DV-2024 Lottery Frequently Asked Questions & Answers

DV Interview scheduling reports: This guide will explain what the interview scheduling reports are all about, and using examples, you will know how you can use these interview scheduling reports.

Note: Concerning the different case number ranges that are reported in the various interview scheduling reports. The case number ranges in the interview scheduling reports are actually case numbers that appear or that are shown the CEAC data. Most of you are aware that at the end of the working week, Xarthisius extracts the data from the CEAC website, and posts on their website. It is the case number ranges that are shown in the CEAC data that Xarthisius extracts that are present in the interview scheduling reports.

One reality that you should be aware of is that, all of that data is imported into this CEAC system by data entry workers at the U.S State Department. At the end of the working week, their staff enters the data. It is possible for the interview scheduling range that is reported for an embassy to not reflect the reality.

In other words, in the DV interview scheduling report, you may have a case number range that is lower than the actual case number range where interviews are being scheduled.

Over the weekend, those who enter the data in the CEAC system do not work, but when they resume work the following week, they continue from where they start. And so, generally, if at the end of one week, the exact situation or the reality is not presented in the interview scheduling report, the following week, the update will have been done and what you will get at the end of that second week will be the reality.

The CEAC data that Xarthisius extracts and posts on their website contains data related to interview scheduling. The importance of that data for you, a diversity visa applicant, is to give you an idea of how far or how close interview scheduling is from your case number.

For example, in the interview scheduling report, if Nairobi is currently at the 42,000 case number range, it tells applicants who are with case numbers just above 42,000 case number range that interview scheduling has come close to their case number range and that soon they can expect to be scheduled for interview.

It also indicates to those applicants assigned to the embassy in Nairobi with much higher case numbers, e.g 80,000 case number range, for example, that interview scheduling is still far from their case number, and so they cannot expect to be scheduled for interview soon.

That is how you should understand or interpret the various case number ranges that are present in the interview scheduling reports every weekend.

It doesn’t only concern your case number, the Interview scheduling reports also reflect the performance and the prospects of the embassy where you are assigned. How does that work? The time that interview scheduling takes at a certain case number range at an embassy, is an indication of the performance and the prospects for interview at that embassy.

For example, for Accra embassy, since the first CEAC data were released at the beginning of this year, Accra has been at 3,704, that’s the highest case number that have so far been at the Accra Embassy. And for the last three months, Accra has remained at that same position. That is an indication that the Accra Embassy is not performing well.

In addition to that, that is also an indication that prospects for interview at the Accra Embassy are bad. That’s another way you can use interview scheduling at your embassy as a diversity visa applicant.

With that, there should be no need why applicants should continue to ask concerning their chances of interview at this embassy or at the other embassy. Both the interview scheduling reports and the embassy prospects report should indicate to you as a diversity visa applicant, your chances of being scheduled for interview or the prospects of you being scheduled for interview, at each one of the various embassies represent in these reports.

That is how you should use DV interview scheduling as a diversity visa applicant.

In case you are in the position to access the CEAC data and see how far interview scheduling is at your embassy on a regular basis, say on a weekly basis, then it’s okay. But in case you cannot do that for yourself, perhaps you do not have the time, then the easier option will be to follow the interview scheduling report here because just by reading for a few minutes, you will have an idea of whether interview scheduling has taken a step closer to your case number range.

You will have an idea of your prospects or your chances for interview being assigned at your embassy.

Also, this concerns all regions, not just the Africa region, using Nairobi and Accra as examples, if you are not assigned at that embassy, all you need to do is to apply the concept to your own case. That is how it works.

DISCLAIMER: This post and content is designed for general information only and is NOT legal advice. This site is not offering any Diversity Visa and is not the official site for DV Lottery program. The information presented in this post should not be construed to be formal legal advice. If you have any questions about the DV lottery, please contact an immigration professional/officer or a licensed attorney.

DV 2024 cut-off numbers Issue: We are now aware of the cut-off number that have been established in the DV 2024 program for the month of May 2024, as published in the Diversity Visa Bulletin For April 2024.

What those cut-off numbers have done is, they have established fear in the minds of so many diversity visa applicants, and that is the case because of two reasons.

The first reason is that most applicants expected the cut-off number for their region to go beyond where they were actually established for the month of May. And then in addition to that, some people has already established what they believe will be the final cut-off numbers in the DV 2024 program. Accordingly, that was based on the DV 2024 CEAC data.

Note: The CEAC data or the data of a DV program is not the only factor that determines the final cut-off numbers of that program. There are other factors that could override the data, and that have been seen different times. So anyone who limits himself to the data of the program to determine what the final cut-off numbers will have one of these three problems.

The first problem that such a person could have is that they may be new to the diversity visa program. The second problem that such a person may have, is that they base their reasoning more on theory than on what happens in practice. If that is not the case, then such a person does not learn from past experience. So it is either one of those three problems that such a person, a person who bases their reasoning only on the data has.

There are other factors that could play a part in determining the final cut-off numbers in the Diversity Visa Program:

The first of those factors that could influence the final cut of numbers in the diversity visa program is the approach that is taken by those who are in charge of running the program. What does this mean? Data in the diversity visa program is important. In case those who are running the program have a certain approach, that approach is going to override what the data is suggesting.

A notable instance was the end of the DV 2023 program. When the data was showing that they had reached the 55,000 visas to be issued out, those who were running the program were still sending out interview notifications to applicants. Was it the right thing to do? No, it was not the right thing to do, but it was what was done. So not always what the data suggests, not always what should happen ends up happening.

Sometimes, the approach that is being applied by those who are running the program could overrun what should happen, could overrun what the data are suggesting. That is one thing that you must get clear as a diversity visa applicant.

Another factor that could influence the final cut-off numbers in the diversity visa program is policy. The movements in the diversity visa cut-off numbers are a very effective way of implementing policy. Let’s take this example, In case the State Department wants a certain number of applicants to be interviewed at a certain time during the fiscal year. They don’t have to go through any difficulty. They will simply play with the numbers, play with the number of the region concerned, and they get what they want.

If, for example, they want to reduce the number of applicants from a specific region, all they need to do will be to keep the number of that region low. At the end of the day, many applicants from that region will not be interviewed, and that policy will be implemented. Their goal will be achieved.

On the other hand, in case they want a high number of applicants from a certain region, all they need to do is to push the numbers further. They are going to get so many applicants current, and those applicants will end up being interviewed, and they get what they want.

So, considering only the data to draw conclusions as it relates to the final cut-off numbers in the diversity visa program is not an effective way of getting to know the final cut-off numbers. Any of those other factors above could overrun what the data is saying, and what will happen will not be in line with what the data suggests it originally.

Based on past experience, in case you have been following a diversity visa program, you will realize that the data is not the only factor that affects the determination of the final cut-off number.

There is another reason why you cannot wholly rely on the data in the current context of the diversity visa program, when it comes to determining the final cut-off number in this year’s program. Next post will expose other reasons to you.

But this was just to say to you that data in the current context of the diversity visa program is not the only factor that could influence the determination of the final cut-off number. Look out for that other post which exposes the next reason why you cannot wholly rely on data in the current context of the diversity visa program.

DISCLAIMER: This post and content is designed for general information only and is NOT legal advice. This site is not offering any Diversity Visa and is not the official site for DV Lottery program. The information presented in this post should not be construed to be formal legal advice.

The Diversity Visa Bulletin For April 2024, which should be published in this month of March 2024, has been published. This Diversity Visa Bulletin For April 2024 shows the cut-off numbers to apply in the diversity visa program during the month of May 2024, as well as the case numbers that have just become “Current” as a result of the release of this bulletin.

Diversity Visa Bulletin For April 2024 and Cut-Off Numbers for May 2024 Analysis

Below is the Diversity Visa advanced notification section of the just released visa bulletin and the details:

As you can see from the above image, the cut-off number that has been established for the Africa region for the month of May is 52,000. It was previously at 45,000. This means that case numbers from the Africa region that have just become “Current” are case numbers from 45,000 to 51,999.

In the case of the Asia region, the cut-off number that has been established is 8,000. Previously, it was 7,000. The case numbers that have just become “Current” are case numbers from 7,200 to 7,999.

In the case of the Europe region, the cut-off number that has been established for the month of May is 18,000. Previously, it was 17,500. The case numbers that have just become “Current” from the Europe region are case numbers from 17,500 to 17,999.

In the case of the North America region, the new cut-off number to apply in the month of May is 15. Previously, it was 13.

In the case of Oceania, the new cut-off number that has been established for the month of May is 1,650. Previously, it was 250, and so the case numbers from Oceania that just became “Current” are case numbers from case number 1,250 to case number 1,649.

In the case of the South America region, the cut-off number to apply in the month of May is 2,600. Previously, it was 2,400, and that means that the case numbers from that region that just became “Current” are case numbers going from case number 2,400 to 2,599.

Then in the final column of the table, we have the new cut-off numbers to apply in the exception countries. For Alger, it is 51,000. Previously, it was at 42,000. For Egypt, it is now 32,000, it was previously at 30,000. For Morocco, it was 35,000 for the month of April, and it has been maintained at 35,000 for the month of May.

