• Hello Members, This forums is for DV lottery visas only. For other immigration related questions, please go to our forums home page, find the related forum and post it there.

DV 2025 AOS (Adjustment of Status) Process Only

Hi everyone!
My DV Lottery case is current in January 2025, but I recently found out I’m subject to the two-year home residency requirement due to a government-funded J-1 exchange program (FLEX, 2018). I’ve started the waiver process and requested a No Objection Statement, but I’m concerned about time sensitivity due to DV deadlines. Has anyone dealt with a similar situation? Is expedited processing realistic for this type of case?
 
azatinusa said:
So I have an appointment tomorrow with CS to complete my I-693. I plan to take the following with me:

- Form I-693 with Part 1 filled out (but not signed by me yet)
- All my vaccination records from my home country and USA (which includes latest COVID and seasonal flu shots taken last month)
- T Spot TB test result from my U.S. college completed in August 2023 (hoping CS will accept it and not do it over again)
- My passport
- Lots of money to pay the bill :-(

Am I missing anything?
Click to expand...
The TB is included in the blood sample not a skin test, they'll do it altogether with the other requested tests.
 
azatinusa said:
So I have an appointment tomorrow with CS to complete my I-693. I plan to take the following with me:

- Form I-693 with Part 1 filled out (but not signed by me yet)
- All my vaccination records from my home country and USA (which includes latest COVID and seasonal flu shots taken last month)
- T Spot TB test result from my U.S. college completed in August 2023 (hoping CS will accept it and not do it over again)
- My passport
- Lots of money to pay the bill :-(

Am I missing anything?
Click to expand...

zhamkhalilov said:
Hi everyone!
My DV Lottery case is current in January 2025, but I recently found out I’m subject to the two-year home residency requirement due to a government-funded J-1 exchange program (FLEX, 2018). I’ve started the waiver process and requested a No Objection Statement, but I’m concerned about time sensitivity due to DV deadlines. Has anyone dealt with a similar situation? Is expedited processing realistic for this type of case?
Click to expand...
Fulbright by any chance? Good luck getting the State to waive that.
 
rondon said:
Fulbright by any chance? Good luck getting the State to waive that.
Click to expand...
no, the exchange program is called FLEX, which is also funded by the DOS, but it is only for high school students, and I have fulfilled 8 months of the 2 year requirement, I got a strong NOS letter from my government and also a lot of letters of supports, including a letter from American Councils for International Education that oversees the FLEX Program, but I am more concerned about the timing of the waiver. It says it takes 4-6 months to process, my dv case number is current in Jan, if USCIS asks for RFE, I am afraid I won't be able to provide it on time, so I wanted to know if anyone had a situation where they were able to expedite the ds-3035. Any advice really
 
Sm1smom said:
2. "a lot of people" would be in relation to what you understand to be the number of people working at your specific FO, right? Bottom line, it is a common/known fact that the workforce for most organizations gets depleted during the holiday season. Plus it's not like the IOs immediately jump on response to RFEs upon receipt, even outside of the holiday season. They get to them based on their work schedule prioritization.

3. Yes, RFEs typically gets sent to the FO, since that is where the requesting IO is based. Provided you followed the RFE instruction for sending in the response, and your USPS tracker shows it was delivered at the listed address on the RFE, I don't see an issue. Just make sure you keep your record.

4. You can if you like.
Click to expand...
Thank you for the detailed response.

2. Yes, I was specifically wondering what you observed with USCIS over the years as they are a government entity.

3. Yes, I followed all instructions and have a POD showing the FO address and no signature. Got it in my records.

4. If I decide to send another one, is it advisable to send the exact same documents, or can I add some that became available in the meantime? As far as I am aware from the RFE notice, they will only consider the first package they open/receive and disregard the rest.

Also, how long would you suggest me to wait before becoming concerned, based on past year's experience during the holiday season?
 
zhamkhalilov said:
no, the exchange program is called FLEX, which is also funded by the DOS, but it is only for high school students, and I have fulfilled 8 months of the 2 year requirement, I got a strong NOS letter from my government and also a lot of letters of supports, including a letter from American Councils for International Education that oversees the FLEX Program, but I am more concerned about the timing of the waiver. It says it takes 4-6 months to process, my dv case number is current in Jan, if USCIS asks for RFE, I am afraid I won't be able to provide it on time, so I wanted to know if anyone had a situation where they were able to expedite the ds-3035. Any advice really
Click to expand...
Your best foot forward is to wait until you’ve received the approval before sending in your AOS package. If you take a look at the last one or two pages of the 2024 AOS only thread, you’ll see a post from a selectee in a similar situation. Their AOS application was denied due to the pending waiver approval which they eventually got after the FY was already over. The approval was of no use to the AOS application at that point.
 
Sm1smom said:
Your best foot forward is to wait until you’ve received the approval before sending in your AOS package. If you take a look at the last one or two pages of the 2024 AOS only thread, you’ll see a post from a selectee in a similar situation. Their AOS application was denied due to the pending waiver approval which they eventually got after the FY was already over. The approval was of no use to the AOS application at that point.
Click to expand...
I see, but don't you think if I wait until May or even June, the visas might be exhausted by that time and there is almost no chance to secure the green card, or since it's AOS and not consular processing there is any difference? My case number is below 7K and will be current in January. I have asked my state's Congressman office to ask DOS for expedited review. So I guess instead of giving RFE, USCIS will outright deny the application for pending waiver then
 
Xmb said:
Thank you for the detailed response.

