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In this guide, you will those things you must not do before you get 2NL. You should not bother yourself with the following things before you receive your second notification letter, 2NL, for your DV interview.

Things You Must Not Do before you Get 2NL

• Don’t try to register for your interview appointment.
• Don’t try to book any medical examination.
• Don’t try to register any delivery service or the courier services.
• Don’t get vaccinations before you get your second notification letter.

These steps, they are only supposed to be done once you get your second notification letter. If you don’t have your second notification letter yet, you cannot do this because it won’t go through.

• Registering for your interview appointment

If you try to register for the interview, it won’t be possible simply because before you get a second notification letter, it means that the embassy has not yet received your details.

In other words, KCC hasn’t transferred your case to the embassy, so the embassy don’t have your details yet, and it is the embassy that conducts the interview once they get your information. Don’t try to register an online interview appointment.

• Booking for medical examination

Don’t book for any medical examination yet. If you have not gotten your second notification letter, don’t try to do that, because you will be required to have the details with you when booking the medical examination.

You’ll be required to send some details, and yet you’ve not yet received the second notification letter.

• Booking the courier services for your passport delivery

Don’t try to book any courier services for your passport delivery before you get your second notification letter.

• Getting vaccinations before you get your second notification letter

Another very important thing that you are not supposed to do yet is trying to get the vaccinations that are required by the United States government.

Don’t beat around trying to understand “what are the vaccinations that I want or that I’m supposed to go through,” and then you try to get them in the name of reducing their charges or costs during the medical examination. If you do that, you’re doing mistakes.

Don’t try to go around to get the vaccinations. The best thing you’re supposed to do is to wait for the second notification letter and then the specified medical facility. You visit it, you book an appointment with them, and they will administer all the required vaccinations, those that you don’t have.

Don’t bother yourself at all about getting these vaccinations before you get your second notification letter.

You need just to relax and wait. Then immediately you get a second notification letter, then you can go ahead with those mentioned processes.

Don’t do those four things listed and explained above before you get your second notification letter.

Read Also: Thing You Must do While Waiting For The Second Notification Letter, 2NL

I hope this guide is relevant to you, please like and share it out. Thanks.

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.

My previous guide explained the things that you are not supposed to do before you get the second notification letter, 2NL. Today, we will learn those important things that you’re supposed to do before the second notification letter or in other words, things that will help you as you’re waiting for the second notification letter, 2NL.

If you’re waiting for the second notification letter, you have already filled the DS-260 form and submitted it. Also for those who are waiting for the results, this guide is important for you because once you fill the DS-260 form, you will apply the same things discussed in this guide.

Things You Must do While Waiting For The 2NL

1. Track on the visa bulletins

The first thing that is very important and will be beneficial to you will be having a good track on the visa bulletins.

Every month there is a visa bulletin released by the Department of State, and this visa bulletin will outline all information about the visas, not only the DV, but also other visas.

The point that you should be keeping track of is that area of the DV lottery visas, have a good track of them. It is the visa bulletin that informs the current numbers. It is the visa bulletin that tells if your number is current or your case number is not current.

Therefore, if you’re waiting for the second notification letter, have a good track of the visa bulletins.

2. Always be updated with the visa news either from the USCIS or from your embassy, in your local embassy.

Always be updated. Get the news of the proceedings of your embassy, what is going on, what are the news about the visas? It’s not a must, but that is also a good thing to keep, to be updated on.

3. Try as much as possible to get the information about the current performance of your embassy, with regards to the diversity visa process.

Know how they are continuing with the diversity visa. Are they slow? Are there some concerns? Why so?

Because if you realize early that they are very slow, that can affect you. You can take the necessary steps. Majority of people have already transferred their cases to better embassies and some of them have already gotten their interviews.

Having a good track record of the performance of your embassy is very beneficial to you. So, have the latest information about the current progress at your embassy.

4. Always check for the notifications

The other thing that you should do, and this is an obvious thing, is always check your notifications, always check your emails for any information sent to you. Don’t forget to do that.

Another important thing that you’re supposed to do is, while you are waiting for the second notification letter, because some people have not yet fulfilled the documentation requirement, i.e you might be waiting for the 2NL, yet you don’t have all the passports of your beneficiaries, or you’ve not yet gotten your police clearance certificate, or maybe you lost the academic certificate and you’ve not yet gotten it or replaced it.

It would be the highest time that you now obtain these documents as you’re waiting for the second application letter. Have the documents ready.

5. If you need to get the passports for your beneficiaries that you don’t have, do it. If you need to get the consent letter or the sole custody papers for those single parents that have children, then do it.

6. The consent letter is required for all single parents and more so if you got the baby and at the time of getting the baby, the other partner was not there and he has never shown up, you also need the sole custody papers. Prepare them.

Remember, even if the other partner lost contact with you long and many years back, you still need this consent letter or the sole custody papers. You will need them. So prepare these documents as you’re waiting for the second notification letter.

It will be wise of you to get ready financially.

Arm yourself with all the required fees and expenses as you’re waiting for the second notification letter because it might be too late or the time might be short if you wait until you receive your second notification letter for you to gather this amount.

So prepare yourself with the visa fee, the medical examination fee, the miscellaneous expenses, have them or get them ready as you’re waiting for second notification letter.

These are some of the things that you might need to do as you’re waiting for the second notification letter.

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.

This guide explains details about everything that you should know about the Police Clearance Certificate (PCC), which are very important for your DV interview.

If you are a selectee in the diversity visa program, and that means you are now waiting to complete the process, you are supposed to know about the Police Clearance certificate.

Very Important Things About PCC You Should Know and Do

1. The very first important thing that you should know is that, every person in your application that is above the age of 16 years, is required to have his or her police clearance certificate for the DV lottery interview.

2. Another thing is that, you should have the police clearance certificate that is not older than two years, and to be more specific, not older than 24 months. Though this brings contradiction because you can ask, in my country, the police clearance certificate only expires after one year or others may still say, in my country, it expires after six months. What do I do?

According to the regulations by KCC regarding the diversity visa is that a police clearance certificate is considered valid 24 months after you obtained it.

So the time you got issued with the police clearance certificate, count from that time and up to 24 months, the certificate still remains valid according to the embassies, the United States embassy.

Therefore, if in your country your certificate expires within a period of six months, it still remains valid for the DV interview until the 24th month.

3. The other thing that you’re supposed to know about the police clearance certificate, is that you need to have or to obtain police clearance certificates of all those countries that you have lived in for more than one year in your past life after the age of 16 years.

From all those countries and from the age of 16, you should get police clearance certificate from all those countries in which you have stayed for more than one year and you were above 16 years of age. You need to get the police clearance certificates from those countries.

On the same note, if you have a police clearance certificate from those countries and you took them long time ago, but at the time you are departing from that country, the certificate had not expired. That certificate, you can use it during your diversity visa interview.

If you are living in a certain country and you stayed there for more than one year, and while living there, you had obtained a valid police clearance certificate, and at the time you are moving out of that country permanently, the certificate had not expired.

The same certificate, you can use it at this time, even if you got it long time ago. You can use it as the police clearance certificate during your DV interview.

4. The other thing that you need to know about the police clearance certificate is that, if you are currently a selectee, you are a DV winner, you can obtain the police clearance certificate now and you will still be able to use that certificate in your DV interview.

Because from the time you check your results to the time the DV program fiscal year ends, that time does not even cover 24 months because it’s from May of this year and up to September of the following year. And if you count the months, 24 months will not have expired.

If you’re reading this guide at this time and you are a DV lottery winner, you can still apply for the Police Clearance Certificate at this time and it will still be valid at the time you’re going for the interview.

It is safer for you to get your Police Clearance certificate if you are DV selectee as quickly as possible to avoid unnecessary delays at your interview.

