need to put them in the exact order they specify, original first with photocopy/ies behind it. Don't forget anything...

Not the biggest cut-off for Oceania - 300. It's been higher in other years. I would have expected it to be higher due to the large increase in selectees - over 90% more than last year. Hmmm. Very strange.

Congratulations! Nice and quick. I got my email about 2 or 3 days later.

Great timing. Although too bad the AUD has fallen. You might want to watch that and perhaps convert some to USD. We did that with Citibank while still in Oz, keeping it in an account there, then transferring it to our US Citibank account here (online, no wire fees). Yes, good to wait for the...

I agree. Makes perfect sense. Something changes in their life that makes it too difficult or impossible to uproot themselves or they just get cold feet. It's a huge change, not to be taken lightly. We had a good think about it ourselves before sending in our forms and committing ourselves to the...

First off: congrats! I doubt the average DV selectee would need a lawyer. I don't see how one could have been in any way useful for us or any of my fellow DV2013 winners. No dodgy/complicated stuff in our past, no overstays, no different identities, no surprise kids/spouses, no catastrophic...

Woo Hoo! That was fantastic, thank you for writing such a detailed narrative of your successful interview. I found it fascinating and feel so happy for you. Momo, you will be such an asset to the US. You would be an asset to any country. Your positive energy is intoxicating. All the...

That sounds pretty normal. You tell yourself, and others tell you, that there's no need to worry or stress but you do anyway. Same for the checking and re-checking of documents. Been there, done that ;-) And the loss of sleep, yep sounds very familiar. I could tell you to relax and don't...

We own outright. We were lucky enough to be able to take advantage of the bottomed-out real estate market, catching it as it started to rise. Yes, Australia's power costs are very high. Poorly built houses are part of the problem because whatever heat is generated almost gets cancelled out...

I know, we tend to be on the low side as far as eating out. I absolutely love cooking so I prefer to cook. And apologies if I sound like I'm bragging, but I find I can make a lot of dishes better than what they serve in most restaurants. Unless it's a posh restaurant but even then, I'll give it...

Hey mushy, great to hear from you! Yeah, I know what you mean about the stress. Been there, done that! Yuk! But it'll be over soon. All the best! Re the USCIS fee, I had no issues paying mine back in May. Can't recall the procedure though, just that it went well. I think there are problems...

Here's a very good article on purchasing health insurance. Read the comments too because they contain valuable insights from others: http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2012/11/01/our-new-237-per-month-health-insurance-plan/ Even if you disagree with the author's decision, it's got a lot of helpful...

Property taxes in California are just over 1% of purchase price with little relief (I believe you get a whole $7k off of the purchase price, big deal!). So if you buy an $800,000 house, which won't be palatial in good areas of the bigger cities, you'll be paying over $8k in property tax every...

Yes, the current Visa Bulletin is still dealing with the last of the DV2013 selectees. DV2014 interviews start October 2013. Each Visa Bulletin shows two month's of case numbers, so the September 2013 Visa Bulletin will show September 2013 (in Section B) which is still dealing with...

Wow, that was scary for that DV selectee!

You can wait until then but it's worth investigating how to get the police checks, particularly if you need ones from interstate or overseas. There's a fair bit to find out and understand so it's good to start that now because as the date gets closer, you start panicking. For instance, make...

AllyJane, Congratulations to you too! Great number as well. You need the name and fingerprint check. Good luck!

Congrats! That's a great number - very low. I'd be surprised if you didn't get your interview in October. In early August, they'll publish the September Visa Bulletin. It'll show September and October's cut-off numbers for the Diversity Visa. You'll be interested in the October numbers. If your...

When I spoke to KCC last year, the lady on the phone said they were receiving over 1,000 documents per day. And that was mid-July. They're swamped. And I somehow doubt they have loads of staff dealing with the mountains of mail, as well as all the phone calls and emails from Nervous Nellies...

Moving to Oz, then potentially to the US next year would be a lot of hassle, expense, disruption and stress. And I speak from experience. We moved from Oz to Canada, not believing for a second we'd get selected in DV2013 because my husband got selected, then disqualified in that DV2012 mess...