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2014 DV Australian winners

just another 28XX to add to the mix

reading through this thread, i see no one has posted anything new in a while... i guess you are all eagerly awaiting the interviews.

hi! first time poster here. firstly, thanks to all of you have kept this and the 2013 thread up to date. it has really helped me wrap my head around the process.

australian here with a case number of 28XX. i'm currently in the US on an I-visa (expires 2015), have yet to send anything to the KCC and will most likely go the CP route and attend an interview in sydney (if anyone has any recommendations to why i should do an AOS, i would love to here it).

i wanted to ask if any of you guys are seeking the service of lawyers/attorneys? i had two friends win the lottery in the past (one aus, the other euro) and they both employed lawyers. if i understand this correctly, dumbing it down, the process goes:

1. send application to KCC. providing all forms are correct and have been confirmed...
2. wait for your CN on the visa bulletin. when it's your turn...
3. prepare all necessary documents and make an appointment at the consulate (and in my case, fly home)
4. attend interview. boom...
5. green card!

it seems like i can do this myself (providing i quadruple check everything). i'd love to hear why/why not i should use a lawyer. note: i did my own applications work for my J, E3 (via AOS) and I (via CP) visas. granted, i feel like those allowed for larger rooms for adjustments, in case of error. the DV seems like you only have one chance to get it all right.

on another note, with a high CN i'm expecting an august 2014 interview (groan) but with that in mind, i'm considering getting myself a european working holiday visa and busying myself there until the time comes. still, just a thought.

anyways, any more insights to my queries will be greatly appreciated.

--
2014OC000028XX
Gender: Male
Entry Checked: 01/05/13
Forms sent to KCC: Not yet
 
Last edited by a moderator:
mrskyriter said:
reading through this thread, i see no one has posted anything new in a while... i guess you are all eagerly awaiting the interviews.

hi! first time poster here. firstly, thanks to all of you have kept this and the 2013 thread up to date. it has really helped me wrap my head around the process.

australian here with a case number of 28XX. i'm currently in the US on an I-visa (expires 2015), have yet to send anything to the KCC and will most likely go the CP route and attend an interview in sydney (if anyone has any recommendations to why i should do an AOS, i would love to here it).

i wanted to ask if any of you guys are seeking the service of lawyers/attorneys? i had two friends win the lottery in the past (one aus, the other euro) and they both employed lawyers. if i understand this correctly, dumbing it down, the process goes:

1. send application to KCC. providing all forms are correct and have been confirmed...
2. wait for your CN on the visa bulletin. when it's your turn...
3. prepare all necessary documents and make an appointment at the consulate (and in my case, fly home)
4. attend interview. boom...
5. green card!

it seems like i can do this myself (providing i quadruple check everything). i'd love to hear why/why not i should use a lawyer. note: i did my own applications work for my J, E3 (via AOS) and I (via CP) visas. granted, i feel like those allowed for larger rooms for adjustments, in case of error. the DV seems like you only have one chance to get it all right.

on another note, with a high CN i'm expecting an august 2014 interview (groan) but with that in mind, i'm considering getting myself a european working holiday visa and busying myself there until the time comes. still, just a thought.

anyways, any more insights to my queries will be greatly appreciated.

--
2014OC000028XX
Gender: Male
Entry Checked: 01/05/13
Forms sent to KCC: Not yet
Click to expand...

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 mistakes on our forms .... nope, we don't need no stinkin' lawyers! I wonder why your friends would have thought they needed one?

Do it yourself, especially since you've had quite a bit of experience with previous visas. I would think the DV is one of the easiest. It certainly felt easier than when I went for my B1/B2 - that interview was quite inquisitive. My DV interview was more like a nice chat comparatively. If you qualify for either of the two very basic criteria, fill in the forms accurately, pass the medical and character tests, attend the interview and show you won't be a public charge, that's it pretty much. Boom, as you say .... Welcome to the United States :D

Good luck!
 
