DV 2017 AOS Only

[santassaf]

This is so frustrating Did the letter state that generally exhausted DV visas or it was just for your region?

The lady at the interview showed us a copy of the letter (had plenty of URGET URGENT ... written on it). Apparently, she said that they received the notice only around 4am this morning! We briefly looked through the letter, but honestly, we were in such a shock and so mad that we did not read it well. I did ask her something like that and to my understanding it is for all regions, but certainly not %100 about that.

 

[Ruw02]

Book the 27th September slot. Even if the FO did NOTHING until then (which is not very likely), there would still be time for them to get your file from KCC. Good luck with Irma.

Sorry to learn you're on hurricane IRMA's path - first things first though: stay safe!

If you safely can attend, the Sept 13th infopass (if your FO is open of ourse). If not reschedule for the 27th, keep an eye on the website, an earlier appointment might open up. You can also attempt a walk in when everything quites down. Explain the urgency involved (with printed materials you can present of ourse) to the guards, let them know you tried to book an appointment but none was available to meet your timely need.

Thanks Simon and mom. I just got to know my FO will be closed on Wednesday (Sep 13) and was able to reschedule an appointment on Sep 22.

Reading the above posts, I've started to panicking. One of the applicants here has said that his IO showed a letter saying that available visas are exhausted. Does that apply for applicants who already had their interview, but did not get approval yet too?

 

[costacosta]

No it doesn't.

The response letter on our expedite request is coming from Chicago FO. It says that our request for final decision was sent to appropriate department (not specified). I assume they meant NBC, correct? And if all visas are exhausted does it make any sense to wait for any of their decisions or it is the case for Asia region only?

 

[Sm1smom]

Thanks Simon and mom. I just got to know my FO will be closed on Wednesday (Sep 13) and was able to reschedule an appointment on Sep 22.

Reading the above posts, I've started to panicking. One of the applicants here has said that his IO showed a letter saying that available visas are exhausted. Does that apply for applicants who already had their interview, but did not get approval yet too?

If your FO opens before Sept 22, you should still attempt a walk in.

Since I never saw the content of the letter and know precisely what it says (and the OP has confirmed he didn't quite read the letter itself since he was in shock based on what they were told), I don't want to start speculating on who and who the letter may be applicable to.

But one thing I do know for certain is that visas numbers are typically not reserved n DV cases. The IO only finds out if there's any visa left when the decision to approve the case has been made and a visa request is made through IV AMSWEB.

 

[Sm1smom]

The response letter on our expedite request is coming from Chicago FO. It says that our request for final decision was sent to appropriate department (not specified). I assume they meant NBC, correct? And if all visas are exhausted does it make any sense to wait for any of their decisions or it is the case for Asia region only?

I believe I've exhausted myself in trying to explain to you NBC's role in this process, so I'm sorry to say I have no comment regarding the first part of your post.

Again, I haven't seen the referenced letter, so I can't speculate on who is actually affected.

 

[Britsimon]

As Mom says, it's hard to speculate without having seen the letter. If true - it would be a heck of a shocker - but we need confirmation of this statement and who is affected. Hopefully we will have some info tomorrow.

 

[santassaf]

As Mom says, it's hard to speculate without having seen the letter. If true - it would be a heck of a shocker - but we need confirmation of this statement and who is affected. Hopefully we will have some info tomorrow.

I wish I could provide you more info regarding the details of the letter (she placed it in front of us, but only for several seconds), but I can certainly tell you that she said it was issued by USCIS on Friday, September 8, and our FO (Honolulu) received it this morning around 4am! At least for us, the timing is unbearably annoying, within hours.

 

[Britsimon]

I wish I could provide you more info regarding the details of the letter (she placed it in front of us, but only for several seconds), but I can certainly tell you that she said it was issued by USCIS on Friday, September 8, and our FO (Honolulu) received it this morning around 4am! At least for us, the timing is unbearably annoying, within hours.

I heard from an OC region selectee doing CP that they too had been told visas are exhausted. That probably covers CP applicants that have their interview scheduled, but not for people that rescheduled as he had. AOS cases do not have a visa number reserved prior to interview as CP cases do. Checking the visa is available is the final step for AoSers.

 

[SusieQQQ]

As Mom says, it's hard to speculate without having seen the letter. If true - it would be a heck of a shocker - but we need confirmation of this statement and who is affected. Hopefully we will have some info tomorrow.

Re shocker: to be fair, the vast majority of DVs would have been issued by now. It's just a (relative) handful of AOS and AP cases remaining as well as those Egyptian and Nepalese that had to wait till September to be current - Simon, these latter would have had numbers reserved, right? So possibly a few may be freed up by refusals or no-shows on these?