2. Yes, I was specifically wondering what you observed with USCIS over the years as they are a government entity.

3. Yes, I followed all instructions and have a POD showing the FO address and no signature. Got it in my records.

4. If I decide to send another one, is it advisable to send the exact same documents, or can I add some that became available in the meantime? As far as I am aware from the RFE notice, they will only consider the first package they open/receive and disregard the rest.

Also, how long would you suggest me to wait before becoming concerned, based on past year's experience during the holiday season?
Click to expand...
2. All the responses I provide here are based on experiences and/or observations, so I’m not sure why you’ll be wondering if that specific response was based on observations over the years or not.
4. If you’re already aware only the first package would be considered, what is the point of your sending out a second package with additional documents in that case?
5. It isn’t unusual to wait a month or two (could be longer depending on the IO’s workload) before getting further updates. IO’s do not necessarily immediately jump back on the cases they issued a RFE for as soon as the response comes back to them.
 
zhamkhalilov said:
I see, but don't you think if I wait until May or even June, the visas might be exhausted by that time and there is almost no chance to secure the green card, or since it's AOS and not consular processing there is any difference? My case number is below 7K and will be current in January. I have asked my state's Congressman office to ask DOS for expedited review. So I guess instead of giving RFE, USCIS will outright deny the application for pending waiver then
Click to expand...
Well, it’s your call at this point. I’m not aware of a single case with an approved expedited waiver. You can take a look at some of the past Timeline spreadsheets to see the outcome of cases filed as late as July - September as a matter of fact.

My post never said anything about USCIS outrightly denying a case with a pending waiver instead of issuing a RFE. The case I referenced was issued with a RFE, before it eventually got denied.

I should however point out that cases getting outrightly denied due to missing documents (without being given an opportunity to address the missing documents via issued RFE) could become the new norm under the incoming administration. This was sort of the case during the incoming administration’s first term in office back in 2016.
 
Sm1smom said:
Well, it’s your call at this point. I’m not aware of a single case with an approved expedited waiver. You can take a look at some of the past Timeline spreadsheets to see the outcome of cases filed as late as July - September as a matter of fact.

My post never said anything about USCIS outrightly denying a case with a pending waiver instead of issuing a RFE. The case I referenced was issued with a RFE, before it eventually got denied.

I should however point out that cases getting outrightly denied due to missing documents (without being given an opportunity to address the missing documents via issued RFE) could become the new norm under the incoming administration. This was sort of the case during the incoming administration’s first term in office back in 2016.
Click to expand...
Got it. Thank you so much!
 
UPDATED FORM I-485 PUBLISHED

USCIS has published a new edition of Form I-485, which included updated questions and instructions on Dec. 10, 2025.

Effective Feb 10, 2025, USCIS will only accept the 10/24/24 edition of Form I-485 and will reject any older editions of Form I-485 postmarked on or after Feb 10, 2025.

A quick glance seems to show a more simplified form. Highly recommend anyone who is yet to send in their AOS package as of today actually use the new form, in place of the old edition which is still acceptable until Feb. 9th. An updated pre-filled sample I-485 will be added to the AOS Process spreadsheet in due course.
 
Hi Mom and all,

Just to recap, we were asked to submit DS-260 in a phone call from a local FO because we got married after DV selection and didn't do it initially (which we did immediately).

In my last conversation with IO, they told me that our file "needs to be sent back as a married couple". I really just try to understand how to interpret this and what to expect. Can someone please help me understand this? Was the immigration officer talking about sending the case file back to NBC?
 
MaryJks said:
Hi Mom and all,

Just to recap, we were asked to submit DS-260 in a phone call from a local FO because we got married after DV selection and didn't do it initially (which we did immediately).

In my last conversation with IO, they told me that our file "needs to be sent back as a married couple". I really just try to understand how to interpret this and what to expect. Can someone please help me understand this? Was the immigration officer talking about sending the case file back to NBC?
Click to expand...
Considering no one here was a part of the entire conversation between you and the IO, it is not possible for us to help you interpret what "file needs to be sent back as a married couple" is supposed to mean.
 
Sm1smom said:
2. All the responses I provide here are based on experiences and/or observations, so I’m not sure why you’ll be wondering if that specific response was based on observations over the years or not.
4. If you’re already aware only the first package would be considered, what is the point of your sending out a second package with additional documents in that case?
5. It isn’t unusual to wait a month or two (could be longer depending on the IO’s workload) before getting further updates. IO’s do not necessarily immediately jump back on the cases they issued a RFE for as soon as the response comes back to them.
Click to expand...
4. So in case the first one was misplaced, the second one would be the only one they look at.

So there is absolutely no harm in sending the package again?
 
Sm1smom said:
Considering no one here was a part of the entire conversation between you and the IO, it is not possible for us to help you interpret what "file needs to be sent back as a married couple" is supposed to mean.
Click to expand...
Thanks. I was thinking may be something like this happened before. I'm not sure if I need to do something/anything.
 
MaryJks said:
Thanks. I was thinking may be something like this happened before. I'm not sure if I need to do something/anything.
Click to expand...
Yes, there have been cases of selectees who got married after the DV selection, following which they were requested to fill out the DS260 after filing for AOS. You already did what the IO required you to do. So now, you WAIT.
 
Hi,

quick question, just want to make 100% sure:

the RFE asks to mail to an address, of which the first line is "U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services".

This doesnt fit in either Fedex or UPS address lines as they both have a 35 character limit.

Can "USCIS" be used or rather "U.S. Citizenship & Immig. Svcs"
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top