Thanks for posting that; great to finally have some clarity.
2013 DV Australian winners
- Thread starter Annabelle Nyst
- Start date
Thanks for posting that; great to finally have some clarity.
Annabelle Nyst
Registered Users (C)
Hi everyone! Hope you're all well. I have a question that I'm a little confused about: the medical exam. I know that these results are valid for 6 months... are they supposed to be valid when we enter the USA or just valid when we get to our interview appointment? The reason that I ask is that I was informed recently of my interview in mid-December but I may not want to leave the country until late May... in which case I'd like to leave my medical as late as possible if it's true that the results have to valid upon entrance of the country. Is this correct or have I gotten it confused? Thank you!
Hi Annabelle. The medical exam results need to be valid at the time you enter the US. That said, most medical exam results are actually valid for 12 months.
http://canberra.usembassy.gov/med_exam_instructions.html
See the second last paragraph at the link. I know I've read before that the 6 vs 12 months validity of the medical exam is dependent upon the results; I think if you've got a significant health issue they go with the 6 month period, but for most it's 12 months.
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Annabelle Nyst
Registered Users (C)
Thank you! That's a big help.
janetaylor101
New Member
Fellow Aussie Winner!
Hey everyone!
So glad to have found this forum
My number is in the low-mid 700's. Can't believe we have to wait so long! I too, am thinking that it may be called in Feb/Mar. Do you know what the number allocations are based on?
Okay, so, I lived in the US from 2010 - mid 2012, first on a student visa and then on the OPT work visa that is granted for 12 months, once you graduate a full time course. I'm now back at home in Sydney waiting for my interview, but I would really like to head back there for 2 weeks in the meantime to visit my friends, etc. Do you know if I can do that on a tourist visa now? Will they question me perhaps, or would it make the application more complicated?
Also, does that mean I need a US police check as well as an Australian one, because I lived there for more than 12months? I wonder if I'd be able to get one from the US when I'm not there? If I visited the US in mid November for two weeks, I could get it then? Would it become invalid by March? How recent do the police checks need to be, for the interview?
Pheeeeew! Thanks for any help, guys! And congratulations to all other winners this year, as well!
Hey everyone!
So glad to have found this forum
My number is in the low-mid 700's. Can't believe we have to wait so long! I too, am thinking that it may be called in Feb/Mar. Do you know what the number allocations are based on?
Okay, so, I lived in the US from 2010 - mid 2012, first on a student visa and then on the OPT work visa that is granted for 12 months, once you graduate a full time course. I'm now back at home in Sydney waiting for my interview, but I would really like to head back there for 2 weeks in the meantime to visit my friends, etc. Do you know if I can do that on a tourist visa now? Will they question me perhaps, or would it make the application more complicated?
Also, does that mean I need a US police check as well as an Australian one, because I lived there for more than 12months? I wonder if I'd be able to get one from the US when I'm not there? If I visited the US in mid November for two weeks, I could get it then? Would it become invalid by March? How recent do the police checks need to be, for the interview?
Pheeeeew! Thanks for any help, guys! And congratulations to all other winners this year, as well!
Darlinghurst
Registered Users (C)
NSW national police check
Hello everyone! Does anyone know of a NSW police station that knows how to process the criminal record check request? I submitted the NSW National Police Check online last night on the NSW police website, and the instructions were to take the online submission receipt, my ID documents and $175 to any NSW police station. Today I went to the Kings Cross Local Area Command Police Station and they said they couldn't help me. They said I need to find out whether the US Consulate wants electronic or wet ink fingerprints and the name of the documents I require. Then I went to City Central LAC Police Station (Day Street) and they said they only do fingerprints between 10 and 4 on Saturdays and Sundays. I went to Surry Hills LAC Police Station and they were friendly but said they couldn't process my request because they didn't know the address to which the fingerprints must be sent. I assume this is the address of the Criminal Records Section within the NSW Police Force itself. I showed both Kings Cross and Surry Hills all of the police check information sheets I had downloaded from the police website but it seemed they were unfamiliar with the process and it didn't help. Has anyone had success in paying the $175 and getting fingerprinted at a NSW police station? If so, which police station? Thanks!!
Hello everyone! Does anyone know of a NSW police station that knows how to process the criminal record check request? I submitted the NSW National Police Check online last night on the NSW police website, and the instructions were to take the online submission receipt, my ID documents and $175 to any NSW police station. Today I went to the Kings Cross Local Area Command Police Station and they said they couldn't help me. They said I need to find out whether the US Consulate wants electronic or wet ink fingerprints and the name of the documents I require. Then I went to City Central LAC Police Station (Day Street) and they said they only do fingerprints between 10 and 4 on Saturdays and Sundays. I went to Surry Hills LAC Police Station and they were friendly but said they couldn't process my request because they didn't know the address to which the fingerprints must be sent. I assume this is the address of the Criminal Records Section within the NSW Police Force itself. I showed both Kings Cross and Surry Hills all of the police check information sheets I had downloaded from the police website but it seemed they were unfamiliar with the process and it didn't help. Has anyone had success in paying the $175 and getting fingerprinted at a NSW police station? If so, which police station? Thanks!!