Then in the Asia region, in the case of both exceptional countries, the new cut-off number to apply is 7,100. Previously, in the case of Iran, it was 7,000, and in the case of Nepal, it was 6,000. Both have been increased to 7,100.

Finally, in the Europe region, the cut-off number that has been established for Russia for the month of May is 17,750. Previously, it was 17,400, and it has been increased to 17,750. And for Uzbekistan, the cut-off number to apply in the month of May is 8,000. Previously, it was at 7,000.

Those are the cut-off numbers to apply during the month of May 2024 as part of the DV 2024 program, as well as the case numbers that have just become “Current” in the different regions.

With those new cut-off numbers, interview scheduling at your different embassies and councilors will now have the possibility of going beyond their current limit.

Next post will take a closer look at the details of this visa bulletin. Thanks for reading it.

DISCLAIMER: This post and content is designed for general information only and is NOT legal advice. This site is not offering any Diversity Visa and is not the official site for DV Lottery program. The information presented in this post should not be construed to be formal legal advice.

Diversity Visa Lottery 2NL: In regards to DV-2024 lottery interviews, many people are already getting their second notification letters (2NL) while others are still waiting for them.

While you are waiting for the second notification letter. What are you supposed to do? Because for you to pass your DV lottery interviews, there are many determining factors and you need to get ready for the DV lottery interview.

Remember, after getting your second notification letter, you are given about six weeks of preparation before the interview date, that means that is some short time for you to amply prepare. So you need to have prepared even before the second notification letter. This is what we are going to learn in this guide. The end result of it is that you need to get a successful interview, get equipped for the DV lottery interview, for you to get your Visa approved.

What you are supposed to do, even as you’re waiting for the Diversity Visa (DV) Lottery second notification letter (2NL)?

• Always keep track of the Visa bulletin

Always check on the Visa bulletin, especially if your number is not yet current, keep an eye on the Visa bulletin. Because the visa bulletin informs all the numbers that will be ready for certain month. All the numbers that are current for a given month.

Remember, for you to be current, your case number should be lying below that cut-off number. So how do you expect to know if you’re current if you don’t keep track of the Visa bulletin? How do you expect to know when your number will become current, if you don’t keep track of the Visa bulletin? How will you know, if you’re supposed to change an embassy for the interview, if you cannot keep track of the visa bulletin?

It’s very important that you keep track of the Visa bulletin because there you’ll get the cut-off number. You’ll be able to gauge your fate, the fate of your case number, and therefore take the necessary steps. So the first thing, always keep track of the visa bulletin. In this site, you will always get update you on the visa bulletins.

• Gather all relevant information

The second thing that you need to do is, as you’re waiting for the second notification letter, ensure that you gather all relevant information. Gather the relevant information pertaining the DV lottery. Have, if possible, all information about the diversity visa process. Know the steps, the stages, the requirements, the documents that you are needed. Everything that surrounds the DV lottery program, know about that. All the material that is needed, everything that will lead to a successful visa interview, you need to gather that information. Make the dvprogram.state.gov your friend and follow every rightful information and you’ll have a successful interview.

• Latest performance statistics of your current embassy

The other important thing that you are supposed to do is, also try to understand or to get the latest performance statistics of your current embassy, the embassy in which your interview is scheduled. Try and look for information, get to know about the performance of your embassy from the relevant resources.

You know where your case is, try as much as possible and get to know the performance. If you gauge your case number against the performance of your embassy and you realize that for sure, you are at risk of not getting an interview or your opportunity, then you need to take necessary steps. You need to transfer it. Get a better performing embassy that you can access and transfer your case there.

If you can move to that country, that is the best. If you have free movement from one country to your neighbor, and then you can also transfer to that country. Get to know the performance of your embassy as you’re waiting for the second notification letter.

• Gather evidence that you need pertaining your case

The other important thing to do, and this is very crucial, is gather all the evidence that you need pertaining your case. You know how your case is, and you know everything that you need, you need to get those evidences.

The document proofs that have been requested, and also those that have not been requested or outlined in the checklist but you need them to solidify the truth or the veracity of your case, you need to get them. All the documents in the checklist, those that need notarization, you get the notarized documents, all those documents that are not mentioned there and they need also notarization, get them, even if they don’t need any certification.

For example, if you applied as single but you are in a relationship intending to get engaged and marry, then you need to get proof documents to show that there was an existing relationship before even you won DV Lottery, just to make sure that this is not a fraud and to get your visa approved.

The point is, get all the documents, anything that is required. As you’re waiting for the certification letter, ensure that you gather them. Remember, it is very risky for you to fall under the 221G visa refusal because time is running out and you never know, if you get into that position how much time it would take for you to be called back.

Some 221G have gone even beyond six months, so make every effort to get all the relevant documents that you may not be put to 221G or be refused the visa.

• Always your email for any update

You keep checking your email for any update. Remember, communication comes through your email. The email that you listed on the DS-260 form. Through that, the communication from KCC will come regarding the second notification letter (2NL). It is the email that notifies you that you have your 2NL in the Dvprogram.state gov’s website that you need to go there and put your details and access the second notification letter. That notification is sent to you via the email.

Some Frequently Asked Questions and Answers

Question: About the email, can one changed it on filling the DS-260 rather than the one he/she used during the entry?

Answer: Yes indeed

Question: My high school diploma is French language so while filling the diploma or certificate received in ds260 should I write it in French like written on my diploma or I translate in English?

Answer: If your embassy/ where you will be interviewed is francophon, you don’t need to. If it’s another, then you’ll need to translate.

Question: I have High school certificate, will the embassy still demand for transcript of high school?

Answer: No, the high school diploma is enough. No transcripts needed

Question: It ok to certify academic certificates and collect police clearance before 2NL?

Answer: For the police clearance -yes but for the education, you only do it after 2NL

DISCLAIMER: This post and content is designed for general information only and is NOT legal advice. This site is not offering any Diversity Visa and is not the official site for DV Lottery program. The information presented in this post should not be construed to be formal legal advice.

We saw in the previous guide that the visa bulletin for the month of March 2024, which shows the cut-off numbers to apply during the month of April 2024 as part of the DV-2024 program was released. There are some major questions that comes up every month about the new released visa bulletin. In this guide, we will look at the March 2024 Visa Bulletin and APRIL Cut-Off Numbers Analysis and answers to some of those questions about Visa Bulletin and APRIL Cut-Off Numbers.

Diversity Visa Bulletin for March 2024 and APRIL Cut-Off Numbers Analysis

Many people are disappointed because they expected to see the cut-off number of their region move further than it has actually moved, and that why they ask some of these questions, whenever the visa bulletin is published.

For example, why did the Africa region increase from 40,000 to 45,000 and not beyond? Because that was the wish of many applicants. Or why the Asia region moved from 7000 to 7200, etc.

The expression that usually comes up in such a case is analysis. For the coming days, applicants will be demanding analysis concerning the various movements in the regional and exceptional countries cut-off numbers. Below is the analysis or explanation as to why the cut-off number of your region or your exceptional country moved to a small extent, as it has done in this visa bulletin:

The visa bulletin cut-off numbers that we see on a monthly basis do not just come about anyhow. There is a principle behind the movement or as non-movement in some cases, in the visa bulletin. The visa office moves the cut-off numbers or decide not to move them based on necessity.

If it is necessary to move, it moves them, if it is not necessary to move them, they remain as they were. What does this necessary or not necessary mean? All depends on what is expected concerning interviews for the month under discussion or the month concerned. In this case, the month of April.

The principle is that, moving the visa bulletin cut-off number is meant to make new cases current because in order for cases to be scheduled for interview, the first must be current. When the visa bulletin cut-off number moves, it moves because the visa office wants more cases to become current so that they can be interviewed.

If the embassies inform the visa office that there is no need to take new cases, the visa office will not move the cut-off numbers for the region or the exceptional country concerned.

If they say that they need only a few cases, the visa office will move the cut-off number to a small extent to allow only a few cases to be made current, because it’s only a few cases that are needed to be interviewed or added to the ones that are already waiting to be interviewed during the month concerned. So that is the principle.

Why is it that, for the Africa region, for example, the movement was from 40,000 to only 45,000? Why in the case of the Asia region, the movement was from 7000 to only 7200? In Oceania, for example, from 1200 to 1250 because of the same reason.

For the month of April, there are many cases already waiting to be interviewed, as a result of that it was not necessary to give any region a leap. That’s the reason why on the overall in this visa bulletin, we observe that there is not much of a leap in the various cut-off numbers.

If you should observe the situation one month ago, you will realize that for most regions, perhaps all regions, there was a leap or a high increase in the various cut-off numbers. Take Africa, for example, it left from 26,500 to 40,000. In the case of Asia, the cut-off number left from 5500 to 7000, which is a relatively high increase. Oceania, for example, left from 875 to 1200. What that did is that it made many cases current waiting to be interviewed.

With the low increases that we have observed in this visa bulletin, we can then expect leaps or higher increases in the visa bulletin cut-off numbers after now, even if it is not for all of the regions. But after now, we can look forward to leaps taking place or higher increases happening because the many cases will now be reduced.