Because you can get your second notification letter and you’ve not yet applied for the Police Clearance certificate, and let’s say in your country it takes some time to get that Police Clearance certificate and you cannot be able to get the Police Clearance certificate before the interview date, then you’ll be risking your dates because you cannot attend the interview without the Police Clearance certificate.

So the earlier you obtain your Police Clearance certificate, the better for your interview, and that means it might not lead to any delay or postponement of your interview on the reason that you are not able to get the Police Clearance certificate on time.

It’s better to get the police clearance certificate as early as you can to prevent such circumstances from occurring.

Those are some of the basic and important things regarding the Police Clearance certificate. Take note of them and act accordingly.

Some Questions and Answers About Police Clearance Certificate (PCC)

Question: Is there a format for this dv rotary pcc or its common one?

Answer: No, every country has a different format.

Question: Supposing I win green card and get married to US citizen afterwards, had applied as single, can I still continue as single or they will know that am married? And my spouse would also be my host too.

Answer: When you win fill married and add him on DS-260.

Question: I have a passport as a main applicant, supposed I be selected on May this year, is it possible for me to use that passport to fill for my children??

Answer: Yes, but just for DS-260 submission then get the children passports because you can’t get through the interview without their passports.

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.

All DV winners/selectee preparing for the DV lottery interview, below are things you need to get/know before you attend the DV interview:

1. You are supposed to be punctual when attending the DV lottery interview.
2. You are supposed to come with all the civil documents that you have, plus all the proof documents that are required.
3. Remember to have the original documents or certified documents and their copies.

Produce a copy of the original documents and go with both the original documents or the certified documents and their photocopies.

4. Remember that all people in your application must attend the interview in person, including children under the age of 14. Basically, everyone must attend the interview in person.
5. Remember, if you don’t have sufficient proof documents or because of other reasons, you might get an administrative procedure.

You might be given a yellow paper, and on that yellow paper, it will clearly tell you which documents or which requirement is insufficient. And once you’re given this letter, you should act immediately without wasting no time.

If it’s documents that are needed in addition to what you presented, go ahead and produce them as fast as possible and present them.

If it is information that has been omitted, provide that information as fast as possible. Don’t waste any time.

6. Remember to go with your visa fee.

Don’t forget to go with a visa fee for all the members in your application. And more so, come with it in cash. Carry it in cash in your local currency. You don’t have to convert it to the United States dollars. Go with the money in cash and in the local currency. If this need to be converted to the United States currency, you will be informed there.

7. Prepare for the interview all of you as the members in the application.

If you are the principal applicant, prepare as the principal applicant and let your derivatives as well prepare for questioning. During the interview, the consular officer may spill the question over to your derivatives. Let them also be aware of that.

8. Let the information that you provided right from the onset during the application or the entry to the DV program all the way to the interview, be consistent.

There should not be discrepancies in the information provided in whichever level of the DV process. The details in the application should conform with the details in the DS-260 form and in the medical examination and also in the responses that you provide during the interview. They should be consistent.

In connection with that, no cooked up stories should be in your DV process. Everything should be straight and correct and truthful. Because if there is any doubt in your process, then that can lead to fraud and visa denial consequently.

9. Remember to comply with all the requirements that your embassy stated on the website, all the requirements that the embassy outlined, comply with them, leave none out.

Before you go for the interview, make sure you go through the checklist. Make sure you go through the requirements by your embassy and stick them to the letter. And again, never panic because it is the simplest of the interviews.

Questions are just directed to you based on your information. Only what pertains to you will be asked. There is no point of panicking. If at all the information you provided are truthful and legitimate, there is no point of you getting worried and panicking.

Be composed, be calm, and the questions are simple and easy. Answer them directly.

I hope this information will be useful to all DV winners preparing for their interview.

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.

The United States extends tourist (visitor) visa validity from 24 months to 60 months for individuals (Nigerians) who want to enter the U.S temporarily for business and/or tourism. The new policy starts Wednesday, March 1, 2023, according to the statement by the U.S Consulate General.

According to Punchng, early this year, 2023, the Federal Government directed the implementation of a new visa reciprocity policy for citizens of the U.S with effect from March 1, 2023, following an approval for the kickstart of the new Bilateral Consular Policy Agreements between the U.S and Nigeria

Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, said the Bilateral Consular Policy Agreements between the two countries also include the reciprocity of five-year tourist visa validity for American citizens pursuant to Section 30 of the Immigration Act, 2015; extension of visa validity to three years for diplomats and government officials between the citizens of both countries.

According to the statement by the U.S Consulate, the visa application fee, currently at $160, would not increase as a result of the increased visa validity, the cost of the visa fee still remains the same.

United States extends Tourist Visa validity to 5 years

The statement reads, “Effective March 1, 2023, the U.S. Mission will increase visitor visa validity from 24 months to 60 months for Nigerians who want to enter the United States temporarily for business and/or tourism.

“The visa validity extension allows Nigerians to use the visa for 60 months to make short trips to the United States for tourism or business purposes before having to renew their visa. The visa application fee, currently USD160, will not increase as a result of the increased visa validity.

The consulate also noted that increasing visa validity was one of several initiatives taken by the U.S to reduce visa appointment wait times in Nigeria.

They also said they will continue to offer No-Interview Visa Renewals to those who meet the eligibility criteria adding that appointments for No-Interview Visa Renewals are readily available.

However, the embassy reiterated that Nigerians “may be eligible for a visa renewal without an interview if your application is for a B1/B2, F, M, J (academic only), H, L, or C1/D (combined only) visa.

“Additionally, the person must be physically present in Nigeria, previous visa was issued in Nigeria, the previous visa is in the same classification as the current application, the previous visa was a full-validity, multiple-entry visa.”

The embassy in listing criteria for applying for visa renewal stated that the previous visa expired within the last 48 months or will expire in the next 3 months from the date of application. The applicant must have all the passports covering the entire period since receiving the previous visa and the passport with the most recent visa.

Also, the person must “never been arrested or convicted of any crime or offense in the United States, even if you later received a waiver or pardon. You have never worked without authorization or remained beyond your permitted time in the United States.”

The embassy informed applicants that the processing times for the programme are expected to be up to two months and applicants will not be able to retrieve their passports during that time.

Minors can apply without an interview only if they meet the eligibility criteria on their own, the statement added.

Source: Punchng and ng.usembassy.gov

Important Things To Do When Invited For DV Interview: If you are a DV selectee and you are waiting for your interview, of course, first of all, you’ll have to receive the second notification letter, after you have become current and your DS-260 form has been processed.

This guide specifically targets after you have received your second notification letter, 2NL.

For those that don’t know or who are new, the second notification letter 2NL is the appointment letter to your DV Lottery interview.

After you have gotten this second notification letter, there are basically four (4) important things that you should do in this DV program for your success.

• Immediately you get your second notification letter, 2NL, you have to read through it. And once you read through it, you will realize that there is a link provided within the body of the letter. That link is very important and it’s meant for you.

You should click on that link and it will direct you to the page that provides you with what you are required to do or the steps that you should follow after that letter.

After you have clicked the link and you visited that page, the next thing that you are supposed to do, that is very important, is you are supposed to visit your specific interview location, the embassy that you are to take your interview from. That’s what you’re supposed to do.

Once you get to that embassy page, you’ll find the specifications for you as the DV lottery winner getting ready to the interview. And three things normally follow here:

• The first thing is that you have to register for your interview appointment. You have to register for your interview appointment. It’s important to note this, “not all embassies require you to register.”

Note: Majority of the embassies will require you to register for the interview appointment. And therefore, it’s very important that you visit your exact or your specific embassy to know this. If you are required to register for the interview appointment, you will find it there and you have to do it.

• The second thing, very important that you are supposed to do, is you are supposed to register for a delivery service, and this is depending on the embassy.

Again, not all embassies will require you to register for the courier services for the delivery of your passport.