Vichel
Registered Users (C)
Hey everyone!
So glad to have found this forum
My number is in the low-mid 700's. Can't believe we have to wait so long! I too, am thinking that it may be called in Feb/Mar. Do you know what the number allocations are based on?
Glad to have you here! My number's in the same low-mid 700's too! We'd probably have our interview on the same day except I recently moved to Canada so will have to do it in Montreal. Depending on how the next Visa Bulletin goes, I'm thinking March will be the most likely time for us, unless they speed up suddenly. But it seems Dec/Jan has always had a slow-down in progression of case numbers for Oceania .... Chrissie and summer hols and all.
Number allocations? as in our CNs? I think that's just based on the order they're randomly picked, I believe.
Yes, you can visit the US in the meantime. I went to Alaska last month, they didn't ask anything. Don't offer any more information than they ask, which is often just the typical "what's your purpose for your visit? where? how long? who will you be visiting? etc." I wouldn't say anything about the Green Card lottery in case there's some misunderstanding by the border guard thinking you have an intent to migrate.
You don't need a police check from the US. They do an internal check themselves if you've lived there previously.
Pheeeeew! Thanks for any help, guys! And congratulations to all other winners this year, as well!
Congrats to you too!
Darlinghurst
Registered Users (C)
Immunisations
Today I had six immunisations at my Sydney doctor’s surgery. Measles, mumps and rubella (“MMR”) in one jab, which I think was free. Polio, which was $55. Meningococcal, which was $99. And Penumococcal, which I had to first get from a chemist on prescription for about $35. It was not stocked by the first two chemists I tried and then one offered to order it in for me. The doctor’s nurse said they wouldn’t normally give that many immunisations at once, for various reasons, including that if you experience side-effects you won’t know which vaccine is causing them. I’ll take the evidence to my medical at the US Consulate’s doctor in Sydney. Yay, one more thing crossed off the list!
Today I had six immunisations at my Sydney doctor’s surgery. Measles, mumps and rubella (“MMR”) in one jab, which I think was free. Polio, which was $55. Meningococcal, which was $99. And Penumococcal, which I had to first get from a chemist on prescription for about $35. It was not stocked by the first two chemists I tried and then one offered to order it in for me. The doctor’s nurse said they wouldn’t normally give that many immunisations at once, for various reasons, including that if you experience side-effects you won’t know which vaccine is causing them. I’ll take the evidence to my medical at the US Consulate’s doctor in Sydney. Yay, one more thing crossed off the list!
Darlinghurst
Registered Users (C)
I expect it will be different in each State, but the NSW national criminal records search seems to work this way: (1) You input your personal details, identification document numbers, and your current and historical Australian residential addresses, into the Criminal Records Search request section of the NSW police website. You indicate that you want a “name, date of birth and fingerprint” check, and that it is for the purpose of a visa for the US. It responds with a submission receipt for you to print. (2) You take the receipt to a NSW police station where they will verify your ID docs, collect your $175 fee, and take your fingerprints which they send via the police internal mail to the Criminal Records Search centre in Parramatta. You do not get copies of the fingerprints. (3) After processing, the Criminal Records Search centre at Parramatta sends the search result to the address you provided in the original online request, and this may be your own address.
The challenge, in my inner-Sydney experience, is step 2 because police stations are not familiar with how to process the request and seem to get the request confused with other types of requests that require the fingerprints to be sent directly to the US government, or because they only take fingerprints on certain days, or because they only take fingerprints in holding rooms that are constantly unavailable because they are occupied by prisoners.
After multiple unsuccessful visits to three inner-city police stations, I rang the Criminal Records Section in Parramatta and they confirmed the above process and said I may need to explain it at the police station. The idea of explaining a police process to a policeman frankly seemed somewhat ill-advised.
Today I ventured into the eastern suburbs to find an elegant neighbourhood that wouldn’t have any prisoners in its fingerprinting rooms and I found one. They were very nice and took my fingerprints and verified my ID docs against the request in the system, but they were still unsure about where to send the prints. I basically had to politely convince them to send the prints through the police internal mail to the Criminal Records Section at Parramatta.
The fingerprinting itself was very thorough – they used black ink sheets and took prints of almost every part of both hands including the palms and sides. Don’t wear white or long sleeves! If you have brought have paperwork with you, put it all away in your bag before you get ink all over your fingers.