That is how you should take the movements that occur in the visa bulletin cut-off numbers, which will allow you to understand every time the visa bulletin is published, why this happened and why that happened. It will also give you an insight into what you should expect concerning upcoming visa bulletins. That is the analysis.

Thanks for reading.

DISCLAIMER: This post and content is designed for general information only and is NOT legal advice. This site is not offering any Diversity Visa and is not the official site for DV Lottery program. The information presented in this post should not be construed to be formal legal advice.

We are in the month of February 2024 and what is expected around this time of the month is the release of the visa bulletin. The visa bulletin for the month of March 2024, which was expected to be released in this month of February, has now been released. And as expected, that visa bulletin contains the new cut-off numbers, the ones to apply in the month of April 2024 as part of the DV-2024 program.

This guide will inform you concerning the publication of the visa bulletin, the latest movements that have occurred in the Regional Cut-off Numbers as a result of the release of this visa bulletin.

Visa Bulletin for March 2024 and APRIL Cut-Off Numbers

Below are the new cut-off numbers that will apply in the DV-2024 program during the month of April 2024.

For the Africa region, the cut-off number has been established at 45,000. For the Asia region, it has been established at 7200. For the Europe region, it has been established at 17,500. For the North American region, it has been maintained at 13. For the Oceania region, it has been established at 1,250. For the South America region, it has been established at 2,400.

Moving over to the exceptional countries and beginning once again in the Africa region, the cut-off number that has been established for Algeria is 42,000. For Egypt, it is 30,000. For Morocco it is 35,000.

Then we continue with the exception countries of the Asia region. In the case of Iran, it is 7000. For Nepal it is 6000.

Then to the exceptional countries of the Europe region and for Russia it is 17,400. And finally for Uzbekistan it is 7000.

If we should compare these with the cut-off numbers for the month of March 2024, in the case of the Africa region, the cut-off number for March 2024 is 40,000, but it has been increased to 45,000 for the month of April 2024.

In the case of the Asia region, for the month of March, the cut-off number is 7000, and for the month of April it has been increased to 7200.

For Europe, for the month of March, the cut-off number is 16,000, and for April it has moved to 17,500.

Concerning the North American region, it was maintained at 13. In the case of the Oceania region for the month of March, it is 1200, and for the month of April it has increased to 1,250 for the South American region. For the month of March it was 2200, and for the month of April it has increased to 2400.

Then over to the exceptional countries and beginning in the Africa region for the month of March. The cut-off number established for Algeria was 35,000, it has increased to 42,000 for the month of April. For Egypt, for the month of March, it is 25,000 and it has increased to 30,000 for the month of April.

In the case of Morocco, for the month of March, it is 27,500, and for the month of April it has moved to 35,000.

For the exception countries from the Asia region, in the case of Iran, for the month of March, the code of number established is 6750, and it has moved to 7000 for the month of April. In the case of Nepal, for the month of March, it is 5000 and it has moved to 6000 for the month of April.

Finally, the movement for the exceptional countries in the Europe region. In the case of Russia, for the month of March, the cut-off number established is 15,500, and it has moved for the month of April to 17,400. For Uzbekistan, where for the month of March the cutoff number established is 5750, and for the month of April it has moved to 7000.

Those are the cut-off numbers that will apply in the DV-2024 program during the month of April 2024, as well as the latest movements that occurred across the various regions and exceptional countries.

In upcoming guides, we will learn other aspects of the new cut-off numbers, and in addition, in case you would like to access this information from the official webpage, then this is the link leading to that page.

Thanks for reading.

DISCLAIMER: This post and content is designed for general information only and is NOT legal advice. This site is not offering any Diversity Visa and is not the official site for DV Lottery program. The information presented in this post should not be construed to be formal legal advice.

A lot of attention has been on the CEAC data and DV-2024 interview scheduling at different embassies and consulates. But now, the visa bulletin for the month of February 2024, for MARCH Cut-Off Numbers, has now been released

This post will show you what the Visa Office has decided concerning the month of March as it relates to cut-off numbers in the diversity visa program.

Without further ado, let’s go over to the advanced notification section of the just-released Visa Bulletin and consider the March cut-off numbers.

DV 2024: MARCH Cut-Off Numbers Published

For March, immigrant numbers in the DV category are available to qualified DV-2024 applicants chargeable to all regions/eligible countries as follows. When an allocation cut-off number is shown, visas are available only for applicants with DV regional lottery rank numbers BELOW the specified allocation cut-off number:

Below is a well detailed description of the Diversity (DV) Immigrant category rank Cut-Off Numbers, as published at U.S Department of State official webpage, which will be apply in March 2024.

• For South America Region

Beginning at the bottom of the table in the South America region, the cut-off number to apply in the month of March is 2,200. For the month of February, it was 1,600, and it has been increased to 2,200 for the month of March.

• For Oceania Region

Moving just above to Oceania, where the cut-off number has been established for the month of March at 1,200. For the month of February, it was 875, and it has been established at 1,200 for the month of March.

• For North America Region

Next is the North America region, where the cut-off number for the month of March is 13. It was 5 for the month of February, and it has been increased to 13 for the month of March.

• For Europe Region

Then to the Europe region, where the cut-off number for the larger Europe region has been established at 16,000. For the month of February, it was 13,500, and it has been increased to 16,000 for the month of March.

Europe Exception Countries

Europe has two exception countries. The first is Russia, and the cut-off number to apply in the case of Russia for the month of March is 15,500. For the month of February, it was 13,250, and it has been increased to 15,500 for the month of March.

For Uzbekistan

Next is Uzbekistan, where the cut-off number for the month of March has been increased to 5,750. For the month of February, it was 5,500, and it has been increased to 5,750 for the month of March.

• For Asia Region

Then to the Asia region, where the cut-off number for the larger Asia region for the month of March has been established at 7,000. For the month of February, it was 5,500, and it has been increased to 7,000 for the month of March.

ASIA Exception Countries

Asia also has two exception countries. In the case of Iran, the cut-off number to apply in the month of March is 6,750. For the month of February, it was 5,450. And for the month of March, it has been increased to 6,750.

For Nepal

Next is Nepal, where the cut-off number to apply in the month of March is 5,000. For the month of February, it was 4,500, and it has been increased to 5,000 for the month of March.

• For Africa Region

Then to the Africa region, where the cut-off number to apply in the larger Africa region for the month of March is 40,000. A leap occurred from 26,500 for the month of February to 40,000 for the month of March.

The Africa region has three exception countries. In the case of Algeria, the cut-off number that has been established for the month of March is 35,000. For the month of February, it was 26,000, and it has been increased to 35,000 for the month of March.

For Egypt

Next is Egypt, the only region and exception country where the February cut-off number has been maintained in this visa bulletin. For the month of February, as well as the month of March, to apply in the case of Egypt is 25,000.

For Morocco

And to the final exception country from the Africa region, Morocco, where the cut-off number to apply in the month of March is 27,500. For the month of February, it was 25,000, and it has increased to 27,500 for the month of March.

That’s to inform you that the new Visa Bulletin For February 2024 has now been released and to acquaint you with the new cut-off numbers, which will be apply in March 2024. To access Visa Bulletin for February 2024 and MARCH 2024 Cut-Off Numbers, visit the official webpage, and once on the page, scroll down to the Diversity Visa section of the Bulletin.

In the upcoming post/guide, we will have the opportunity to take a closer look at issues relating to this visa bulletin.

Thanks for reading.

DISCLAIMER: This post and content is designed for general information only and is NOT legal advice. This site is not offering any Diversity Visa and is not the official site for DV Lottery program. The information presented in this post should not be construed to be formal legal advice.

As at the time of posting this guide, this is the second week since the first CEAC data was released, and today we will learn about the second report concerning DV-2024 interview scheduling at your different embassies and consulates.

The situation of interviews at your embassy or consulate is key to determining your prospects for interview in a diversity visa program. That is why I present these interview scheduling reports on a weekly basis.

Visit this site every week for updates relating to interview scheduling at your embassy or consulate.

DV 2024 Second Interview Scheduling Report

Below is the situation of Interview Scheduling at embassies or consulates:

From the above image, At the U.S Embassy in Doha Qatar, for the Africa region, interview scheduling is currently at 5,900 plus, and for the Asia region is 2,300 plus.

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, for the Africa region is 9,400 plus, the Asia region, 4,300 plus. Warsaw, Poland, that’s in the Europe region, interview scheduling at that embassy is currently at 13,100 plus.

Rangun, Burma, or Myanmar, that’s in the Asia region, interview scheduling is currently at that embassy is currently at 5,400 plus.

To Alger, Algeria, 25,100 plus. Next is Da’er Salam, Tanzania, 19,500 plus. Dakar, Senegal, 25,100 plus. Lomé, Togo is 26,400 plus.

Then to London, the UK, and for the Africa region, interview scheduling is currently at 24,600 plus, for the Asia region, 5,200 plus. For the Europe region, 12,700 plus. And for the Oceania region, 400 plus.

Mumbai, India, For the Africa region, interview scheduling is currently at 26,100 plus at that embassy, and for the Asia region, 5,300 plus.

