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2017 DV LOTTERY COUNTDOWN TO MAY

Hi all,

Have just discovered this treasure of a forum. Another 2017AS2xxx here. The wife and I have been applying since DV2015.

Having been rejected a few times before, we actually didn't check the result until a few days ago. Even then, the website was still timing out so many times. It took many retries to display the result. I got selected, but the wife did not. We created 2 separate entries.

Now frantically, but carefully, filling up the DS-260, while reading as much information as I possibly can! According to Britsimon Excel sheet, Oct-Dec is the period when my CN could be current. So gotta act fast.

Congrats to other winners, and keep trying for the rest, don't give up!

Cheers.
 
Thanks for the kind words!

Apologies, not sure if this is the correct thread for this question, mods please move it somewhere else otherwise.

I spent the past few days soaking up information from this forum and VJ forum. I did many searches, but failed to find anything that is similar to my situation.

I found out that I will need to get a police certificate from Singapore, called Certificate of Conviction (COC). However, since I'm not a Singapore citizen, the Singapore police will need an evidence of request from US consulate. Fortunately, there is a for that, found on state.gov website (dvselectees instruction). Can't post link before 5 posts so here it is : travel.state.gov/content/dam/visas/reciprocity/Request%20Letter%20for%20Singapore%20COC.pdf

And btw, since I currently live in Canada, the interview will be conducted in Montreal.

However, I have 2 concerns after reading the form:

1) The form says "This letter is not valid without the checklist attached"

2) The form also says that the certificate will be sent directly to the requesting office, which means Montreal in this case I presume. Here comes the twist ... in dvselectees instruction website, one of the instruction is to download embassy specific information. So I downloaded a pdf for Montreal. travel.state.gov/content/dam/visas/pk%203%20supplements/MTL%20-%20Montreal.pdf

And to my surprised there is a checklist, although I'm not sure what Packet 4 is. And from reading this instructions and checklist, it looks like the embassy does not want any original documents to be sent/mailed to the consulate. It can also be seen on the checklist to put the documents in such order including police certificates.

Sorry for the TL;DR post but I guess my questions are:

1) Will I get a checklist after 2NL from Montreal?
2) Should the police certificate be sent to Montreal or to me?

I did try asking that question to montreal-niv@state.gov but the reply I get is just to read the instructions from dvselectees website. Very helpful!

These things are never easy aren't they? Thanks for reading this far! And appreciate if anyone has any clue on the above!
 
Not sure where to correctly post this one, but I found the answers to my questions from my previous post above.

1) Will I get a checklist after 2NL from Montreal?
Answer: NO

2) Should the police certificate be sent to Montreal or to me?
Answer: To me. ALWAYS.

A long read ahead, but I hope this following information will be useful for those who are in a similar boat as I was.

My CN is 2017AS2XXX, and I currently live in Canada.

I got my 1NL in May 2016.
Submitted my DS-260 in June 2016.
FYI ... requested an unlock to update some info, it took 1 week for the request to be completed.
I got my 2NL in Aug 2016, and started preparing all required documents.
Did medical in Toronto. Cost was CAD$300 a head.
Translated all necessary documents by myself. $0.
I've lived in several different countries so I had to get 5 police certificates.
Some were free of charge, some were not due to ink-based fingerprinting services needed to fulfill requirements.

The interview was in Montreal in early October. We arrived the night before the interview. Stayed in a hotel nearby. We arrived at the consulate at 08:20 in the morning of the interview. At the front door, we showed our DS-260 confirmation page, then we were given a laminated piece of paper with the queue number on it as well as documents order that we need to follow. I.e., passport on top, then photo, etc. etc.

Went through security checks. On the contrary, there were (free?) some lockers where you could put your mobile phones, etc., that were not allowed into the consulate. We didn't use it. Proceeded downstairs, and took an elevator to the main consular floor. Btw, I noticed there was a coin-op photo booth in front of the elevators. I think it takes only $10 notes, some people were hunting $10 notes frantically. So I guess there is a second chance if the CO doesn't approve your photos!

We arrived there at 08:30 and waited. First call was around 09:30. Was told to go to a counter, where we surrendered our documents. The person behind the counter dictated what documents he wanted to have, one at a time. So the documents order on the laminated paper was a moot point by now, especially since it didn't mention things like high school diploma, etc. I'm guessing it was a generic documents order for all types of visa application, not specific to DV. It took us (2 of us) about 20 minutes on this counter. The person also took our fingerprints.

