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DV 2015 Oceania winners

Hi guys,

I have been reading your forum for long time (every day lol) is amazing how helpful are you guys.
@EmilyW and @Britsimon thank you so much for take from your time for answer and help everybody, thank to you and everybody here I clarified a lot of questions that I had.

My partner entered on the DV2015 (single) and was selected, on May 2014 submitted the DS260, we got marry on August 2014 then in November 2014 him added me on his application and I submitted my DS260, in the end of January I realized that in his DS260 the marital status was single so we sent a email to the KCC for unlock his DS260 and changed the marital status from single to marry.

(We started a relationship on April 2013 so we can prove that is a real and genuine marriage, Im Australian permanent resident, We have been in the USA multiples times, we get marry on Hawaii)

Just for curiosity; what do you guys think? We'll have a good chance? Our CN is OC13xx very late 13xx.

any suggestions, thoughts will be very very appreciate...

Again guys what at amazing job, thank you.


13xx is pretty safe.

Just make sure you bring plenty of evidence proving your relationship is genuine.
 
Hi guys,

I have been reading your forum for long time (every day lol) is amazing how helpful are you guys.
@EmilyW and @Britsimon thank you so much for take from your time for answer and help everybody, thank to you and everybody here I clarified a lot of questions that I had.

My partner entered on the DV2015 (single) and was selected, on May 2014 submitted the DS260, we got marry on August 2014 then in November 2014 him added me on his application and I submitted my DS260, in the end of January I realized that in his DS260 the marital status was single so we sent a email to the KCC for unlock his DS260 and changed the marital status from single to marry.

(We started a relationship on April 2013 so we can prove that is a real and genuine marriage, Im Australian permanent resident, We have been in the USA multiples times, we get marry on Hawaii)

Just for curiosity; what do you guys think? We'll have a good chance? Our CN is OC13xx very late 13xx.

any suggestions, thoughts will be very very appreciate...

Again guys what at amazing job, thank you.

All sounds fine, no issues. Number is fine...
 
I know this has probably been asked a million times, but how did you all go about your vaccinations. I had a test done to gauge what antibodies I did have. I'm good on alot of them, but I still have to get around 6 more. Did you guys get them before your medical or at the medical. And how does the Hep A and Hep B work? Can you start on the injections and get the the rest later?
 
Medical out of the way! That was easy. I went to George Street Medical Centre, Dr Waks. He was great. For anyone going, the only immunization proof I had was for Hep B and tetanus. There's a measles outbreak at the moment, so the MMR vaccine was free. He took my word on chicken pox and polio. So I am very pleased I didn't waste money on a pre medical blood test to check my immunities.. Also I was delighted to find he had no interest in looking up my skirt as someone reported a while back. I guess the front airbags were a dead giveaway that I'm female. It was $30.50 for blood test (syphilis), $80 chest x-ray and $335.00 for medical. So I was happy with that.
 
I know this has probably been asked a million times, but how did you all go about your vaccinations. I had a test done to gauge what antibodies I did have. I'm good on alot of them, but I still have to get around 6 more. Did you guys get them before your medical or at the medical. And how does the Hep A and Hep B work? Can you start on the injections and get them the rest later?
Ha ha I was writing as you posted.
I have never had Hep A shots, he didn't even ask. saw a scar on my forehead from a skin cancer and said yep I can see you've had chicken pox. Took my word on polio. So I only had the MMR vaccine. I was delighted. And I think as long as you have started on the Hep B and have a certificate to say as much you should be fine.
 
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Hi All,

I have just found this forum after my husband and I had our interview in Sydney last week - seriously wish I had found it earlier as so many of the little details we had been preoccupied with/agonised over are dealt with in these 147 pages. Kudos for that and congrats to all who have already been approved/gone current.

My husband was the principal applicant and, because we got married in December 2013 between submitting the initial application and then being selected, I was added to the application and am now thrilled to be heading over with him.

Here is our DV info:
OC2015000007XX
October 2013-Entered DV Lottery 2015
May 2014-Selected for further processing
end May 2014- Submitted DS260
Dec 2013 - Went current
Interview 10/2/15 in Sydney

Apologies in advance for the million questions I'm about to shoot your way:

We were approved at our interview - at least I think so (!). The very nice consular officer said everything was in order with our application, the only issue was that the doctor who did our medical forgot to fill out one section for both of us so the consulate were to email him and get him to sign/return this part and then would send us our passports back within a week or so. They said to follow him up if we hadn't heard anything by mid-this week. Still haven't heard back. We are from Perth so had our medical at Kinetic Health, so anyone visiting Dr Bateman there (who is lovely) , just make sure he has completed all sections of your forms so you're not in our position - would have loved to have our passports back like caroline and gemma by now. Has anyone else experienced this? If the doctor has to fill out more information on the forms, does this change/extend the validity date on your medical?

