DV 2017 AOS Only

[Sm1smom]

You are right. I requested that information from DOS through FOIA. Yes, I`d sue against unlawful denial and for GC approval.

Well, sorry to be the bearer of bad news. Even if you lawsuit succeeds, you will not retrogressively be issued with a GC. The law prohibits the issue of a DV based GC once the applicable FY is over - this has already been tested in cases where USCIS was clearly at fault as a matter of fact. The courts ruled while the applicants had a basis for suing USCIS for scheduling their interview after the end of their applicable FY, USCIS cannot issue them with a GC because their applicable FY had already ended. Goggle that if you will.

In your case though, you will have to prove how you were unlawfully denied as I don't see any unlawful denial in your case. The law doesn't saw 50,000 visas MUST be issued to DV selectees each year, it only lists the maximum number of visas that may be issued. So good luck with your lawsuit.

 

[Sm1smom]

Actually, forget about goggling similar cases, here's the link to a very popular one: Court of Appeals ruling in Nyanga vs Ashcroft
https://openjurist.org/323/f3d/906/nyaga-v-ashcroft

 

[costacosta]

Actually, forget about goggling similar cases, here's the link to a very popular one: Court of Appeals ruling in Nyanga vs Ashcroft
https://openjurist.org/323/f3d/906/nyaga-v-ashcroft

Yep, this is it! You see it is not as simple as sussie argues. Even district court ruled in favor of the applicant. Both courts district and appellate, along with INS not arguing on the matter, acknowledge that if the visa umbers are available it is INS statutory duty to issue a visa! The only problem is with the deadline. I`m not sure about what would be the decision if the lawsuit had been submitted before midnight of Sep 30th...

 

[costacosta]

Yep, this is it! You see it is not as simple as sussie argues. Even district court ruled in favor of the applicant. Both courts district and appellate, along with INS not arguing on the matter, acknowledge that if the visa umbers are available it is INS statutory duty to issue a visa! The only problem is with the deadline. I`m not sure about what would be the decision if the lawsuit had been submitted before midnight of Sep 30th...

I can`t believe there was not examples of cancelled visas in the consulars abroad after September 8th when it DOS announced "no visa" left.

 

[Sm1smom]

Yep, this is it! You see it is not as simple as sussie argues. Even district court ruled in favor of the applicant. Both courts district and appellate, along with INS not arguing on the matter, acknowledge that if the visa umbers are available it is INS statutory duty to issue a visa! The only problem is with the deadline. I`m not sure about what would be the decision if the lawsuit had been submitted before midnight of Sep 30th...

Filing the lawsuit prior to the Sept 30th deadline IS irrelevant. The courts cannot ask for a DV based GC to be retrogessively issued once your applicable FY is past. Get it??? Your GC cannot be charged to a DV year you're not selected in nor can can it be charged to some process your petition is not based on. Any GC issued must be chargeable to a particular source, they can't simply fish it out of nowhere.

 

[Sm1smom]

I can`t believe there was not examples of cancelled visas in the consulars abroad after September 8th when it DOS announced "no visa" left.

OMG!

This is like talking to someone with blinders on who removes them to see only what he wants to see.

There are no cancelled visas from CP because those visas were already preallocated and accounted for when those interviews were scheduled back in July!!! Do you have any clue as to how KCC operates with regards to those processing CP??? DOS already took the number of those visas into consideration before sending out the memo to USCIS for AOS cases.

 

[Sm1smom]

I suppose maybe I've been unwittingly contributing to what I consider to be "the madness" (for lack of a better word to use) that is going on right now. So:

And will no longer contribute to it. For my own sanity. Period!!

 

[SusieQQQ]

I can`t believe there was not examples of cancelled visas in the consulars abroad after September 8th when it DOS announced "no visa" left.

There are, for those cases like AP where a visa number was not reserved in advance. I'm assuming you can actually figure out that visas being allocated in advance go into the limit before exhaustion, it's not that difficult a concept. Go look at the Ankara embassy website if you want an "official" version. https://tr.usembassy.gov/shortcode/...-dv-program-reached-mandated-numerical-limit/

 

[Britsimon]

And do you think there will be the base to sue DOS if the numbers do not hit 50,000?

No! As I said there is NO LAW that forces them to meet the 50k. No law. None. No basis to sue. This is nothing to do with someone mood, but even if it was about that - that would STILL give you no basis on which to sue them.

 

[Britsimon]

Talk about selective hearing. Honestly!

 

[just_a_tech]

Seeing you guys deal with these kind of people and reading their response/arguments just hurts my brain...zzz

 

[Britsimon]

Seeing you guys deal with these kind of people and reading their response/arguments just hurts my brain...zzz

Yep. DV2017 has had a BRUTAL ending for many people including a number of people here. AoSers will typically have spent thousands of dollars on their processes and will often have been current for months before the end of the year. So there is no doubt they are entitled to be pissed off about the whole thing, and there is no doubt that the regulars understand how painful this must be. But endlessly ignoring 90% of the information given by well meaning experts, and arguing the other 10%, can be a "frustrating" process to say the least.

