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Trump attacks Diversity Visa program

Politics make strange bedfellows:
This article from NumbersUSA (proponents of lower immigration levels of all sorts, including DV) also declares the stalemate a victory, since amnesty proposals were also voted down.
It was comforting to read "Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced after the debate that the Senate would move on to other business."

We also have a better understanding of why the americans use the phrase "it will take an act of congress" to signify the improbability of an event.
 
Sihem said:
"There are already indications that the new leadership is encouraging applications to be processed more slowly and with more scrutiny"

https://www.vox.com/2018/2/22/17041862/uscis-removes-nation-of-immigrants-from-mission-statement

Could that explain the slow progression of VBs numbers comparatively to previous years ?
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No, or DS260s would be taking slower, not much faster as they have been, to process. I believe britsimon has more than adequately explained this supposed slow progress (is it really?) that some people bring up.
 
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Sihem said:
"There are already indications that the new leadership is encouraging applications to be processed more slowly and with more scrutiny"

https://www.vox.com/2018/2/22/17041862/uscis-removes-nation-of-immigrants-from-mission-statement

Could that explain the slow progression of VBs numbers comparatively to previous years ?
Click to expand...
SusieQQQ said:
No, or DS260s would be taking slower, not much faster as they have been, to process. I believe britsimon has more than adequately explained this supposed slow progress (is it really?) that some people bring up.
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Progress wasn't slow until April interviews. They reduced the interviews dramatically, as if there was some "pushback" from the embassies about pre/post interview processing. I hope that was just a one month "blip", but if that trend were to continue it would support a theory that more security checks are gumming things up. The DS 5535 is causing more AP, and I can't be sure but embassies that are using it often are probably struggling with that additional workload - and I don't know who actually does the checking of that new form.
 
Britsimon said:
Progress wasn't slow until April interviews. They reduced the interviews dramatically, as if there was some "pushback" from the embassies about pre/post interview processing. I hope that was just a one month "blip", but if that trend were to continue it would support a theory that more security checks are gumming things up. The DS 5535 is causing more AP, and I can't be sure but embassies that are using it often are probably struggling with that additional workload - and I don't know who actually does the checking of that new form.
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Ah yes, I forgot about the 5535. Do we have any idea how prevalent those are in the affected countries/nationalities? Of course, those embassies will have many more of those for non-DV cases too so it’s easy to see how that could really slow things down for everyone.
 
SusieQQQ said:
Ah yes, I forgot about the 5535. Do we have any idea how prevalent those are in the affected countries/nationalities? Of course, those embassies will have many more of those for non-DV cases too so it’s easy to see how that could really slow things down for everyone.
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I haven't done well tracking the embassies using them. Predictably though, my gut feeling is that they "seem" to be using these in countries with large Muslim populations, but I don't think that is the ONLY time they use the new form.

As I mentioned, I also don't know how they process the new form. They might be forwarding these somewhere, or perhaps the embassy is doing some of the processing themselves. Ideally, they would be entering these into a centralized database and that database would allow some flagging of possible connection problems. But again - I don't know what happens from that point forward.

One thing I have noticed though, long AP (3 to 6 month) used to be almost exclusively for Iranians. That is now happening for cases for many more countries. That sometimes involves the DS 5535, but not always. So - although the DS5535 is concrete evidence of additional screening procedures, there is also anecdotal evidence that other additional measures are being applied.

Lastly, the timing of the introduction of the DS 5535 means it was almost certainly planned/initiated under Obama, though perhaps "enhanced" under Trump.
 
Yup, in another conversation as I recall it’s morocco, Egypt, Kazakh people posting there affected.
Apparently a lot of Moroccans in general getting them, not sure about the others. Whoever works on it - in embassy or in DC - it’s probably fair to say this administration’s priority wasn’t getting more people to do it so it can get resolved quicker. And as with any other AP, it’s unclear if DV applicants get any kind of priority, especially at this stage of the year. I wouldn’t be surprised if the same kind of urgency to clear DV AP near fiscal year end that we seem to have seen in the past will remain either. So while there may not be a deliberate attempt to slow down processing as such, it’s probably happening anyway as a result of the backlog being built up from the new forms. ....although (sorry for this stream of consciousness post) shouldn’t there be some capacity freed up from the fact that they’re not processing most Iranian applications?
 
Xarthisius said:
Judging by the wording of documents introducing DS 5535 as an "extreme vetting" measure [1], it's COs who are supposed to verify information provided by that form. That would also explain the fact that lower number of AP cases from Iran doesn't affect the overall pace of AP for AS and other regions.

[1] https://www.federalregister.gov/doc...rgency-review-supplemental-questions-for-visa
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ok, that makes sense - thanks
a Moroccan on another forum has been waiting after DS5535 since his mid-November DV interview, but an Egyptian got his visa after a month. Other Moroccans appear to be waiting still too but small sample. The kazakh guy is at 4 months.
 
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Hmm, however a Moroccan on that forum posted "according to US CO in Casablanca all AP are taking place outside the us embassies so at Washington dc is where your case is set to be for extra background checks . "
 
SusieQQQ said:
Hmm, however another moroccan on that forum posted "according to US CO in Casablanca all AP are taking place outside the us embassies so at Washington dc is where your case is set to be for extra background checks . "
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That may be true. I'm only guessing :)
 
SusieQQQ said:
Yup, in another conversation as I recall it’s morocco, Egypt, Kazakh people posting there affected.
Apparently a lot of Moroccans in general getting them, not sure about the others. Whoever works on it - in embassy or in DC - it’s probably fair to say this administration’s priority wasn’t getting more people to do it so it can get resolved quicker. And as with any other AP, it’s unclear if DV applicants get any kind of priority, especially at this stage of the year. I wouldn’t be surprised if the same kind of urgency to clear DV AP near fiscal year end that we seem to have seen in the past will remain either. So while there may not be a deliberate attempt to slow down processing as such, it’s probably happening anyway as a result of the backlog being built up from the new forms. ....although (sorry for this stream of consciousness post) shouldn’t there be some capacity freed up from the fact that they’re not processing most Iranian applications?
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True, I noticed the percentage of candidates under AP in Casablanca Consulate is abnormally high (+/- 40%,..if we exclude cases with ready status),....I think the highest among all embassies.
 
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