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All Ethiopian 2015 DV Winners Meet Here!

amelekuru said:
Sorry for being late to share my interview with you (i was having an extended celebration of the victory).

My appointment was in the morning (April 02 8 am), i arrived at the gate of the embassy around 7:35 and at that time there were many individuals waiting at the gate. the gate keeper checks our appointment letter and passport and let us in, before we pass to the waiting room we were asked to put electronic and other materials in one separate room. We were welcomed by two Ethiopian ladies at the waiting room, and these ladies gave us a yellow folder to put all our necessary documents in their order and instruct us to return the folder to them.

After submitting all our documents we were told to seat in the waiting area, after i sat in that area for about two and half an hour my name was called by one of the two ladies that received our documents with the yellow folder and she checked whether i put all the documents listed in that folder in the right order. After she checked that i submitted all the documents, she gave me a single paper, a sort of agreement, which written both in Amharic and English. She also told me to get back at 12:30 PM for interview with 330 USD or 6732 ETB.


AFTERNOON

NB. because you will submit you passport along with other documents you will need to have a renewed kebelle ID at this time to enter to the embassy

After i ate my lunch around Sidest Killo, i get back to the embassy at 6:15 pm, the guard let me in and i directly went to the waiting room. When i arrived at the waiting room it was full of people. After a while my name was called to one of the windows and instructed to pay 330 USD at window number 1, after i paid i return to the window and gave the receipt to the man in the window and he told me to wait there till my name is called (at this window you will be given an agreement to sign by you regarding military services, if your age is 25 or below that)

THE ACTUAL INTERVIEW

After i paid the DV fee at window one i spent another 2 & 1/2 hours chatting and discussing issues with peoples seating around me. Suddenly my name was called to window 8 (at this window i have seen more than three guys denied a visa) and i went there with a mixture of different feelings. There were tow individuals in the window, an Ethiopian lady and an American consular officer, the lady serves there as a translator if an interviewee wants to talk in AMHARIC OR OTHER ETHIOPIAN LANGUAGES. my interview was short and it goes like this

co: raise your right hand and swear that you speak the truth
me: i swear i speak the truth
co: put your hand down
me: i put my hand down
co: how old are you?
me: .....
co: have you joined a university
me:yes
co:what university
me:...
co:do you have any previous marriage or children?
me:NO i do not have
co:do you have a girl friend
me:....
co:do you intend to marry before you go to America
me:.....
co:what is your relationship with your sponsor
me:......
co:who paid for you the 330 USD
me:....
co: congratulations your visa is approved
me: thank you
co: gave me a yellow page and told me to send it to my sponsor and to collect my passport after a week at the dhl center

This all about my interview, if you guys have any question you are welcomed
Click to expand...
Great ! I Thought as if you were a girl this whole time :D
 
amelekuru said:
Sorry for being late to share my interview with you (i was having an extended celebration of the victory).

My appointment was in the morning (April 02 8 am), i arrived at the gate of the embassy around 7:35 and at that time there were many individuals waiting at the gate. the gate keeper checks our appointment letter and passport and let us in, before we pass to the waiting room we were asked to put electronic and other materials in one separate room. We were welcomed by two Ethiopian ladies at the waiting room, and these ladies gave us a yellow folder to put all our necessary documents in their order and instruct us to return the folder to them.

After submitting all our documents we were told to seat in the waiting area, after i sat in that area for about two and half an hour my name was called by one of the two ladies that received our documents with the yellow folder and she checked whether i put all the documents listed in that folder in the right order. After she checked that i submitted all the documents, she gave me a single paper, a sort of agreement, which written both in Amharic and English. She also told me to get back at 12:30 PM for interview with 330 USD or 6732 ETB.


AFTERNOON

NB. because you will submit you passport along with other documents you will need to have a renewed kebelle ID at this time to enter to the embassy

After i ate my lunch around Sidest Killo, i get back to the embassy at 6:15 pm, the guard let me in and i directly went to the waiting room. When i arrived at the waiting room it was full of people. After a while my name was called to one of the windows and instructed to pay 330 USD at window number 1, after i paid i return to the window and gave the receipt to the man in the window and he told me to wait there till my name is called (at this window you will be given an agreement to sign by you regarding military services, if your age is 25 or below that)

THE ACTUAL INTERVIEW

After i paid the DV fee at window one i spent another 2 & 1/2 hours chatting and discussing issues with peoples seating around me. Suddenly my name was called to window 8 (at this window i have seen more than three guys denied a visa) and i went there with a mixture of different feelings. There were tow individuals in the window, an Ethiopian lady and an American consular officer, the lady serves there as a translator if an interviewee wants to talk in AMHARIC OR OTHER ETHIOPIAN LANGUAGES. my interview was short and it goes like this

co: raise your right hand and swear that you speak the truth
me: i swear i speak the truth
co: put your hand down
me: i put my hand down
co: how old are you?
me: .....
co: have you joined a university
me:yes
co:what university
me:...
co:do you have any previous marriage or children?
me:NO i do not have
co:do you have a girl friend
me:....
co:do you intend to marry before you go to America
me:.....
co:what is your relationship with your sponsor
me:......
co:who paid for you the 330 USD
me:....
co: congratulations your visa is approved
me: thank you
co: gave me a yellow page and told me to send it to my sponsor and to collect my passport after a week at the dhl center