They showed me to a basin to wash my hands but the ink didn’t really come off. On the way home I felt like an extra from Law and Order.
Australian Interview Questions
Hi Everyone, Ive done a lot of googling and have not come up with much information. I was lucky enough to have won the lottery and my interview is in late November. I have all my documents ready to go, but I was wondering if anyone in the past has had an interview and could tell me what kind of questions they will ask in the interview ?
Thanks Steve
Hi Everyone, Ive done a lot of googling and have not come up with much information. I was lucky enough to have won the lottery and my interview is in late November. I have all my documents ready to go, but I was wondering if anyone in the past has had an interview and could tell me what kind of questions they will ask in the interview ?
Thanks Steve
Hi Steve, my interview is in Dec but a friend of mine was in DV2012 and I can share his experience.
The questions depend upon your status.My friend was asked only the following three questions:
1. Have you ever lived overseas?
2. Are you married?
3. Do you have any children?
The answers to all three questions were "No", at which point the interviewer said "I like these easy ones. Ok, take this form to that window and pay the fee."
Obviously, the questions are designed just to cover off eligibility requirements. I'm expecting I'll get the same questions plus a few more about my name since I changed my middle name by deed poll a few years ago.
Thanks so much for your reply, it seems its very straight forward. Well im not married and dont have children, so it should be easy answers for me. I was wondering if they ask like your intentions ie, where you will find work, live etc.
Which probably brings me to my next question, if I know no one in NYC, where I wanna live, how do I find a place to live ? Like should I try and find some short term accommodation to go to when I land ? Its hard to figure this out when your not even in the country or know much about the different parts of the city.
Which probably brings me to my next question, if I know no one in NYC, where I wanna live, how do I find a place to live ? Like should I try and find some short term accommodation to go to when I land ? Its hard to figure this out when your not even in the country or know much about the different parts of the city.
They don't seem to be familiar with the process at all, when I did it, the cop came running out as he had given me the sheet with the prints on it.
You should be able to go any police station in NSW to get your print sheet done (no ink, all computer). They then have to send this to the records section in Parramatta who in turn will send you the police certificate.
I checked with the consulate and both the medical and police check are valid for 12 months and must be current when you enter the US with the packet/green card.
Case Number Reffering
Hello to everyone,
Can Someone tell me if my Case Number is refering per Continent or for the whole World ?
For Instance my Case Number is near 2013EUXXX18000 ( EU= Europe ) So 18.000 is a counting number starting per Continent in my case Europe or not for specific Continent but a counting number for the whole world ?
Thanks in advance.
Hello to everyone,
Can Someone tell me if my Case Number is refering per Continent or for the whole World ?
For Instance my Case Number is near 2013EUXXX18000 ( EU= Europe ) So 18.000 is a counting number starting per Continent in my case Europe or not for specific Continent but a counting number for the whole world ?
Thanks in advance.
heisenberg
Registered Users (C)
For anyone in Queensland - I got my police records check done today. Went to the Charlotte Street police station in the CBD. Filled out a form. Police officer came and got me from the front reception area. Took me into a small room and took my fingerprints with ink, not with the scanner. Signed the form with the prints on it. Came back to the front desk and paid the $175. That was it. All up only took about 15-20 minutes. There is a section on the form to write an address to where the results are to be sent. so make sure you put the US Embassy address on it. apparently the QLD one takes 4-6 weeks which seems to be a lot longer that most other states.
KrisDeagle
New Member
Do you need to meet the high school education requirements? Can you bypass this if you have attained a University degree?
Qewty
Registered Users (C)
KrisDeagle
New Member
Yes, thank you Qewty. I did read that, however, wasn't sure if that meant you had to actually have these certificates (and in this instance, could not produce them for whatever reason) or if it didn't matter, as long as you had education degrees above the high school level.
heisenberg
Registered Users (C)
so I completed my medical exam yesterday. everything went well and wasn't as bad as I expected. only had to get 2 shots - chicken pox and measles/mumps/rubella. the examination with the doctor only took about 20 mins or so and then they sent me to get a chest x-ray and blood test. they only took about 25 minutes all up. I took a whole day off work just in case but didn't need it. doctor also reminded me that it is expected of people to carry the chest x-ray with them for entry into the US. which seems strange but has anyone ever had theirs checked?
so I pick up the results next week all in good time for my interview in Sydney on the 20th.
so I pick up the results next week all in good time for my interview in Sydney on the 20th.
Case Nos Below 400
My case number is below 400 but I just found out on 30th October that I've been selected..I've sent them all the required forms and hopefully get an interview in early January..
My case number is below 400 but I just found out on 30th October that I've been selected..I've sent them all the required forms and hopefully get an interview in early January..