2014 DV Australian winners

[Ola2014]

Help please ds-230 question 35

Hello
Congratulations to everyone getting through!
Can someone help me on the ds-230 form where it asks write all previous visits to the USA...I have been 3 times on holidays do you know what to put under type of visa? I had to apply for a ESTA so do I just put ESTA?

 

[CamelSlayer]

Got my Appointment!

Just a heads-up, my CN was 2014OC000000**, and I just got my follow-up email today.

My appointment is scheduled for early October.

Good luck to the rest of you!

 

[Mijoro]

wow good luck camelslayer !!!!

 

[boss78]

Just wanted to say that you CN might become current [not in June but] sometime in January or Feb. This is because there are more than 4,100 selectees from Oceania this year [2014] than previously. so if your divide the remaining CNs [4,100 - 300 = 3,800] by the remaining number of months 12-Oct = 11], roughly 350 to 400 selectees MUST be interviewed each month. and that will place you [1,3xx] somewhere in Jan or Feb. So yeah, by June you and your partner might still come but this time not as a tourist!!!

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.

 

[boss78]

you inteview date might be November or December. get ready.

Congratulations to you both!

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?

 

[Mijoro]

I guess we will have to wait and see how the intake progresses I mean if they take 300 per month which is unlikely that would be fantastic. Boss78 where did you see that there were numbers up to 4100?

I have to say one thing that surprises me is the amount of people that are going on holidays around the time of their interviews. For me personally everything would be out the window until that interview date is locked in as there is no way I would jeopardize moving to america for a 2 week holiday.

 

[boss78]

this is from the September Visa Bulletin. go towards the bottom of the page: http://travel.state.gov/visa/bulletin/bulletin_6050.html

I guess we will have to wait and see how the intake progresses I mean if they take 300 per month which is unlikely that would be fantastic. Boss78 where did you see that there were numbers up to 4100?

I have to say one thing that surprises me is the amount of people that are going on holidays around the time of their interviews. For me personally everything would be out the window until that interview date is locked in as there is no way I would jeopardize moving to america for a 2 week holiday.

 

[Mijoro]

OCEANIA

AUSTRALIA 2,104
NAURU 12
SOLOMON ISLANDS 3
Cocos Islands 1
NEW ZEALAND 674
TONGA 105
Norfolk Island 2
Cook Islands 4
TUVALU 1
FIJI 1,174
Niue 25
VANUATU 17
KIRIBATI 6
Tokelau 3
MARSHALL ISLANDS 2
PALAU 0
MICRONESIA 5
PAPUA NEW GUINEA 34
SAMOA 43

Wow there are some pretty interesting stats there, I have known in the past Fiji always has high figures but I am surprised that there is such a difference between it and other south pacific countries.

 

[Mijoro]

Fiji's current population is around the 900k mark and Australia is sitting at 23 million. Pretty amazing when you consider the numbers of people chosen.

 

[Mijoro]

What was Australia's previous mark for people chosen I wonder and how does that compare with other Oceania countries.

 

[Vichel]

What was Australia's previous mark for people chosen I wonder and how does that compare with other Oceania countries.

For DV2013, Oceania's total selected was 2,193, with Oz pulling in 1.035, NZ 373 and Fiji 597. Big difference for DV2014. Perhaps they increased the regional quota for Oceania?

 

[Mijoro]

Looks like it Vichel, I mean Australia's selection is almost the same amount as the total for last year. Interesting.

 

[TonyJP]

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.

I wouldn't really pay much attention to KCC's cut-and-paste email replies. You're much better off calling them to ask if they received your forms. That's what I did and it was quick and easy. The woman told me my forms had been received and successfully process and all I now need to do is wait for my CN to become current. For some reason, I've found KCC to be great via phone but poor via email. Maybe, for legal reasons, they don't to email you anything in writing except for pre-approved cut-and-paste generic statements.

 

[Vichel]

I wouldn't really pay much attention to KCC's cut-and-paste email replies. You're much better off calling them to ask if they received your forms. That's what I did and it was quick and easy. The woman told me my forms had been received and successfully process and all I now need to do is wait for my CN to become current. For some reason, I've found KCC to be great via phone but poor via email. Maybe, for legal reasons, they don't to email you anything in writing except for pre-approved cut-and-paste generic statements.

I'll second that. I didn't find their emailed replies to my questions useful or satisfactory either. Just standard boilerplate cut-and-paste paragraphs, nothing personalized. It's as if they run your question through a program where certain words are flagged causing it to spit out a paragraph from its database as a reply, sometimes getting it close, most times not. Just phone. Much easier and faster, in my experience.

This is a pretty nerve-wracking/exciting process and it's much better to get your worries out of the way quickly so you can move on.

 

[Vichel]

Looks like it Vichel, I mean Australia's selection is almost the same amount as the total for last year. Interesting.

Yes, in another thread someone noted that OC has a 90+% increase in selectees. That's way more than the increase in total selectees for this DV year. They figure out the percentages for each region first, then pick successful applicants. OC has always got some tiny quota - ~1.5%. Perhaps they've given OC a bigger slice of the pie this year?

 

[Britsimon]

Yes, in another thread someone noted that OC has a 90+% increase in selectees. That's way more than the increase in total selectees for this DV year. They figure out the percentages for each region first, then pick successful applicants. OC has always got some tiny quota - ~1.5%. Perhaps they've given OC a bigger slice of the pie this year?

That could well be the case.

 

[Sloner]

Perhaps they've given OC a bigger slice of the pie this year?

it is obvious, on OC must have 2 times more poses visas than DV13

 

[Mijoro]

what are poses visas?

 

[hgavin]

Anyway, in order to study in the US Australians need student visas like F-1 or J-1 (it would be a more difficult task to get those after sending forms to KCC)
Denial rate of EAST is very low ( http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d11335.pdf less than 0.5%), and you only need to apply for B visa if ESTA is denied.

Just wondering is this true? Say I was to not go ahead with the green card process (my numbers between 1800 - 2000) and later study and attempt to get the J-1 exchange visa that a New Zealand graduate can get, would it be more difficult to get this because I have applied for the DV and shown interest of immigration? Likewise the B visas?

On this same note, I have this year applied for cruise ship work and recieved a C1/D crew/transit visa that allows me to work for American cruise ship companies such as Princess Cruises. At the interview they saw that I had applied for the diversity visa but issued my visa in spite of this with not much drama. This is probably because the C1/D visa is a transit visa, but still, they made note that I had shown interest of immigration and still issued my visa. So an example of that situation where we can still go for other visas after having applied for a green card perhaps.

 

[Mijoro]

I guess we really wont know how they are processing the applications until the next couple of releases.