Well guys, if you haven't seen it the September bulletin has been released - our first cutoff is 300 for the month of October.

I missed out by less than 10 spots. Damnit. I'm going to be overseas for all of October which makes it more difficult to organise medical and police checks.

I might see if I can plead my case and get them done before I leave anyway.
 
Crawf33 said:
Well guys, if you haven't seen it the September bulletin has been released - our first cutoff is 300 for the month of October.

I missed out by less than 10 spots. Damnit. I'm going to be overseas for all of October which makes it more difficult to organise medical and police checks.

I might see if I can plead my case and get them done before I leave anyway.
Click to expand...

For the police checks you are free to apply whenever you want.

Really the same goes for the medical. They normally expect you to have an appointment arranged, but if you ask to schedule and do the medicals they shouldn't have an issue - it isn't as if you need a permission slip or something from the embassy...
 
Actually, for Those doing CP, the interview letter is required to be presented for the medical exam, I believe.

britsimon said:
For the police checks you are free to apply whenever you want.

Really the same goes for the medical. They normally expect you to have an appointment arranged, but if you ask to schedule and do the medicals they shouldn't have an issue - it isn't as if you need a permission slip or something from the embassy...
Click to expand...
 
Sm1smom said:
Actually, for Those doing CP, the interview letter is required to be presented for the medical exam, I believe.
Click to expand...

That might be country/doctor dependent then. The doctor here (in London) for instance only requires the Case Number and then schedules on first come first served. Of course, scheduling a medical before confirmation of the interview date would normally not be advised as the appointment could be cancelled and the medical fees lost.
 
britsimon said:
That might be country/doctor dependent then. The doctor here (in London) for instance only requires the Case Number and then schedules on first come first served. Of course, scheduling a medical before confirmation of the interview date would normally not be advised as the appointment could be cancelled and the medical fees lost.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately I've heard that the only medical centre here in Brisbane that does the medical checks requires an interview date.

And I was under the impression all documents had to be sent direct to the embassy? Rather than brought to the interview. Happy to be proven wrong though!
 
Crawf33 said:
Unfortunately I've heard that the only medical centre here in Brisbane that does the medical checks requires an interview date.

Shame. I would call them anyway just to check.

And I was under the impression all documents had to be sent direct to the embassy? Rather than brought to the interview. Happy to be proven wrong though!
Click to expand...

You take a lot of documents to the embassy yourself - including the police cert. For the medical some countries have the pack sent to the embassy (London is like that) in others the DV instructions say they may give you a sealed packet to take to the interview...
 
Crawf33 said:
Unfortunately I've heard that the only medical centre here in Brisbane that does the medical checks requires an interview date.

And I was under the impression all documents had to be sent direct to the embassy? Rather than brought to the interview. Happy to be proven wrong though!
Click to expand...

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 that's on that list. If you want to bring other documents or proof that they haven't specifically asked for, just in case, have them in a separate pile.

As far as the medical results, from what I gather in Oz, if you have the exam in Sydney, the doc will send the results to the embassy. Outside of Sydney, you'll pick up the results and add them to your pile, in the order specified. I could be wrong about that last bit, but that's what I understood about other Aussies' experiences in the DV2013 OC thread here. If you haven't gone through that, it might be useful or interesting.

All the best!
 
Well thank you guys, that makes me feel a whole lot better! I'm going to get cracking on it now then.

Cheers!
 
Interview timing

Hi, my husband had been lucky enough to win the DV this year (2014) and his number is fairly low, 2014OC000013**
Going by the last few years that should give us an interview date of around June 2014. The problem is we will be in the USA on vacation in June 2014.
Is there any way we could do the interview and medical in the USA, and if so how do we go about change the embassy details.
We live in Australia, but are New Zealanders, and our embassy has been listed as Sydney.
Any advise would be appreciated.
 
