Tag Archives: DV Visa Approval

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Thanks for reading.

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

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

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

Visa Bulletin for March 2024 and APRIL Cut-Off Numbers

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Thanks for reading.

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

CEAC website for DV 2024 is now open, the database is open for every DV 2024 winner to check their status and the Highest Case Numbers in DV2024 for each Region have been Revealed. That means you can now visit the CEAC website, put your case number information and gauge the status of your DV progress. The data was released by the U.S State Department.

The exact website where you can check for your case information is here. The CEAC information for DV2024 lottery comes out from the beginning of January 2024. When you open the site, put your information, and check your status. There are lot of information about the DV lottery 2024 from this website.

Another link to open is https://dvcharts.xarthisius.xyz/ceacFY24.html, it’s going to take you to the DV 2024 CEAC data page. This is the first DV 2024 CEAC data as presented by xarthisius website.

On this guide, we are going to consider three items, beginning with the table below, that table shows the statistics for the cases that have so far been scheduled for interview in the DV 2024 program, the issued visas, those under AP administration, those under 221G refusal, those refused ready transit and the totals for all the regions.

In the first column, as you can see above, we have the various regions. We are going to concern ourselves to only two columns in this table. The first is the second column where we have the statistics for issuances, that is the number of visas that have so far been issued to DV 2024 applicants.

We see that at the bottom of that column, a total of 6,110 visas were issued during the months of October, November, and December. Another comment to make concerning this table is that the numbers you see outside of the parentheses represent the number of applicants, and what you have in parentheses represents the number of cases that those applicants belong to.

For example, the 6,110 that we see at the bottom of the issued column are the total number of applicants that have been issued visas from 3,074 cases. And that is why you have 3,074 in parentheses representing the number of cases and 6,110 outside of parentheses representing the number of applicants.

The next column to draw your attention to is the sixth column, which is the ready column. That’s the number of applicants that are currently scheduled for interview at the different U.S embassies and consulates. At the bottom of that column, we see that 6,792 cases are currently scheduled at the various embassies and consulates, and that amount to 14,721 applicants.

The next item on this page that to consider is the DV 2024 CEAC data for embassies. That’s the next section on that page. If you scroll down a bit to where you have DV 2024 CEAC data for embassies, in the table that is presented there, we have the same information, but this time for individual embassies and consulate.

In case you would like to have details concerning interviews that have so far been scheduled at your embassy, then enter the name of your embassy in the space where you have choose an embassy.

The final item of interest to us is found at the top of this page. Just above the first table, there is a link that reads FY 2024 CEAC current CSV. Clicking that link will allow you to download the spreadsheet file that shows the current status of individual cases.

In addition to the current status of individual cases, that file also tells us how far interview scheduling has gone at your various embassies and councilors. For more explanations on downloaded file, continue to follow this site as you will learn the situation of interview scheduling at your various embassies and consulate in those weekly Embassy Performance Reports.

Highest Case Numbers In DV2024 For Each Region Revealed

The final thing concerning this first downloadable spreadsheet file for the DV 2024 program is that it reveals to us the highest case number in each region. And so for this year’s program, the highest case numbers are as follows:

For the Africa region, 122,907

For the Asia region, 42,876

For the Europe region, 66,932

For the North America region, 19

For Oceania, it is 4,999

For the South America region, it is 5,574.

Those are the highest case numbers in the DV 2024 program and that concerns the first CEAC data for the DV 2024 program. Those are just the first data. From now on, the data will be released regularly by the State Department. Xarthisius posts them to their website every weekend, and that is going to continue up to the end of the DV 2024 program.

As the data is made available by xarthisius, we will have the opportunity on this site to consider them.

How many cases there are before and after me?

If you’re a DV selectee you can check how many cases are in front of you by filling out the form in the box there, e.g Case number (e.g. 2024AF123)

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

In this guide, we will discuss on CEAC Visa Status meaning, the different statuses that you might get when you check for your status in the CEAC website.