We are planning to head over in July 2015, subject to when the medical says we have to enter at the latest, and then stay with my aunt in Connecticut until we can find an apartment in NYC and I can find a job. My husband is studying so he will also either look at doing exchange for a semester or two and then transferring, or doing a straight transfer, or working for the first six months. Has anyone had experience transferring to a US uni part way through an Aussie degree? Any recommendations on process/ how to request finance since HECS won't apply? He is studying engineering if that helps.

I am a lawyer with Government currently and am looking at any kind of NGO/human rights/legal type work that I can find over there. Not sure if I will need to transfer my legal qualification if I end up in a firm. Has anyone gone through this before? I'm not really keen on sitting the Bar exam but I heard there are some firms that may not require it.

OK I'll stop with the questions (though I have a million more!) and free up some screen space for others :) Very exciting stuff...
 
Hi All,

I have just found this forum after my husband and I had our interview in Sydney last week - seriously wish I had found it earlier as so many of the little details we had been preoccupied with/agonised over are dealt with in these 147 pages. Kudos for that and congrats to all who have already been approved/gone current.

My husband was the principal applicant and, because we got married in December 2013 between submitting the initial application and then being selected, I was added to the application and am now thrilled to be heading over with him.

Here is our DV info:
OC2015000007XX
October 2013-Entered DV Lottery 2015
May 2014-Selected for further processing
end May 2014- Submitted DS260
Dec 2013 - Went current
Interview 10/2/15 in Sydney

Apologies in advance for the million questions I'm about to shoot your way:

We were approved at our interview - at least I think so (!). The very nice consular officer said everything was in order with our application, the only issue was that the doctor who did our medical forgot to fill out one section for both of us so the consulate were to email him and get him to sign/return this part and then would send us our passports back within a week or so. They said to follow him up if we hadn't heard anything by mid-this week. Still haven't heard back. We are from Perth so had our medical at Kinetic Health, so anyone visiting Dr Bateman there (who is lovely) , just make sure he has completed all sections of your forms so you're not in our position - would have loved to have our passports back like caroline and gemma by now. Has anyone else experienced this? If the doctor has to fill out more information on the forms, does this change/extend the validity date on your medical?

We are planning to head over in July 2015, subject to when the medical says we have to enter at the latest, and then stay with my aunt in Connecticut until we can find an apartment in NYC and I can find a job. My husband is studying so he will also either look at doing exchange for a semester or two and then transferring, or doing a straight transfer, or working for the first six months. Has anyone had experience transferring to a US uni part way through an Aussie degree? Any recommendations on process/ how to request finance since HECS won't apply? He is studying engineering if that helps.

I am a lawyer with Government currently and am looking at any kind of NGO/human rights/legal type work that I can find over there. Not sure if I will need to transfer my legal qualification if I end up in a firm. Has anyone gone through this before? I'm not really keen on sitting the Bar exam but I heard there are some firms that may not require it.

OK I'll stop with the questions (though I have a million more!) and free up some screen space for others :) Very exciting stuff...
Congrats!! I would have been so ill-prepared without this forum. I'm not there yet, but at least I'm going to my interview with everything I need. I wouldn't stand a chance otherwise. So I thank everyone too.
 
We are planning to head over in July 2015, subject to when the medical says we have to enter at the latest, and then stay with my aunt in Connecticut until we can find an apartment in NYC and I can find a job. My husband is studying so he will also either look at doing exchange for a semester or two and then transferring, or doing a straight transfer, or working for the first six months. Has anyone had experience transferring to a US uni part way through an Aussie degree? Any recommendations on process/ how to request finance since HECS won't apply? He is studying engineering if that helps.

Welcome!

Has your husband looked at Open Universities Australia? They allow you to study while overseas and finish with an Aussie degree. If he's studying with a shareholder university (Curtin is one; UWA and Murdoch both offer a limited number of courses).

If he's not studying at a partner university, he may be able to get credit for his previous study and put it towards a degree with any of the OUA shareholders (this is what I'm currently doing).

Something to think about if you haven't already.
 