Next is Johannesburg, South Africa, where interview scheduling is currently at the 20,800 plus. Then to Yerevan, Armenia, where for the Asia region, interview scheduling is currently at 5,400 plus, and for the Europe region, 11,300 plus.

Suva, Fiji, Interview scheduling at that embassy is currently at 800 plus. Islamambad, Pakistan, that’s in the Asia region. Interview scheduling is currently at 5,400 plus.

To Abu Dhabi, the UAE, for the Africa region, interview scheduling is currently at 19,500 plus. For the Asia region, 5,400 plus, and for the Europe region, 6,400 plus.

Freetown, Sierra Lone, Interview scheduling is at 25,800 plus at that embassy, followed by Kigali, Rwanda, 10,800 plus.

Colombo, Sri Lanka, in the Asia region, Interview scheduling is currently at 1,600 plus at that embassy.

Monrovia, Liberia, 26,400 plus. Accra, Ghana is 3,700 plus, followed by Yaoundé, Cameroon, 26,400 plus.

Then to Kathmandu, Nepal, and for the Africa region, interview scheduling is currently at 17,500 plus, and for the Asia region, 3,800 plus.

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where interview scheduling is at 1,800 plus, followed by Nairobi, Kenya, 26,400 plus, and finally to Harari, Zimbabwe, where interview scheduling is currently at 25,700 plus.

Source: DV and More

DISCLAIMER: This post and content is designed for general information only and is NOT legal advice. This site is not offering any Diversity Visa and is not the official site for DV Lottery program. The information presented in this post should not be construed to be formal legal advice.

This guide will clearly handle the things that you need to know as a DV applicant waiting for the DV results to be out. This guide is also very important to all those that have already been selected and are waiting for their DV interview.

As you are waiting for the DV lottery results, there are things that have never been discussed. You might not have thought of, but let’s get them one after the other.

While Waiting For The DV Results And Interview, You Need To Do these

Did you know that you need to have all the information regarding the DV lottery? This is because you applied, or you are planning to apply, or you have already been selected, and this shows that you have the interest of moving to the U.S with the DV Lottery. You need to gather all information regarding the DV Lottery. This is very important because it will lessen the chances of making mistakes. If you have information, you reduce the chances of making mistakes.

As you are waiting for the DV results to be out in the month of May, make an effort to understand the whole DV Lottery process. Know the pre-application requirements. Before you had applied, what did you need to know? You needed to know several things.

For example, how to apply, how to do it, because there are things that you need to do or to have not done, for a successful application. You need to know all the people that you’re supposed to add in your application. If you are single, you need to add none. If you are a single parent, you need to add all your kids. If you are married, then you need to add your immediate family, the nuclear family. That’s you need to know, plus other things that you need to know. The pre-application knowledge that you need.

After applying, there are things that you need to know because there are things that you need to do. While waiting for the results after applying, there are things that you need to do.

For example, as you’re waiting for the results, you may need to apply for the passport, if you don’t have already. If you are applying for passport, there are things that you need to do, one of them being passport application. As a principal applicant, the main applicant of the DV Lottery, it’s good that you get a passport, is very important because when filling the DS-260 form, you will require the passport information, the passport number, when filling the DS-260 form. You need for each and every member in your application.

You might fill the DS-260 and put some other numbers in that passport number location e.g, your national ID, just to stand as a placeholder and submit the DS-260 form, and then apply for the passport, and later on request KCC to unlock, and you change it with the passport number, that is possible. But why do so if you are able to obtain a passport early and then use the passport itself in that place when filling the DS-260 form.

In any case, if it’s worry about the passport expiry, remember that passports, they go up to 10 years before they expire, so you still have time. So even if you get it as early as possible, which is very good, there’s no harm. It’s good that you use the passport details right on the go. Fill it in the first filling of the DS-260 form and then submit it. With this, you will not need to request an unlock for you to update it with the passport information.

So while waiting for the results, get your passports and those of my derivatives. You need to know that as you’re waiting for the result, you may decide to get a passport.

Also, as you’re waiting for the results, there’s another thing that you need to know. If possible, try to look for connection with people already in the United States. Make friends with people in the United States through whichever means, through the social media, through the church, through activities. Get some connections with people already in the United States. You can join a community group in the United States. You can go to Facebook and join a social group of people already in the United States and actively socialize with them.

Reason: Because another thing that you need to fill the DS-260 form, and that is before you start filling, is a permanent address. You need a permanent address to fill the DS-260 form because you need an address in the United States, because that is the permanent address that you need to fill.

Make genuine friends, look for friends, people that later on can come and provide you with that address to fill as the permanent address, without which you cannot completely fill the DS-260 form. You need to know that.

Another thing that you need to know as you’re waiting for the results is that you need to also gather information regarding post-selection DV process. After you have been selected, if you are lucky, what are the steps that follow up to the end of the DV process? You need to gather that information as you’re waiting for the results.

If I win, what will be the next step? If I win, what follows? And after that, what follows? What do I need to get? Which documents do I need to have? Which step do I need to follow? What things should I not do? What things should I do for a successful interview? All those you need to gather that information.

Get everything that regards the steps after you have been selected. By doing that, you will be able to go through the DV process with minimum errors, if there is any.

DISCLAIMER: This post and content is designed for general information only and is NOT legal advice. This site is not offering any Diversity Visa and is not the official site for DV Lottery program. The information presented in this post should not be construed to be formal legal advice.

There are some random questions, random concerns and issues that you might be having. The first concern is regarding the worries on your DV case number.

This is the DV lottery where lot of people are worried of their chances of getting an interview because of their case numbers, and it’s because it is one of the DV lotteries that have very high number of selectees.

You may be asking of your chances because of your case numbers. For example, let say your DV case number is AF 98,000, 50,000 and you are wondering whether you have any hope of getting an interview.

Or maybe you comes from that country whose embassy in the last DV lottery 2023 performed weakly. They did not meet the target and therefore majority of the selectees in that country ended up losing their opportunities.

To answer these questions: The fact is if you have very high case numbers, then it is highly possible that you might not be scheduled for an interview. If you have low case numbers, then definitely you might get this chance. What does this mean?

To determine the level of your case number, you just consider your region. If you come from EU or AS or AF, whichever region, you just take the lowest case number you’ve had of and you take the highest number that there is in that region and get the difference. Once you get the difference, you divide it into three equal parts, three equal portions.

The first part, the lower side, those are considered as low case numbers. The middle part is medium case numbers and the highest part is the high case numbers.

Most of the time those selectees that fall on the higher part, that is the part was the highest case number, they normally don’t get their chances of even getting an interview. While those in the medium to low, they get their chances.

If you’ve done that way and your category is above the medium level, then know that your chances are low. But it does not mean that you can’t be called for an interview, that you are completely out of the chances.

Even high case numbers, sometimes they get called for an interview, and that is affected by some embassies in a region performing poorly. If some embassies are extremely low in performance, then those embassies that are excellently performing their job, will have even high case numbers getting an interview appointment.

But normally, low case numbers have high chances of getting an interview appointment, while the highest case numbers they don’t.

There was this particular case where the individual that comes from an embassy that had a bad record in the previous DV lottery and this selectee was asking whether he or she might consider to transfer the interview location to a better country.

Can I Transfer My DV Case Number To A Better Embassy?

Transferring a case from one embassy to the next is not as we think or as we thought. What does that mean?

The only time as per the KCC, is if you are currently in this country, and your interview schedule in the embassy of your country or the country in which your embassy is affiliated to.

So if you are in this country and your interview is in this embassy, the only time you can change your interview location is in the case where you have completely moved to that new country.

For example, if you come from Kenya and you are selected, that means your embassy will be scheduled in the Nairobi embassy. If you happen to relocate, let’s say to South Africa, you can change your interview location to South Africa, Johannesburg. But if you have not physically moved, there is no way you are supposed to change that interview location.

If indeed you are this person that has relocated or moved to a new country, then you request unlocking of your DS-260 form and then update with the new location where you are. Then after that, you submit it back and you write a follow-up email informing KCC that you have moved to this location and this is your new address, and you give the proof of your address, of your new address in that email and then send it to KCC.

That way, KCC might consider changing your interview location to that location. But you have to prove it.

If you send the first time and they don’t do it, send a follow-up message until they take note of the changes. That is the only time that they can change it comfortably.

Normally, it is not an easy process. You need to send the first email and check whether they have noted. If they have not noted the changes, then you need to send a follow-up email.

Can you change it based on considering the performance of your embassy?

By that explanation, it is not based on that. You cannot just decide that my embassy is performing poorly, then I need to change it. It will be a tough process. Some people have tried it and they have succeeded.

Finally, you need to understand that sometimes, one embassy might be low in performance in a particular DV lottery but the next DV lottery they perform excellently well.

You might try to jump from your embassy to the next and you found out that your embassy was even better than that embassy that you are trying to shift to.

Only until January that you can get the very fast information from the CEAC website that might help you to know from the past month, how was the embassies doing.

DISCLAIMER: This post and content is designed for general information only and is NOT legal advice. This site is not offering any Diversity Visa and is not the official site for DV Lottery program. The information presented in this post should not be construed to be formal legal advice.

