I'm unsure if this the correct place for this question. I'm an OC22 DV winner, and ready to do my first tax. Are people doing their own? I've had 2 quotes both about $1000 for both hubby and I to file. Is this normal? We need seperate taxes filed and an FBAR each. Wish there was somewhere where we can just get a pamphlet and follow a flow chat to GC winners first tax haha. Any suggestions welcome, feeling a bit confused. We are still in Australia, not moved yet. Have a house here and supers each. Thanks.
DV 2022 OC Selectees
- Thread starter Melb2021
- Start date
Hey everyone! Re the dreaded biometrics appointment (depending on your circumstances). My partner and I were about to board a plane back to Aust at LAX when a friend in NC told us we had a letter from USCIS to report for biometrics the next week. Super stressful 24hrs canceling flights and trying to rebook everything – took a bit of a punt and we just walked into a USCIS Application Support Center nearby in Gardena and they were more than happy to let us fulfill our biometric then and there. She didn’t even need the original letter, I just had a scanned and printed copy and that was fine.
Could have been a total disaster but it all worked out! If we kept our appointment, flights to the East coast were coming up at $2700, so we saved a lot of money and time just walking into another Center.
Just though I’d share in case it happens to anyone else.
Hope everyone else has a super smooth experience!
Could have been a total disaster but it all worked out! If we kept our appointment, flights to the East coast were coming up at $2700, so we saved a lot of money and time just walking into another Center.
Just though I’d share in case it happens to anyone else.
Hope everyone else has a super smooth experience!
nervouswreck
Member
What was your USCIS status when this happened?
We are currently still in the thick of it doing it with help from H and R block expat team in NSW. I don't trust myself to do it correct and I don't want a fine down the road either. About $450 per tax plus $75 for FBARs. Hubby is filing and my ACCs, super and info is going in his, as I didn't work. Fingers cross I won't need to file one too. Will see. Good luck.
For those of you who transferred from Sydney/Auckland/Elsewhere to Suva for your DV2022 interview at what point did you make the transfer request? Did you wait until you were current but hadn't received a 2NL? or did you wait until you had received a 2NL? Did anyone ask to transfer or change location before you were current?
Auckland consulate have stated they will not be doing any immigrant visa interviews during July/August because of the FIFA Women's World Cup being in NZ and they expect their staff to be busy helping US citizens who are visiting NZ. This does not bode well for DV2023 selectees interviewing in Auckland who are not yet current in the May (and June) visa bulletin. If I go current in July/August i'll need to wait until September for Auckland to resume interviews and there may be a backlog.
Starting to consider my options in terms of transferring. Wondering if Suva would take me. I have a NZ and Irish passport so could move anywhere in Europe/UK or Australia but Sydney might be busy as the World Cup is there too. Welcoming any suggestions. My case number is DV2023OC21XX so i'm hoping I go current in July but obviously that is not guaranteed either. Been entering the lottery for 12 years finally won it and i just want to do everything I can to try and get the visa given these circumstances.
Auckland consulate have stated they will not be doing any immigrant visa interviews during July/August because of the FIFA Women's World Cup being in NZ and they expect their staff to be busy helping US citizens who are visiting NZ. This does not bode well for DV2023 selectees interviewing in Auckland who are not yet current in the May (and June) visa bulletin. If I go current in July/August i'll need to wait until September for Auckland to resume interviews and there may be a backlog.
Starting to consider my options in terms of transferring. Wondering if Suva would take me. I have a NZ and Irish passport so could move anywhere in Europe/UK or Australia but Sydney might be busy as the World Cup is there too. Welcoming any suggestions. My case number is DV2023OC21XX so i'm hoping I go current in July but obviously that is not guaranteed either. Been entering the lottery for 12 years finally won it and i just want to do everything I can to try and get the visa given these circumstances.
Also been 12 years for me too!