Remember, if your interview goes successfully, the passport document will have to remain behind with the embassy for them to process your visa and stamp the visa on your passport.

After they do so, they need to send the passport back to you, which is the reason as to why you’re supposed to register for the courier services for the delivery of your passports.

Some embassy will require you to come back to the embassy to receive your passports. That’s why it’s important that you visit your specific embassy page to know the details.

If you’re required to book a courier service for the delivery, then you ought to do so.

• The third thing that you’re supposed to do is, you’re supposed to book for your examination appointment, immediately you get your second notification letter.

And why so? Because you only have a short period of time, a short window in between the second notification letter and the interview appointment date.

Within this short time, you are supposed to have undergone the medical examination at the specified medical center.

You are supposed to act immediately, contact the medical center or the medical facility that has been specified by your embassy and schedule a date for the medical examination.

You should do as quickly as possible because you might find the medical facility jammed with a queue of people attending the medical examination for various visas.

So do it and act quickly for you to get an opportunity for the medical examination before the interview date.

The other thing, for some countries, you will be required to certify your secondary education.

What does this mean? You’re supposed to register with the examining body in your region for them to transfer a certified document proof of your high school diploma. Some countries need so.

Therefore, if you visit your embassy page, you will find these specifications, whether you are needed to register with the examination body to get the certified document, and if they need that, you have to follow that.

Those are the basic and the very important steps, immediately you get your second notification letter, you should be knowing this.

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.

Let discuss on how to successfully change your DV interview location. This guide will teach you how to change your diversity visa interview location.

There are some risk that majority of DV applicants might have owing to the fact that some embassies are under-performing with regards to the diversity visa lottery interview.

Having the middle case number or the high case number, you are at a higher risk if you are in these embassies. There’s one possible thing that you can do, and that is rescheduling your interview location.

First of all, you need to be in that new country for you to change the Embassy location, that is the interview location.

Correct Way to Successfully Change Your DV Interview Location

In this guide, you will learn the correct way to request for interview location change from KCC.

• You need to be in that new country.
• You need to request KCC to unlock your DS-260 form and update the interview location with a new address that you intend to take your interview from.
• Then after resubmitting the DS-260 form, then you send email.
• You will write to KCC informing them that you have changed the interview location and that they should take notice of that and change your interview location.

Remember, they might not do it at the first request, and if they don’t do it at the first request, if they don’t change the interval location at the first request, email again and request again.

The Email You Should Send

Below is a format/sample email that you should write to KCC:

Subject: Request to Reschedule DV Interview Location from [Embassy 1] to [Embassy 2, which is the Embassy that you had filled, the Embassy that you have updated].

Dear Sir/Madam,

I’m writing to request a reschedule of my diversity visa (DV) interview location from [Embassy 1] to [Embassy 2]. My case number is [Insert your case number], date of birth [MM/DD/YYYY], and my name is [Insert your full names as you filled in the DS-260 form].

I had initially scheduled my diversity visa interview at [Embassy 1], but I have since relocated to [Insert your new address] in [Country 2, the country you are at now].

Unfortunately, due to unforeseen circumstances, I will not be able to travel back to [Country 1] for the interview.

Therefore, I kindly request that you consider rescheduling my new interview location to [Embassy 2], which is more accessible to me. This will enable me to attend the interview at a convenient location and fulfill the requirements for the diversity visa.

I have attached all the necessary documents and proof of residence in [Country 2], and I would be grateful if you could consider my request and provide me with a new interview appointment at [Embassy 2].

Thank you for your attention to this matter, and I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Sincerely.

[Insert your name].

Note: It’s not a must that you include this statement.

“I have attached all the necessary documents and proof of residence in [Country 2], and I would be grateful if you could consider my request and provide me with a new interview appointment at [Embassy 2].”

It’s not a must that you attach the proof document. But it will be very important if you can obtain a document that proves your current address, your new address. If you can find any document that you can use to prove your new address, it might be a utility bill, it might be a bank statement, it might be any document that points to the address where you are at now.

If you have those documents, you have an upper hand in this case. But if you don’t have any document or proof this, just leave this clause out and don’t attach anything and send and see whether they will change the interview location.

At first trial, they might or might not change it. So you need to send another email if they don’t act on the first one and request again.

So if you have document to prove your residence, then it’s good for you. But if you don’t have it’s not necessarily that you attach the document, just email them and let them know that you have relocated and they need to change your interview location.

I hope this guide on how to change your diversity visa interview location is well informative.

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.

In this article, you will learn a new policy by USCIS on green card renewals and removing conditions on green cards.

USCIS has yet again implemented a new policy regarding green card renewals, and in certain cases, USCIS is going to be extending green cards for up to 48 months. There’s some good news to this and some potentially not so good news that will be covered in this article.

New policy from USCIS on Removing Conditions on Green Card

This policy has to do with basically a way that USCIS is going to be extending green cards for certain applicants that need to apply to remove the condition from their green card.

What does this means? In certain cases, people that get their green card get a conditional green card for a period of two years, and at the end of that conditional period of their green card, they are required to apply to remove the condition from their green card.

In particular, there are two classifications of conditional green card holders.

• For certain people that get their green card through marriage, and
• for investors that get their green card based on making an investment in a U.S business.

For that certain classification of people that have to apply to remove their condition after they got a conditional green card through marriage, application process requires them to file a form I-751. That’s the application type for people that need to apply to remove the condition from their green card based on getting a conditional green card through marriage.

The second classification of people, the investors, when they need to apply to remove the condition from their green card, they have to file a form I-829.

That’s just for you to know the different processes that are involved and the different categories of people that have to apply to remove the condition from their green card.

As mentioned early, in certain cases, people have to apply to remove the condition from their green card by filing either a form I-751, or a form I-829.

Basically, in both of those cases, the green card is valid for two years. And at the end of that two year period, the person has to apply to remove the condition from the green card.

When the applicant is applying to remove the condition from their green card, what happens when that green card expires and their application to remove the condition to get the permanent green card is still processing? How does that applicant demonstrate proof of valid status in the United States? How do they demonstrate proof of that?

In the past, USCIS has issued a receipt notice. So basically, when you file the Form I-751, or you file the Form I-829, when you submit that application, USCIS will give you a receipt that confirms that they have received your application.

In the past, USCIS has included language on that receipt notice that acts to extend the applicant’s green card. So basically, the applicant can provide their expired green card along with the receipt notice, and that receipt notice has special language that extends the green card beyond the expiration date listed on the green card.

The news is that USCIS has now modified this policy. So now the receipt notice for those applicants will act to extend the green card for 48 months, that’s four years.

The good news is that ultimately, this is a benefit to conditional green card holders, because essentially, USCIS is now extending the period of time that the receipt notice will act to extend the conditional green card. It’s now 48 months.

So that receipt notice that USCIS will issue will now act to extend the green card for 48 months from the date of the expiration on the green card. And ultimately, that’s a benefit.

Although this is potentially not such great news, USCIS is doing this because processing times for the form I-751, and the form I-829, they’ve increased over the last year.

Ideally, these processing times would go down, so that there would be no need for this policy to be implemented. But unfortunately, as USCIS clearly mentions in the update, over the last year, these processing times have increased.

And the reason for the need for this protocol and this updated policy is to account for the fact that these processing times have gone up. So from that standpoint, it’s potentially not the best news.

That’s the update. This new policy has been implemented where applicants for Form I-751, and applicants for Form I-829 that are properly filing these forms, when they get the receipt notice from USCIS, it will act to extend the green card for 48 months from the date of the expiration on the green card.

I hope you found this information very valuable and you learned a lot from this article.

Source: Ashoori Law

DISCLAIMER: This article and content is designed for general information only and is NOT legal advice. The information presented in this article should not be construed to be formal legal advice nor the formation of a lawyer/client relationship.

The information presented in this article does not create an attorney-client relationship nor is it a solicitation to offer legal advice. If you need legal advice, you should seek the advice of an attorney in your jurisdiction before taking any legal action.

