Raevsky, slackerdemigod -- Thank you very much for your guidance and insights. You have helped to put my mind at ease regarding the high school certficate/diploma. Just to be on the safe side, I'm going to ask my high school to send me a letter confirming that I have completed the required number of years of high school education. Would that be good enough or do I have to get an actual certificate from the examination body? A new certificate would cost me £75. That's money I could use to cover other fees, so I would prefer not to have to spend it unnecessarily. Any advice welcome...
Medpharm -- Is that jealousy I hear? ... just kidding
. Do me a favor and read my first two posts in this thread. You will see that I didn't mention where I went to school and stated my case in generic terms. I sent Raevsky a private message about my situation and mentioned my qualifications. Raevsky responded to my private message on the public forum, mentioning my Princeton degree. Since it was already out there, I decided to lay out all the facts in response to guidance that Raevsky and others provided.
So your insinuation that I am somehow trying to showboat is misguided. I joined this forum to get answers to questions regarding the DV process, not to showboat.
Indeed, the consular officer's decision is final at the end of the day. I was merely trying to think through the process based on my own past experiences dealing with consular officers. I could be wrong. But so could you. Who knows what will happen? I've read the experiences of several people on this forum who have processed their DVs and their experiences vary widely based on:
a) The specific consular post they process at
b) The individual consular officer they see on the day
So let's see how it goes when my turn comes around. Hopefully, I'll be successful and we can go grab a beer afterwards
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As for why I didn't seek a green card while in H1-B status? The guidance I got from the company's lawyer was that an employer filing would take between 4-5 years. That's the same amount of time my relative petition filed by my father would have taken to come through. I decided that I didn't want to be tied to that company anymore and decided instead to use the UK's Highly Skilled Program to kill some time while my relative petition worked it's way through. Here in the UK, I can work anywhere I want, something I could not do in H1-B. Plus, the overseas work experience is great for my resume. Pity the pound is in such a rut of late.
TheRealCanadian -- Thanks for your guidance... But tell me: are you a consular officer? I'm not. Nor am I an immigration lawyer. How do we know for certain that a consular officer would not be impressed with the situation I've outlined? In any event, the situation I outlined is unrealistic (if you find someone who attended Princeton without a high school education please let me know.).