In my previous guide, we discussed about how and when to check your CEAC status for your diversity visa status. If you have not read that guide, it is very important that you read that first before you read this guide. Because in that guide, you will learn in details about how to check on that and why you should check on that and how important it is.

Different CEAC Visa Status and the Meaning

This guide will go to a greater extent to explain those various statuses that you might receive when you check your information. These statuses should not make you worry or make you confused or panic because everything about these statuses is well explained in this guide.

• Status at NVC

At NVC status will pop up when we check your results and you are not yet current. What do it mean?

You have been selected, even if you have not filled your DS-260 form and submitted, or you have filled it and submitted, but your case has not yet become current, then the status that will show up will be at NVC.

That simply means that your case is at KCC and it is waiting for your case to become current. In that process, your DS-260 form should have been processed or might be in the process of being processed. That is what at NVC stands for.

• In transit status

When you check for your CEAC status and the in transit status pops up, that simply means that your case is “now current”, has become current, and your embassy has a slot for you to be interviewed, and therefore KCC is transferring your information to the embassy.

In that process, when your case is being transferred to the embassy for interview processing, that status will be in transit. Also, in that process, you will consequently receive a second notification letter (2NL). So the interview appointment will be sent to you.

In transit, means that KCC is transferring your case to the embassy for interview scheduling, and that mean you are about to receive your second notification letter, if you have not received it at that time.

• The Ready Status

When you are checking for your case status and the “ready status” pops up, that means that your interview has been scheduled, you are ready for the interview, your information has been transferred to the embassy and you are just about to attend your interview.

• AP Status

AP Status in full is “Administrative processing status”. When you check and this status pops up, administrative processing means that your case is under administrative processing, is under the consulate or the embassy processing.

You might receive the administrative processing on various occasions. If you have gone to your interview and you have been told you have visa has been approved, then later on you come and check and you find AP, that is not a worry.

AP status does not mean that you have been refused and your status is changing. No, it just simply means that your visa is being processed and is being stamped. It is under the embassy or the consulate processing. They are processing to print or to stamp your visa.

In that case, that AP means that they are just preparing your visa to be stamped on your passport.

Another scenario that you may find AP, if you have gone to the interview and maybe you did not provide sufficient proofs and therefore the consulate or the embassy requested you for extra information or they told you they need to do some further checking. At that time, your case or your status will be AP. That is, you have received a 221G visa refusal and it mean your case is under extra scrutiny.

You are supposed to provide the documents that you have been requested or any information that has been requested. In that case, it will be AP status. AP comes in various ways.

Still on the same, you should note that if you are given the 221(g) visa refusal, the status might also turn into refused. Sometimes it will turn into refused as it waits your case to be processed.

If you have been given the 221(g), and then you see the status being refused, then don’t panic because it will remain that way until they have fully processed the extra information and once it’s that, the status will change.

So that should not worry you in that scenario. So long as there is enough time for them to deal with your 221G visa refusal.

It’s better that you be over-prepared than going there with less material or less information and then you be put to 221G. Avoid the 221G visa refusal at all cost.

• Issued Status

If you check your status and it reads “issued” and probably you have not received back your passport, then that’s a good sign. That status means that the visa processing and the stamp of them has finally been completed and your visa is being sent back or has been sent back to you.

Issued means your visa has been approved and has been stamped and you’re about to get your visas back.

• Refused Status

This is a status many people never long for and that is the “refused status”. This status comes after you have been told at the embassy outrightly that your visa has been refused, they will not issue a visa because of one reason or the other.

If you have errors or you’ve done mistakes and you have things that can prevent you from getting your visa approved then your status will change to refused and that status never change.

If it’s refused and you have been told your visa has been denied, you have no alternative, it will be refused in the 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.

Do you want to make sure that your U.S visa application is approved at a U.S consulate abroad? This guide is going to take you through 5 things that you should not be saying or doing at your U.S visa interview, to make sure that you get approved.

What not to say at your U.S visa interview, in order to get yourself approved. If you do these 5 things, you might not get approved for your visa.

