DV 2017 AOS Only

[Britsimon]

Hi Mom/Simon,

Is it possible for the interview officer to check with the US embassy in our home country to see whether there are any remaining visas with them (no shows up/refusals) and if so, can they request those visas to those who do AOS here? or is there no hope for us at all?

I am so worried and depressed. If only he had requested my KCC file and approved me on the day of my interview, I wouldn't be facing this situation today :'(

I had my interview in LA Tuesday morning 8.15am and I was the first person my officer had reported this "no more visas" issue to. He conducted my interview anyway and left the case open for processing. Obviously I am completely devastated. He said this has never ever happened before and he didnt have much more information.
What are the thoughts here? Is there a recommended course of action?
By reading your blog post @Britsimon - it seems like there could perhaps be a SHRED of hope.
I have an infopass scheduled for the 18th - should I go anyway and attempt to talk to my officer?

To both of you. The AoS system is different to CP.

The visas for CP cases are allocated at the time of scheduling and the total number of visas for the month are handled by the embassy. So - if they are given 20 interviews for a month with 20 selectees and 10 derivatives, they will be holding 30 visa slots. If they approve 25, and two are on AP and 3 are refused they might use the 3 for allocating to other cases from previous months that have finished AP. They then return the unused visas to KCC at the end of each month.

Theoretically, if KCC could get those visas returned fast enough they could reallocate them, but, that is unlikely to happen in large numbers.

AMSWEB is the visa allocation system for AoS cases. I don't know if it can draw visas from KCC - but I suspect it gets visas based on DS260 submissions (which is one other reason why filing the DS260 is worthwhile).

When everything is completed on a case, the last thing they do is check AMSWEB for the visas, decrementing the available DV visas by the issued number. If the centralized system doesn't have visas available, they can't do anything. Mom, Susie and I have been "around" since 2012/2013. In that time we have not (I believe) seen this sudden stop on AoS cases. So - keep infopasses by all means and see if something changes, but we are in uncharted waters.

 

[costacosta]

To both of you. The AoS system is different to CP.

The visas for CP cases are allocated at the time of scheduling and the total number of visas for the month are handled by the embassy. So - if they are given 20 interviews for a month with 20 selectees and 10 derivatives, they will be holding 30 visa slots. If they approve 25, and two are on AP and 3 are refused they might use the 3 for allocating to other cases from previous months that have finished AP. They then return the unused visas to KCC at the end of each month.

Theoretically, if KCC could get those visas returned fast enough they could reallocate them, but, that is unlikely to happen in large numbers.

AMSWEB is the visa allocation system for AoS cases. I don't know if it can draw visas from KCC - but I suspect it gets visas based on DS260 submissions (which is one other reason why filing the DS260 is worthwhile).

When everything is completed on a case, the last thing they do is check AMSWEB for the visas, decrementing the available DV visas by the issued number. If the centralized system doesn't have visas available, they can't do anything. Mom, Susie and I have been "around" since 2012/2013. In that time we have not (I believe) seen this sudden stop on AoS cases. So - keep infopasses by all means and see if something changes, but we are in uncharted waters.

Hi Simon,
what do you think about todays INFOPASS, why did not they disclose if the visas are run out? They even confirmed I`ll be getting my interview letter next week.

 

[Britsimon]

Hi Simon,
what do you think about todays INFOPASS, why did not they disclose if the visas are run out? They even confirmed I`ll be getting my interview letter next week.

Like has been explained several times, the FO could be unaware of the memo sent out last week. That would not be a shock at all. They might schedule and even perform the interview. BUT, when they go to login in to AMSWEB to allocate you a visa, they will not be able to do that unless something changes from the current situation.

 

[costacosta]

Like has been explained several times, the FO could be unaware of the memo sent out last week. That would not be a shock at all. They might schedule and even perform the interview. BUT, when they go to login in to AMSWEB to allocate you a visa, they will not be able to do that unless something changes from the current situation.

I`m sorry but I did not get it. How could it happen that Chicago FO is not aware that the visas are exhausted? They conduct hundreds of interviews including DV case interviews every day? I even went up on the second floor where interviews are conducted and talked to reception guys. They did not know anything about that either.

 

[Britsimon]

I`m sorry but I did not get it. How could it happen that Chicago FO is not aware that the visas are exhausted? They conduct hundreds of interviews including DV case interviews every day? I even went up on the second floor where interviews are conducted and talked to reception guys. They did not know anything about that either.

There are only about 100 - 150 AOS cases per month in the whole country, so Chicago may not be as aware as you think. But anyway, I think I made my point clear - there is no point in going back and forth with you about it. Maybe I'm wrong, I'd be delighted if that were the case. Perhaps something will change. Time will tell.

 

[SusieQQQ]

I`m sorry but I did not get it. How could it happen that Chicago FO is not aware that the visas are exhausted? They conduct hundreds of interviews including DV case interviews every day? I even went up on the second floor where interviews are conducted and talked to reception guys. They did not know anything about that either.

