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DV 2018 AOS Only

jay2018 said:
Hi. My FO will also be Houston. Just wondering if the IO asked for your high school diploma? In my country, they don't award a diploma after high school but I have my bachelors and masters degree certificates.
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IO didnt request for the original high school certificate, I did bring the original high school certificate with me. However, I'm not sure if the request is case-to-case basis. That time, I was on J1 with PhD. Good luck.
 
pegnyon said:
IO didnt request for the original high school certificate, I did bring the original high school certificate with me. However, I'm not sure if the request is case-to-case basis. That time, I was on J1 with PhD. Good luck.
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Thank you very much for the prompt reply.
 
bbg2018 said:
Hi all, I went to the Infopass appointment this morning and they told me the following:
1) My file is in the field office
2) My background check has been done and is finalized
They said I should receive an interview letter soon but, when I asked for an approximate timeline, they didn't give me one.

I have seen some posts where people say that they received the IL a week later. Does anybody have a different experience?
Sm1smom, what do you think based on your experience?

Thanks everyone!!
(If you are filing in Chicago too, feel free to reach out and we can compare dates!)
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Hi bb
Good to hear that your case is all good at this point and waiting for IL. Since you mentioned the letter sending/delivering stuff. Just FYI, my spouse had received bio letter,485 receipt, IL letter all smoothly. But after interview, he got RFE(we don't know this when we finished interviewed that day). We wait for 2 weeks and nothing happened, so we infopass and ask infopass officier whats wrong. Answer is he got RFE and the RFE send out 2 days after interview. And return to FO because it cannot deliver (which is nonsense because we got all the letters before with the same address), then FO send again, then got return back to FO again with the same reason..... So the RFE send twice and returned twice back to FO!
But thank goddess we infopass and the officer print out the RFE to us right away. But he cannot explain why all previous mails can deliverable and the RFE cannot.... Just sharing my experience, hope it helps. Good luck!
 
jay2018 said:
Hi. My FO will also be Houston. Just wondering if the IO asked for your high school diploma? In my country, they don't award a diploma after high school but I have my bachelors and masters degree certificates.
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You have no certificate or anything to prove you finished high school? What do you submit to university for proof?
 
Mxmlittle said:
Hi bb
Good to hear that your case is all good at this point and waiting for IL. Since you mentioned the letter sending/delivering stuff. Just FYI, my spouse had received bio letter,485 receipt, IL letter all smoothly. But after interview, he got RFE(we don't know this when we finished interviewed that day). We wait for 2 weeks and nothing happened, so we infopass and ask infopass officier whats wrong. Answer is he got RFE and the RFE send out 2 days after interview. And return to FO because it cannot deliver (which is nonsense because we got all the letters before with the same address), then FO send again, then got return back to FO again with the same reason..... So the RFE send twice and returned twice back to FO!
But thank goddess we infopass and the officer print out the RFE to us right away. But he cannot explain why all previous mails can deliverable and the RFE cannot.... Just sharing my experience, hope it helps. Good luck!
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Thank you for sharing your experience!
 
bbg2018 said:
What is a congressional follow up? I've seen some posts on them but don't fully understand it.
Can you point me to where I can find more info? Thanks!
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Congressional follow up is when you contact your House of Rep or Congress man/woman (preferably House of Rep) and request for them to initiate a case follow up with USCIS on your behalf. Below is the link for identifying your House of Rep person:
https://www.house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative

Just to clarify, a congressional follow up doesn’t mean the congress person can exact force on USCIS, but it helps nonetheless - it creates additional attention on the case and helps move things along, especially if the delay being experienced is for know clear or justifiable reason.
 
Hi, mom I just received my IL, I called USCIS and the employee told me that we sent you the IL on 25th of July and then I went to check my mail and I found the letter and it will be on August 22nd.
Mom prepare your self for many questions .
Special thanks for you mom and Mr.Simon and for anyone who tried to help me.
 
Omar70707070 said:
Hi, mom I just received my IL, I called USCIS and the employee told me that we sent you the IL on 25th of July and then I went to check my mail and I found the letter and it will be on August 22nd.
Mom prepare your self for many questions .
Special thanks for you mom and Mr.Simon and for anyone who tried to help me.
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That’s great news, congratulations. Now make sure you go through the AOS process spreadsheet carefully, especially the sections dealing with interview before you start bombarding me with questions :) as you prepare for your interview.
 
Just wanted to post a big massive thank you to Sm1smom and Britsimon for maintaining and providing one of utmost informative threads on the internet end to end regarding the DV lottery. Both your support to the selectees and guidance (which comes free of charge) can not be paid back by any means, I truly do owe you both a few drinks or more and to give you both the credit you deserve in helping the countless many thousands in however long you guys have been doing this. Appreciate the support and truly thank you once again!

My journey started by being selected OC10XX with nothing to go by, speaking to my immigration lawyers at work I was advised that there was no guarantee that I would be granted a GC even by paying for their services since they do not specialise in DV cases and it was a DV process which they have no control / influence over. They did however, state they can assist and support which will cost thousands of dollars in preparing submissions and providing advice when the time came. I googled and landed on this page / thread which has been one of the easiest and most informative laid out step by step guides for anything I have come across in regards with such a complicated and long drawn out process. Reading from many experiences from the prior years I prepared to complete and submit the documents myself and followed the google spreadsheet which proved to be such an amazing and informative tool. The process from start to GC approval has been seamless and there were no hiccups whatsoever.

