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DV 2022 OC Selectees

Getmeouttahere said:
All visitors into Fiji must undertake a supervised rapid antigen test within 72 hours. These need to be pre-booked before leaving your country and are usually conducted at a tourist hotel or medical center.

One thing to note: we were told that applicants over the age of 45 years do not need to give a blood sample, while those under 45 year do. Not sure why, and we forgot to ask what the blood sample was for.

We then paid the fee (in FJD cash). Unsure if this can be paid by credit card – we didn’t take this chance.

After a 15-minute wait we were called to the window for our 4 minute interview.
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Regarding these points, the rapid antigen test is meant to be between the 48-72 hour mark (from one of Fijis travel requirement sites), though some have done it right away and not had any issues. Depends on the place I guess as mine was at a medical where they performed it and confirmed it was between the 48-72 hour mark, while others (those at Holiday Inn) were allowed to just do it themselves in a room and weren't really asked anything or supervised at all. If you got COVID on the plane trip it most likely wouldn't show before the 48 hour mark so makes the test almost irrelevant if its done before then.

The blood test is for syphilis, our working theory is that they think over 45's don't get any action (the age is different for male/female but don't remember exactly) :p

The fee at the embassy is cash only (but they do have an ANZ ATM just outside the waiting room).

And wow a 15minute wait is a huge improvement from the 4-5 hours some of us experienced in the peak Aussie weeks at the start of July.

Congrats as well!
 
BrisOC22 said:
The blood test is for syphilis, our working theory is that they think over 45's don't get any action (the age is different for male/female but don't remember exactly) :p
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Curious. The syphilis tests are for 18-44 unless there’s reason to suspect younger/older patients have it. No reason given here for the age bracket, though it’s probably in some dense CDC study/survey somewhere. Also, no it is not different according to gender. https://www.cdc.gov/immigrantrefugeehealth/civil-surgeons/syphilis.html
 
getty399 said:
Did anyone stay at the Quest hotel in Suva? What accommodation do you recommend from experience?
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At least one girl stayed there but they aren't on the forum. Most stayed at Holiday Inn and its pretty nice there. Grand Pacific was booked out when most of us were going due to a bunch of football teams being there. I stayed at "City Apartment" which was a good budget place but don't expect much since it is a budget place (bed, bathroom, AC. No fridge and the wifi is awful but was fine for just using to sleep). A few stayed at Suva Motor Inn that liked it (though one had bed bugs and left :/) and a few at Air bnb's (a few have recommended Misha Residence, and one stayed at Mana Coffee and liked it). So quite the lot to choose from depending on budget, Suva is pretty small so everything I listed is within a 5min drive of each other/Epworth clinic etc. Don't think anyone besides that one bed bug case had complaints about their accommodation.

If you can afford Holiday Inn everyone that has stayed there has liked it and its very central to all of the shop areas and has a pool and food etc. Pretty much every place (minus air bnb's) you can easily get taxi's out front (but even then you can pretty much get one on any street by waving them down).
 
getty399 said:
Did anyone stay at the Quest hotel in Suva? What accommodation do you recommend from experience?
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Yep I stayed there, would recommend it. Had a kitchen and everything we needed, really clean. Also spent a few nights at an Airbnb 15 mins out of town called “The Charming Garden Nook”, it was really good.
 
How was the nook?! Would you stay again? We stayed in pacific harbour and did the ~1 hour drive into Suva. Got to experience more of Fiji that way but the nook sounds cool
 
LuckyOneTwo said:
How was the nook?! Would you stay again? We stayed in pacific harbour and did the ~1 hour drive into Suva. Got to experience more of Fiji that way but the nook sounds cool
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It probably sounds cooler than it actually was! It was just a nice private space in a house out in one of the fancy suburbs, cheaper and better than the hotels we could find. Would definitely stay again tho
 
For anyone who stays at either the Holiday Inn or Grand Pacific, you can eat at either restaurant and charge it back to your room as the are part of the same hotel chain.
 
Jesse just told me the final Preston case has been scheduled. So happy to hear that! Congrats all, and if anyone is still to see the staff at Suva - please let them know there is at least one newbie Yank that appreciates what they did in stepping up this year!
 
getty399 said:
Did anyone stay at the Quest hotel in Suva? What accommodation do you recommend from experience?
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We stayed at the Quest Suva and the staff were fantastic! Well equipped rooms and walking distance to Epworth Clinic and a short taxi ride to the embassy. We are in the U.S now after triggering our green card visas a couple of days ago in Hawaii. Thank you to everyone who provided information on this very helpful forum and good luck to all those still waiting for their appointments.
 
LisaMelb said:
58 new 2NLs for OC were sent out today. Did anyone hear anything from Sydney?
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There was the one case that Simon mentioned from the lawsuit, that was for Sept 20 which makes it seem like this may be the final batch that is coming out of Sydney.
 
Hi all! A question: I'm currently in Australia, GC all approved with the temp visa in my passport (thanks to Suva!). Can I sign a contract to commence a job under my perm resident status *before* I've flown to the US to 'activate'? Or do I need to first arrive in the US and 'activate' before I can technically start using the temp work permit? Note this is for a short-ish contract vs salaried position.
 
sspenguin said:
Hi all! A question: I'm currently in Australia, GC all approved with the temp visa in my passport (thanks to Suva!). Can I sign a contract to commence a job under my perm resident status *before* I've flown to the US to 'activate'? Or do I need to first arrive in the US and 'activate' before I can technically start using the temp work permit? Note this is for a short-ish contract vs salaried position.
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just to clarify first- your terminology is a little confused : you have a visa. The visa becomes a (temp) green card only when you land. You don’t get or need a work permit because a green card authorizes you to work in the US.

You can sign a contract whenever you want, and you can work from Australia as an Australian resident, but you can’t give proof of US residence/work authorization until you land in the US and activate. You can provide such proof and start working in the US before you even leave the airport if you want, though.
 
SusieQQQ said:
just to clarify first- your terminology is a little confused : you have a visa. The visa becomes a (temp) green card only when you land. You don’t get or need a work permit because a green card authorizes you to work in the US.

You can sign a contract whenever you want, and you can work from Australia as an Australian resident, but you can’t give proof of US residence/work authorization until you land in the US and activate. You can provide such proof and start working in the US before you even leave the airport if you want, though.
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Hi Susie! This is extremely helpful and answers my question even though my wording was completely muddled! Haha! Thank you!
 
Hi,

I’m after some advice as I was one of the people to receive the 2NL today for an interview at the Sydney consulate, on September 6.

However, I am currently newly over in the USA on an E3 visa and I don’t want to stuff anything up on it as everything is going really well and I am enjoying my time so far in the USA.

So a couple of questions are:

1. If I pursue the green card interview and I don’t get accepted or it goes into Administration Processing what happens with my E3 visa?

2. Is there any risk of my E3 being canceled in going to the green card interview?

3. Am I able to get my medical here in the USA and it is transferred to the Sydney consulate?

4. Is there a chance they could run out of Immigrant visa before I am interviewed?

5. Do I have to enter the USA again before September 30 2022?

Thanks so much for your help.
 
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