Then we had to proceed to the next counter where we had to pay the US$330 (per person) processing fee. It was quick one here. Then back to more waiting.

Then we got called to the third counter where we had the "real" interview. Typical questions, nothing really stand out. Unfortunately, we didn't have a document that the officer asked, although it was not listed in the checklist. The moral story here is that ALWAYS COME WITH MORE DOCUMENTS THAN YOU THINK YOU EVER NEED! Let's just say the officer wanted a bank statement and we didn't have one.

Needless to say we were issued 221g (is this AP?). We were out by 10:30. What a let down! So we went back to Toronto empty handed. That was the longest and saddest 500km drive of my life!

We managed to obtain the missing document by the following week and had it sent to the consulate on the same week. A week later, I received an email from the courier company that the consulate has sent me a package. I tried checking all the websites but couldn't figure out what was being sent back to me.

I went ahead to pick up the package. It was our passports with the "DO NOT OPEN" packages. Pheewww. What a relieve!

The only thing that stands out is that on our temporary visa it says "221g * *". Anyone knows what this means? Not a big deal I'm guessing, except that from here on out, "Have you ever been refused a visa?" is always equal to YES?

Overall, it was about a week being on AP. I feel lucky. Oh, and the temporary visa is valid until April 2017. So we gotta "activate" it before then. If we activate it say in March 2017, and go back to Canada, and migrate permanently in September 2017 (6 months from March), does anyone think this will be an issue?

Anyway, thanks you all for the support. Good luck to all current selectees!
 
rising_sun said:
Not sure where to correctly post this one, but I found the answers to my questions from my previous post above.

1) Will I get a checklist after 2NL from Montreal?
Answer: NO

2) Should the police certificate be sent to Montreal or to me?
Answer: To me. ALWAYS.

A long read ahead, but I hope this following information will be useful for those who are in a similar boat as I was.

My CN is 2017AS2XXX, and I currently live in Canada.

I got my 1NL in May 2016.
Submitted my DS-260 in June 2016.
FYI ... requested an unlock to update some info, it took 1 week for the request to be completed.
I got my 2NL in Aug 2016, and started preparing all required documents.
Did medical in Toronto. Cost was CAD$300 a head.
Translated all necessary documents by myself. $0.
I've lived in several different countries so I had to get 5 police certificates.
Some were free of charge, some were not due to ink-based fingerprinting services needed to fulfill requirements.

The interview was in Montreal in early October. We arrived the night before the interview. Stayed in a hotel nearby. We arrived at the consulate at 08:20 in the morning of the interview. At the front door, we showed our DS-260 confirmation page, then we were given a laminated piece of paper with the queue number on it as well as documents order that we need to follow. I.e., passport on top, then photo, etc. etc.

Went through security checks. On the contrary, there were (free?) some lockers where you could put your mobile phones, etc., that were not allowed into the consulate. We didn't use it. Proceeded downstairs, and took an elevator to the main consular floor. Btw, I noticed there was a coin-op photo booth in front of the elevators. I think it takes only $10 notes, some people were hunting $10 notes frantically. So I guess there is a second chance if the CO doesn't approve your photos!

We arrived there at 08:30 and waited. First call was around 09:30. Was told to go to a counter, where we surrendered our documents. The person behind the counter dictated what documents he wanted to have, one at a time. So the documents order on the laminated paper was a moot point by now, especially since it didn't mention things like high school diploma, etc. I'm guessing it was a generic documents order for all types of visa application, not specific to DV. It took us (2 of us) about 20 minutes on this counter. The person also took our fingerprints.

Then we had to proceed to the next counter where we had to pay the US$330 (per person) processing fee. It was quick one here. Then back to more waiting.

Then we got called to the third counter where we had the "real" interview. Typical questions, nothing really stand out. Unfortunately, we didn't have a document that the officer asked, although it was not listed in the checklist. The moral story here is that ALWAYS COME WITH MORE DOCUMENTS THAN YOU THINK YOU EVER NEED! Let's just say the officer wanted a bank statement and we didn't have one.

Needless to say we were issued 221g (is this AP?). We were out by 10:30. What a let down! So we went back to Toronto empty handed. That was the longest and saddest 500km drive of my life!

We managed to obtain the missing document by the following week and had it sent to the consulate on the same week. A week later, I received an email from the courier company that the consulate has sent me a package. I tried checking all the websites but couldn't figure out what was being sent back to me.