FEBRUARY 2024 Cut-Off Numbers for DV-2024: As we saw in the last guide, the Diversity Visa Bulletin for the month of January 2024 showing the cut-off numbers to apply across all regions and exception countries in the DV-2024 Program has been released.

In this guide, we are going to learn the various case number ranges that are concerned by interviews to be conducted during the month of February 2024, as part of the DV-2024 Program.

Diversity Visa Case Numbers Concerned

With the publication of the Visa Bulletin for January 2024, cases whose case numbers are eligible for interview during the month of February 2024 in the various regions and exception countries, excluding those whose interviews have already been scheduled are as follows:

Looking at the Diversity Visa Advanced Notification section of the Visa Bulletin below, as we consider the relevant case number ranges.

From the above image, these are the cut-off numbers to apply across the various regions and exception countries during the month of February 2024, as part of the DV-2024 Program.

Based on these cut-off numbers, the case numbers that are concerned by interviews to be conducted during that same month of February 2024 are as follows.

• South America Region

From the bottom of the table above, in the South America region, case numbers that are concerned by February 2024 interviews are case numbers from case number 1 to case number 1,599, which have so far not received their interview notification.

• Oceania Region

For Oceania region, the numbers go from case number 1 to case number 874, applicants with case numbers in that range who have so far not received their interview notification from the Oceania region are concerned by interviews to be conducted during the month of February 2024.

• North America (Bahamas) Region

In the case of the North America region, the first 4 case numbers that are concerned by interviews being conducted during this month of December 2023, as well as the month of January 2024, are the same 4 case numbers that are concerned by interviews to be conducted during the month of February 2024.

• Europe Region

For Europe region, the numbers go from case number 1 to case number 13,499. Applicants that are chargeable to countries from the Europe region with the exception of the two exception countries having case numbers in this range and who have so far not received their interview notifications are concerned by interviews to be conducted during the month of February 2024.

In the case of the two exception countries, applicants chargeable to Russia with case numbers going from case number 1 to case number 13,249, who have so far not received their interview notification are concerned by interviews to be conducted during the month of February 2024.

In the case of Uzbekistan, the numbers are case number 1 to case number 5,499. Applicants chargeable to Uzbekistan with case numbers in this range who have so far not received their interview notification are concerned by interviews to be conducted during the month of February 2024.

• Asia Region

For Asia region, the case numbers that are concerned by interviews to be conducted during the month of February 2024 are the same case numbers that are concerned by interviews to be conducted during the month of January 2024.

The numbers go from case number 1 to case number 5,499, and that concerns applicants chargeable to countries in the Asia region that are neither of the exception countries.

In the case of Iran, the first exception country, the numbers go from case number 1 to case number 5,449. Applicants chargeable to Iran who have so far not received their interview notification and whose case numbers fall within this range are concerned by interviews to be conducted during the month of February 2024.

In the case of Nepal, the numbers go from case number 1 to case number 4,499. Applicants within this range who have so far not received their interview notification and whose case numbers fall within this range are concerned by interviews to be conducted during the month of February, 2024.

• Africa Region

For Africa region where if you are an applicant who’s not chargeable to Algeria, Egypt or Morocco and you have a case number from case number 1 to case number 26,499 and so far you have not received your interview notification, then you are concerned by interviews to be conducted during the month of February 2024.

In the case of Algeria, the numbers go from case number 1 to case number 25,999. In case you are chargeable to Algeria with a case number within that range, and so far you have not received your interview notification, then you are concerned by interviews to be conducted during the month of February, 2024.

In the case of both Egypt and Morocco, the numbers go from case number 1 to case number 24,999. Applicants chargeable to both of those countries with case numbers within that range who have so far not received their interview notification are concerned by interviews to be conducted during the month of February 2024, as part of the DV-2024 Program.

Those are the case number ranges from the various regions and exception countries that are concerned by interviews to be conducted during the month of February 2024 as part of the DV-2024 Program.

In Conclusion

Cases whose case numbers are the same or higher than their regional or country cut-off are still not current or eligible for interview. Such cases cannot expect to receive their interview notification yet. Applicants concerned must check the Visa Bulletin when it is published in January 2024, to ascertain the status of their case number by then.

The Visa Bulletin is published every month, and it is by means of this tool that Diversity Visa applicants get to know the month when their case will be eligible for interview. Publication of the next Visa Bulletin, i.e the sixth showing cut-offs for the DV-2024 Program will be done some time in January 2024.

For more information concerning what the Visa Bulletin is all about, look at the bottom of this article.

READ: ALL VISA BULLETIN UPDATES

DISCLAIMER: This post and content is designed for general information only and is NOT legal advice. This site is not offering any Diversity Visa and is not the official site for DV Lottery program. The information presented in this post should not be construed to be formal legal advice.

Can a low case number miss an opportunity for DV interview? In other words, can KCC fail to schedule an interview for a low case number? Hardly this happens, but it does not mean that it is impossible for that to occur. It’s not common, but it does happen.

We need to first of all understand how DV interviews get scheduled. How are they scheduled? First of all, interviews are scheduled or they are given according to the numerical order. They are done numerically and that is from those with low case numbers to those with high case numbers.

By that arrangement, low case numbers are highly likely to get their interviews, while high case numbers have a greater risk of missing their interviews.

Interviews are scheduled numerically based on the cut-off numbers in the visa bulletins. The cut-off numbers in the visa bulletin will increase gradually from low case numbers all the way to the highest case numbers, until the visas for the DV lottery are exhausted.

Once you have your case number, that is, you’re a winner, you should keep watch of the visa bulletins. Because by the visa bulletins, you will be able to tell when your interview is likely to be scheduled.

All case numbers that fall below the cut-off number in a specific visa bulletin, all those case numbers below it, they become current. By becoming current, that means they fall under the cutoff numbers and they are ready for interview processing.

All those case numbers below the cut-off numbers, they are eligible to be scheduled for an interview.

Once your case number is current, your case is put under a queue in your embassy, and that queue for your embassy is called the Allocated Visa Queue (AVQ).

Allocated visa queue is a queue for every embassy that has winners or case numbers below the cut-off number for a certain month. It simply means that you are ready for your interview to be processed.

If that queue is not long for your embassy, that means that you will soon be scheduled for the interview, you will soon receive your interview appointment. But if the queue is so long, that brings about what we call the backlog, meaning a lot of people in that queue waiting to be scheduled for an interview.

If you are on the farthest end of that queue, that simply means that it will take some time for you to get scheduled. You might be current, yes, and your DS-260 form has fully been processed, but simply because there are many people before you in that queue for your embassy, they allocated this queue for your embassy, then it will take a lot of time, maybe days, even up to months before you get an interview appointment, the second notification letter (2NL).

This AV queue, the allocated visa queue, people in that queue, they are also arranged in the numerical order. From the lowest case number in that queue to the highest case number in the same queue. But you should note that sometimes there might be some discrepancies in the order. There are some minor changes in the order.

You might find in the same queue that a person with slightly higher case number than the other being before that person with the low case number than this person. You might find a high case number before a low case number. Why does it happen that way sometimes?

Sometimes it happened because if you submitted your DS-260 form late, yet your case number is low, and that means that KCC came across your DS-260 form later on after they have already arranged that queue.

If the queue has been arranged, that is those numbers are current and yours also is current, but they had already processed the DS-260 forms and they have arranged that AV queue. If your DS-260 is processed after that queue has been arranged, then you’ll come to the end of that queue.

You’ll not jump those case numbers in that queue because your case number is low, no. You will come to the end of that queue because the queue had already been established. You’ll come to the end, and that is to mean, even if you have the low case number, these people that are current together with you that have higher case number than yours will be before you.

But you should know that normally the AV queue is arranged numerically from the low case number to the high case number.

Can a low case number miss DV interview? Can KCC not allocate an interview for a case number that is low?

REASON #1:

It rarely happens so, it’s not a common occurrence, but sometimes it happens. For example, the DV Lottery 2023 and the DV lottery 2022, if you are keen, you should have observed that in some embassies, people with even very low case numbers ended up not getting their interviews.

The reason was these embassies, they had not performed well enough to reach those low case numbers. So if an embassy is very slow, you might find other embassies within that region which perform very well have interviewed people with very high case numbers. But for this poorly performing embassy have not yet even interviewed a person with a low case number.

There are some people with AF 10,000, that is for Africa, not getting their interviews, while others with case number 58,000, even up to 63,000 getting interviewed in other embassies.

Therefore, if embassies perform poorly, they are likely that even low case numbers might not be reached for DV interview scheduling.

REASON #2: Another reason would be you failing to submit your DS-60 form

There are some people, winners of DV lottery but they forget that had applied for DV lottery and therefore they end up not submitting their DS-260 forms, and that mean even if they have low case numbers, they will not be scheduled.

If you fail to submit your DS-260 form, even with low case number, you cannot be scheduled for DV interview because KCC has no record of your application, your visa application (DS-260 form).

In conclusion

Normally, people with high case numbers have higher risk of missing DV interview as compared to those with low case numbers because the interviews get scheduled according to the numerical order of the case number.