This all about my interview, if you guys have any question you are welcomed
Click to expand...
Thank you & good luck
 
hey people I read a statement on britismon page that says u can pay uscis fee after arriving in usa. do u have anything to say about it
 
abi328 said:
hey people I read a statement on britismon page that says u can pay uscis fee after arriving in usa. do u have anything to say about it
Click to expand...
It's right ; but to make the process a little fast it's advisable to pay the fee before entering
 
to save. some wks ? for what ? z great as far as. i know, we pay uscis fee for issuance of greencard which takes some time even after entering usa; but the good thing is we can start working using socal security no. issued before the issuance of the green card
 
abi328 said:
to save. some wks ? for what ? z great as far as. i know, we pay uscis fee for issuance of greencard which takes some time even after entering usa; but the good thing is we can start working using socal security no. issued before the issuance of the green card
Click to expand...
But it will take more time to get the green card if you pay after arrival , besides having your green card as early as possible might have other benefits apart working with ssn .
On the top of everthing i found this on my yellow paper .
It says (in bold):
"you must pay before you travel to the USA. You will not receive your green card until you have paid the USCIS immigration fee."
i think @abi328 there are other benefits which you only get with the green card,that's why they insist to pay befor you travel.
 
The important thing to note is that the card production will not start until you actually arrive in the US, so if someone wants to wait a day or two until after arrival before making the payment, they will not be disadvantaged by it. All you really need to take up an employment offer is your SSN, and the production of the SSN card is not tied to the GC fee payment. Having the GC on hand doesn't have any other benefit within your first year per se except it feels good to have the physical confirmation of your LPR status on hand. Should one need to travel out of the U.S. before the plastic GC is received, the endorsed visa in your passport will serve the same purpose as the plastic GC, that endorsed visa is valid for one year.
 
ayanag said:
My ELIS status has already moved to "optimized". I entered to US on March 24, 2015. almost two weeks
Click to expand...

Hm, that's odd. You can try calling the USCIS helpline although I suspect they will tell you to wait for 30 or 45 days after entry before they will follow up. You may well have recevied your green card by then anyway...
 
Sm1smom said:
The important thing to note is that the card production will not start until you actually arrive in the US, so if someone wants to wait a day or two until after arrival before making the payment, they will not be disadvantaged by it. All you really need to take up an employment offer is your SSN, and the production of the SSN card is not tied to the GC fee payment. Having the GC on hand doesn't have any other benefit within your first year per se except it feels good to have the physical confirmation of your LPR status on hand. Should one need to travel out of the U.S. before the plastic GC is received, the endorsed visa in your passport will serve the same purpose as the plastic GC, that endorsed visa is valid for one year.
Click to expand...

Agree with the above, however, there have also been a few reports of employers wanting to see the plastic green card before confirming job offers - even though the stamped visa should be proof of right to work.
 
SusieQQQ said:
Agree with the above, however, there have also been a few reports of employers wanting to see the plastic green card before confirming job offers - even though the stamped visa should be proof of right to work.
Click to expand...

Yes, we've had a couple of those, which is more or less an issue of an employer acting in a discriminatory manner towards an identified new immigrant. It's not something they can or will demand from a LPR who knows his/her rights. As a matter of fact, when filing out the I-9 form for e-verification, a combination of a State issued ID or a State issued Driver's License and the SSN is enough to be presented to a prospective employer.
 
Sm1smom said:
Yes, we've had a couple of those, which is more or less an issue of an employer acting in a discriminatory manner towards an identified new immigrant. It's not something they can or will demand from a LPR who knows his/her rights. As a matter of fact, when filing out the I-9 form for e-verification, a combination of a State issued ID or a State issued Driver's License and the SSN is enough to be presented to a prospective employer.
Click to expand...

I am aware of that and the employer should be - however in practice I think it is few and far between that a new immigrant is going to start arguing with a prospective employer even before he or she has a job offer...
 
rolex123 said:
But it will take more time to get the green card if you pay after arrival , besides having your green card as early as possible might have other benefits apart working with ssn .
On the top of everthing i found this on my yellow paper .
It says (in bold):
"you must pay before you travel to the USA. You will not receive your green card until you have paid the USCIS immigration fee."
i think @abi328 there are other benefits which you only get with the green card,that's why they insist to pay befor you travel.
Click to expand...
Yeah the lady at the embassy told me to pay before I travel to make the waiting time a little short : @Sm1smom how about moving from accepted to optimised : does it have a difference if you pay before you enter or after ? At list some days or weeks ?
 