5 Things NOT to Say at Your U.S. Visa Interview in order to get APPROVED Visa

1. Not having a return ticket back to where you came from

You cannot go to get a non-immigrant visa at a consulate without making sure that you have a return ticket, a round trip ticket back to the country where you came from. Not necessarily has to be back to the country you came from, but it better be back to a country outside the United States.

You will not be issued a US visa to United States with a one-way ticket. If by chance you do get the visa, unlikely you’re going to get through Border Patrol, if you only have a one-way ticket. Because a one-way ticket implies that you are not leaving the United States, you’re going to stay in the United States longer than you should or permanently.

Make sure you have a round trip ticket booked and with you not only at your interview, but make sure when you’re entering the U.S, you have a round trip ticket.

2. Don’t show ties back to your home country

You must show you have ties back to your home country, the country you’re leaving from to go temporarily to the U.S. You must show them and prove to them that you have a reason to return back home, either family, bank accounts, job, property, businesses, something that ties you back home and the reason why you’re only temporarily going to stay in the United States.

If you don’t have ties to your home country, they’re going to make the assumption that you have no reason to come back and you have no reason to leave the U.S.

Therefore, unlikely that they’re going to prove your visa. Make sure you have ties and you bring proof of that to your interview.

3. Don’t mention U.S Citizens

Don’t talk about a U.S citizen, boyfriend, girlfriend, spouse, or very immediate relative. If you have a U.S citizen boyfriend or girlfriend or fiancé or spouse or immediate relative in the United States, do not talk about that at your interview. If you’re asked, do not lie, but do not talk about that on purpose.

For example, “I’m going to the United States to visit my US citizen fiancée.”

That’s not a good idea to do. You do not want them to have any reason to believe that you are going to remain in the United States permanently because you have access to a U.S citizen person that could sponsor you for a green card when you arrive.

Therefore, it is not a good idea at a Visa interview to talk about your U.S citizen, spouse, partner, mother, brother, etc, don’t talk about them unless you’re asked. If you’re asked, you do not lie at any interview, you tell them the truth. But there’s no need to bring up that fact when you’re in your interview.

4. Don’t tell them you will be working in the United States

Unless the visa you’re actually applying for requires you to work. But if you are going into the U.S as a student or a visitor or someone who should not be working and is not authorized to work in the United States, you do not go into your visa interview telling them that you’re going to go work in the United States.

Even if you’re going to be working for your company abroad, even if you’re going to just be volunteering, you are not to be working in the United States on a visa that does not authorize you to work.

Do not talk about being in the United States working on any level unless there is a reason that you have to do it, that’s related to the actual visa. If not, and you’re not allowed to work because it is not authorized visa to allow you to work, then do not talk about anything that you’re going to work in the United States while you’re there.

5. Don’t say the word “I Don’t Know”

Uncertainty at a U.S Consulate Visa interview will set off alarm bells for them. Because if you’re not certain where you’re going, where you’re staying, what you’re doing, what you’re allowed to do, where you’re going to work, what your job is going to be, where you’re going to perform, all these things are critical to show that you understand the parameters of the visa that they’re going to be issuing you, and what you can and can’t do.

Also, it shows that you understand why you’re getting the visa, and it shows that their credibility behind the actual application that was filed on your behalf.

If you are a recipient of an “O visa application”, Extraordinary Ability Visa application, and you go in and you have no idea, where you’re performing, what you’re doing, and you say that you’re a guitarist and you’re applied for as a backup singer, that is not going to work. That uncertainty is going to cause you problems at a U.S visa interview.

Make sure you do some homework before you walk into that interview and know the parameters of the type of visa that you’re applying for, and make sure that you know where you’re staying, what you’re doing, what you’re allowed to do, how much money you need, what is your itinerary, what is the name of your employer, the address of your employer and where you’re going to be staying.

All those things you need to know and be very certain of when you walk into that U.S visa interview. The words I don’t know is not a good one to put out there at a U.S consulate interview.

Those are 5 things that you should not do at a U.S visa interview in order to make sure that you get approved.