They certainly don't conduct hundreds of DV interviews and as has been explained now countless times, unless they have in the past few days done a DV interview and then requested a visa they simply may not know.
We've already seen 2 cases reported here where the cases have been interviewed and are being kept open despite lack of visas and I presume that is so that in the event that a couple of visas DO become available in the last couple of days of the FY, perhaps with KCC scrambling as Simon said they'd have to to do that, the FOs will then immediately be able to issue as they have an approved case on hand. They probably wouldn't have time to set up an interview at such short notice.
Anyway,it's moot, if you want a green card your only option is to attend your interview and hope there's a visa number available. Bear in mind - as you keep on trying to make this a country issue - only a handful of countries have enough selectees to make hitting the 7% limit a potential problem and we already know that isn't the issue in the 2 countries where we know people are from.
By the way you KNOW FOs get it wrong on Dv sometimes, for example the number of AOSets who've been told they have to follow normal AOS processing times.
I understand you want to hold out hope in the face of this continuing evidence, but at this point you should also be facing reality and figuring out what your plan B is. As Simon says, clearly until you've had your interview and got the result, no point in continuing this back and forth.

 

[Ruw02]

To both of you. The AoS system is different to CP.

The visas for CP cases are allocated at the time of scheduling and the total number of visas for the month are handled by the embassy. So - if they are given 20 interviews for a month with 20 selectees and 10 derivatives, they will be holding 30 visa slots. If they approve 25, and two are on AP and 3 are refused they might use the 3 for allocating to other cases from previous months that have finished AP. They then return the unused visas to KCC at the end of each month.

Theoretically, if KCC could get those visas returned fast enough they could reallocate them, but, that is unlikely to happen in large numbers.

AMSWEB is the visa allocation system for AoS cases. I don't know if it can draw visas from KCC - but I suspect it gets visas based on DS260 submissions (which is one other reason why filing the DS260 is worthwhile).

When everything is completed on a case, the last thing they do is check AMSWEB for the visas, decrementing the available DV visas by the issued number. If the centralized system doesn't have visas available, they can't do anything. Mom, Susie and I have been "around" since 2012/2013. In that time we have not (I believe) seen this sudden stop on AoS cases. So - keep infopasses by all means and see if something changes, but we are in uncharted waters.

Thank you for the detailed explanation Simon. Hoping for a MIRACLE !

Just one last thing to get clarified. Do they approve the case only if the visas are available or do they approve it first and then check AMSWEB for visa availability?

 

[Xarthisius]

There are only about 100 - 150 AOS cases per month in the whole country, so Chicago may not be as aware as you think. But anyway, I think I made my point clear - there is no point in going back and forth with you about it. Maybe I'm wrong, I'd be delighted if that were the case. Perhaps something will change. Time will tell.

This is slightly off topic, but there were 261 AoS in DV category[1] during the first half of FY17. When I compared that number to the number of people that e.g. filled AOS Timeline it blew my mind how high of an impact (and importance) this forum has. Thank you for being here and answering all the questions!

[1] https://www.dhs.gov/immigration-statistics/special-reports/legal-immigration

 

[SusieQQQ]

This is slightly off topic, but there were 261 AoS in DV category[1] during the first half of FY17. When I compared that number to the number of people that e.g. filled AOS Timeline it blew my mind how high of an impact (and importance) this forum has. Thank you for being here and answering all the questions!

[1] https://www.dhs.gov/immigration-statistics/special-reports/legal-immigration

And there are certainly people who read it without posting here or in the spreadsheet so the impact is even greater than it looks! Uscis should give mom some kind of honorary....something!

 

[FionaB]

What country are you from?

Australia

 

[costacosta]

Australia

I`m sure you`ll get your GC. Don`t worry

 

[SusieQQQ]

Australia

Again confirming that this cannot be a country or regional quota issue.
Good luck - I hope they manage to return unusued consular visa numbers for AOS before the end of the FY. I'm hoping/assuming/(speculating...) that this is why more than once, at different FOs and for different countries, we've heard of cases that will be kept open till FY end despite lack of current visas.

 

[SusieQQQ]

Of course, every single visa bulletin says "DV visa availability through the very end of FY-2017 cannot be taken for granted. Numbers could be exhausted prior to September 30.", but we've never seen this other than for a couple of countries till now. Partly that's because in years when there are too many selectees, they've managed the "current" CNs better.
Which makes me speculate about something- Simon, maybe KCC didn't mess it up the way seems obvious and maybe it's not actually unrelated to the political situation... so this is entirely speculation but - while the authorities can't just shut down the program without a change in the law or an EO, what they can do is enforce the existing law - which technically only makes 50k visas available to non Nacara DV cases. We've become used to them going over the 50k in higher draw years and looking at the absolute limit of 55k - but maybe "enforcing" the 50k is what made KCC's calculations wrong and what the one officer meant by the political situation.
????

 

[Britsimon]

Thank you for the detailed explanation Simon. Hoping for a MIRACLE !

Just one last thing to get clarified. Do they approve the case only if the visas are available or do they approve it first and then check AMSWEB for visa availability?