 

[SusieQQQ]

I heard from an OC region selectee doing CP that they too had been told visas are exhausted. That probably covers CP applicants that have their interview scheduled, but not for people that rescheduled as he had. AOS cases do not have a visa number reserved prior to interview as CP cases do. Checking the visa is available is the final step for AoSers.

Again highlights how rescheduling really should be a last resort for CP. sad.

 

[Britsimon]

Re shocker: to be fair, the vast majority of DVs would have been issued by now. It's just a (relative) handful of AOS and AP cases remaining as well as those Egyptian and Nepalese that had to wait till September to be current - Simon, these latter would have had numbers reserved, right? So possibly a few may be freed up by refusals or no-shows on these?

Yes, there might be a small chance at the embassy level for a reallocation of a visa slot.

 

[Pierre82]

Yes, there might be a small chance at the embassy level for a reallocation of a visa slot.

Thanks for sharing this info Brit I learned something new today in terms of processing for DV cases.

 

[santassaf]

Yes, there might be a small chance at the embassy level for a reallocation of a visa slot.

I see, very disappointing situation. So from what I gather, there's practically no way a visa can be freed for an AOS applicant at this stage, since visa slots are not reserved for those cases? I kind of still want to keep hopes a bit since we were told that our case will not be closed until the end of the month in case there will be available visas. However, I know the chances are very low.

 

[Britsimon]

I see, very disappointing situation. So from what I gather, there's practically no way a visa can be freed for an AOS applicant at this stage, since visa slots are not reserved for those cases? I kind of still want to keep hopes a bit since we were told that our case will not be closed until the end of the month in case there will be available visas. However, I know the chances are very low.

I don't think we (the regulars that have been working on DV since about 2012/2013) have never seen a complete shutdown quite like this so it is new territory. In a previous year we have seen scheduled interviews for a particular country be cancelled (which was to do with hitting a country limit, not regional quota), but I cannot remember AoS cases ever being told there were no visa slots left. As Susie said above, there are CP scheduled cases still going on in September, I would expect those cases to have visas allocated to them, but if any of those cases are refused, they are only reallocated within the embassy - they would not for instance be made available to AoS case or another embassy. I'll contact KCC to see if they have anything they can say to explain.

 

[Ruw02]

Hi mom/Simon,

Do you know whether the case status in the system is updated by the IO as soon as a decision is made or can it take some time for it to get updated?

And is there a possibility that the letter regarding the exhausted of visa showed to the above applicant (@santassaf ) could be hitting the country limit and not the regional quota?

 

[costacosta]

I don't think we (the regulars that have been working on DV since about 2012/2013) have never seen a complete shutdown quite like this so it is new territory. In a previous year we have seen scheduled interviews for a particular country be cancelled (which was to do with hitting a country limit, not regional quota), but I cannot remember AoS cases ever being told there were no visa slots left. As Susie said above, there are CP scheduled cases still going on in September, I would expect those cases to have visas allocated to them, but if any of those cases are refused, they are only reallocated within the embassy - they would not for instance be made available to AoS case or another embassy. I'll contact KCC to see if they have anything they can say to explain.

i talked to KCC today morning. They said the do not have any information about exhausting the visas and confirmed the would know if that was the case.

 

[Sm1smom]

Hi mom/Simon,

Do you know whether the case status in the system is updated by the IO as soon as a decision is made or can it take some time for it to get updated?

And is there a possibility that the letter regarding the exhausted of visa showed to the above applicant (@santassaf ) could be hitting the country limit and not the regional quota?

1. It's usually updated regarding right away in most cases. A few never got updated until after the GC was received.

2. Again, I can't speculate on what I haven't seen.

 

[Britsimon]

Hi mom/Simon,

Do you know whether the case status in the system is updated by the IO as soon as a decision is made or can it take some time for it to get updated?

And is there a possibility that the letter regarding the exhausted of visa showed to the above applicant (@santassaf ) could be hitting the country limit and not the regional quota?

That's possible, but I am hearing the same thing from selectees that could not have hit the country limit. So - there is some evidence this might be true. However, I have spoken with KCC and whilst they know they are not scheduling any more appointments, they are less clear about how they will handle embassy requests to allocate a visa number to a case that is finishing AP (which, like AoS cases needs visa slots to be allocated).

 

[SusieQQQ]

And is there a possibility that the letter regarding the exhausted of visa showed to the above applicant (@santassaf ) could be hitting the country limit and not the regional quota?

There's no way israel hit the country limit. They don't have enough selectees, only 127 for DV2017.

 

[Vanessa__m1]

Hi regarding the frustrating situation with the exhausted visas - my husband just called USCIS and requested to speak to a level 2 officer and he told him that there isn't such memo in the USCIS system and it may apply for specific region but nowhere in the system says that the visas are exhausted. He said that if the visas were exhausted they would call and cancel the already scheduled interviews. We have our interview scheduled for this Friday and are from Europe. Let's just hope that there will be two left visas for us!