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2011 DV Lottery Winners from Australia Report Here!

Hi everyone

Just want to give you the lowdown on our experience.

We stayed at the Menzies Hotel, which was literally a 5min walk to the Embassy.

We got there tried to get up the level 59, but it was a locked floor - this was about 7.35. So we waited down below on the ground floor. At about 7.50 my husband remembered that he read somewhere that it was level 10 we needed to go to - so we walked briskly around to the other lifts to go to level 10 - I kept thinking that it was probably a bad omen. We got to the security area and there were about 4 groups of people before us, so we thought that we were going to be there for hours. We needed to be back at the hotel by 10.30am to check out.

Anyway we got up to level 59 and took our number, waited for about 10mins and we were called up. The lady was absolutely lovely - took a little time looking at my educational results (I then got worried that it was not ok), went through all the papers, then my husband's and son's. We had all our documents in the right order and everything was fine up until she wanted the address and phone number of the person in the US. We had the address, but not the telephone number. My husband did not bring his mobile to the embassy. thinking he would not need it. Luckily I had my phone. We had to go back down to level 10, get my phone and he had to ring his brother in Nigeria and wake him up at 2am his time to get the phone number. The lady behind the counter said to go do it and to come back to her counter, that she would not call anyone else up to her counter. So we did it, got the number and went back to her.

She said she needed to go through everything and for us to go and sit down and that she would be 10-15mins. By this time it was 8.45am, so we were thinking we had plenty of time to get back to the hotel and check out. Well by the time she called us back to her counter it was 9.30am and we still had not had our interview with the other officer. So we were getting very worried that we would not make it by 10.30. Anyway she called us back to her counter eventually and said that everything was fine and that we now needed to go and sit down and wait for the other officer to call us up for the interview.

While we were sitting down, people who came in after us were getting called up for their interview and this guy was asking these people all sorts of questions. I was trying to get everything sorted in my mind to what I was going to say. My husband and I got married in Feb this year, but we have been together since 1994 and have a 12 year old son. I was trying to get all the dates in my mind right. I was so scared that I was going to get a date wrong. Also I did not get very good marks for my year 12 results, but I have been to university, but did not complete uni. So I was getting worried about the questions they might ask me about that.

Anyway people were still being called up to this guy behind the counter and he was the only one doing it and there were about 7 groups sitting down with us. So at about 10am we finally were called up to another counter with a very nice lady. She asked my son if he was excited about going to the US and he said he was and she asked my husband what job he did and he told her and then she said welcome to the US and that was it. You have no idea how the stress just went out of my body. If I am completely honest, I was in shock that it went so well. It took me to the next day for it to completely sink it that we had it.

So that is our story in a nutshell.

Now the fun starts. We are looking to go over in about August for about 3 weeks to activate, come back and get everything sorted out. I have 2 cats that we need to send over as well. But I was wondering if the people who have gone through this had a house here in Australia. I was just wondering what did you do. I am just not sure whether we should sell it before we go or keep it for 5 years, then sell it. I would hate to go over there, completely hate it and want to come back and then to come back and try and get into the housing market again. I am not going to give up my Australian citizenship.

Take care
Sharon
 
Congrats aussiedudette! :)

Superkruz, silly question but I just wanted to confirm - is the DV sufficient to get into the States, or did you need to register on the visa waiver (ESTA) as well?
 
Ack! said:
Superkruz, silly question but I just wanted to confirm - is the DV sufficient to get into the States, or did you need to register on the visa waiver (ESTA) as well?
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The DV visa is all you need. There is no need to register under the visa waiver program. The waiver program is only for persons visting the US for up to 90 days. No work is allowed if you entered under the visa waiver program. It is essentially for tourists only - everbody else must have a visa to enter the US.
 
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aussiedudette said:
Hi everyone

Just a quick note - WE GOT IT At work, but will write the details later on. All the stress has now subsided.
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Congratulations Aussiedudette! Can I just ask a question though? A while ago I remember seeing you talking about the qualifications and that you had to do an external way to get into university to prove your education since you didn't get a high school diploma. Another member on here I think called Beech1814, something like that who was Australian too went to an interview and got denied a visa because of his education even though he did do another external way for education and proved with letters it would get him into University. Did the interviewer ask you any questions about education since you didn't really have a high school diploma? Do they not worry about what grades you get and only if you successfully passed all years of high school? Congratulations anyway! :)
 
Superkruz said:
Zootfish, how did you go with job and house hunting? How did you go about securing a place to stay without being there?
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Just my 0.2 cents on these subjects!

I am a DV 2011 winner as indicated in some previous posts.