Medical out of the way! That was easy. I went to George Street Medical Centre, Dr Waks. He was great. For anyone going, the only immunization proof I had was for Hep B and tetanus. There's a measles outbreak at the moment, so the MMR vaccine was free. He took my word on chicken pox and polio. So I am very pleased I didn't waste money on a pre medical blood test to check my immunities.. Also I was delighted to find he had no interest in looking up my skirt as someone reported a while back. I guess the front airbags were a dead giveaway that I'm female. It was $30.50 for blood test (syphilis), $80 chest x-ray and $335.00 for medical. So I was happy with that.
Ha ha ha ... Front Airbags! our dictionary is growing well. Din,t know that
 
Medical out of the way! That was easy. I went to George Street Medical Centre, Dr Waks. He was great. For anyone going, the only immunization proof I had was for Hep B and tetanus. There's a measles outbreak at the moment, so the MMR vaccine was free. He took my word on chicken pox and polio. So I am very pleased I didn't waste money on a pre medical blood test to check my immunities.. Also I was delighted to find he had no interest in looking up my skirt as someone reported a while back. I guess the front airbags were a dead giveaway that I'm female. It was $30.50 for blood test (syphilis), $80 chest x-ray and $335.00 for medical. So I was happy with that.

Front airbags aren't exclusive to females. I have some pretty decent moobs!
 
Hi All,

I have just found this forum after my husband and I had our interview in Sydney last week - seriously wish I had found it earlier as so many of the little details we had been preoccupied with/agonised over are dealt with in these 147 pages. Kudos for that and congrats to all who have already been approved/gone current.

My husband was the principal applicant and, because we got married in December 2013 between submitting the initial application and then being selected, I was added to the application and am now thrilled to be heading over with him.

Here is our DV info:
OC2015000007XX
October 2013-Entered DV Lottery 2015
May 2014-Selected for further processing
end May 2014- Submitted DS260
Dec 2013 - Went current
Interview 10/2/15 in Sydney

Apologies in advance for the million questions I'm about to shoot your way:

We were approved at our interview - at least I think so (!). The very nice consular officer said everything was in order with our application, the only issue was that the doctor who did our medical forgot to fill out one section for both of us so the consulate were to email him and get him to sign/return this part and then would send us our passports back within a week or so. They said to follow him up if we hadn't heard anything by mid-this week. Still haven't heard back. We are from Perth so had our medical at Kinetic Health, so anyone visiting Dr Bateman there (who is lovely) , just make sure he has completed all sections of your forms so you're not in our position - would have loved to have our passports back like caroline and gemma by now. Has anyone else experienced this? If the doctor has to fill out more information on the forms, does this change/extend the validity date on your medical?

We are planning to head over in July 2015, subject to when the medical says we have to enter at the latest, and then stay with my aunt in Connecticut until we can find an apartment in NYC and I can find a job. My husband is studying so he will also either look at doing exchange for a semester or two and then transferring, or doing a straight transfer, or working for the first six months. Has anyone had experience transferring to a US uni part way through an Aussie degree? Any recommendations on process/ how to request finance since HECS won't apply? He is studying engineering if that helps.

I am a lawyer with Government currently and am looking at any kind of NGO/human rights/legal type work that I can find over there. Not sure if I will need to transfer my legal qualification if I end up in a firm. Has anyone gone through this before? I'm not really keen on sitting the Bar exam but I heard there are some firms that may not require it.

OK I'll stop with the questions (though I have a million more!) and free up some screen space for others :) Very exciting stuff...


Just a bit on the law side. If you don't sit the bar you would be able to get some work with a law firm, but the salary would reflect that status. It may take time to study for the bar, so there would be no choice as a start, but surely in the longer term you would want to take full advantage of your training...
 
I know this has probably been asked a million times, but how did you all go about your vaccinations. I had a test done to gauge what antibodies I did have. I'm good on alot of them, but I still have to get around 6 more. Did you guys get them before your medical or at the medical. And how does the Hep A and Hep B work? Can you start on the injections and get the the rest later?

I got all of my vaccinations before my medical, i figured it was one less thing to worry about. I got my hep b injection and will get the follow up ones when they are due :)
 
Medical out of the way! That was easy. I went to George Street Medical Centre, Dr Waks. He was great. For anyone going, the only immunization proof I had was for Hep B and tetanus. There's a measles outbreak at the moment, so the MMR vaccine was free. He took my word on chicken pox and polio. So I am very pleased I didn't waste money on a pre medical blood test to check my immunities.. Also I was delighted to find he had no interest in looking up my skirt as someone reported a while back. I guess the front airbags were a dead giveaway that I'm female. It was $30.50 for blood test (syphilis), $80 chest x-ray and $335.00 for medical. So I was happy with that.