Don’t Do These Thing At Your DV Interview: During your diversity visa interview, don’t provide information that is different in your application, , it will cost you have your visa refused or denied.

Don’t Do These Thing At Your DV Interview

1. Failure for you to provide the relevant support document

When attending the interview, you are supposed to produce the proof documents for whatever information you filled in your DS-260 and throughout your application.

Failure for you to provide the relevant support document or providing documents that do not match whatever you filled, that leads to visa denial. So you are supposed to provide all the documents.

2. Failure to provide a valid marriage certificate

Failure to provide a valid marriage certificate, if you applied as married, that causes you to get a visa denial, or if you provide an invalid marriage certificate, that will cost your green card as well.

If you applied as married, make sure you have the relevant certificate of marriage that will prove your marriage.

3. Producing wrong academic document proof or failure to provide them

If you listed your academic level, produce the documents that prove that level. But if you say, for example, you have a university degree, but in the real sense you only have a high school degree and you fail to produce that university degree, that automatically leads to your disqualification.

Failure to produce relevant academic support documents will lead to your visa denial.

4. Failure to produce the police clearance certificate

Failure to produce the police clearance certificate for all individuals above 16 years of age in your application, will always lead to your visa denial.

When attending your interview, you should have all the police clearance certificate for all those individuals above the 16 years of age.

5. Failure to produce valid passport

If you fail to produce the valid passports for all the derivatives together with you during the interview, you will be denied your visa. Valid passport mean a passport that exists beyond six months after your interview.

A passport that expires in one or two months after your DV interview is considered invalid. All the members in your application should have valid passports that extends beyond six months after your diversity visa interview.

6. Prove of work experience documents

If you are qualifying through work experience, then you have to have all the support documents that will prove your work experience and your work should be within the qualified work.

Remember, not all works qualify you for the DV lottery. It is only those work experiences with Specific Vocational Preparation (SVP) of seven and this rating is done at the United States Labor website where they classify different works experience, different works according to the level call SVP. All jobs that have an SVP rating of above seven, they are considered qualified, but any other below seven is unqualified work experience.

7. Another reason why you’ll get your visa refused would be if you left out your derivatives in your initial entry

For example, you are a married person and you applied as single. That means you’ll get refused because you left out your spouse. If you had children, legally adopted, your natural children, or the children of your spouse and you left them outside your application, that is an automatic disqualification and your visa will be refused.

From the first application till the filling of DS-260, ensure you fill in or you add in all of your derivatives.

Maybe you get a child after you have applied, then in your DS-260 include that newborn.

If you get married after you had applied, you go ahead and include your legally married spouse in your DS-260, but leaving a single out will cost you the visa.

8. The other thing that will disqualify you for a visa would be when you include unqualified spouse or unqualified children.

By unqualified spouse, it means you cannot add your girlfriend or your boyfriend. You cannot add a man or a woman you are cohabiting with and is not your wife. You cannot include your fiancee.

All individuals you are staying with and they are not your married spouses, you cannot include. If you do, you get disqualified.

By unqualified children, i.e children that are not your natural children, your biological children, children that are not the children of your spouse, the legally wedded spouse, the children that are not legally adopted, these children that do not fall into these categories, you should not include.

If you do include, for example, you include the child of your neighbor or the child of your aunt or uncle, then you are going to be disqualified for the diversity visa. Only your legal children, only your natural children or your stepchildren, only those are supposed to be added.

9. Another thing that will cost you your visa would be dishonesty and lies and fraud in your application.

If you evolve yourself in any kind of made up stories in your entire diversity visa process, you are risking disqualification.

Don’t add or subtract any information from any information regarding you.

Be truthful from the start to the end. Everything you feel must be true and with proof. Dishonesty and lies are considered fraud and they will deny you your visa approval.

10. Involving yourself in crime

The other thing would be involving yourself in crime either before the application or during the diversity visa process.

Some crimes will cost you the visa, if you commit felonies, definitely you will get denied your visa.

You will be denial your visa if you involve yourself in drug trafficking or personal trafficking or personnel trafficking. If you involve yourself in such activities, automatically you will be denied your visa approval.

Such crimes don’t involve yourself in them, let your record, your police clearance certificate be clean. Don’t involve in the crimes because you will get your visa denied.

These are some of the few things that may lead to your visa denial.

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.

Did you know that You Can Win DV Lottery With These Mistakes? In this guide, you will learn those mistakes will not affect you in the DV selection. Even if you commit these mistakes, you are likely to get selected but during the visa processing, you will be affected.

The winners of the Diversity Visa lottery are chosen at random by a computer program, with a certain number of visas allocated to each region of the world.

You Can Win DV Lottery With These Mistakes

1. If you make a mistake when typing your name.

Maybe you omitted a letter or you changed a letter, that one will not affect you at all during the selection process, you can be selected with that mistake.

2. If you made errors during plugging in or selecting your date of birth, that will not also affect you.

The system does not filter to know in which date you are born, if it is correct or not, wrong birth date will not affect you during the selection. But remember, during checking of your entry status, you will need your birth date, and if you inserted wrong, chances are that you not be able to get through to check whether you were selected.

3. Wrong City of Birth.

If you inserted wrong City of birth, that mistake cannot affect you. You can get selected with that mistake.

4. Country of Eligibility.

If you selected the wrong country of eligibility, that also will not affect you during the selection. But it will affect you later, during the processing and it will end up denying you the visa. It will not affect you during the selection, you can be selected even if you chose the wrong country of eligibility.

5. Wrong Address.

If you used a wrong address, that will not affect you at all. You can get through the selection process with a wrong address.

6. Wrong country of Residence.

If you lied when selecting the country of residence, that will not affect you in the selection process. You will get selected even after putting the wrong country of residence.

7. Wrong Email.

You will not be affected by inserting the wrong email. But consequently, later on after selection, remember KCC uses this email to communicate to you and also the embassy will use this to communicate to you in any case.

So if you put the wrong email or you mistyped it, it will not affect you in the selection. That is, you can get selected with that mistake, but how will they communicate to you?

8. Level of Education.

If when you are selecting the level of education, you erroneously selected a different one which you didn’t intend, that will not affect you at all. You will get through the selection process well.

You might be selected with that error, but after selection, it might affect you grievously. You might or even get denied your visa. By selecting the wrong level of education during the selection process, you will not be affected only later on the visa interview process.

9. Marital status.

If you by mistake choose or selected the wrong marital status, it will also not affect you at all during the selection process.

If you are single and you selected married, you will not be affected. You can be selected with that error. If you are married and you lied about your status and said you are single, you will also not be affected.

You can get through with these mistakes but how about later on? It might grievously affect you later on.

10. Lieing about the number of children you have.

You will get through the selection process even if you lied about the number of children that you have. Even if you lied about the number of children, you will not be affected in the selection process only later on it might deny you the visa but during the selection you will not be affected.

11. Wrong information about your Spouse and Children.

Providing wrong information about your spouse will not affect you during the selection. Inserting wrong information about your kids will not affect you during selection only will it affect you later during the visa processing but during selection it will not affect you.

Note: Try as much as possible and don’t do these mistakes. Never do these mistakes because you’ll get selected but during the visa processing, you will be affected.

Thank you for reading this guide. I hope you find this guide informative.

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.

It’s good you go through this guide, so that you will know those mistakes that you can get selected with but will definitely deny you your Diversity Visa (DV). With these errors you will get selected BUT you will be denied the Green Card Visa.

In other words, you may have been selected or you will be selected or you may be selected with these mistakes, but you getting the diversity visa is a dream that may not come to reality. You will definitely be denied the visa.

Mistakes that will deny you the Diversity Visa even if you get selected

Below are the mistakes that you can do and you may get selected, but you will not be given your visa:

1. By selecting the wrong country of eligibility.

If you lie about your country of eligibility during your application, you may get through the selection process, but you will not be given your visa. You will definitely fail your interview.

