Hi Aussie DV Winners!
Today I FINALLY received my Visa!! and I could have cried, the biggest weight has been lifted off my shoulders and I can finally stop stressing.
This awesome forum helped me so much when I was going for my visa interview and even just to help understand the whollleeeee thing! ( It can be extremely confusing) I even got to meet someone I was talking to here on this forum! Shout out to @crawf33. We both had our interviews the same day so planned to meet up at the embassy
So I wanted to give back and help those of the 2015 and years after DV lottery winners because I know it can be a VERY hard, stressful & confusing time!
My Advice:
1. Do not stress about the interview!!! I did! But its actually the easiest thing. Just be yourself, they ask you a few questions like, are you married or single, what are you planning to do for work in the US and have you ever been convicted of a crime. Now that was just me.. It may have been different for others. But that was about it.. I actually did more of just standing there and waiting for the man to type things into his computer! Not hard at all!
After waiting about 1.5 hours I had my interview and I was done! BUT.....
2. If you have ever lived in another country even just for a few months.. GET A POLICE CERTIFICATE! This was my mistake. I had lived in Japan for only 11 months but they still required a certificate. So.. they told me I had passed the interview and they would keep my passport and all my documents then once I received my Japanese certificate I was to bring it back to the embassy so my visa would then be processed.
All good I thought..
Went to the Japanese Embassy and they tell me it will take 3 MONTHS!! to obtain a Police Certificate AND I will need my passport (derrrr) . SO.. I had to then book another appointment to the US consulate to retrieve my passport and go back to the Japanese Consulate (no appointment necessary- such an easy, lovely consulate! Much unlike the US Consulate) With only 5 months of my medical still valid it was a bit scary.
Finally after only 2 and a half months (lucky) I received the certificate and was ready to take it to the embassy. BUT....
3. When booking an appointment with the US embassy in Sydney make sure you book it under the right title and reason for visiting. I learnt this the hard way. The people at the embassy directed me to a website where I was to book an appointment.
So with another day taken off work I went into the embassy so excited to FINALLY get this visa done. Wrong again...
The guards on the security level would not let me into the embassy as I had booked my appointment under the wrong title, they told me to go to this website (a different one to the first) to book another appointment.
At this point I had had enough and was in tears begging the guards to just take my passport and certificate. but they wouldn't. I also only had a few weeks left of my medical being valid! It seamed so silly to me that I was just standing downstairs and I couldn't even go upstairs to hand over my documents.. nothing else, just hand them over. Instead I was told to write a cover letter and post the documents. Stressing that the documents wouldn't be looked at in time or something else would go wrong I waited anxiously just over a week I FINALLYYYYYY received my passport and visa!
The best feeling!
As you can image after hearing I am extremely relieved!!!!
Unfortunately the questions I constantly ask the embassy through letters and emails never really get answered. Plus there is actually no phone number you can call for any support. Its all a recorded message and when you finally get onto a real person after about 20 minutes the call has been directed to the canberra consulate who does not deal with DV Visas. There are no information packs that come with the visa before you travel to the US so you basically are doing this blind.
Except for this amazing forum! Thank god for all of the wonderful people on this forum. I certainly couldn't have done it without them. All your questions are always answered here.
So with that being said I really encourage EVERYONE to ask as many questions as you can! especially those from Australia who will deal with the unhelpful US consulate in Sydney.
I will try my very best to answer and I hope other Aussies can too.
A very big GOOD LUCK to every DV winner
I now start my journey to LA and setting up my new life is a whole new challenge
Ill be sure to write a little story on how that goes too. I hope that this has helped even just a little
Ally
Today I FINALLY received my Visa!! and I could have cried, the biggest weight has been lifted off my shoulders and I can finally stop stressing.
This awesome forum helped me so much when I was going for my visa interview and even just to help understand the whollleeeee thing! ( It can be extremely confusing) I even got to meet someone I was talking to here on this forum! Shout out to @crawf33. We both had our interviews the same day so planned to meet up at the embassy
So I wanted to give back and help those of the 2015 and years after DV lottery winners because I know it can be a VERY hard, stressful & confusing time! My Advice:
1. Do not stress about the interview!!! I did! But its actually the easiest thing. Just be yourself, they ask you a few questions like, are you married or single, what are you planning to do for work in the US and have you ever been convicted of a crime. Now that was just me.. It may have been different for others. But that was about it.. I actually did more of just standing there and waiting for the man to type things into his computer! Not hard at all!
After waiting about 1.5 hours I had my interview and I was done! BUT.....
2. If you have ever lived in another country even just for a few months.. GET A POLICE CERTIFICATE! This was my mistake. I had lived in Japan for only 11 months but they still required a certificate. So.. they told me I had passed the interview and they would keep my passport and all my documents then once I received my Japanese certificate I was to bring it back to the embassy so my visa would then be processed.
All good I thought..
Went to the Japanese Embassy and they tell me it will take 3 MONTHS!! to obtain a Police Certificate AND I will need my passport (derrrr) . SO.. I had to then book another appointment to the US consulate to retrieve my passport and go back to the Japanese Consulate (no appointment necessary- such an easy, lovely consulate! Much unlike the US Consulate) With only 5 months of my medical still valid it was a bit scary.
Finally after only 2 and a half months (lucky) I received the certificate and was ready to take it to the embassy. BUT....
3. When booking an appointment with the US embassy in Sydney make sure you book it under the right title and reason for visiting. I learnt this the hard way. The people at the embassy directed me to a website where I was to book an appointment.
So with another day taken off work I went into the embassy so excited to FINALLY get this visa done. Wrong again...
The guards on the security level would not let me into the embassy as I had booked my appointment under the wrong title, they told me to go to this website (a different one to the first) to book another appointment.
At this point I had had enough and was in tears begging the guards to just take my passport and certificate. but they wouldn't. I also only had a few weeks left of my medical being valid! It seamed so silly to me that I was just standing downstairs and I couldn't even go upstairs to hand over my documents.. nothing else, just hand them over. Instead I was told to write a cover letter and post the documents. Stressing that the documents wouldn't be looked at in time or something else would go wrong I waited anxiously just over a week I FINALLYYYYYY received my passport and visa!
The best feeling!
As you can image after hearing I am extremely relieved!!!!
Unfortunately the questions I constantly ask the embassy through letters and emails never really get answered. Plus there is actually no phone number you can call for any support. Its all a recorded message and when you finally get onto a real person after about 20 minutes the call has been directed to the canberra consulate who does not deal with DV Visas. There are no information packs that come with the visa before you travel to the US so you basically are doing this blind.
Except for this amazing forum! Thank god for all of the wonderful people on this forum. I certainly couldn't have done it without them. All your questions are always answered here.
So with that being said I really encourage EVERYONE to ask as many questions as you can! especially those from Australia who will deal with the unhelpful US consulate in Sydney.
I will try my very best to answer and I hope other Aussies can too.
A very big GOOD LUCK to every DV winner
I now start my journey to LA and setting up my new life is a whole new challenge
Ill be sure to write a little story on how that goes too. I hope that this has helped even just a little
Ally