Regarding work, i have found that most companies in my experience won't tend to look at you unless you are physically in the US. Their economy still isn't great so it would see obvious that local labor would be the preference; i have also heard americans prefer americans (don't know to what extent this is true) but this could also be a factor also right now while things are still tight. Having said that both a friend i know also a DV winner and myself have managed to secure a job (CALI & NYC respectively) both of which have offered relocation assistance which is the ideal! So it is possible to find work right now.

Finding a house is our next challenge, find the job wasn't that hard to be honest. The relocation assistance helps as some companies will pay for house for a month or so while you get settled. To get housing you will need a social security number (required for bank accounts) and probably the biggest obstacle a credit history in the US.

If you currently have bank accounts or credit cards (eg Amex) with companies operating in the US, it would be a good idea to see if they will:
1) Open a US Bank Account for you.
2) Transfer your credit history!

It will cost you though.

Alternatively, even getting on a mobile phone plan (not pre-paid) and paying monthly bills will help to build that credit history as i understand it.

For short term accommodation i have come across www.sublet.com, i haven't used it but it seems worth a thought.

Just a couple of thoughts.

AJK
 
Hi LoveAmerica

They did not ask any questions regarding education at all. But I did do year 12 (yes I did fail some subjects), and I did enter university. I think with Beech1814 he only did up to year 10. You need to have 12 years of education.
 
ajk said:
To get housing you will need a social security number (required for bank accounts)
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Ajk, congratulations on landing that job.....you're a legend! I went to Bank of America and opened a bank account with them. I did this before I even applied for a SSN. All I had was my passport, with the visa.
 
Hey guys,

Just got my greencard delivered but the country of origin says French Polynesia. Did anyone else have an issue with this? How do I request it to be changed and do I need to do it before I go back to the states?
 
elrotciv said:
Hey guys,
How do I request it to be changed and do I need to do it before I go back to the states?
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On the mailer that you received with the card it says "check your card to verify that the information is correct. If you find an error on it, please call us at the telephone number provided below". A bit lower there is a number :1-800-375-5283. You can call them to find out how to have it fixed and whether you need to have it fixed before entering again.

I suspect you can enter without having it fixed because you don't need the card to enter the USA during the first 12 month from when you first entered the USA. During that period you can still use your temporary green card (the stamped visa in your passport).
 
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Superkruz said:
Ajk, congratulations on landing that job.....you're a legend! I went to Bank of America and opened a bank account with them. I did this before I even applied for a SSN. All I had was my passport, with the visa.
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Yeah another friend was able to open a BOA account (internet only i think he explained it), so that is an option.

Ideally we are trying to transfer our credit history over here through our existing bank accounts in the UK whilst also transferring to US based credit cards; the best sure fire way to build a credit history if the credit history transfer isn't feasible. I think you are right, we have been able to initiate the accounts without the SSN; though our approach is taking longer than a simple walk in to BOA.

AMEX in particular seem to be requiring the SSN.

Cheers,
ajk
 
ajk said:
Yeah another friend was able to open a BOA account (internet only i think he explained it), so that is an option
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Yes you are correct. You can open an account via the internet but to do that you will require your SSN. If you want to do it without the SSN you will have to go to a bank while you are in the US.
 
Superkruz,

Do you know much on the subject of Global credit transfers? I know amex offer it - transferring your amex australia credit card and credit history over to a US amex. Is the process simple? Do any other banks offer anything similar?

I'm walking blindly on this subject so any advice would be greatly appreciated.
 
leahsmg said:
Superkruz,
Do you know much on the subject of Global credit transfers? I know amex offer it - transferring your amex australia credit card and credit history over to a US amex. Is the process simple? Do any other banks offer anything similar?
Click to expand...
I don't know anything about this topic, sorry. I did not even think it was possible at all.
 
leahsmg said:
Superkruz,

Do you know much on the subject of Global credit transfers? I know amex offer it - transferring your amex australia credit card and credit history over to a US amex. Is the process simple? Do any other banks offer anything similar?

I'm walking blindly on this subject so any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...

I've heard about this too - was looking for a new cc anyway, so planned to speak with Amex about this shortly. A friend of mine in the States suggested the same thing, as building up a credit history is difficult.

Thanks for confirming the visa requirements Superkruz.

Is anyone here in the IT industry at all?
 
Ack! said:
I've heard about this too - was looking for a new cc anyway, so planned to speak with Amex about this shortly. A friend of mine in the States suggested the same thing, as building up a credit history is difficult.
Click to expand...

To be eligible to transfer your AMEX card to the states you have to have had it for 12 months. I looked into it last year and signed up then as a result.

Ack! said:
Is anyone here in the IT industry at all?
Click to expand...

I'm a Web Developer. :)
 
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