Question: Am from Africa, my case number is 2024AF2**4 but I submitted my DS-260 on 25th August, do I still have a chance to be schedule for interview?

Answer: Yes. Though you submitted late for your case.

Question: Is this AV queue done by countries or regions?

Answer: There is AV queue behind every embassy.

Question: If my case is say less than 5000 in AF and submitted DS-260 on 31st May. Will you say it’s a late submission?

Answer: No. That is early.

Question: After receiving 2NL, On registering for the interview (confirming the date), the principal applicant realized only after that their names were not well entered (only surname with no given names), but that of their derivatives had no issues. Please how serious is this mistake and what can be done at this level?

Answer: There are no major issues. Just attend the interview with all documents and amend the names there on the first counter.

I hope the question, Can a low case number miss DV interview, have been answered. I hope this information is very useful.

DISCLAIMER: This post and content is designed for general information only and is NOT legal advice. This site is not offering any Diversity Visa and is not the official site for DV Lottery program. The information presented in this post should not be construed to be formal legal advice.

The U.S. Department of State has released its Visa Bulletin for November 2023. That’s a big deal if you’re waiting for your priority date to be current so that your green card application can move forward.

For the previous cut-off numbers from the previous visa bulletin i.e the visa bulletin for the month of October, check this post.

Diversity Visa Program | Visa Bulletin for November 2023

Section 203(c) of the INA provides up to 55,000 immigrant visas each fiscal year to permit additional immigration opportunities for persons from countries with low admissions during the previous five years.

The NACARA stipulates that beginning with DV-99, and for as long as necessary, up to 5,000 of the 55,000 annually allocated diversity visas will be made available for use under the NACARA program. This will result in reduction of the DV-2024 annual limit to approximately 54,850.

DV visas are divided among six geographic regions. No one country can receive more than seven percent of the available diversity visas in any one year.

For November, immigrant numbers in the DV category are available to qualified DV-2024 applicants chargeable to all regions/eligible countries as follows. When an allocation cut-off number is shown, visas are available only for applicants with DV regional lottery rank numbers BELOW the specified allocation cut-off number:

Entitlement to immigrant status in the DV category lasts only through the end of the fiscal (visa) year for which the applicant is selected in the lottery. The year of entitlement for all applicants registered for the DV-2024 program ends as of September 30, 2024.

DV visas may not be issued to DV-2024 applicants after that date. Similarly, spouses and children accompanying or following to join DV-2024 principals are only entitled to derivative DV status until September 30, 2024. DV visa availability through the very end of FY-2024 cannot be taken for granted. Numbers could be exhausted prior to September 30.

THE DIVERSITY (DV) IMMIGRANT CATEGORY RANK CUT-OFFS WHICH WILL APPLY IN DECEMBER, 2023

For December, immigrant numbers in the DV category are available to qualified DV-2024 applicants chargeable to all regions/eligible countries as follows. When an allocation cut-off number is shown, visas are available only for applicants with DV regional lottery rank numbers BELOW the specified allocation cut-off number:

DISCLAIMER: This post and content is designed for general information only and is NOT legal advice. This site is not offering any Diversity Visa and is not the official site for DV Lottery program. The information presented in this post should not be construed to be formal legal advice.

Single parents in the DV Lottery Program: This guide is for the single parents that are intending to apply for the DV lottery or are selected or they are selectees in the DV lottery.

Categories of Single Parents in the DV Lottery Program

We have two categories of single parents:

Category one: Maybe you have never gotten married in your life, but you have kids and that means that even when getting the kid, delivering the kid, there was no manly figure that was there to claim paternity of the kid or the kids.

Or if you’re a man, the lady gave birth to the kid and left the kid immediately, and therefore you are the custodian of that child as a man.

Category two: You are a single woman because you have a relationship with a man, and therefore you have kids whose birth certificate have the name of the second parent as well as yours. That means that during birth of your kids, that man was there to give you support and claim paternity of that kid.

You are in either of these situations or scenarios and you want to apply for the DV lottery or you have been selected a winner in the DV lottery.

1. If you are in either of those scenarios and you are intending to apply for the DV lottery, the first key point that you should note is that you are supposed to apply as a single.
2. Applying as a single, you have to add all of your kids. All of your kids must be lined up in the application.

Those two things must be done. If you get successful and you are selected, the process begins. So you proceed the way you did in the application.

When it comes to your kids and immigration, of course, no country will allow anyone to get out of the country with any kid without the consent of both the parents.

For the first case that you are single and your kids, no one came to claim paternity. That means that you have the full custody over your child. That means the children belong to you solely, you alone. No one claims the other parenthood.

In that case, you have nothing to worry about. You don’t need to look for any consent. In any case, whose consent are you looking for? You don’t have anyone claiming paternity.

Even on the birth certificate, there is no indication of the other parent. It is only you. And therefore that means these children belong to you. No consent is needed. You are right to go ahead and immigrate with them. You have the full custody over your children.

But when it comes to the single parent who is maybe in a relationship or was in a relationship and the kids have the second name of the parent in their birth certificates. So there’s someone claiming the parenthood of the children as well. In this case is when you will be required to have the consent of the other parent.

You cannot move out with the children without the consent of the other parent claiming parent hold of the children. It does not mean that it’s a hard process. You just need to get the other parents to sign a consent letter.

It must be a notary consent letter, meaning before an advocate or a court that is signed and stamped by the legal authority that the other parent intends the children to immigrate with you. In this case, you will be required to look for that consent letter and it should be notary, that should be noted.

If you are a single parent, and you have another parent claiming parenthood of the children, then look for his or her consent.

However, there is a second option, if at all you cannot reach the other parent, maybe you were in a relationship long time ago and there’s no way you can access this other parent, then you need to look for the full custody through a court, the full custody of your children. It is called the sole custody.

That means that before a court or an advocate, you will sign the sole custody of your children. It means all of the decisions around your children be imposed on you, be transferred to you.

When you obtain the sole custody over your children, then you have the right to make all decisions, be it academic, be it immigration, about your children, you are allowed to do that. That is the second option.

If at all you cannot reach the other parent in whichever way, then you can go and seek to sign the sole custody of your children and you’ll have all the decisions over your children by yourself without needing any consent letter.

Finally, remember that in this case, if you don’t or you are unable to get the consent letter, you will not be allowed to get out of the country with your children.

Some Questions About Applying As Single Parents In The DV Lottery Program

Question: Is there any advantage applying as a single parent?

Answer: No.

Question: What if I don’t want to initially travel with the kids and later pick them up? Should I tell them so or keep it to myself.

Answer: First, even if you don’t want to go with them, you have to add them in application and also in ds260. And in DS-260 you select not immigrating with them.

Question: I’m the principal applicant and have a husband and daughter, I filled DS-260 with both as my accompany but we got issues with the husband, can I travel alone with daughter, what do I expect on interview because since we separated he won’t be coming, can I remove him?

Answer: First, a consent letter for the kids from him is a must. Second, you can immigrate without him.

Question: Will you be denied visa if you applied as single parent but you want to leave your child behind?

Answer: So long as you included the kid in the application you are safe. You can choose not to immigrate with him. However if you left the kid out, you will be denied visa.

Question: Can you be denied visa if you are married for like 20 or 25 years and you recently got your marriage certificate like this year.

Answer: No you won’t be denied. You did good to get the certificate.

Question: The person on my son birth certificate died some yes back which was my uncle, since the father deny the pregnancy and I don’t have any information about his dead. How am I going to do to have consent letter for my child, can a lawyer sign the consent letter for me?

Answer: A lawyer cannot sign. What you do, get the uncle death certificate. You will be totally safe.

Question: What if one is a widow how do you go about it?

Answer: You use the death certificate of the husband.

Question: If I happen to fill DS-260 form before I give birth and I don’t include my baby, will I be denied visa? or where will I fill baby’s details? Or I can wait to start the process once I give birth?

Answer: You will fill the DS-260 early, and unlock it to add the newborn.

Question: Does the consular at the embassy ask for consent letter during interview or is it at the port of entry you are asked for?

Answer: At the embassy.

I hope this information for the single parents is clear.

DISCLAIMER: This post and content is designed for general information only and is NOT legal advice. This site is not offering any Diversity Visa and is not the official site for DV Lottery program. The information presented in this post should not be construed to be formal legal advice.

In this guide, we will learn who qualifies to be added as your derivative when applying for the diversity visa lottery. What is the spouse Diversity Visa lottery?

First of all, we know that if you are a family man or woman, you are required to add the members of your family as your derivatives when applying for the diversity visa lottery without leaving anyone out.

Speaking of the family, here it is referring to the immediate family, that is the nuclear family, the spouse together with the children. But who qualifies to be your spouse? Or who qualifies to be your children when applying the diversity visa lottery?

The answer to this question will be divided into two parts.

In the first part, we are going to discuss on the qualifications of a person to be your spouse and as a derivative in the Diversity Visa Lottery Program. In the second part of this answer, we are going to discuss on the qualification of the children that are supposed to be added as your derivatives.

Therefore, read this guide to the end to avoid jumping into conclusions that are not valid.

Who is your spouse that qualifies to be added as a derivative?