There’s lots of other things that you shouldn’t be doing or you should be doing, but those are top five. Those are basics that you have to be aware of when you walk into that visa interview. Make sure you don’t do any of those things. You get prepared, you do your homework, you talk to the attorney that helped you, etc.

I hope this was helpful. Good luck to you all out there.

Source: Szew Law Group

DISCLAIMER: This guide and content is designed for general information only and is NOT legal advice. The information in this guide should not be construed to be formal legal advice nor the formation of a lawyer/client relationship. the information presented in this guide does not create an attorney/client relationship nor is it a solicitation to offer legal advice.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

REASON #1:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

In conclusion

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

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

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

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

Answer: There is AV queue behind every embassy.

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

Answer: No. That is early.

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

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

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

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

DV Lottery Disqualification: In today’s guide, we will learn majorly three things that will indeed affect you in the selection. Things that will either reduce your chances of getting selected or will automatically knock you out of the selection process, even if you passed the first selection.

We’ve learned about the wrong theories that people have given out there regarding the selection process. We have also seen clearly on the errors that you might have done in the application but wouldn’t affect you in the selection. We also saw about the errors that you might have done and will not affect your selection, but later on will affect your DV process and you will get visa denied. All those we’ve talked about, you will find that information in this post below.

READ: Factors that will not affect your chances of getting selected in the Diversity Visa (Green Card) lottery

Why You May Not Be Selected In DV Lottery | DV Lottery Disqualification

Below are the things that will knock you out of the selection process, and if you probably did these two things, be sure enough that you will not be selected.

• Doing a double entry

The rule is that you are supposed to do a single application, just one application per one person. You cannot do two applications. Let’s say, for example, you might think that since this is a lottery, by me trying to enter several times or many times, I will increase my chances of getting selected. No, you are wrong.

If you decide to play today to enter into the lottery today and then you wait for some three days, then you try again and enter. Some other days, then you try and enter multiple times, that one is an automatic disqualification.

Don’t be tempted or you should not have been tempted to try and apply again because you realized there was some mistake that you did or maybe you used a wrong photo and therefore you decide, let me try another one with the correct information, that’s knocks you out of the selection.

Double entry or multiple entry into the DV lottery, it is an outright disqualification from the selection process, you will not get selected with that.

The second one, apart from the double entry is, and this was put out clearly last year, I think it was this year, early months of this year, by an information from the court proceedings. It was very good because it disclosed very rich information regarding the photo. Yes, I’ve said the photo. In that document, we clearly saw that they pay particular attention to the details of your

• Photo

We all know the requirements of your photo, your DV Lottery application passport size photo has dimensions that is two inch by two inch. It has the background qualifications, image qualifications, ratio qualifications. All these are put to proper consideration, that every photo that does not meet the requirement knocks you out of the selection.

You might have gone through the first phase of selection, but due to your photo qualities, you are knocked out leaving a hole. Those many holes that we see in the selected number of selectees, those holes came about due to some photo errors.

Maybe you provided a blurry image or when editing your photo, you do not follow the correct procedures. Maybe the edges of your image were trimmed. Any editing of your photo that affect the original standard, the original quality of the photo taken.

Those are some of the specifications that are checked, that are looked into. If your photo does not meet the qualification, that entry is kicked out of the selection process and you not even know, you might have gone through the first selection, you are among the selectees. But due to those errors, you are knocked out, leaving a hole, and will not even know that you had been selected.

So the correct photo is a major thing that will really affect whether you’re getting selected or not. Always use the correct photo, meet all the requirements, all the specifications of a DV lottery photo.

• Number of entries across the globe

The third thing that will affect your chances of getting selected or can lower your chances of getting selected is the number of entries all across the globe. The selection or your chances of getting selected depends on how many people entered into the DV lottery.

For example, in the DV lottery 2024, we saw an upward of 22 million entries. They only selected around 120,000 selectees out of the 22 million.

The more the number of entries into a DV lottery, the lesser the chances of you getting selected.

For DV 2025, when you look from the number of visits to the dvprogram.state.gov, the application website, when we compare the visits with the DV lottery 2024 visits, we see there’s some quite difference. That is, the DV 2024 was quite higher than the DV 2025.