2. By selecting the wrong level of education.

Yes, if you select the wrong level of education, you may get through the selection process, but during the diversity visa processing, you will get denied your visa.

Don’t make any mistake when selecting your level of education. If you have a high school diploma, select the high school degree. If you don’t have select, you don’t have, don’t lie about your education level, you will definitely get denied your diversity visa.

3. By selecting the wrong marital status.

Wrong marital status will deny you the visa even though you get through the selection process.

If you are single, why not select single? Why put married? Because you have a girlfriend, she is not your spouse. You have a boyfriend and he is not your spouse. If you are single, you select single.

If you are legally married, select you are married. And if it is to a spouse that is a United States citizen or a green card holder, select married to a U.S Citizen or a legal permanent resident.

If it is not a spouse from the United States, select not from the United States. Don’t lie on your spouse and your marital status.

If you are separated and you have the separation documents, select separated. If you don’t have the legal separation document, you have to select married. If you are divorced with the divorce certificate, then you select divorce. But if you are divorced and you don’t have the legal divorce documents, don’t select divorce. You have to select married.

Don’t lie about your marital status. You may get through, but you will not receive your visa.

4. By lying on the number of children that you have.

Remember that the children that are legally allowed to be added as your derivatives include your natural children, your step-children and your legally adopted children, and nor anyone else.

Therefore, indicate the correct number of children that you have and include their details. Don’t lie in it.

Even if you are single and you have a child, include that child.

Therefore, those are the mistakes that you may get selected with but you will definitely be denied your diversity visa. Don’t commit these mistakes.

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.

If you have any questions about the DV lottery, please contact an immigration professional/officer or a licensed attorney.

What is DV First Notification Letter, 1NL?

This is the first notification letter that you will receive when you check for your DV lottery results come May 6, 2023.

If you applied for the DV Lottery 2024, the registration was done October 2022 to November 2022, and you are now waiting for the results.

When May 6 comes and you check for the results to see if you are selected. If you are successfully selected, the first information that you will receive is called the First Notification Letter, 1NL. First Notification Letter is the letter that unveils your case number if you are selected in DV Lottery.

Sample of DV First Notification Letter, 1NL

Below is the first notification letter sample.

The letter will have the title head containing your information. It will read May 6, 2023, then your name, your place and everything, and then it will say, “Dear [Your Name].”

The random selection for further processing in the Diversity Immigrant Visa program for the fiscal year 2024, will start October 1, 2023 to September 30, 2024.

Selection does not guarantee that you will receive a visa because the number of applicants selected is greater than the number of visas available.

Therefore, it is very important that you carefully follow instructions to increase your chances of possible visa issuance. The instructions are loaded in the Department of State’s website.

All DV applicants must use their online DS-260 form immigrant Visa and Alien Registration Application. Your case will not be scheduled for an interview appointment until a visa number is available.

If you have submitted a complete valid DS-260 application for each of your family member and you have provided copies of all required documentation to Kentucky Consular Center, KCC, you will receive document submission instruction by email after KCC processed and accept the DS-260 form for you and for any accompanying family member.

If you are scheduled for an interview, you will receive an email notification message to the email address that you provided on the initial application.

Make sure you notify KCC at this email, KCCDV@state.gov, if your email address changes to ensure you receive all notifications regarding your diversity visa case.

If you need to contact Kentucky Consular Center KCC about your case, you may write to same email. When writing to KCC, you must always include your name, your case number as they appear in the first notification letter.

You must also include your complete date of birth as stated on your original entry.

You will find the case number assigned to you at the down side of the letter.

Basically this is a sample first notification letter that you will get and as you go through the information, it says being selected does not guarantee visa issuance and so you have to follow all the instructions carefully for you to increase the chances of you getting the visa.

Also, your interview will only be scheduled once you have submitted a duly filled DS-260 form, it’s been processed and approved by the KCC.

Although, currently, the part of providing documents to KCC or sending documents to KCC is no longer there. You are not supposed to send any documents to KCC as at this moment it was removed, and this was to speed up the DS-260 processing.

At the moment for the DV Lottery 2023 and DV Lottery 2024, unless things change, you will not be required to submit the documentation.

If your first notification letter says you have submitted your DS-260 form, it has been processed and it is correct. Then a visa will have to be available to your case, and once the visa is available to your case, then you will be scheduled for an interview.

You will receive an email notification on the same informing you that you have an update on the website dvprogram.state.gov [DV entrant status check] for you to visit and get your second notification letter, the appointment letter to the interview.

If at any point you want to communicate with KCC, If you want to unlock your DS-260 form, If you want to transfer your case to a different embassy, whichever communication you want to do with KCC, email them through KCCDV@stategov.

Also, every time that you want to communicate with KCC, make sure you include the full names of the applicant, the case number and the date of birth as indicated in the initial application.

Note: Don’t mess up with the date of birth in the initial application. Every time you communicate to KCC, follow the instructions.

That about the first notification letter that will come May 6.

Question: I have a family of 7 people, do I need to fill 7 Ds-260 forms, thus for each individual

Answer: It is essentially “one” that you fill your details, then for your spouse details, then for kids details and submit. Each part is considered as DS-260 of its own.

I wish you all success that you might get this notification letter. Thank you for reading this guide. I hope it is informative to you.

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.

This second notification letter, 2NL is the appointment to the Diversity Visa interview. As a DV winner, there are three conditions that must be fulfilled before you get this second notification letter.

If you are there and you’re waiting for your second notification letter and you haven’t received, you should know that one or all of these conditions might have not been met. Even if two are met and one is not, you will not get your second notification letter. The three of the conditions must be met.

3 Conditions Before DV Winner Can Receive Second Notification Letter, 2NL

Below are three conditions that must be met for a person who is a Diversity Visa Lottery winner to receive the second notification letter, 2NL.

1. Your DS-260 form must have been processed by KCC

You should have already submitted your DS 260 form, duly filled and KCC has reached it, opened it and processed it and finished up with processing it, without any issue. That is the very first condition, DS 260 form completely processed by KCC.

2. Your case number should have fallen below the cut off numbers indicated in the Visa bulletin for that current period.

If your case number is not yet current, meaning not within the cut off numbers, then definitely don’t expect any second notification letter to come to you. The case must be current.

3. There must be a slot for the interview in the embassy that you selected to take your interview from.

The embassies most of the time would be having a backlog, i.e a queue of many cases that they are still to handle and they are with them.

Until they finish up with these cases to avail a slot that KCC can now transfer your case to the embassy for the interview, then you don’t expect any second notification letter. In other words, you can say it also depends with the performance of the embassy. How fast in handling the current cases is your embassy.

If your embassy is slow and therefore handles these cases in a slow manner, then it may take longer for your case to be transferred to the embassy because there would not have been a slot for the interview availed to KCC for them to send your case number to the embassy.

So, condition number three is that there must be the capacity of the embassy to receive your case for them to schedule for your interview.

That is, that about the three conditions.

In Summary

You should have submitted your DS-260 form and the DS-260 form processed completely by KCC and then your case number must be current and there must be a slot for the interview in your embassy that you selected.

If all those three are fulfilled, then you definitely will receive your second notification letter, 2NL for your Diversity Visa interview. But if they are not fulfilled, even if a single condition of the three then don’t expect the second notification letter.

Thanks for reading this guide.

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.

This guide will explain the various CEAC Status that you will see when you go to check for your current status in the DV processing.

CEAC Status: At NVC, Ready, In Transit, Issued, Refused, Administrative Processing

• Ready Status

The first status that you would probably get would be the “Ready Status”. What does the Ready status mean?

When you visit the CEAC website and you put in your information to check for the status of your current visa processing and you find the “ready status”, that simply means that KCC has opened your DS-260 form processing and is now ready to transfer your case to the embassy, once the embassy avails an interview slot.