I’m also a little concerned due to the quota for the OC region( I always had thought it was 7% for a country which would never be hit but seems there is a regional as well). How does this play out with higher case numbers? I think im missing a piece of information as when it has gone current in the past it looks like quota is no issue as visa issued numbers are 1k+
My understanding is that the regional quota is only taken in to account during the lottery selection to determine how many cases are drawn from each region. From that point if one region does all their interviews quickly then they might take more visas than usual and another region might miss out and get less visas than usual. I guess KCC could try and manage that with the visa bulletins and if one region was getting through their interviews too fast they could slow down making the numbers current for that region to let the others catch up. Not sure if that all makes sense but in summary I don't think they will stop giving visas to Oceania selectees if a certain number of visas issued is reached. I am surprised at how slowly they are making our numbers current though as it appears all the consulates are getting through the interviews and don't have a backlog.
Most of us (if not all) were already current when we decided to transfer. We hadn't received our 2NL's (if we had, we wouldn't have been transferring lol). The only reason we were all transferring was due to the Sydney embassy not even being opened (their office was a construction site) with no ETA on when they were opening or if it would even be before Sept 30.
Also worth noting you may not just be able to transfer as you please, Suva at the start of the year were saying no to everyone that requested to transfer, they then decided to start allowing people to transfer a few months later (and reached out to those that previously requested). Whether this was because they got through a majority of their own and had capacity, or because they were asked to due to Sydney being closed, or because of the lawsuit against Sydneys embassy who knows. So its not a guarantee Suva will even take you, you'll have to request and find out if they're willing to as from my understanding it wasn't normal for them to do that and they made an exception that year.
Haha yeah my bad I guess if you had received a 2NL with an interview time there would be no need to transfer! I think perhaps I wait and see when/if my case number goes current and then if I don't get a 2NL i'll start emailing Suva or London/Dublin consulates to see if they'll take my case. Suva has a lot of cases to process this year so they may not be able/willing to squeeze me in. Might even email them now and explain my situation/concerns and see if they would be willing to take me if Auckland don't schedule me.
I didn't realize there was a lawsuit against Sydney consulate did anything come of it? I'm pretty devastated Auckland have just decided to stop interviews for two months because of the world cup. Surely not that many Americans will lose their passports and need assistance...
I didn't realize there was a lawsuit against Sydney consulate did anything come of it? I'm pretty devastated Auckland have just decided to stop interviews for two months because of the world cup. Surely not that many Americans will lose their passports and need assistance...
Wondering if someone can help re: the US address you have to enter on your application to get your physical green card in the mail.
I will have to change the mailing address when first entering the US for a short trip to “activate” the visa - but I don’t have relatives/loved ones whose US address I can use (and obviously I don’t have a US address myself yet). Has anyone encountered this? Is there a way to get the green card mailed to a PO box or something?
Yeah there was about 20 of us that were apart of it. Sydney was closed and radio silent on when they would reopen, with documents gotten through the lawsuit suggesting it may not even be before the end of the fiscal year (turns out they did end up opening). They basically just delayed and delayed and delayed until they eventually opened and then said "Hey look at all the cases we are doing!" so nothing ended up coming from it and everyone was processed either through Sydney or Suva. Though it's hard to say "nothing came of it" when we really dont know what happened behind the scenes, as it seems a bit coincidental that Suva decided to start taking Aussies after the lawsuit started. But we will never know, either way got my visa so Im happy
I think your plan with contacting Suva ahead of time is a good idea, at least will let you see if it's a potential option down the line if things go south. Don't wan't to be trying to figure it all out with just 1 month remaining.
Hi all - did anyone here go to the US to activate their green card and then return home to tie up loose ends and are now shipping a bunch of things over to the US and completed form 3299? If so, as a LPR, did you tick “returning resident of the US” on the form? And then also in “length of time” include the time from your activation trip to your final departure as the length of time you resided overseas? Thanks in advance.
Hi guys.