A spouse is your legally married husband or wife. This means that you have a certifying document issued by the government showing that this is your wife or this is your husband. To be more precise, you should be having a marriage certificate issued by the Registrar of Marriages in your country.

Having known that, who does not qualify to become your spouse that you should add as a derivative when applying in the diversity visa lottery?

1. Your girlfriend or your boyfriend does not qualify as a spouse to be added as the derivative when entering the diversity visa lottery program.
2. Partnering is not allowed. That means if you are residing with a man or a woman or cohabiting with a lady or a gentleman, that lady or gentleman is not your spouse. He or she does not qualify to be added as a derivative in the Diversity Visa Lottery Program.
3. Your fiancé is not a spouse or your fiancée is not a spouse. You are not yet married, meaning you don’t have the marriage certificate. Therefore, during application and you have a fiancée, you are supposed to apply a single and not as married.

But you will continue with your plans and get married and then add him or her as your spouse in the DS-260 form, after marriage.

4. Your second wife, your third wife, or any other wife apart from your first wife, is not considered as your spouse. So if you are married to several wives, then they are not all qualified as your spouse. Only the first wife is your spouse and is the only one that you will add as the derivative when applying in the Diversity Visa lottery Program.

What if I’m married, but I don’t have that certifying document or the marriage certificate?

If you were customarily married, that means you took your wife or your husband and you went to your parents and you were given a go ahead to go and marry, and therefore you don’t have any certifying document.

Then you will be required to follow the legal procedures for you to obtain the marriage certificate before you enter the diversity visa lottery. Or in some cases, you might apply as married because you’re married, only that you don’t have the certificate. Then you follow the legal procedures and obtain a marriage certificate before you are interview date.

You apply as married because you’re married, yes. Then file for the marriage certificate and make sure you obtain the marriage certificate before you attend your diversity visa interview.

There are many cases where people who are married customarily and did not have the marriage certificate, but after entering the Diversity Visa Lottery Program, they were selected, and what they did, they went ahead and obtained the marriage certificate because without the marriage certificate, you wouldn’t be given visa. Only the marriage certificate will you prove that you are married.

If you are engaged to marry each other and you have applied as a single person because that is what is required, and then you are selected, and in the process you get married and you have your marriage certificate. You will go ahead and add your spouse in the DS-260 form.

But you must note that you must have evidence or proofs of your existing relationship or engagement before entering the Diversity Visa Lottery Program. You’ll have to provide documentation of your engagement or any proof of relationship prior your entry into the Diversity Visa Lottery.

You must have the proofs to prove that you were engaged, you had previous relationship.

Therefore, when applying in the Diversity Visa Lottery Program, ensure you don’t make these mistakes. Ensure that the spouse that you are adding is really your spouse, as we have discussed above.

I hope this information has been useful.

For the next part on the qualification of the children who are supposed to be added as derivatives in the diversity visa lottery application, check here.

DISCLAIMER: This post and content is designed for general information only and is NOT legal advice. This site is not offering any Diversity Visa and is not the official site for DV Lottery program. The information presented in this post should not be construed to be formal legal advice.

Assume someone is applying the DV lottery, on the day of the application that person is unmarried. Maybe one month later, the person is married. What happens? What if i get married after DV lottery?

Will you be allowed to add your wife or your husband, if you got married after application or if you get married after the DV lottery results is out?

Above are some of the questions many individuals applying for DV lottery program asked regularly.

The answer to these questions is yes.

If you are among those that will be selected or have been selected successfully from the DV lottery program, there will be no problem at all to add that particular person (your spouse) but you can only do that when you are filling the DS-260 form.

Any change in marital status after applying for DV lottery program or after the results is out, it will not affect you negatively in any way.

The problem will be if on the day of your DV lottery application, you are married and you lie, you say you are single, or you are single, you lie, you say you are married.

But if you are single and you get married after the DV lottery application, you’ll be able add your spouse when filling the visa form, i.e DS-260 form, and then you’ll be able to go together to the United States, if you both of you pass the DV interview successfully.

The only difference is this way, on the DS-260 form, if you are married on the day of application and you include you are married, when you go to the visa form (DS-260), when you put your confirmation number and everything, you sign in to the DS-260, you will also see the name of your wife or your husband, and if you have children, their names will be already in the DS-260 form.

But if after the DV lottery application you go and get married after or you have a child later, you will manually add those dependents in that particular form (DS-260). That’s the only difference.

But obviously, you need to have evidence to prove that you got married after the application or after the results, to show that the marriage is the bonafide marriage, not the scam, immigration scam or immigration fraud. Maybe you want just to get the benefit of the immigration to go to America through Green Card lottery.

What if I get married after submitting DS-260?

Report the marriage and provide documentary evidence at your interview. The consular official should request that your spouse file their own application for a derivative immigrant visa (and pay the fees.)

The consular official will interview you both to determine the genuineness of the marriage. If they are convinced your marriage is genuine and you both otherwise qualify for visas, you’ll be issued DV immigrant visas. You must then either immigrate together or you must immigrate first followed by your spouse.

I hope the information is very clear.

DISCLAIMER: This post and content is designed for general information only and is NOT legal advice. This site is not offering any Diversity Visa and is not the official site for DV Lottery program. The information presented in this post should not be construed to be formal legal advice.

There are these two terms that many people are confused or get confused in the DV process. That is the confirmation number and the case number. What is the difference between these two terms?

Confirmation Number

The confirmation number is the number that you get once you apply for the DV lottery program successfully.

Immediately you fill in your details, the details of your dependents and derivatives, and you submit your application to the DV lottery, the number that you receive, that’s what we call the confirmation number.

You’re supposed to keep it safe because this confirmation number is what you will use during checking the DV lottery results. When you’re checking the results, you’ll use this confirmation number to check if you were selected.

READ ALSO: How To Retrieve Lost DV Lottery Confirmation Number

The Case Number

When you want to check the results and you visit the dvprogram.state.gov and filled in the entrant status check and submit it, then there will be a notification.

If you are successful and you are selected, there will be a notification saying that your entry was selected and there will be a downloadable notification of the same telling you that you are successfully selected to proceed with the process.

That first notification is called the First Notification Letter (1NL), as discussed in this post here, you will find a number and that number is special to you, is specific to you. That number is what we call the case number.

Case Number is the number that the KCC, the Kentucky consular Center uses to schedule the interviews, and they do this in an ascending order. The case number is the one that KCC uses to schedule for your interview.

That is the difference between the two terms that are commonly used in the DV process.

I hope the information is clear.

DISCLAIMER: This post and content is designed for general information only and is NOT legal advice. This site is not offering any Diversity Visa and is not the official site for DV Lottery program. The information presented in this post should not be construed to be formal legal advice.

DV-2023 and DV-2024 lessons: If you are a DV lottery 2024 winner and you’re waiting for your interview because the interview period is just about to begin, that is exactly from October 1st to next year, September 30, 2024.

Also, if you are planning to take part in the DV lottery 2025, from 12:00PM EDT (GMT -4) on October 4, 2023 to 12:00PM EST (GMT -5) on November 7, 2023, then read this post well because you are going to learn much and it will help you even in this process.

What can we learn from the already concluded DV lottery 2023?

Remember, this is the DV lottery that was terminated or ended before the 30th of September as is usual. It was terminated exactly on 6th September this year, and that came as a surprise to lot of people.

What can we learn from this?

There are five lessons to learn from this concluded diversity visa lottery 2023.

KCC can exceed the limit: We all know that there are 55,000 visas allocated for the diversity visa lottery, for  last year DV 2022 and the DV 2023, and we’ve clearly seen KCC exceeding this limit.

For example, in this year, they have exceeded the 55,000 visa limit by about a thousand. So sometimes they can exceed the limit, and these visas include those from the embassy level, the consulate level, and also the adjustment of status.

The totality for this year exceeded the 55,000 mark by around 1,000 cases. That’s the first the things we can learn from the DV lottery 2023.

The next thing we can learn, and this is a painful one, is that KCC can terminate the process even before the fiscal year ends for that visa program. For this year, they terminated it on September 6.

It’s now clear that once the cap reached the limit, the 55,000 visa plus the few that they exit, they can terminate regardless of whether the period has ended or not. That’s what we can learn. They can terminate the process once they suffice what they’re supposed to do.

The third thing that we can learn from this, is that, after the termination of the process, before the fiscal year ends, even those that were scheduled for an interview, their interviews are canceled.

We have seen several interviews canceled once the process was terminated. This comes as a pain because when you get your second notification letter (2NL), the appointment to the interview, which means your interview has been scheduled and you know the date.

You need to visit the link inside the 2NL and follow all the steps. The steps include you certifying your documents and that requires money. It includes also you going for the medicals and the medicals are not as cheap. It also includes many steps that will cost you some money.

So regardless of whether you have gone through all those steps that prepares you for the interview, that is not an issue. Your interview will be canceled.

Once they terminate the process, regardless of the expenses that you have incurred, they will terminate and cancel your interview, and that is so painful.

Having known that, the other thing that we need to really learn from this, is that you should not do nothing that will put your interview at risk, that will put your visa approval at risk.