I went ahead to pick up the package. It was our passports with the "DO NOT OPEN" packages. Pheewww. What a relieve!

The only thing that stands out is that on our temporary visa it says "221g * *". Anyone knows what this means? Not a big deal I'm guessing, except that from here on out, "Have you ever been refused a visa?" is always equal to YES?

Overall, it was about a week being on AP. I feel lucky. Oh, and the temporary visa is valid until April 2017. So we gotta "activate" it before then. If we activate it say in March 2017, and go back to Canada, and migrate permanently in September 2017 (6 months from March), does anyone think this will be an issue?

Anyway, thanks you all for the support. Good luck to all current selectees!
Click to expand...

Congrats on obtaining your visa. Enjoy your new life in the U.S.A
 
rising_sun said:
Not sure where to correctly post this one, but I found the answers to my questions from my previous post above.

1) Will I get a checklist after 2NL from Montreal?
Answer: NO

2) Should the police certificate be sent to Montreal or to me?
Answer: To me. ALWAYS.

A long read ahead, but I hope this following information will be useful for those who are in a similar boat as I was.

My CN is 2017AS2XXX, and I currently live in Canada.

I got my 1NL in May 2016.
Submitted my DS-260 in June 2016.
FYI ... requested an unlock to update some info, it took 1 week for the request to be completed.
I got my 2NL in Aug 2016, and started preparing all required documents.
Did medical in Toronto. Cost was CAD$300 a head.
Translated all necessary documents by myself. $0.
I've lived in several different countries so I had to get 5 police certificates.
Some were free of charge, some were not due to ink-based fingerprinting services needed to fulfill requirements.

The interview was in Montreal in early October. We arrived the night before the interview. Stayed in a hotel nearby. We arrived at the consulate at 08:20 in the morning of the interview. At the front door, we showed our DS-260 confirmation page, then we were given a laminated piece of paper with the queue number on it as well as documents order that we need to follow. I.e., passport on top, then photo, etc. etc.

Went through security checks. On the contrary, there were (free?) some lockers where you could put your mobile phones, etc., that were not allowed into the consulate. We didn't use it. Proceeded downstairs, and took an elevator to the main consular floor. Btw, I noticed there was a coin-op photo booth in front of the elevators. I think it takes only $10 notes, some people were hunting $10 notes frantically. So I guess there is a second chance if the CO doesn't approve your photos!

We arrived there at 08:30 and waited. First call was around 09:30. Was told to go to a counter, where we surrendered our documents. The person behind the counter dictated what documents he wanted to have, one at a time. So the documents order on the laminated paper was a moot point by now, especially since it didn't mention things like high school diploma, etc. I'm guessing it was a generic documents order for all types of visa application, not specific to DV. It took us (2 of us) about 20 minutes on this counter. The person also took our fingerprints.

Then we had to proceed to the next counter where we had to pay the US$330 (per person) processing fee. It was quick one here. Then back to more waiting.

Then we got called to the third counter where we had the "real" interview. Typical questions, nothing really stand out. Unfortunately, we didn't have a document that the officer asked, although it was not listed in the checklist. The moral story here is that ALWAYS COME WITH MORE DOCUMENTS THAN YOU THINK YOU EVER NEED! Let's just say the officer wanted a bank statement and we didn't have one.

Needless to say we were issued 221g (is this AP?). We were out by 10:30. What a let down! So we went back to Toronto empty handed. That was the longest and saddest 500km drive of my life!

We managed to obtain the missing document by the following week and had it sent to the consulate on the same week. A week later, I received an email from the courier company that the consulate has sent me a package. I tried checking all the websites but couldn't figure out what was being sent back to me.

I went ahead to pick up the package. It was our passports with the "DO NOT OPEN" packages. Pheewww. What a relieve!

The only thing that stands out is that on our temporary visa it says "221g * *". Anyone knows what this means? Not a big deal I'm guessing, except that from here on out, "Have you ever been refused a visa?" is always equal to YES?

Overall, it was about a week being on AP. I feel lucky. Oh, and the temporary visa is valid until April 2017. So we gotta "activate" it before then. If we activate it say in March 2017, and go back to Canada, and migrate permanently in September 2017 (6 months from March), does anyone think this will be an issue?

Anyway, thanks you all for the support. Good luck to all current selectees!
Click to expand...

The need to show financial information (or an affidavit of support) was predictable. Glad it got sorted out in the end.
 
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