Haha you are a crack up Deb, I was expecting to have to undress too but fortunately that didn't happen!
 
Hi All,

I have just found this forum after my husband and I had our interview in Sydney last week - seriously wish I had found it earlier as so many of the little details we had been preoccupied with/agonised over are dealt with in these 147 pages. Kudos for that and congrats to all who have already been approved/gone current.

My husband was the principal applicant and, because we got married in December 2013 between submitting the initial application and then being selected, I was added to the application and am now thrilled to be heading over with him.

Here is our DV info:
OC2015000007XX
October 2013-Entered DV Lottery 2015
May 2014-Selected for further processing
end May 2014- Submitted DS260
Dec 2013 - Went current
Interview 10/2/15 in Sydney

Apologies in advance for the million questions I'm about to shoot your way:

We were approved at our interview - at least I think so (!). The very nice consular officer said everything was in order with our application, the only issue was that the doctor who did our medical forgot to fill out one section for both of us so the consulate were to email him and get him to sign/return this part and then would send us our passports back within a week or so. They said to follow him up if we hadn't heard anything by mid-this week. Still haven't heard back. We are from Perth so had our medical at Kinetic Health, so anyone visiting Dr Bateman there (who is lovely) , just make sure he has completed all sections of your forms so you're not in our position - would have loved to have our passports back like caroline and gemma by now. Has anyone else experienced this? If the doctor has to fill out more information on the forms, does this change/extend the validity date on your medical?

We are planning to head over in July 2015, subject to when the medical says we have to enter at the latest, and then stay with my aunt in Connecticut until we can find an apartment in NYC and I can find a job. My husband is studying so he will also either look at doing exchange for a semester or two and then transferring, or doing a straight transfer, or working for the first six months. Has anyone had experience transferring to a US uni part way through an Aussie degree? Any recommendations on process/ how to request finance since HECS won't apply? He is studying engineering if that helps.

I am a lawyer with Government currently and am looking at any kind of NGO/human rights/legal type work that I can find over there. Not sure if I will need to transfer my legal qualification if I end up in a firm. Has anyone gone through this before? I'm not really keen on sitting the Bar exam but I heard there are some firms that may not require it.

OK I'll stop with the questions (though I have a million more!) and free up some screen space for others :) Very exciting stuff...

Congrats! This forum is definitely a life saver. I hope you get your passports back soon, it didn't feel real until I got my passport back.
 
Here is our interview experience from last week:

Immigration interviews are only held on a Tuesday and our interview was scheduled for 10 February 2015. For Australia, they are only held at the US Consulate in Sydney. After a nice stroll through Hyde Park we were still early so went to visit the Sunrise Studio. It was only a short walk to the MCL Centre in Martin Place and we arrived at 8:40am for a 9:15am interview. We went to Security on Level. All bags are X-Rayed, shoes and belts off and walk through the X-Ray. We left our mobile phones at the Hotel as we knew we couldn’t take them to the Interview. They discourage backpacks so I took a fabric shopping bag with our paperwork. The paperwork already in order and the bag (with our sunglasses and watch) were put into a pigeon hole and we were given a number. We were the next in line to have our paperwork checked. The people before us had many problems including not having their documents photocopied. They had to go down the hall to photocopy them. Finally, we presented our documents – all in the exact order they wanted with the checklist already completed. This pleased the woman that it was all correct. Everything was good apart from needing two copies of our marriage certificate so one of us had to go and get another copy. Because the other couple took so long at the photocopier it was another long wait. We said ‘hi’ to Carolineinthecity and it was good to put a face to a name. Documents presented again for the woman to place the marriage certificate in the correct place.

We were then ready to go to level 59 for our interview. Took a number and waited only a few minutes to be called to the first window. Documents were checked again and our address to send the Greencard was also confirmed. I had just picked an apartment building in Colorado as we haven’t yet worked out where we would be living. The address can be changed up to port of entry so we still had time. We had Police Certificates from the Victoria Police. There was conflicting information on the consular website about if that was satisfactory of if the Federal Police check was to be done (full disclosure). A week prior to our interview we applied for the AFP one but they didn’t arrive in time. I had both maiden and married names on mine so it was okay. Our digital fingerprints were taken – four fingers on both hands of adults only. You are not supposed to bring plastic folders but I had everything in them and handed all passports, photos and documents without the folder. At this window they separated everyone into clear plastic folders anyway. All good so we were told to go to the payment window to pay our Visa fees which was about AUD $1,500.

