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DV 2015 Oceania winners

CC1 said:
Hi AussieGemma,
Sounds like you guys are on track, we are just back from our activation trip, great experience, visited everywhere from the South up to the North, only problem we have is I loved Savannah in Georgia and my hubby loved San Fran haha ( PROBLEM )
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Hi there, haha Savannah and San Fran are world apart, good luck with that!! We only have 22 days left to be ready - we have lots to do before then, really getting to the pointy end now! When were you going back permanently?
 
EmilyW said:
Just wanted to wish all the OC-ers and our honorary members - @SusieQQQ, @Britsimon and @Sm1smom - a happy Easter.

Whether you are religious or not, it's a great chance to catch up with friends, family and it's a rolled gold excuse to eat chocolates.

And good luck to our @Deb7a who is on route to her official POE!
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Thanks Emily! Happy easter to everyone.
(Or happy Passover to anyone for whom it may be appropriate ;) )
Yeah. Chocolate!
 
Hi everyone! Have been lurking lately because my number is quite high (16xx), however I have a question that I can't seem to solve from reading back over the forum.

My husband & I filled out our DS forms before we were married. But I listed him as a derivative. We're married now. I can see that I've done things strangely and out of order, especially given my high CN, but at the time I was panicked and just wanted to get everything done.

My question is whether I need to ring up and get the form unlocked before an (unlikely) future interview may transpire, or if I should just wait and see and if we do get an interview, clear things up then?
 
a) I don't think you did anything in a strange order, @saltwaterlily. I think, given the backlogs associated with the DS260, you did the right thing!

b) I would get the forms unlocked and updated. Yes, your number is high but, if you do get an interview, it will be in September and you don't want to do anything that might get you into Administrative Processing (such as additional background checks) and where AP is unresolved by 30 September 2015.
 
saltwaterlily said:
Hi everyone! Have been lurking lately because my number is quite high (16xx), however I have a question that I can't seem to solve from reading back over the forum.

My husband & I filled out our DS forms before we were married. But I listed him as a derivative. We're married now. I can see that I've done things strangely and out of order, especially given my high CN, but at the time I was panicked and just wanted to get everything done.

My question is whether I need to ring up and get the form unlocked before an (unlikely) future interview may transpire, or if I should just wait and see and if we do get an interview, clear things up then?
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Unlock the forms and correct the date.
 
EmilyW said:
Just wanted to wish all the OC-ers and our honorary members - @SusieQQQ, @Britsimon and @Sm1smom - a happy Easter.

Whether you are religious or not, it's a great chance to catch up with friends, family and it's a rolled gold excuse to eat chocolates.

And good luck to our @Deb7a who is on route to her official POE!
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Thanks for that - I had a nice weekend in the mountains in a cabin. Beautiful location and we were paid a visit from the Easter Bunny which was nice!
 
Hi Guys. Well here I am. In noisy old LA. I had my POE early this morning and what an anti-climax. I wasn't at all nervous, except that I had a plastic skull in my bag and I thought they might have thought it was real. But I just lined up with all of the other tourists and when it was my turn he looked at my passport and said 'do you have a package for me'? Told me to wait a minute, a uniformed man took me to another section, and told me to sit, I got fingerprinted and then the guy called me over after I heard him stamping all my papers, gave me my passport and said 'you can go'. I did not get asked a single question, not one. I think he was in a hurry for his morning tea cause he ran off as soon as I got my passport. So that was it!!! So here I am in Manhattan Beach. I had a lovely walk along the beach, which made me feel at home, decided on a quick beer and got picked up by a very young guy in the bar (I did not take him home), so all round not a bad start to my American life.
Oh and happy belated Easter to all!
 