So it means KCC is through with your DS-260 form processing and is now waiting to transfer your case to the respective embassy. This will depend with the embassy.

When the embassy avails a slot, then KCC transfers your case to the embassy and the CEAC status will change to In Transit status.

• At NVC Status

The second status that might appear when you check for the CEAC status is “At NVC”. When you check your CEAC status and see at NVC, it would probably mean three things:

(i) When you have not yet filled the DS-260 form and you have not submitted it, then the CEAC status will be “At NVC”.

(ii) If you have filled the DS-260 form and you have submitted it to KCC but KCC has not yet reached it to process it, the status will appear “At NVC”. Again, you have submitted your DS-260 form, but KCC has not yet opened it to process it, it will appear “At NVC”.

(iii) The status at NVC would also mean that you have submitted your form DS-260 and KCC has opened it and is in the process of processing the DS-260 form. So, if KCC has opened your DS-260 form and is currently processing it, the status that will appear will be “At NVC”.

• In Transit Status

The third status that would appear will be “In Transit”. At times when you check it will appear “In transit”. “In Transit” basically means that KCC has opened your DS-260 form, has gone through it and processed it successfully and finished up with processing it and has now transferred your case to the embassy.

So there is a slot at the embassy and KCC has finished processing your DS-260 form and therefore KCC is in the process of transferring your case to the embassy for interview scheduling. During that time the status will have changed to “In Transit”.

Again, “In Transit” means that KCC is transferring your case to the embassy for the interview, and at this point, it’s when you will receive a second notification letter, once cases has transferred your case to the embassy.

• Issued Status

The other status that would appear would be “Issued”. When you log into the CEAC website and while checking the status, it appears issued, it means that you’ve gone through the interview process and you have successfully been issued with the visa.

The visa has been approved and you are now waiting for the passport stamped with the visa. During this time the status would be issued.

Again, issued means that you’ve gone through the interview successfully and your visa has been approved and you’re now waiting for the passport with the stamped visa.

• Refused Status

The other status that you would get would be “Refused”. When you log into the CEAC website and when checking the status you get refused, it would mean two things:

(i) If during the interview, the consular officer was not satisfied with the information you provided and he or she wanted some further check up to see whether you qualify for the visa and he or she has asked for some time to go through your information or has asked you to send additional information. During that time, the status will change to “refused”.

A paper that is yellow in color and it will be with 221D refusal. Meaning that the consular officer needs some time to verify your information or need some additional information from you, for the consular officer to evaluate your case. That would mean that you will be required to wait or to provide the extra information requested before your visa can be approved. During this time, the status will change to refused.

(ii) The second meaning of refused would be that you’ve gone through the interview process but you are not successful due to one reason or the other. When your visa has been denied then the status will also change to refused, meaning you are not successful and your visa wasn’t approved.

• Administrative processing

The other status that would appear would be “Administrative processing”. This administrative processing normally follows a status “refused”.

In this case, if you are refused because the consular officer needed to do some further checks on your information. If it is in that case then you change to administrative processing meaning that you have been put to further processing before your visa could be probably approved.

Administrative processing status will show up during this process when the consular officer is going through your information or is waiting for you to present some additional documents or information.

Those are the major statuses that normally appear in the CEAC Status for the DV lottery processing.

Other CEAC Status

There are other two, that is “expired” and also “expiring soon”. What they mean is that your case could have expired or is about to expire and they would send you a notification. Next guide will explain more about them.

Note: There is no definite time for the status to change from one status to the other status. For example, for the status to change from “Ready” to “In Transit”, there is no definite time in between that. It all depends with many factors. It may take some few days, it may take some few weeks. It may even take some few months.

There is no definite time for it to change from one status to the other status.

I hope this guide is informative to you and useful to you, as you have now understood the meaning of different CEAC Status.

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.

This guide will focus on how to correctly check your Diversity visa status in the Consular Electronic Application Center (CEAC) website (ceac.state.gov). Also, this guide will focus on how to check the immigrant visa and on this matter, the diversity visa status.

In this website (ceac.state.gov), you can check the status of your non-immigrant visa or the immigrant visa, you can check all types of visas.

For the year 2023, the status check for the DV Lottery 2023 has already begun and it started on January 1. From January 1, the information for the DV Lottery 2023 status was available.

How to Correctly Check Your CEAC Diversity Visa Status

Although majority of people might have already done this, but just to explain how to do it correctly:

• Go to search engine (e.g google) search for ceac.state.gov or you can just login it from your browser.

At the page, you will see non-immigrant section and the immigrant section.

• For the immigrant section, Go to “Check My Visa Application Status” section and follow this procedures:

When the page opened, you will see three boxes:

• The visa application type box, where you select either immigrant or an immigrant.
• The case number box
• And box were you enter the code as shown.

=> Select “IMMIGRANT VISA (IV)”

=> Enter your case number

=> Enter the code as shown there, and then click “Submit”

=> You will get a pop-up that tells you about the status of your visa.

From the sample above, “At NVC” means at the National Visa Center. It means that the DS-260 for this case number is still at KCC level, either being “processed” or “already processed”, waiting for a slot to appear in that respective embassy for it to be transferred to that embassy for the interview scheduling and consecutively sending the second notification letter (2NL).

So at NVC (at the National Visa Center) is the status of this case number.

That’s how you can do for yourself and check the status of your case.

This status keeps on changing at time, you may find it “in transit” or “ready”, depending on the current status of your check.

Frequently asked questions about CEAC Diversity Visa Status

Question: What does CEAC status approved means?

Hint: If you have the Issued status, it means that your visa stamping is almost done and it is final stages. You should receive it soon.

Question: What’s the meaning of “Your forms have been received and are currently processing, allow several weeks for processing, interviews are scheduled numerically based on case numbers that have completed processing?”

Hint: DS-260 being processed

Question: Is “at NVC” status good or bad?

Hint: Good

Question: What if it’s saying currently at KCC?

Hint: DS-260 being processed

Read next guide that explained the different statuses of the visa status check, i.e at NVC, Ready, In Transit, Issued, Refused, Administrative Processing.

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.

If you are selected in the DV Lottery as a winner, and you are proceeding with your processing, then you should know these four (4) things in details.

4 Major Things DV Lottery Winners must Know

1. Case Number

The first thing that you should know immediately you realize you are successful winner in a DV program is about the case number. You should well know what a case number is, what it means, what is its importance, where is it applied, because it is a very useful number.

The case number is the number assigned to you as a selectee. You will find it on the first notification letter (1NL). This number is the number that you will use to get access to your DS-260 form, the Immigrant Visa Application Form that you’re supposed to fill immediately you realize you are selected. This is the same number that is used in scheduling the interviews.

This number is very important and to know more about it, because it is very crucial, READ>>> What is Case Number in DV Lottery Application and Visa Processing?

2. Visa Bulletin

The next thing that you’re supposed to know as a DV Lottery winner is about the Visa Bulletin and how to read the Visa Bulletin. The Visa Bulletin is a documentation of the visa processing. In that Visa Bulletin there are various categories of different types of visas and current news/position regarding them.

In the visa bulletin, there is also have a portion for the DV Lottery, and in this DV Lottery, there are information provided regarding the cut-off numbers for that particular period.

If you know how to read the Visa Bulletin, you will be able to understand when you are likely to expect your second notification letter, when you are likely to be scheduled for the interview and this will help you in proper preparation.

It is very important that every selectee know about the Visa Bulletin and how to read it.

3. What are the steps to follow after being selected for DV?

Another thing that you are supposed to know as a DV selectee is the steps to follow after being selected. When you’ve checked and found out that you are a successful winner, what steps follows?

Remember, after you check your results and find out that you are selected, the next thing is the filling of the DS-260 form, which is called the Immigrant Visa Application Form and it should be done immediately you see that you are successful.