My case was not complicated by any means (compared to many others who have posted here) but I can say one thing: the information around when (dates / timelines), what (evidence / documents to produce complete), how (where and when to send the documents) and what to expect at the interview (which took less than 10 minutes and verbally approved after) was all because of the guide. I will update the timelines when approved to edit.

I thank you both for doing the good work! and tip my hat off to both of you. I look forward to the next chapter of not being chained and shackled to the E3 Visa!
 
Hi MOM,
Is it better to do Ombudsmen inquiry and Congressional inquiry at the same time?
Which one do you prefer first to go with?
Thank You MOM!
 
Wra said:
Hi MOM,
Is it better to do Ombudsmen inquiry and Congressional inquiry at the same time?
Which one do you prefer first to go with?
Thank You MOM!
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1. No, never a good idea.
2. Infopass, congressional inquiries, are steps that out to be completed before escalating to the ombudsman. In your case, I already recommended going up to the ombudsman’s step because time is running out. If you want to do a congressional inquiry instead, feel free to do so.

p.s. number your questions.
 
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ohnowhat said:
Just wanted to post a big massive thank you to Sm1smom and Britsimon for maintaining and providing one of utmost informative threads on the internet end to end regarding the DV lottery. Both your support to the selectees and guidance (which comes free of charge) can not be paid back by any means, I truly do owe you both a few drinks or more and to give you both the credit you deserve in helping the countless many thousands in however long you guys have been doing this. Appreciate the support and truly thank you once again!

My journey started by being selected OC10XX with nothing to go by, speaking to my immigration lawyers at work I was advised that there was no guarantee that I would be granted a GC even by paying for their services since they do not specialise in DV cases and it was a DV process which they have no control / influence over. They did however, state they can assist and support which will cost thousands of dollars in preparing submissions and providing advice when the time came. I googled and landed on this page / thread which has been one of the easiest and most informative laid out step by step guides for anything I have come across in regards with such a complicated and long drawn out process. Reading from many experiences from the prior years I prepared to complete and submit the documents myself and followed the google spreadsheet which proved to be such an amazing and informative tool. The process from start to GC approval has been seamless and there were no hiccups whatsoever.

My case was not complicated by any means (compared to many others who have posted here) but I can say one thing: the information around when (dates / timelines), what (evidence / documents to produce complete), how (where and when to send the documents) and what to expect at the interview (which took less than 10 minutes and verbally approved after) was all because of the guide. I will update the timelines when approved to edit.

I thank you both for doing the good work! and tip my hat off to both of you. I look forward to the next chapter of not being chained and shackled to the E3 Visa!
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Congratulations. Enjoy your new status.

Thank you for coming out with your first post to acknowledge the tremendous help we’ve been to you, people like you make it worth my while to continue with the DV based AOS guidance. So many silent users wouldn’t have bothered to do so.
 
Sm1smom said:
1. No, never a good idea.
2. Infopass, congressional inquiries, are steps that out to be completed before escalating to the ombudsman. In your case, I already recommended going up to the ombudsman’s step because time is running out. If you want to do a congressional inquiry instead, feel free to do so.

p.s. number your questions.
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Sorry MOM, i forget to number the questions.
Ok then - I would call to the customer service on Monday and if I got the same response I will take the ombudsman step on Monday.
Thank You MOM!
 
ohnowhat said:
Just wanted to post a big massive thank you to Sm1smom and Britsimon for maintaining and providing one of utmost informative threads on the internet end to end regarding the DV lottery. Both your support to the selectees and guidance (which comes free of charge) can not be paid back by any means, I truly do owe you both a few drinks or more and to give you both the credit you deserve in helping the countless many thousands in however long you guys have been doing this. Appreciate the support and truly thank you once again!

My journey started by being selected OC10XX with nothing to go by, speaking to my immigration lawyers at work I was advised that there was no guarantee that I would be granted a GC even by paying for their services since they do not specialise in DV cases and it was a DV process which they have no control / influence over. They did however, state they can assist and support which will cost thousands of dollars in preparing submissions and providing advice when the time came. I googled and landed on this page / thread which has been one of the easiest and most informative laid out step by step guides for anything I have come across in regards with such a complicated and long drawn out process. Reading from many experiences from the prior years I prepared to complete and submit the documents myself and followed the google spreadsheet which proved to be such an amazing and informative tool. The process from start to GC approval has been seamless and there were no hiccups whatsoever.

My case was not complicated by any means (compared to many others who have posted here) but I can say one thing: the information around when (dates / timelines), what (evidence / documents to produce complete), how (where and when to send the documents) and what to expect at the interview (which took less than 10 minutes and verbally approved after) was all because of the guide. I will update the timelines when approved to edit.

I thank you both for doing the good work! and tip my hat off to both of you. I look forward to the next chapter of not being chained and shackled to the E3 Visa!
Click to expand...
Congratulations, time to relax and to enjoy your new status.
Good luck
 
Sm1smom said:
They’re not interested in you providing previous visa “applications”, however you were supposed to include visa stamp page(s) (both present and past) from your passport(s) with your AOS package. Anyway if you didn’t include them, make sure you attend the interview with them and be ready to present them if requested.
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Do they need original old visas? Don't have them with me here in the U.S. Can get scanned copies though.
I meant the application I filled out when applying for the visa if they need to check it.
 
LouisI said:
Do they need original old visas? Don't have them with me here in the U.S. Can get scanned copies though.
I meant the application I filled out when applying for the visa if they need to check it.
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It’s okay if you don’t have the actual passport containing the old visa(s).
 
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