rolex123 said:
Thanks @MB1xxx, now i understood why i ordered to pay all , by the way thanks for emirates info, how about you ? Did you decide for physical interview or you find another option.
And one more thing do you have any info how host can handle uscis fee payments from Usa?
Click to expand...
Hi @rolex123, for the USCIS payment, as I paid ours from here using my own card, I can't say much on how your host can do it but logically registering on behalf of you should work. I registered on behalf of my spouse (the principal winner) to pay for all family as a package (means registering does not require the DV winner him/herself). As long as your host understands the instructions and have all the necessary information at hand, it is so easy to do it. Please follow the advise from @ZGREAT.
Regarding my job interview, they didn't want the online option but I negotiated sending copy of the LPR visa and flight tickets of all family and they finally agreed to wait and meet me the next day I arrived in US. The good thing is, as it is a job in a university, it is planned to start in August (fall semester).
 
amelekuru said:
Sorry for being late to share my interview with you (i was having an extended celebration of the victory).

My appointment was in the morning (April 02 8 am), i arrived at the gate of the embassy around 7:35 and at that time there were many individuals waiting at the gate. the gate keeper checks our appointment letter and passport and let us in, before we pass to the waiting room we were asked to put electronic and other materials in one separate room. We were welcomed by two Ethiopian ladies at the waiting room, and these ladies gave us a yellow folder to put all our necessary documents in their order and instruct us to return the folder to them.

After submitting all our documents we were told to seat in the waiting area, after i sat in that area for about two and half an hour my name was called by one of the two ladies that received our documents with the yellow folder and she checked whether i put all the documents listed in that folder in the right order. After she checked that i submitted all the documents, she gave me a single paper, a sort of agreement, which written both in Amharic and English. She also told me to get back at 12:30 PM for interview with 330 USD or 6732 ETB.


AFTERNOON

NB. because you will submit you passport along with other documents you will need to have a renewed kebelle ID at this time to enter to the embassy

After i ate my lunch around Sidest Killo, i get back to the embassy at 6:15 pm, the guard let me in and i directly went to the waiting room. When i arrived at the waiting room it was full of people. After a while my name was called to one of the windows and instructed to pay 330 USD at window number 1, after i paid i return to the window and gave the receipt to the man in the window and he told me to wait there till my name is called (at this window you will be given an agreement to sign by you regarding military services, if your age is 25 or below that)

THE ACTUAL INTERVIEW

After i paid the DV fee at window one i spent another 2 & 1/2 hours chatting and discussing issues with peoples seating around me. Suddenly my name was called to window 8 (at this window i have seen more than three guys denied a visa) and i went there with a mixture of different feelings. There were tow individuals in the window, an Ethiopian lady and an American consular officer, the lady serves there as a translator if an interviewee wants to talk in AMHARIC OR OTHER ETHIOPIAN LANGUAGES. my interview was short and it goes like this

co: raise your right hand and swear that you speak the truth
me: i swear i speak the truth
co: put your hand down
me: i put my hand down
co: how old are you?
me: .....
co: have you joined a university
me:yes
co:what university
me:...
co:do you have any previous marriage or children?
me:NO i do not have
co:do you have a girl friend
me:....
co:do you intend to marry before you go to America
me:.....
co:what is your relationship with your sponsor
me:......
co:who paid for you the 330 USD
me:....
co: congratulations your visa is approved
me: thank you
co: gave me a yellow page and told me to send it to my sponsor and to collect my passport after a week at the dhl center

This all about my interview, if you guys have any question you are welcomed
Click to expand...
Hi @amelekuru, congratulations again and appreciate your nice narration. As it will be helpful for the singles in the forum, can you please tell us what you answered to the questions below:

co:do you have a girl friend
me:....
co:do you intend to marry before you go to America
me:.....

Cheers!
 
MB1xxx said:
Hi @rolex123, for the USCIS payment, as I paid ours from here using my own card, I can't say much on how your host can do it but logically registering on behalf of you should work. I registered on behalf of my spouse (the principal winner) to pay for all family as a package (means registering does not require the DV winner him/herself). As long as your host understands the instructions and have all the necessary information at hand, it is so easy to do it. Please follow the advise from @ZGREAT.
Regarding my job interview, they didn't want the online option but I negotiated sending copy of the LPR visa and flight tickets of all family and they finally agreed to wait and meet me the next day I arrived in US. The good thing is, as it is a job in a university, it is planned to start in August (fall semester).
Click to expand...

Glad to hear you sorted the job interview date out!
 
MB1xxx said:
Hi @amelekuru, congratulations again and appreciate your nice narration. As it will be helpful for the singles in the forum, can you please tell us what you answered to the questions below:

co:do you have a girl friend
me:....
co:do you intend to marry before you go to America
me:.....

Cheers!
Click to expand...
yea i'd also like to know the response to these questions. @ amelekuru. Thanks in advance.
 
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