Filling in the DS-260 form should be done slowly, it should be done correctly, and it should be filled without errors.

After filling the DS-260 form and submitting it, then you are supposed to wait for it to be processed by KCC.

After being processed and your case becomes current, then your information will be transferred to the Embassy and consecutively a 2NL will be sent to you. The second notification letter, 2NL is the letter that schedules your interview.

READ: What is Second Notification Letter, 2NL, in DV Lottery Program?

After you have received the second notification letter, then you are supposed to prepare yourself by first visiting the medical center specified in the link inside the second notification letter, to do your medicals, because this is a requirement.

After doing your medicals, you should proceed to the interview. After the interview, you’re successful, you will be issued with a visa stamped on your passport document that you will leave behind and will be sent to you via Courier Service or you’ll be required to go and get it from the embassy, depending on the embassy.

Then after that you can relocate to the United States or move to the United States within six months after your medical examination.

That is the process after you realize you have won.

4. Documents needed for DV processing

The final thing that you should know as a DV selectee is which documents will be needed throughout the DV processing.

From the point you realize you have selected, all the way to the interview, which documents will you be required to have?

READ THIS: Original And Notarized Documents For DV Lottery Interview

Therefore, basically those are the four major things that you are supposed to very well understand if you are selected or if you are a selectee progressing with your DV processing.

I hope the guide is informative and useful to you and to your friends.

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.

What is the Second Notification Letter in the green card application process? What is Second Notification Letter, 2NL, in DV Lottery Program? In this guide, we will learn all about the Second Notification Letter, 2NL for DV Lottery Winner.

The Second Notification Letter 2NL in DV Lottery Program

The Second Notification Letter, 2NL is the letter that you receive sometime after you have filled in your DS-260 form and it shows your interview appointment details.

When you applied for the DV lottery successfully, you check the results using your confirmation number, at the time the results are out, through the DV entrance check page, and you get the first notification letter that you are the DV lottery winner.

What is the next step after winning the DV lottery?

Then, the next thing you will do is to fill the visa form, which is called the DS-260 form.

At one point, while you are waiting, you will receive a letter telling you that on this day, it is the day of the interview for you at the U.S Embassy of your country of residence. That letter is called the Second Notification Letter, 2NL.

For example, at the U.S Embassy in Nairobi, for Kenya, at the U.S Embassy in Accra, for Ghana, at the U.S Embassy in Freetown, for South Africa, etc. DV interview holds at the city where the U.S Embassy is located in your country.

That letter telling you the interview schedule date is at this day, at this location is what we call the second notification letter, 2NL.

It is the notification letter which is very crucial because not everybody who is the winner gets that letter. There are some people that don’t get invitation to go to the visa interview. Congrats to you, if you are one among those that received or will receive the 2NL.

The second notification letter from the day you received the second notification letter to the interview date, in most cases, you have at least six weeks in between.

During this period of four to six weeks you need to go and do your medical exam before you go to the interview. Make sure that once you receive the second application letter you go for your medical as soon as possible.

Note: Not every doctor is going to do the medical for you. There are designated medical doctors, physicians in your country who have contracted with the U.S Embassy to do the medical for the DV winners or for any person processing to go the United States through immigrant visa or green card.

When does it come?

The second notification letter (2NL) will only come after your DS-260 has been processed by KCC.

It will also come when your case becomes current.

The 2NL would come after the document submitted had been processed by KCC.

Note: For DV 2022, things changed and the requirement that you are supposed to send your document was removed.

When will you receive the second notification letter (2NL)?

The 2NL will be sent to you by KCC a few weeks before your scheduled interview. It is normally around six weeks or so. One interesting thing to note about the second notification letter, is that they are normally sent within the second half of the month that is between date 15 and the end of the month.

Another interesting thing to note about the 2NL is that there is normally a month gap between the time you receive your 2NL and the time for your interview.

Here’s an example:

If your interview is in the month of April, you would have received your 2NL in the month of February between the 15th and the end of February.

And if your interview is to be on March, you will have received your 2NL on January between date 15th and 31 January.

Normally there is a gap of a month in between.

Another thing to note about 2NL, is that all the cases that would have been processed by the end of a particular month will be current the following month in the Visa Bulletin.

For example, all the cases that KCC will have processed by the end of July or early August will appear in the Visa Bulletin of August as current.

How do you receive your 2NL notification?

2NL comes in two parts. First of all, KCC will send a notification to the email that you filled in the DS-260, and that email will basically tell you that you have a pending update and it will direct you to the Entrant Status Check page (dvprogram.state.gov). The same place where you used to check for your results.

The second part will be when you click on that redirection and visit the Entrance Status Check and put in your details, you’ll see the second notification letter there.

Remember, the email does not have the second notification letter. It only notifies you that you have an update and redirects you to the dvprogram.state.gov, that page of the entrance status check.

When you visit that page and put in your details, you will find out that your first notification letter, the letter that you received when you were told you were selected, has been replaced by the second notification letter.

The second notification letter will basically contain your interview information. It will have your details, and secondly, it will have your interview details and the dates of your interview.

Second Notification Letter (2NL) for DV winner Sample

Finally, even if you forgot which email you had used, it’s not a must that you have an email for you to receive your second notification letter. You can just keep on checking on that entrant status page frequently, using your confirmation number, for you to see if you have received your second notification letter.

That’s all about the 2N L, and I hope that you have understood 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.

If you have any questions about the DV lottery, please contact an immigration professional/officer or a licensed attorney.

Cost of Diversity Visa Lottery: After selection, how much are you supposed to arm yourself with to comfortably go through the process until you land in the United States? In this guide, we will discuss about how much the Diversity Visa will cost you after you’ve realized you’ve been selected from the lottery.

Filling of DV application is completely free. Filling in the DS-260 is also completely free. It does not require any payment.

But once you receive your second notification letter, that is the 2NL, then expenses start inquiring.

READ NOW: What is Second Notification Letter, 2NL, in DV Lottery Program?

Diversity Visa | Green card Lottery Expenses

1. Medical Examination

After getting the second notification letter, you will be required to go through a medical examination in a medical examination office or facility specified by the Embassy in which you’ll get your interview.

When you go for these medical examinations, you are required to pay some fee for your medical examination. And the total amount of money required during the medical examination will depend upon many factors. E.g

• How many Vaccinations will you be required?
• How many people are with you?

So, if you are a family of five, you need to prepare yourself with enough money to cater every single individual in your family.

If you’re one person, then you will pay less. It depends with the number of people that you have in your application, it depends with the age that you are in and also it depends upon how many Vaccinations you will have to go through.

Note: Medical examination have to be done in office or facility specified by the Embassy in which you’ll get your interview.

2. Visa Fee

The other expense that you have to prepare for is the Visa fee and this Visa fee, you will only pay it during the interview in terms of cash. So you walk in with the cash because you will not be required to enter with any electronic gadget inside the Embassy. So you have to carry it in cash.

What is the amount?

You need to get the current and actual amount from U.S embassy in your country home. The amount is per head. So if you are a single person, you will only pay for your Visa fee. But if you are a family of three, then you have to pay for each person.

3. Green Card Fee

The other expense that you are supposed to prepare yourself for is the green card fee. The green card fee is totally different from the Visa fee.

This green card fee, you are supposed to pay it once you land in the United States, or you can decide to pay for it immediately your Visa is approved.

The green card fee is the fee that is used to facilitate the processing of your green card, once you enter the United States.

The total amount per head and you need to contact the U.S embassy for more details information.

Generally, those are the major expenses that each and every diversity visa winner will have to incur.

Other expenses

Apart from that, there might be other side expenses. For example,

i. if when selected, you have a family but the family does not have the passports. Remember, you have to pay for the passport because every person will have to have his or her passport. That’s a side expense.

ii. You will be required to apply for the police clearance certificate.

iii. Another major side expense is the ticket. The flight ticket to the United States. The flight ticket to the United States will also vary depending upon many factors.