I entered the states on December 29th, 2022 and since then have received my SSN and green card. I returned to Australia 7 weeks later to tie up loose ends, fulfil work obligations, get the required documentation for my dog to enter the states, and look for work in the US. I have been back in Australia for 11 weeks and plan to be here for a further 5 weeks before returning to the US.
As I understand, it can be tricky re-entering the states after an absence within the first year of obtaining a green card through the DV lottery, even if you haven't been out of the country for longer than 6 months. Will documentation, including said green card and SSN, and proof of employment and residence in the US suffice in satisfying the officials when returning to America?
Cheers!
I entered the states on December 29th, 2022 and since then have received my SSN and green card. I returned to Australia 7 weeks later to tie up loose ends, fulfil work obligations, get the required documentation for my dog to enter the states, and look for work in the US. I have been back in Australia for 11 weeks and plan to be here for a further 5 weeks before returning to the US.
As I understand, it can be tricky re-entering the states after an absence within the first year of obtaining a green card through the DV lottery, even if you haven't been out of the country for longer than 6 months. Will documentation, including said green card and SSN, and proof of employment and residence in the US suffice in satisfying the officials when returning to America?
Cheers!
nervouswreck
Member
Unrelated, what helped you find a job? Did you search while in the US or while still in Australia? Any specific tips, thanks!
Hi @Geelong22 I'm sorta in similar boat to yourself as I arrived in the US on the same day as yourself having had the visa approved in July 2022. I then got my PR card and SSN a few weeks after I arrived. I then went back to Australia in Feb 2023 due to me finding out my mum being diagnosed with cancer. I'm planning on staying in Australia until Jan 2024 and then going back.
Prior to me leaving to go back to Australia, I did message Britsimon and emailed the US Sydney Embassy. The US embassy emailed and said I can be out of the country so long as its less than a year though its still up to the discretion of the CBP officer when I arrive back in the US. So I really hope they don't revoke my GC. I'm thinking before I return to the US on getting some documentation regarding my mum's cancer diagnosis just so I have proof of this. I can't imagine them being heartless and disallowing me to come back, though when they said its up to the discretion of the CBP officer make me a little nervous.
Hopefully you'll be ok
Has anyone had issues with not receiving their GC? USPS didn’t deliver mine and it was returned to USCIS. To get it resent, I need to update the address by July or they’ll destroy my card.
To update the mailing address through, my understanding is I need to do Form AR-11 Change of Address or the online version https://egov.uscis.gov/coa/displayCOAForm.do but when filling out the the form, it seems it’s more meant for if you’ve moved houses while in the US and letting them know where you’ve relocated to. But I’m still in Australia, I haven’t moved permanently yet, and it won’t let me just simply update only the mailing address to my US friend’s new place.
My SSN arrived fine. It’s just the GC.
I feel a little stuck. If anyone’s had any experience with this, please let me know how you resolved it and what happened. I feel quite stressed because I don’t want to risk losing my card and having to repay all the fees, redo biometrics etc.
I’m going to try calling USCIS on Monday.
Also for zip codes, do you include the main zip code +4 digits (for the delivery route) or only the main digits?
To update the mailing address through, my understanding is I need to do Form AR-11 Change of Address or the online version https://egov.uscis.gov/coa/displayCOAForm.do but when filling out the the form, it seems it’s more meant for if you’ve moved houses while in the US and letting them know where you’ve relocated to. But I’m still in Australia, I haven’t moved permanently yet, and it won’t let me just simply update only the mailing address to my US friend’s new place.
My SSN arrived fine. It’s just the GC.
I feel a little stuck. If anyone’s had any experience with this, please let me know how you resolved it and what happened. I feel quite stressed because I don’t want to risk losing my card and having to repay all the fees, redo biometrics etc.
I’m going to try calling USCIS on Monday.
Also for zip codes, do you include the main zip code +4 digits (for the delivery route) or only the main digits?
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Getmeouttahere
Member
A similar situation happened to me. Partner and I never received the SSN so we had to attend an office and fill out an application for a SSN. Once we did that, it arrived 9 business days later.