I guess we need to define what "approve" means. They don't check AMSWEB until everything else is ready such as the background check, confirmed qualifications, file from KCC and so on - everything else. They then check AMSWEB to see if a visa is available. So - they only check the AMSWEB if the case is "approvable", but it is only golden if there is also a visa available for each person on the case.

 

[Sm1smom]

I`m sorry but I did not get it. How could it happen that Chicago FO is not aware that the visas are exhausted? They conduct hundreds of interviews including DV case interviews every day? I even went up on the second floor where interviews are conducted and talked to reception guys. They did not know anything about that either.

FYI: Chicago may conduct hundreds of interviews a day, it doesn't necessarily mean all the IOs at that particular FO have a clue of what the DV based AOS petitions involve. The reception guys in particular will have no idea of the intricacies involved either. The fact they work for USCIS does not mean they automatically know about DV based AOS process.

I believe we have a report from a selectee last year who came back to inform us their IO informed them theirs was the first DV based AOS case they've handled in years of working with USCIS and interviewing AOS petitioners.

 

[Britsimon]

Of course, every single visa bulletin says "DV visa availability through the very end of FY-2017 cannot be taken for granted. Numbers could be exhausted prior to September 30.", but we've never seen this other than for a couple of countries till now. Partly that's because in years when there are too many selectees, they've managed the "current" CNs better.
Which makes me speculate about something- Simon, maybe KCC didn't mess it up the way seems obvious and maybe it's not actually unrelated to the political situation... so this is entirely speculation but - while the authorities can't just shut down the program without a change in the law or an EO, what they can do is enforce the existing law - which technically only makes 50k visas available to non Nacara DV cases. We've become used to them going over the 50k in higher draw years and looking at the absolute limit of 55k - but maybe "enforcing" the 50k is what made KCC's calculations wrong and what the one officer meant by the political situation.
????

Maybe - but we don't really know. But this just isn't high enough on the radar to warrant "political" intervention. The technical limit is 50k - and we often see 51/52k. So - is DT really lying awake at night worry about the DV lottery getting those extra 1000 visas (which is less that 0.1% of annual immigration). I doubt it. I don't think anyone in this administration is that worried about that 0.1%. This feels like a screw up, pure and simple.

 

[SusieQQQ]

Like

Maybe - but we don't really know. But this just isn't high enough on the radar to warrant "political" intervention. The technical limit is 50k - and we often see 51/52k. So - is DT really lying awake at night worry about the DV lottery getting those extra 1000 visas (which is less that 0.1% of annual immigration). I doubt it. I don't think anyone in this administration is that worried about that 0.1%. This feels like a screw up, pure and simple.

Like mom alluded to before though, it's not just DV. I think they're trying to chip away wherever they can tbh.

 

[Britsimon]

FYI: Chicago may conduct hundreds of interviews a day, it doesn't necessarily mean all the IOs at that particular FO have a clue of what the DV based AOS petitions involve. The reception guys in particular will have no idea of the intricacies involved either. The fact they work for USCIS does not mean they automatically know about DV based AOS process.

I believe we have a report from a selectee last year who came back to inform us their IO informed them theirs was the first DV based AOS case they've handled in years of working with USCIS and interviewing AOS petitioners.

My infopass was with a 10+ year veteran who claimed all DV cases have to be processed out of the USA, and she had never seen an AOS. That was how our conversation started - just over three years ago...

 

[costacosta]

FYI: Chicago may conduct hundreds of interviews a day, it doesn't necessarily mean all the IOs at that particular FO have a clue of what the DV based AOS petitions involve. The reception guys in particular will have no idea of the intricacies involved either. The fact they work for USCIS does not mean they automatically know about DV based AOS process.

I believe we have a report from a selectee last year who came back to inform us their IO informed them theirs was the first DV based AOS case they've handled in years of working with USCIS and interviewing AOS petitioners.

Hi Mom,

It was not just reception guy. There was around 3-4 people gathered discussing my case for about one hour. Then someone came down from the second floor got involved in the conversation. Then they called to NBC and NBC confirmed that the case would be ready within next 2 days. They started asking questions like what visa did I come to US, when I changed the status, I felt I was at the interview. At the end they told me I`m gonna get the interview letter next week. Additionally my congressman office rep talked to NBC director and he did not know anything about the "no visa" issue.

 

[SusieQQQ]

Hi Mom,

It was not just reception guy. There was around 3-4 people gathered discussing my case for about one hour. Then someone came down from the second floor got involved in the conversation. Then they called to NBC and NBC confirmed that the case would be ready within next 2 days. They started asking questions like what visa did I come to US, when I changed the status, I felt I was at the interview. At the end they told me I`m gonna get the interview letter next week. Additionally my congressman office rep talked to NBC director and he did not know anything about the "no visa" issue.

Has anyone you spoke to requested a visa for you yet though? You know, like the last few AOS reports here. They have ALL been no visa numbers. We have not seen anyone get a visa since this started happening.

Why on earth would anyone at NBC know about DV visa availability by the way? That's not their job.

Oh why do I bother...

Although it's interesting indeed that such a busy office can spare 3-4 people to chat about one case for about an hour when it hasn't even interviewed yet.