Having known all those things regarding the DV Lottery 2023, what we learned from it, know that you should not mess up with anything. When you get your appointment, do everything that is needed for you to have your visa approved.

Because if, for example, you come without one of the documents, the supporting documents, that normally lead you to be put to the 221G visa refusal. Let’s say you are put to that refusal, and it normally does not take a short time to be resolved. If you’re put on that and then time runs on you, once they terminate the process, then you will get your visa ruined.

There are many cases that were on 221G visa refusal and are waiting for the month of September for them to be processed. For those 221Gs that were to be processed in the month of September, they were not because time ran off them. After it was terminated, their visas were doomed.

So if you have won a DV lottery, you must do everything possible to ensure you have all the details and all the documents and everything that is required for a successful interview and visa approval.

The last thing is that, once the program has been terminated before the end of the year, and of course, your interview has been canceled, if you had been scheduled for that interview, there is nothing you can do, in embassy or KCC. Because the limit has been reached. The visas have been exhausted.

There’s nothing you can do once your interview has been canceled because the process has been terminated on the reason that the visas have been exhausted.

You just need try and apply this Diversity Visa Lottery 2025.

DISCLAIMER: This post and content is designed for general information only and is NOT legal advice. This site is not offering any Diversity Visa and is not the official site for DV Lottery program. The information presented in this post should not be construed to be formal legal advice.

The Visa Bulletin for the month of October 2023 for DV-2024 has been released and there’s some little concern that we need to go through, regarding this visa bulletin.

For the previous cut-off numbers from the previous visa bulletin i.e the visa bulletin for the month of September, it affected the interviews that are scheduled for the month of October.

Also, the visa bulletin for the month of October affects the interviews that will be scheduled for the month of November.

When you look on the last visa bulletin, that is for the month of September, that affects the interviews for the month of October, you will see that the cut-off numbers were 10,000 for Africa with its exceptions (Algeria 7,500, Egypt 5500, Morocco 5600), 2,000 for Asia with the exception of these countries (Iran 1750, Nepal 1300), 4,500 for Europe and with its exceptions (Russia 4400, Uzbekistan 1250), and so on.

Diversity Visa Bulletin For October 2023

The current visa bulletin for the month of October 2023 has cut-off numbers 10,000 for Africa, 2,300 for Asia, 5,000 for Europe and so on.

Why Have Cutoff Numbers Just Slightly Changed?

What you immediately notice is that, for Africa, nothing has changed, it has not increased. For Asia, it has already increased, but by a very slight increment. The same case for Europe, just by some few hundreds.

Why has there been just a slight increase? Why is it that Africa has not increased even by a little bit? That’s what will be discuss on this post because many questions in the minds of the winners because, especially since many have seen how it went with the DV lottery 2023.

The first thing that you should know and importantly it is that for the cut-off numbers, it does not mean that there are as many DV winners as the cut-off number.

For example, Africa cutoff number is 10,000, it does not imply that there are 10,000 cases under this cut-off number. Within this 10,000 cut-off number, you might find there are fewer DV winners. Maybe there is about between 5,000 to 6,000 cases and the rest are holes.

Under the cut-off number, you might find even fewer cases that are scheduled for the interview.

Why has it not changed, having known that? Let’s start with Africa. It has remained on 10,000 as the cut-off number, and we’ve seen that we can have roundabout 5,000 to 6,000 individual cases within that number. Within those cases under this cut-off number, you might find out, that of those cases, KCC might not have processed all of them.

You might find among that example of 6,000, they managed only to process fully around 2,000 cases. Those 2,000 cases are the cases that have been scheduled for the interview for October and they have already received their second notification letters.

The remaining about 4,000 in this example, they will have their DS-260 form processed and then they will be scheduled in the following month, that is the month of November.

It mean that, even without increasing the cut-off number, it is sufficient enough to have cases scheduled still under the cut-off number for the month of November, and that speaks of why the cutoff number has not changed.

So the reason as to why the cut-off number has not changed is because of all the cases under the cut-off number, you might find out that KCC could not be able to process all of them.

They processed some of them, and those processed, they were scheduled for the interview for the month of October, and the remaining cases that had not been processed, then they processed them and they are scheduled for the month of November.

Those cases are still under 10,000. So there’s no need for them to increase the cut-off number. Yet they can suffice the numbers to be scheduled for the month of November, even within the 10,000 cutoff numbers. That is the reason.

It also applies to Asia and Europe and other regions. For Asia, just a slight increase from 2,000 to 2,300. It’s because you find out within the last cut-off number 2,000, not all the DS-260 forms of those individuals had been processed.

Those whose DS-260 forms were processed, they were scheduled for the month of October and 2NLs have been sent to them. But the remaining one, still under 2,000 that had not been processed, they were pushed forward to the month of November.

When they were pushed to the month of November, only a small number of cases were to be added and that’s why only a slight increase in the cuto-ff number was placed for Asia.

Same case apply to Europe and to the other regions.

I hope you have understood that well because that is the major reason as to why the cut-off number has not changed for Africa and has slightly changed for other region and has not changed for the North America.

DISCLAIMER: This post and content is designed for general information only and is NOT legal advice. This site is not offering any Diversity Visa and is not the official site for DV Lottery program. The information presented in this post should not be construed to be formal legal advice.

This is very important things that you must do when your case becomes current and after you’ve gotten your Second Notification Letter (2NL). Read this guide to the end and get these important things.

When your case has become current

After a case has become current, do you remember that email that you put on your DS-260 form? That email is so important. You should keep on checking on that email because it is through this email that you will get the notification notifying you of a pending update on the entrance status check, for you to check for your second notification letter.

You need to always check your email, check the spam, the spam folder of your email. Go to the spam folder and check. Some of the winners have gotten their notification sent to the spam because of the settings. So check the email together with the spam folder if you have any communication from KCC.

Also remember, KCC will use the same email for any form of communication to you. So don’t forget that email.

That is what basically you’re supposed to do when your case becomes current.

When You Get Your 2NL

After you have received that email notification telling you that you have a pending status, you should immediately visit that link in that email and it will take you to the entrance status check. That is where you will put your details and then there will be your second notification letter.

This second notification letter should be read thoroughly, get everything it says, what it has. It gives you the details about your interview, the venue of your interview, and so on. Again, on the 2NL, there is a link in the body of the 2NL, that link is so important. The second thing that you’re supposed to do is to click on that link.

Once you click on that link, it will take you to the list of consulates and embassies. On that list, you are supposed to click on your embassy. Select the embassy in which you’ll take your interview from.
Once you select it, the web page for that embassy will come, and then you’ll see a lot of instructions there.

It is very important that you go through the instructions of your embassy because the instructions, they differ from one embassy to the other. Some things on one embassy might not be the same things on your embassy. So read the instructions of your embassy.

After you have read through the instructions:

• Register your interview appointment online

Register for the courier service to deliver your passports: For some embassy, you will be required to register for a courier service for them to deliver your passports, once visas are stamped on the passport. So the point is, if your embassy requires you to register for courier services, go ahead and do that.

Apply for the notarization of your high school document: This is for some countries. Some countries will require you to notarize the high school certificate or diploma after you’ve gotten your second notification letter. If your country requires such, then go ahead and do that.

If your country is of that type, then you cannot notarize your high school diploma before you receive the second notification letter, at least for the purpose of the DV interview.

Book for your medical examination appointment

Remember to book your medical examination, immediately you get the second notification letter.

Go through the interview checklist

The other thing that you should do is go through the interview checklist. The interview checklist contains the list of documents that you need to prepare upfront for the interview.

After you’ve gone through the interview checklist, then obtain all the documents. Go through the documents. Ensure that you have all the documents with you.

On top of these documents listed in the interview checklist, there are some additional documents that you must go with, for majority of the embassies. These additional documents include:

The affidavit of support, for showing that you cannot become a public charge after you’ve landed in the United States. You need an affidavit of support that is either a Form I-134 or a bank statement showing your savings that can take you through as you take on life in the United States.

Another document, additional one that you need to have is, if you got married after you’ve been selected or after you have applied for the DV lottery, that means you applied a single and now you are married, you need to go with whatever document that you can come across to solidify or prove that your marriage is legal.

You did not marry to give an opportunity to your spouse to be in the United States. You need to have documents to prove that you had an existing relationship even before you applied for the DV lottery.

Those are just some of the few documents that you need in addition to the checklist documents. In some embassies, you’ll be required to also add the DS-5535. You prepare that in advance.

There are documents that are not mentioned here, but you might need them. For additional documents that you might need as you prepare for the interview, read this: Documents Required After Winning DV (Green Card) Lottery

Prepare yourself well for the interview

The last thing is about preparing yourself thoroughly. Go through some interview experiences by people from the same embassy or from other embassies. Go through what they were asked.

• How was the interview?
• What was the experience?

Read: DV Lottery (Green Card) Interview Questions and Sample Answers

Remember you should be over-prepared than being less prepared and lose your visa approval.

Thank you for reading this guide, I hope this helps you so much.

DISCLAIMER: This post and content is designed for general information only and is NOT legal advice. This site is not offering any Diversity Visa and is not the official site for DV Lottery program. The information presented in this post should not be construed to be formal legal advice.