Deb7a said:
Hi Guys. Well here I am. In noisy old LA. I had my POE early this morning and what an anti-climax. I wasn't at all nervous, except that I had a plastic skull in my bag and I thought they might have thought it was real. But I just lined up with all of the other tourists and when it was my turn he looked at my passport and said 'do you have a package for me'? Told me to wait a minute, a uniformed man took me to another section, and told me to sit, I got fingerprinted and then the guy called me over after I heard him stamping all my papers, gave me my passport and said 'you can go'. I did not get asked a single question, not one. I think he was in a hurry for his morning tea cause he ran off as soon as I got my passport. So that was it!!! So here I am in Manhattan Beach. I had a lovely walk along the beach, which made me feel at home, decided on a quick beer and got picked up by a very young guy in the bar (I did not take him home), so all round not a bad start to my American life.
Oh and happy belated Easter to all!
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Welcome, and hahaha what a good start!!
 
It's funny, when I envisioned my day, it went almost exactly as I'd imagined (except I didn't expect the picking up guys in bars bit). This whole ride has been a fairytale and if you read a book about it you would think it a little bit too soap operaish and a little too far fetched. But there you go. You want it, dream it. Amazing.

I am very excited to see how all of the other OCers go now. I am sure they will all be successful too
 
EmilyW said:
a) I don't think you did anything in a strange order, @saltwaterlily. I think, given the backlogs associated with the DS260, you did the right thing!

b) I would get the forms unlocked and updated. Yes, your number is high but, if you do get an interview, it will be in September and you don't want to do anything that might get you into Administrative Processing (such as additional background checks) and where AP is unresolved by 30 September 2015.
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Thanks Emily. I'll try and ring the Kentucky consulate this week. I had previously emailed to try and unlock the form but had no luck getting anything other than automated replies. You're right, better off maximising my chances of success just in case! :D
 
Just a handy hint, courtesy of @Britsimon, press '0' as soon as you connect to the call centre. You can circumvent the menus that way and will be able to speak to a lovely, helpful American who can unlock your DS260 immediately. You will just need your full name, DOB and case number.
 
Deb7a said:
Hi Guys. Well here I am. In noisy old LA. I had my POE early this morning and what an anti-climax. I wasn't at all nervous, except that I had a plastic skull in my bag and I thought they might have thought it was real. But I just lined up with all of the other tourists and when it was my turn he looked at my passport and said 'do you have a package for me'? Told me to wait a minute, a uniformed man took me to another section, and told me to sit, I got fingerprinted and then the guy called me over after I heard him stamping all my papers, gave me my passport and said 'you can go'. I did not get asked a single question, not one. I think he was in a hurry for his morning tea cause he ran off as soon as I got my passport. So that was it!!! So here I am in Manhattan Beach. I had a lovely walk along the beach, which made me feel at home, decided on a quick beer and got picked up by a very young guy in the bar (I did not take him home), so all round not a bad start to my American life.
Oh and happy belated Easter to all!
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Congrats deb

This is pretty much our experience too. So easy.

Anti climatic Yeah. But in the end doesn't matter. Approved and in the country.
 
Just a little update.

We opened our bank accounts the other day without an issue. We then went to open secured credit cards however after a bit of discussion with the bank lender and our situation we waited on them
Until we got our SSN. Once we have that we will send the number to her and she will set up our secured card. We have already deposited money into our bank account so it is just a matter of taking it out of there. When we get our socials. She said it was easier this way as she doesn't think our spending would get put towards our credit score or back dated before we had our SSN in place. We have to go to the SSA again tomorrow to confirm that they did get it processed when our visa got issued.
 
Can anyone confirm exactly what documentation is required for a NZ applicant regarding "Education" and exactly what this should look like?

I have official letters and original certificate from NZQA confirming that I entered, and qualified for, University Entrance.... But is that all that's required? No other proof of education (eg. from Primary/Intermediate/High school)? And will my actual University degree really be of no use?
 
Further to the above question... I seem to recall someone on here from last year had blogged their successful DV application including photos/screen-shots of everything they had printed out for the interview. Does anyone know the link? Now that I'm preparing documentation for the interview this would be pretty damn re-assuring / helpful in terms of ticking off the checklist.
 
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