So we expect the number of entries this year to be slightly lower than the 22 million that entered in the DV lottery 2024. The chances in this DV lottery 2025 for you will be slightly higher than for the DV lottery 2024.

The number of entries into a DV lottery will reduce or increase your chances of getting selected.

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

DV Medical Examination: When do you apply or schedule for your medical examination? Immediately you receive your second notification letter, 2NL, you are supposed to schedule for your medical examination.

When you are processing for the diversity visa program, you have to do the visa interview. When the Kentucky Consular Center (KCC), the government agents which is responsible to schedule the interview for you give you a notice of the interview at least six weeks in advance, the next process you need to do is the medical examination.

Where Do I Do My Medical Examination For DV Interview?

You (and each family member applying for a visa with you) are required to schedule a medical appointment with an authorized physician in the country where you will be interviewed.

You must complete your medical examination, along with any required vaccinations, before your scheduled visa interview date.

When your medical exam is completed, if you are given a medical exam envelope, you must bring it sealed (not opened) to your visa interview. Some physicians will send the medical exam results directly to the embassy or consulate.

Do you select which doctor to conduct your medical examination?

The answer is no. You are supposed to book an appointment with the medical center or the physician specified by the United States Embassy in your country.

Medical Examination Process and Requirements for DV Interview

Which documents are you supposed to carry with you, when attending the medical examination for the DV lottery?

• Your vaccination records

It is a major requirement for medical examination. You must have the COVID-19 vaccine before you go to the medical examination. Because in the medical examination, they are going to do the cross-look of your vaccine record.

From October first, 2021, the President of the United States, Joe Biden, released the new mandate that if you have to get the visa for immigrant visa, even non-immigrant visa, you must have the COVID-19 vaccine. So you must have the vaccine in order to go to the medical.

The vaccine, the COVID-19, was not part of the requirement previously, but it has started from October first, 2021 going forward.

The passport photos for each and every member in your application. Depending with which country you come from, the embassy may require several photos. Some embassy requests for three photos for every member, others they request five photos for every member.

Other Documents You Will Go With To The DV Medical Examination

• The appointment letter, don’t forget the appointment letter.
• The confirmation page of your DS-260. Don’t forget to carry the confirmation page of the DS-260.
• The medical documents if you are under medication currently.
• If you have ever had these contagious diseases or one of them, like for example, the tuberculosis and the syphilis and you had been treated, you should go with that certification that shows you had it and you have completely been treated.
• A valid passport for all the members in your application.

Can you be denied the visa because of a certain thing found in the medical?

The answer is yes.

The things which can cause you to be delayed to get the visa is if you have the TB, tuberculosis, you will be required to go and be treated first before you come.

That is a mandatory because in the United States, they have already eradicated the tuberculosis. So they fear people to bring the tuberculosis in the United States.

The other thing which is very big one is if you have a mental problem which can be a harmful or can cause a mass crime, disruptions, maybe can bring a mass shooting, that type of problem you might be being inadmissible to the United States.

Also, if you have excessive use of drugs, that will be able to cause you not to be admissible to the United States.

I hope the information there 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.

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

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

Diversity Visa Program | Visa Bulletin for November 2023

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

There are certain things that can lead to your visa denial during the interview, and among these is issue regarding the diseases. In this guide, we will go through the type of diseases or conditions that can lead to your visa denial, during DV Medical Examination.

Note: It is hard for a certain disease to cost you your diversity visa, but there are others that can really make you inadmissible to the United States.

The main type of disease that can cause you not to get your diversity visa approved are the diseases that are of public harm and these are the diseases that can become contagious and can be transmitted to other people.

Example of these diseases that are communicable include tuberculosis, syphilis, gonorrhea, and the Hansen disease (i.e leprosy).

Tuberculosis generally causes a spot or the chest spot, although there are other diseases that can cause the chest spot. Once the chest spot is detected and it has been caused by tuberculosis, what happens is that, the civil surgeons that did your examination will know what type of tuberculosis you have. You might be having the active one, which means that it can spread to other people, or you might be having the passive one.