The country in which you come from, the number of stops that you will have. It will also depend on the time that you book for your flight. It depends with many things. It varies with seasons, so there is no fixed price for the flight ticket. But it depends with all those factors, where you come from and many other things.

This guide will get you ready as you’re waiting for your interview or as you are waiting for your chance of getting selected.

I hope this information is useful to you.

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.

Getting married after winning DV Lottery: There are some frequently asked questions concerning DV lottery, such as, is marriage after Green Card Lottery even allowed? Or Can I get married after the DV lottery results are out?

In this guide, you will learn in full details, the answer to some of the questions regarding the issue of getting married after winning DV Lottery.

Question: Is marriage after Green Card Lottery even allowed? Or Can I get married after the DV lottery results are out?

The simple answer is yes, you are allowed to get married after winning DV Lottery. But as long as the marriage is the real marriage, is a bonafide marriage.

You will need to have evidence to prove that you got married in the real marriage, not to get married so that your spouse that you married comes with you to the United States of America.

Unlike the person who got married maybe before DV lottery, that person will just showed the marriage certificate, that’s all, but the one who got married after the DV lottery result are out, you might be asking some other questions to show maybe the marriage photos, the wedding photos or the engagement photos.

They might ask you those questions or they might ask any other evidence beyond just the marriage certificate.

If you are Christian, Muslim, whatever, you can get the letter from the pastor/priest or from the Imam or from the local government leader. They might ask some extra evidence to prove that you are married.

But yes, you are allowed to get married after the DV lottery results are out. But remember that they have the reason to suspect that this might be some sort of shady business.

Make sure that you have extra evidence, even if without being asked, so that you can avoid any type of questioning and be able to be given the visa to go with your spouse to the United States of America.

Question: If a DV lottery winner got married before his interview appointment, can he add his wife information with his DS-260 form?

There is no problem here if your marriage is real and a not a sham one to get 2 green cards out one winning entry, mostly for financial gain.

Be prepared to be subject to some scrutiny at the interview about your marriage, but if you knew your partner for a while and you are married for reals, there should not be much of a problem.

Your marriage WILL be thoroughly tested to see if it is genuine. If there is any hint of fraud, you will be declared inadmissible.

Marriage fraud is one of the most common immigration crimes. If is a federal crime with very severe penalties for US citizens who participate. For the immigrant, it means never getting into the USA for life.

Remember: Winning the DV lottery DOES NOT guarantee you a visa. It just moves you to the front of the line for processing. If your petition is evaluated and found to be fraudulent in any way, you will be denied the same as anyone else.

If you have plans to marry shortly after the announcement of the results, you may decide to hold back submission of your DS-260 until you have married, so that you can include your spouse on the first submission of the forms.

However, if you have already submitted your DS-260 and marry while you are waiting for interview, you can request KCC to unlock your form (email is best) and then modify your DS-260 to include your new spouse (including modifying your own entry to reflect your new marital status).

In the email requesting the form unlocking, include a scan of the marriage certificate which will be added to your KCC file (later sent to the embassy or Field office if doing adjustment of status).

If the marriage happens after the case has been passed to the embassy for a scheduled interview, you should still inform KCC as a precaution but your actual approach is to handle the change direct with the embassy.

Some embassies are relaxed about who attends the interviews, others are very unrelaxed, so in some cases you will have to contact the embassy or ask KCC to contact them on your behalf to get your spouse added to the interview schedule.

I hope you find this guide helpful, please share it to others to learn too. Thanks.

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.

In this guide, we will learn 4 important points to consider when planning to immigrate to the United States.

4 Things to Understand Before Immigrating to the United States

1. Taxation.

When you’re planning your immigration future, you should consider the taxation consequences of whatever move you plan to make, whatever sort of immigration benefits you plan to get.

For example, if you have a non-immigrant visa, it may be taxed differently potentially than if you have a green card or citizenship to the United States, and those tax consequences may be very important for you to consider if you’re earning income abroad outside of the United States, etc.

Taxation consequences is very important. Whenever you’re planning your immigration moves to the United States, you should consult with a CPA, an accountant, or a tax attorney to understand whatever you plan to do in the United States, whatever sort of immigration benefits you plan to receive, how those will impact your circumstances from a taxation standpoint.

2. Work authorization.

Whatever sort of immigration benefit that you’re planning on receiving in the U.S, you have to see what level of work authorization it will give you. Certain sorts of visas will only give you work authorization to work for one particular company.

For example, the L1 visa. The L1 Visa is a visa that allows somebody to transfer from a foreign company to work for a related U.S Company.

The L1 visa only authorizes the beneficiary of that visa to work for the employer that’s petitioning for them for that L1 visa. However, the spouse of that L1 visa holder can get work authorization to work for any company in the United States. That’s an example of an L1 visa.

To contrast that with a green card. A Green card allows somebody to work for any company in the United States.

Whenever you’re considering your immigration goals, you have to understand fully what level of employment authorization you’re going to get based on that immigration benefit. Oftentimes, depending on that, it will certainly influence what sort of an immigration path you proceed with.

3. What are your obligations to remain in the United States based on the immigration benefit that you’re planning to obtain.

Different immigration benefits, for example, whether it’s a visa or a green card or citizenship, depending on what the benefit is that you’re getting, it will have a different requirement for you to be physically present in the United States.

For example, if somebody has a green card, they have a certain requirement to intend to reside in the United States, and basically, if the person that has a green card spends too much time outside of the United States, they could end up forfeiting that green card unintentionally just by spending too much time outside of the United States.

Whereas a visa, there are certain types of visas that have no requirement that you spend a particular amount of time in the U.S.

When you’re planning your immigration future, you have to think about how much time you’re going to be planning on spending in the United States.

Again, once you have a green card, you’re required to intend to reside in the United States. If you spend too much time outside of the United States, you could forfeit your green card, and all that effort that went into getting the green card could be pointless.

It is very important you consider how much time you plan to spend in the United States, as that will influence what option is most suitable for you.

4. How whatever immigration benefits you’re planning on getting to the United States will impact your citizenship that you have in any foreign countries outside of the United States.

There are certain countries where if you gain citizenship, for example, to the United States, you lose citizenship to that other country. Whenever you’re planning your immigration future, you have to carefully understand and analyze how whatever immigration benefits you get to the United States, how those benefits will impact your citizenship or your immigration status in other countries.

In summary

i. Consider the taxation implications of whatever immigration benefits you get to the United States. Different immigration statuses could potentially have different tax implications.

You have to make sure to either speak with a qualified accountant or a taxation attorney to fully understand how whatever immigration benefits you’re planning can impact you from a taxation standpoint.

ii. Different immigration benefits can come with different work authorization. You have to understand whatever immigration benefits that you’re applying for, what level of work, authorization they come with, because that will help you strategize the most appropriate option for you.

iii. The length of time that you plan to stay in the United States and your overall goals of how you plan to be in the United States. Different immigration benefits have different requirements with respect to how much time you plan to spend in the United States.

Based on how much time you actually plan to spend in the United States, it will impact what the best option is for you from an immigration standpoint.

iv. Carefully understand how whatever immigration benefits you plan to get, how those benefits this may impact your citizenship or your immigration status in other countries.

I hope you found this guide very helpful and you have learn 4 important points to consider when planning to immigrate to the United States.

If you know anybody that could benefit from this information, please make sure to share this guide with them.

Thank you so much for reading this guide.

Source: Ashoori Law

DISCLAIMER: This post/guide and content is designed for general information only and is NOT legal advice. This site is not offering any legal advice, not offering any visa too. If you need legal advice, you should seek the advice of an attorney in your jurisdiction before taking any legal action.

The information presented in this post/guide should not be construed to be formal legal advice.