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DV 2023 All Selectees (Consular Processing - CP)

Sm1smom said:
AFAIK, in general USPS is prohibited from forwarding the GC after it gets mailed out by USCIS, as such I do have my doubts as to their willingness to deliver the GC to a “residential address” set up by a mail forwarding service company - it is fair to assume USPS is aware those street addresses are not real residential addresses, and that they belong to mail forwarding service companies. For the past 8 years or so, at least one DV selectee posts each year about the possibility of using such a service, none has ever returned to update on if they succeed with using such a service.
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To add to this, uscis marks mail “return service requested”. This is what indicates to USPS that it may not be forwarded and is instead returned to the sending uscis address.

There are apparently companies that don’t forward mail, but have kind of a private POBox system that looks like a street address so uscis sends to them. You do need to collect the mail though,
 
Cygnus54 said:
South Dakota seems very popular for those companies because it is possible to establish residency through those firms and register a vehicle without ever being present - you might notice a good amount of RVs with SD plates for that reason.
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This is totally off topic, but what’s the big deal about registering an RV in South Dakota vs any other state?

For most things where it matters, you need more than just an address to establish residency, btw.
 
Cygnus54 said:
What you want is a 'mailbox forwarding service' - that is usually nothing that an embassy would offer, but a commercial enterprise. Those companies provide a street address with a mailbox and will scan or forward incoming mail to you - for a fee, of course.

South Dakota seems very popular for those companies because it is possible to establish residency through those firms and register a vehicle without ever being present - you might notice a good amount of RVs with SD plates for that reason.
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Yeah I'm aware of such services, but have also heard that some of them aren't the most trustworthy. Very reluctant in trusting a service like that for something as important as a GC. Plus the added risks that Sm1smom mentioned. But thanks for the input!
 
SusieQQQ said:
Fwiw I wouldn’t have bothered to unlock for something like this. Minor mistakes like this can be corrected at the interview.
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What about U.S. address and contact person? As I know at the interview CO may ask you some general information about the person whose address you've indicated in your ds-260, so I asked this person in advance for some details about her and she refused to.
 
Wendy Fox said:
What about U.S. address and contact person? As I know at the interview CO may ask you some general information about the person whose address you've indicated in your ds-260, so I asked this person in advance for some details about her and she refused to.
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Now i think maybe it wasn't necessary to ask KCC to reopen my DS-260, I could just change U.S. address at consulate.
 
Sm1smom said:
AFAIK, in general USPS is prohibited from forwarding the GC after it gets mailed out by USCIS, as such I do have my doubts as to their willingness to deliver the GC to a “residential address” set up by a mail forwarding service company - it is fair to assume USPS is aware those street addresses are not real residential addresses, and that they belong to mail forwarding service companies. For the past 8 years or so, at least one DV selectee posts each year about the possibility of using such a service, none has ever returned to update on if they succeed with using such a service.
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There are a handful of reports of successful forwardings of DV winner's GC from such companies in a german forum.

I am aware that USCIS supposedly sends GC as signature required mail since 2018 - however, from what I hear about actual delivery that doesn't always seem to be the case. From my experience with USPS' reliability, that doesn't surprise me much.

Anyhow: As far as I understand, part of the registration process is granting Power of Attorney to those companies so they can legally accept and forward certified/registered mail to their customers. (They do that by notarizing documents via Zoom which would be illegal in most states, FWIW)

I would totally agree that this isn't the best option and would always prefer a favor from a friend (of a friend) - but I do understand the need and this is apparently a (not quite cheap and still somewhat risky) solution to the matter.

SusieQQQ said:
This is totally off topic, but what’s the big deal about registering an RV in South Dakota vs any other state?

For most things where it matters, you need more than just an address to establish residency, btw.
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Yes, sorry about the trivia paragraph. From my understanding in SD, unlike in other states, it is possible to register a vehicle without holding a valid in-state driver's license. Also, there are tax-related advantages for RV owners.

To prove residency and take advantage of other privileges like voter registration, you will of course need a driver's license.
SD is again more lenient than other states when it comes to that: While you will have to show up in person at an SD DMV, they will not require a minimum residency period and very limited secondary proof of residency from 'full-time travelers'
 
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Cygnus54 said:
There are a handful of reports of successful forwardings of DV winner's GC from such companies in a german forum.

I am aware that USCIS supposedly sends GC as signature required mail since 2018 - however, from what I heard about actual delivery that doesn't always seem to be the case. From my experience with USPS' reliability, that doesn't surprise me much.
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Glad to know there are reports of such forwarding in another forum.

There was a plan by USCIS a couple of years back for the GC to sent as signature required mail, but that plan never got implemented. So no, they do not get sent as signature required mail.
 
Wendy Fox said:
What about U.S. address and contact person? As I know at the interview CO may ask you some general information about the person whose address you've indicated in your ds-260, so I asked this person in advance for some details about her and she refused to.
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You don’t know the person whose address you listed? anyway it’s not an issue, unless the person has formally indicated via an i134 that they will support you, in which case the relationship is important.
They don’t really care where you stay or who it is as long as they have an address for the green card to get sent to.
 