The passive means you might be infected by TB, but there are no signs or no symptoms showing up and this is called passive. This means that it cannot be transmitted from you to the public.

Therefore, once the surgeons have known what type of TB you have, then they will recommend the necessary medication and you will have to be treated before you return for your diversity visa interview.

How will tuberculosis cost you your diversity visa?

Once TB is detected in you, there is a period that TB takes to be cured and this period varies from three months all the way to six months.

Let’s say, for example, your diversity visa interview is scheduled in the month of January. If at that moment you are diagnosed with TB, then you are put under medication and it will last from three months to six months. It means you have February, March, April, May, June and July. You can get treated and attend your interview within the fiscal year for you to receive your diversity visa.

But let’s say, for example, your interview is in July and you get diagnosed with TB, you only have roughly two months for your diversity visa fiscal year to expire, and that means even if you are put under the TB treatment, the time will lapse for the diversity visa before you get full treatment.

By so you won’t receive your diversity visa, you will have to be put under medication and get treated before you can attend your interview. If you get treated and you pass through the interview, then you will receive your visa.

The other category of diseases that can lead to your visa denial are grouped into two classes:

The first class of diseases that will cost you your diversity visa is quarantinable diseases, the diseases that can cause you to be put into quarantine.

The second class of the disease that will revoke or prevent you from receiving your diversity visa approval is the diseases that have been declared by World Health Organization (WHO) as a public emergency.

If any disease has emerged and has been declared as a public emergency, that disease can cause you to get denied your diversity visa approval.

Majorly, all those that have discussed are the different types of diseases that can lead to your visa denial or your visa cancellation.

Therefore, if you realize that you are suffering from these communicable diseases, it is the highest chance that you take the necessary measure or the necessary step to ensure that you get treated.

The earlier you do it, the better for you, before the DV lottery medical examination.

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

DV-2025 Lottery FAQs: This post will focus mainly on some very important frequently asked questions about Diversity Visa (DV) lottery program.

DV-2025 Lottery FAQs: Answers to Your Most Common Questions

Question: Can I still apply if I was not born in a qualifying country?

Answer: There are two circumstances in which you still might be eligible to apply. First, if your derivative spouse was born in an eligible country, you may claim chargeability to that country. As your eligibility is based on your spouse, you will only be issued an immigrant visa if your spouse is also eligible for and issued an immigrant visa. Both of you must enter the United States together, using your DVs.

Similarly, your minor dependent child can be “charged” to a parent’s country of birth.

Second, you can be “charged” to the country of birth of either of your parents as long as neither of your parents was born in or a resident of your country of birth at the time of your birth.

People are not generally considered residents of a country in which they were not born or legally naturalized. For example, persons simply visiting, studying, or temporarily working in a country are not generally considered residents.

If you claim alternate chargeability through either of the above, you must provide an explanation on the E-DV Entry Form.

Listing an incorrect country of eligibility or chargeability (i.e., one to which you cannot establish a valid claim) will make you ineligible for a DV.

Question: Why do natives of certain countries not qualify for the DV program?

Answer: DVs are intended to provide an immigration opportunity for persons who are not from “high admission” countries. U.S. law defines “high admission countries” as those from which a total of 50,000 persons in the Family-Sponsored and Employment-Based visa categories immigrated to the United States during the previous five years.

Each year, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) counts the family and employment immigrant admission and adjustment of status numbers for the previous five years to identify the countries that are considered “high admission” and whose natives will therefore be ineligible for the annual Diversity Visa program.

Since DHS makes this calculation annually, the list of countries whose natives are eligible or not eligible may change from one year to the next.

Question: Is there a minimum age to apply for the E-DV Program?

Answer: There is no minimum age to apply, but the requirement of a high school education or work experience for each principal applicant at the time of application will effectively disqualify most persons who are under age 18.

Question: I am in the United States. Can I enter the DV program?

Answer: Yes, an entrant may apply while in the United States or another country.  An entrant may submit an entry from any location.

Question: Can I only enter once during the registration period?