You are not supposed to enter US on a non-immigrant tourist visa for the purpose of doing AOS. It is even worse with visa waiver (ESTA)
 
tonis said:
Hi, my husband had been lucky enough to win the DV this year (2014) and his number is fairly low, 2014OC000013**
Going by the last few years that should give us an interview date of around June 2014. The problem is we will be in the USA on vacation in June 2014.
Is there any way we could do the interview and medical in the USA, and if so how do we go about change the embassy details.
We live in Australia, but are New Zealanders, and our embassy has been listed as Sydney.
Any advise would be appreciated.
Click to expand...

Congratulations to you both! :D

You need to interview in the country you are a resident of, not holidaying in. So that will be Australia.

The only way you can do your interview in the US is if you were doing AOS - Adjustment of Status, and that's only for certain temporary working and resident visas, not holiday visas like the VWP (Visa Waiver Program - 3 month holiday visa that certain countries, like Oz, can use to holiday in the US).

Awkward timing but your interview could very well be in another month. If it does end up being in June, the only thing I can see you doing is changing your interview to a later date. However, there is a slight risk that visa numbers may run out.

With the large increase in OC selectees for DV2014, perhaps case-numbers will progress faster to account for the increase? If so, your interview might be sooner than June. You really can't tell until we get a few months of case-numbers out of the way, to see the progression. I have a spreadsheet of the past 10 years of OC case-numbers per month and it's so hard to tell anything. Using that, I could only guess that my interview would be sometime in January, February, March or April. It was in March but I could only tell that when they announced February cut-offs which I just missed by a handful. For 13xx, I see July and later being most popular months over the past 10 years but DV2014 is very different, so who knows? :confused: ;)
 
Vichel said:
Congratulations to you both! :D

You need to interview in the country you are a resident of, not holidaying in. So that will be Australia.

The only way you can do your interview in the US is if you were doing AOS - Adjustment of Status, and that's only for certain temporary working and resident visas, not holiday visas like the VWP (Visa Waiver Program - 3 month holiday visa that certain countries, like Oz, can use to holiday in the US).

Awkward timing but your interview could very well be in another month. If it does end up being in June, the only thing I can see you doing is changing your interview to a later date. However, there is a slight risk that visa numbers may run out.

With the large increase in OC selectees for DV2014, perhaps case-numbers will progress faster to account for the increase? If so, your interview might be sooner than June. You really can't tell until we get a few months of case-numbers out of the way, to see the progression. I have a spreadsheet of the past 10 years of OC case-numbers per month and it's so hard to tell anything. Using that, I could only guess that my interview would be sometime in January, February, March or April. It was in March but I could only tell that when they announced February cut-offs which I just missed by a handful. For 13xx, I see July and later being most popular months over the past 10 years but DV2014 is very different, so who knows? :confused: ;)
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply!
We will have to keep our fingers and toes crossed and be flexable with travel dates :)
 
Warning - I sent an email to KCC DV to check if they had received our paperwork and if everything was in order. They replied saying "The DSP-122 and DS-230 Part 1 & 2 forms for the principal applicant were not received. In order to continue processing your visa application the following information for the Principal Applicant must be completed and returned to Kentucky Consular Center. Please include your case number, Principal Applicant’s name, and complete date of birth in the following format (MMDDYYYY):"
I sent this via Aus Post pack and track and it shows that it was delivered, early July. I have just sent off the details of this delivery and will await their reply.
I would suggest you all check and make sure your paperwork has been received.
:confused:
 
Rather than waste time waiting for KCC to respond to your follow-up email and the tracking details you sent, I suggest you fill out all the forms again, (for principal applicants and derivative(s)), include the bar code notification page of your selectee letter and email everything.

Save yourself some time and unnecessary headache.
 
Sm1smom said:
Rather than waste time waiting for KCC to respond to your follow-up email and the tracking details you sent, I suggest you fill out all the forms again, (for principal applicants and derivative(s)), include the bar code notification page of your selectee letter and email everything.

Save yourself some time and unnecessary headache.
Click to expand...

I didnt realise they accepted applications via email, so I will do that. Thanks :)
 
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