 

[santassaf]

Hi Brit/mom/Susie, all,

Tomorrow we will have an Infopass appointment, the first one since the day of the "interview" (9/11) where we were told that the 50k cap has been reached. We were planning to simply ask for an update, to see whether they have any available visa numbers for us (even though they told us we will be contacted if something like that happens). It is still not clear to me how a visa number that becomes available to AOSers can be assigned to a particular FO. Does their online system provides them an alert when something like that happens, or an officer needs to login into the system regularly and check for availability? I might ask that as well, depending on who will be helping us. Possibly we will also ask to speak to a supervisor in order to have a better chance for getting meaningful answers from the FO. I understand it is likely a waste of time, but we still want to go there and try.
Are there any questions/clarifications you would recommend us to ask there? Any other suggestions?

 

[Britsimon]

Hi Brit/mom/Susie, all,

Tomorrow we will have an Infopass appointment, the first one since the day of the "interview" (9/11) where we were told that the 50k cap has been reached. We were planning to simply ask for an update, to see whether they have any available visa numbers for us (even though they told us we will be contacted if something like that happens). It is still not clear to me how a visa number that becomes available to AOSers can be assigned to a particular FO. Does their online system provides them an alert when something like that happens, or an officer needs to login into the system regularly and check for availability? I might ask that as well, depending on who will be helping us. Possibly we will also ask to speak to a supervisor in order to have a better chance for getting meaningful answers from the FO. I understand it is likely a waste of time, but we still want to go there and try.
Are there any questions/clarifications you would recommend us to ask there? Any other suggestions?

They know about available visas only upon checking the system. Presumably, if it had been decided to release more visas for aos cases, the may have been a memo to inform the FOs, but we have not heard any such news.

So ask them to check the amsweb system again, by all means.

 

[santassaf]

They know about available visas only upon checking the system. Presumably, if it had been decided to release more visas for aos cases, the may have been a memo to inform the FOs, but we have not heard any such news.

So ask them to check the amsweb system again, by all means.

Sounds good, thanks Simon!

 

[Sm1smom]

Hi Brit/mom/Susie, all,

Tomorrow we will have an Infopass appointment, the first one since the day of the "interview" (9/11) where we were told that the 50k cap has been reached. We were planning to simply ask for an update, to see whether they have any available visa numbers for us (even though they told us we will be contacted if something like that happens). It is still not clear to me how a visa number that becomes available to AOSers can be assigned to a particular FO. Does their online system provides them an alert when something like that happens, or an officer needs to login into the system regularly and check for availability? I might ask that as well, depending on who will be helping us. Possibly we will also ask to speak to a supervisor in order to have a better chance for getting meaningful answers from the FO. I understand it is likely a waste of time, but we still want to go there and try.
Are there any questions/clarifications you would recommend us to ask there? Any other suggestions?

I honestly do not have any further guidance I can provide that could possibly lead to a more favorable outcome. All I can say at this point is best of luck to you. Do keep us posted on the outcome of your INFOPASS.

 

[santassaf]

I honestly do not have any further guidance I can provide that could possibly lead to a more favorable outcome. All I can say at this point is best of luck to you. Do keep us posted on the outcome of your INFOPASS.

Thanks! Sure, no problem at all, I will keep everyone posted after our appointment.

 

[Britsimon]

The issuance data shows that 30K visas were issued in 6 months.

http://britsimonsays.com/old-travel-ban-expires-new-travel-ban-implemented/

 

[LateToTheParty2017]

Hello
I was at an infopass this morning at the field office in New York. I asked for help in our case. The officer started by saying it is going to be a while before we can get an interview. He told me we did everything right by filing before the deadline of sep 30th 2017. I told him and showed him the letter from KCC that the AOS process must be completed before that date and not simply filed. He repeatedly said no, that the notice I received meant we are good to proceed and that we should wait for an interview letter. I asked him if there was anything else we could do and he said no. He told us however that he sent an email "upstairs" to see if they can schedule the interview earlier. I am confused because I read everywhere that the GC MUST be approved before the 30th. How can the officer tell me everything is ok and that we just have to wait?

 

[Britsimon]

Hello
I was at an infopass this morning at the field office in New York. I asked for help in our case. The officer started by saying it is going to be a while before we can get an interview. He told me we did everything right by filing before the deadline of sep 30th 2017. I told him and showed him the letter from KCC that the AOS process must be completed before that date and not simply filed. He repeatedly said no, that the notice I received meant we are good to proceed and that we should wait for an interview letter. I asked him if there was anything else we could do and he said no. He told us however that he sent an email "upstairs" to see if they can schedule the interview earlier. I am confused because I read everywhere that the GC MUST be approved before the 30th. How can the officer tell me everything is ok and that we just have to wait?

Unless your case is a DV2018 case (case number starting 2018XX0000XXX), then the officer you saw doesn't know what the heck he is talking about. You shouldn't have left the infopass until you had spoken to a supervisor. However, the point is probably moot as visas appear to have run out and AOS cases are being told there are no visas for them.

Update - just reading your earlier posts, you have other cases in the system right now - so perhaps that caused confusion. Either way, for the DV case the opportunity ends on the last day of the fiscal year (and as I said, may have ended earlier anyway).