Answer: Yes, the law allows only one entry per person during each registration period. The Department of State uses sophisticated technology to detect multiple entries. Individuals with more than one entry will be ineligible for a DV.

Question: May my spouse and I each submit a separate entry?

Answer: Yes, each spouse may each submit one entry if each meets the eligibility requirements. If either spouse is selected, the other is entitled to apply as a derivative dependent.

Question: Which family members must I include in my DV entry?

Answer:

Spouse: If you are legally married, you must list your spouse regardless of whether they live with you or intend to immigrate to the United States. You must list your spouse even if you currently are separated from them unless you are legally separated. Legal separation is an arrangement when a couple remains married but lives apart, following a court order.

If you and your spouse are legally separated, your spouse will not be able to immigrate with you through the Diversity Visa program. You will not be penalized if you choose to enter the name of a spouse from whom you are legally separated.

If you are not legally separated by a court order, you must include your spouse even if you plan to be divorced before you apply for the Diversity Visa, or your spouse does not intend to immigrate.

Failure to list your eligible spouse or listing someone who is not your spouse will make you ineligible for a DV.

If you are not married at the time of entry but plan on getting married in the future, do not list a spouse on your entry form, as this would make you ineligible for a DV. If you are divorced or your spouse is deceased, you do not have to list your former spouse.

The only exception to this requirement is if your spouse is already a U.S. citizen or U.S. Lawful Permanent Resident. If your spouse is a U.S. citizen or Lawful Permanent Resident, do not list them in your entry.

A spouse who is already a U.S. citizen or a Lawful Permanent Resident will not require or be issued a DV.

Therefore, if you select “married and my spouse IS a U.S. citizen or U.S. LPR” on your entry, you will not be able to include further information on your spouse.

Children: You must list ALL your living children who are unmarried and under 21 years of age at the time of your initial DV entry, whether they are your natural children, your stepchildren (even if you are now divorced from that child’s parent), your spouse’s children, or children you have formally adopted in accordance with the applicable laws.

List all children under 21 years of age at the time of your electronic entry, even if they no longer reside with you or you do not intend for them to immigrate under the DV program.

You are not required to list children who are already U.S. citizens or Lawful Permanent Residents, though you will not be penalized if you do include them. Parents and siblings of the entrant are ineligible to receive DV visas as dependents, and you should not include them in your entry.

If you list family members on your entry, they are not required to apply for a visa or to immigrate or travel with you. However, if you fail to include an eligible dependent on your original entry or list someone who is not your dependent, you may be ineligible for a DV, in which case your spouse and children will be ineligible for derivative DVs. This only applies to those who were family members at the time the entry was submitted, not those acquired at a later date.

Your spouse, if eligible to enter, may still submit a separate entry even though they are listed on your entry, and both entries must include details about all dependents in your family.

Question: Must I submit my own entry, or can someone else do it for me?

Answer: Interested applicants are encourage to prepare and submit their own entry, but you may have someone submit the entry for you. Regardless of whether you submit your own entry, or an attorney, friend, relative, or someone else submits it on your behalf, only one entry may be submitted in your name.

You, as the entrant, are responsible for ensuring that information in the entry is correct and complete; entries that are not correct or complete may be disqualified. Entrants should keep their confirmation number, so they are able to check the status of their entry independently, using Entrant Status Check at dvprogram.state.gov. Entrants should retain access to the email account used in the E-DV submission.

Question: I’m already registered for an immigrant visa in another category. Can I still apply for the DV program?

Answer: Yes.

Question: Can I download and save the E-DV entry form into a word processing program and finish it later? 

Answer: No, you will not be able to save the form into another program for completion and submission later. The E-DV Entry Form is a web-form only. You must fill in the information and submit it while online.

Question: Can I save the form online and finish it later?

Answer: No. The E-DV Entry Form is designed to be completed and submitted at one time. You will have 60 minutes, starting from when you download the form, to complete and submit your entry through the EDV website.

If you exceed the 60-minute limit and have not submitted your complete entry electronically, the system discards any information already entered. The system deletes any partial entries so that they are not accidentally identified as duplicates of a later, complete entry.