Back to the waiting area for our longest wait to date. There were probably about 12 other families waiting including Caroline, another girl in her mid-twenties who was planning to move to New York and a family of six. The four kids were mostly teenagers and they were planning on moving to Colorado too. We discussed where we have travelled in the US prior and we had been to many of the same places. Our little group were all buzzing, lots of excitement and it was like catching up with old friends. Not sure how long we waited, probably about 45 minutes and we were called for our actual interview.

Hubby and I had to raise our right hand and swear to tell the truth. I actually answered to myself and was asked again to provide a response – not a great start to the interview but the CO had a laugh about it. He carefully went through the paperwork and asked if we had been married before – answer was no. We thought he asked if we had entered the Diversity Lottery before and we both said it was our first time. I think he asked if we had been in the US before as he corrected us about our 2012 trip (I had been before that too). That was sorted and the next question was ‘Why do you want to live in the US?’ He then proceeded to answer it saying we must have liked it there last time (we were on a holiday there for 7 ½ months) and that we wanted to come back. We agreed. Hubby was the primary applicant so his school records were checked next. The CO made a comment about one of his HSC subjects not being very good – again it was like he was joking with us. Hubby responded that he lost interest but went on to achieve a Bachelor Degree. We were asked to produce it and the CO was satisfied. I also had my education, last few contracts, payslip and bank statements which we didn’t need. Fingerprints checked again and we were told ‘Congratulations your Visa has been approved’. Quite surreal really after such a huge build up. We turned to the kids and heard a ‘YES!’ and they were very excited. Our 7 year old was reading her book the whole time our 9 year old was with us listening to the interview. We were told what happens next and we would receive our passports, visa and medical envelope in the next couple of days (it arrived two days later).

Our flight wasn’t until 2:00pm so we went to the Eye and bought the photos to remember our trip. It was good to have that view of Sydney before heading back to Melbourne.
I was not stressed at all for the interview because I was prepared and knew exactly what to expect. Thanks to the support on this forum, it has been priceless! I read on here that the hardest thing about the while DV process is being selected and I really believe that.

Here is some other info not relevant to the Interview itself. We flew up on Sunday morning to allow plenty of time for delays. We stayed at the Best Western Plus Hotel Stellar close to Hyde Park. It was a nice roomy hotel room and was a good place to stay (we couldn’t get a room at the Travelodge close to Martin Place). They did a deal for breakfast $10 adults and $5 kids for a fully cooked breakfast and we were the only ones there both days. Great value and delicious! Sunday was spent walking through Hyde Park and doing a trial walk to the MLC Centre. My 7 year old daughter was filming pigeons on her iPad (more about that later).We visited the Anzac Memorial (very moving) and went to St Mary’s where there was a service with hundreds of Sudanese people to remember Saint Josephine Bakhita (also very moving and a remarkable story). It was very hot and humid and most unpleasant outside. Later hubby took the kids back to Hyde Park for a play and the Coroner was there putting a man in a body bag. Turns out my daughter filmed the dead guy earlier with his friend sitting next to him. Kids were okay and don’t seem affected by it but it’s not something you expect to see.

Monday was hot and humid again. Went to The Rocks, walked the long way to the Sydney Harbour Bridge and walked across it (it rained and we were soaked). Wanted to do the Bridge Climb but kids need to be 10. Walked through the beautiful Botanical Gardens, visited the Opera House, saw the Hairy Maclary exhibition at the Library and spent the afternoon at the Museum. Bought take away from Oxford St, not the best place to be and saw a couple of drug affected people doing strange things. The area is okay during the day but I wouldn’t want to go out at night there.

It was good to fit in a short trip around the Interview and explore some of Sydney. All the best for everyone waiting on their interview.
 
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I know this has probably been asked a million times, but how did you all go about your vaccinations. I had a test done to gauge what antibodies I did have. I'm good on alot of them, but I still have to get around 6 more. Did you guys get them before your medical or at the medical. And how does the Hep A and Hep B work? Can you start on the injections and get the the rest later?

We started preparing in August last year for our Vaccinations. We just thought it was easier and cheaper to do it prior to the medical. We have one more of the course of 3 Hep A & Hep B which are not required for the medical. I had immunity for Measles and Rubella but forgot to take the proof to the medical so had to have MMR a the medical (cost $50).
 
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