Hi guys! Want to share the update on our case:
- We've got an original interview appointment scheduled for September 23rd
- On September 16th - considering the visa exhaustion risks and based on mom's very useful advice we took all the documents and went to USCIS FO and explained all the concerns to the security officer. He called for the supervisor, who was very knowledgeable about DV process and was able to understand the concerns almost immediately, as soon as I've mentioned 51k visas that already issued. She took our phone and email, as well as A-numbers and said they will try to get an appointment earlier this week. After a few hours we've received a new appointment via email for September 18th
- Then we saw the Simon's video and the post of potential DV2024 closure on September 23rd and realized how correct the decision was to ask for an earlier appointment.
- On September 18th - we went to USCIS FO and had an interview. The IO was very polite and knowledgeable, asked all the questions based on I-485 that we've filed, requested originals of most of the documents to prove the education degree, birth certificates etc, latest verification of employment for me (my wife is a primary applicant, unemployed) and joint tax returns to prove we are unlikely to become public charge. In general interview took ~1h and was very similar to all the others which were described on this forum. At the end IO handed over a "notice of interview results" that was saying "you case is being held for review... final decision will be mailed to you". I've asked IO if there is anything that may block the case from being approved and he said nothing serious, just he needs more time and we have 2 more weeks before deadline. I was a little bit concerned about the visa exhaustion and the projected date of September 23rd DV2024 closure, shared with him this info. He said he is not aware of that yet but will check with his supervisor and will call us if any additional info is required. We thanked him and left USCIS FO, still being a little nervous. After a few ours our status in the systems got updated to "New card is being produced" for all 4 of us. So looks like our case was finally approved!
I would like to thank
-
@Sm1smom for doing an awesome job and helping so many people and providing such an awesome and well structured materials like FAQs and Timeline spreadsheets and very correct and almost mathematically precise responses
-@Xarthisius for maintaining the "DV2024 CEAC Data" portal - this was crucial for us to properly estimate visa exhaustion chances even before the public announcement of the September 23rd date projection
-
@Britsimon for the constant updates via blog and youtube channel and very reliable information - those helped reduce the anxiety of ~1 year waiting time
- All the users in this forum who shared their status and updates in Timeline spreadsheet and on the forum - that was very helpful to understand the potential roadblocks in advance and prepare for those
Without all that we would not be able to pull through this pretty nuanced process! One indeed does not need a lawyer to go through this process as soon as one has all those! From our side we will contribute to the max possible extend by filling the details of our case further when hopefully we receive a physical cards. Also please let me know if there is any other way we can contribute and give back to this very supportive community.
And final question - may be overthinking it a little - is there anything that may be required from us before DV2024 projected closure on September 23rd or at this point we are pretty much done and should just wait for the mail with the final results?