Cygnus54 said:
There are a handful of reports of successful forwardings of DV winner's GC from such companies in a german forum.

I am aware that USCIS supposedly sends GC as signature required mail since 2018 - however, from what I hear about actual delivery that doesn't always seem to be the case. From my experience with USPS' reliability, that doesn't surprise me much.

Anyhow: As far as I understand, part of the registration process is granting Power of Attorney to those companies so they can legally accept and forward certified/registered mail to their customers. (They do that by notarizing documents via Zoom which would be illegal in most states, FWIW)

I would totally agree that this isn't the best option and would always prefer a favor from a friend (of a friend) - but I do understand the need and this is apparently a (not quite cheap and still somewhat risky) solution to the matter.


Yes, sorry about the trivia paragraph. From my understanding in SD, unlike in other states, it is possible to register a vehicle without holding a valid in-state driver's license. Also, there are tax-related advantages for RV owners.

To prove residency and take advantage of other privileges like voter registration, you will of course need a driver's license.
SD is again more lenient than other states when it comes to that: While you will have to show up in person at an SD DMV, they will not require a minimum residency period and very limited secondary proof of residency from 'full-time travelers'
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Ok so if anyone here wants a tax advantage from registering an RV (I guess tax must be big to be worth the hassle), or for some reason thinks it’s worth having their voter registration in SD when they live elsewhere and apparently don’t care what happens locally, now they know. Thanks for the info… (ps I am not aware of any state that requires a “minimum residency period”, seeing as most require you to get a local drivers license within - maximum - 10-60 days of moving to the state.)

back to the more relevant discussion…

There is a difference between requiring signature - as mom noted above, that never got put into practice - and “return service requested“, which specifically prevents USPS forwarding it. If the mail forwarding was successful then it was clearly done via a carrier other than USPS, which partly explains the added cost. Of course uscis or USPS can’t do anything about a uscis envelope put inside a FedEx/UPS/DHL one and sent to someone (indeed, this is how my father sent us the green cards that arrived at his address).
 
SusieQQQ said:
You don’t know the person whose address you listed? anyway it’s not an issue, unless the person has formally indicated via an i134 that they will support you, in which case the relationship is important.
They don’t really care where you stay or who it is as long as they have an address for the green card to get sent to.
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No, she is a friend of my mother's friend. :D She isn't my sponsor, I've just indicated her address in my DS-260, as I wanted my green card to be delivered at her address. However, when I wanted to know details about her such as occupation, how long has she been living in USA, etc. she refused to give me that info. So I panicked and sent an email to KCC to reopen my form.
 
Wendy Fox said:
No, she is a friend of my mother's friend. :D She isn't my sponsor, I've just indicated her address in my DS-260, as I wanted my green card to be delivered at her address. However, when I wanted to know details about her such as occupation, how long has she been living in USA, etc. she refused to give me that info. So I panicked and sent an email to KCC to reopen my form.
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I wouldn’t provide such information to you either if I was in that situation. The basic information you need to know should have been provided to you or your mother by your mother’s friend.
 
Sm1smom said:
I wouldn’t provide such information to you either if I was in that situation. The basic information you need to know should have been provided to you or your mother by your mother’s friend.
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She said that it was no problem to indicate her address in my DS-260, she knew why I needed it herself. I don't understand why would she in the first place accept to use her address and then not want me to give a CO (in case of need) such kind of general information about her.
 
Wendy Fox said:
She said that it was no problem to indicate her address in my DS-260, she knew why I needed it herself. I don't understand why would she in the first place accept to use her address and then not want me to give a CO (in case of need) such kind of general information about her.
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Because it is one thing to let someone use your mailbox as a favor, and quite another to give them personal information that has absolutely no relevance to the person requesting it. Why on earth do you think the CO would need that information?
 
SusieQQQ said:
Because it is one thing to let someone use your mailbox as a favor, and quite another to give them personal information that has absolutely no relevance to the person requesting it. Why on earth do you think the CO would need that information?
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The winners of the last years say that the COs asked some questions about the persons they put in their forms. This is not something I've just dreamt of the other night. :D
 
Wendy Fox said:
The winners of the last years say that the COs asked some questions about the persons they put in their forms. This is not something I've just dreamt of the other night. :D
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Oh for heavens sakes. So the conversation goes like this:

CO: who is the address you put to receive the green card?
you.: a family friend who has kindly offered to receive it.
end of conversation

what on earth do you think they need to know any other information for? This is not some Cold War Soviet bloc country.
 
SusieQQQ said:
Oh for heavens sakes. So the conversation goes like this:

CO: who is the address you put to receive the green card?
you.: a family friend who has kindly offered to receive it.
end of conversation

what on earth do you think they need to know any other information for? This is not some Cold War Soviet bloc country.
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If that was a case I wouldn't worry a bit, but unfortunately in my country the COs ask such kind of questions as well. If it helps I'm from post Soviet country :d
I would be happiest if I didn't need general info about her and if I knew her position on that in advance.
 
Additionally, I clarified why on earth I would think that. :/ This wasn't just my whim. People who've shared their experiences after interviews say that they got asked those questions.
 
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