Read the DV instructions completely before you start to complete the form online so that you know exactly what information you will need.

Question: I don’t have a scanner. Can I send photographs to someone else to scan them, save them, and email them back to me so I can use them in my entry?

Answer: Yes, as long as the photograph meets the requirements in the instructions and is electronically submitted with, and at the same time as, the E-DV online entry. You must already have the scanned photograph file when you submit the entry online; it cannot be submitted separately from the online application.

The entire entry (photograph and application together) can be submitted electronically from the United States or from overseas.

Question: If the E-DV system rejects my entry, can I resubmit my entry?

Answer: Yes, you can resubmit your entry as long as your submission is completed by 12:00 pm (noon) Eastern Standard Time (EST) (GMT-5) on Tuesday, November 7, 2023. You will not be penalized for submitting a duplicate entry if the E-DV system rejects your initial entry.

Given the unpredictable nature of the Internet, you may not receive the rejection notice immediately. You can try to submit an application as many times as is necessary until a complete application is received and the confirmation notice sent. Once you receive a confirmation notice, your entry is complete, and you should NOT submit any additional entries.

Question: How soon after I submit my entry will I receive the electronic confirmation notice?

Answer: You should receive the confirmation notice immediately, including a confirmation number that you must record and keep. However, the unpredictable nature of the Internet can result in delays.

You can hit the “Submit” button as many times as is necessary until a complete application is sent and you receive the confirmation notice. However, once you receive a confirmation notice, do not resubmit your information.

Question: I hit the “Submit” button but did not receive a confirmation number. If I submit another entry, will I be disqualified?

Answer: If you did not receive a confirmation number, your entry was not recorded. You must submit another entry. It will not be counted as a duplicate. Once you receive a confirmation number, do not resubmit your information.

Checkout more DV-2025 Lottery FAQs: Answers to Your Most Common Questions.

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.

What happens if a child is born after DV lottery application? What if the applicant is pregnant during DV lottery application? This guide will answer these two questions.

What happens if a child is born after DV lottery application?

Let say for example, at the time of DV lottery application, assume you (i.e DV lottery application) are married, assume you are engaged and your spouse or you are person who is engaged to, is pregnant. You cannot put the photo to say you have a child, you cannot use another person photo in place of your unborn child.

After application in October, maybe the month of November or December the child is born or after the DV lottery result is out and the child is born. How are you going to do? How are you going to navigate that?

There is no need stressing yourself in any way. When there’s a change of status after applying DV lottery, it doesn’t affect you from being given the visa. You’ll be able to add that child born after the DV lottery application or after the results, in the visa form called the DS-260 form, and you’ll be able to go with that child to United States of America.

The problem is if you have a child born already, on the time of application and you lie to say that you don’t have a child, but if a child is born two days later, a day later, or few hours later after applying DV lottery, there is no problem. The child can be added in the DV lottery visa form called the DS-260 form, and upon successful processes, you can go together with the child to United States of America.

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

DV lottery 2025 Eligible Countries List

The list below shows the countries and areas whose natives are eligible for DV-2025, grouped by geographic region. Dependent areas overseas are included within the region of the governing country.

AFRICA

Algeria, Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cabo Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, The Democratic Republic of Congo, Cote D’Ivoire (Ivory Coast), Djibouti, Egypt*, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Gabon, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

ASIA

Afghanistan, Bahrain, Bhutan, Brunei, Burma, Cambodia, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Israel*, Japan***, Jordan*, Kuwait, Laos, Lebanon, Malaysia, Maldives, Mongolia, Nepal, North Korea, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Syria*, Taiwan**, Thailand, Timor-Leste, United Arab Emirates, Yemen.

*Persons born in the areas administered prior to June 1967 by Israel, Jordan, Syria, and Egypt are chargeable, respectively, to Israel, Jordan, Syria, and Egypt.  Persons born in the Gaza Strip are chargeable to Egypt; persons born in the West Bank are chargeable to Jordan; persons born in the Golan Heights are chargeable to Syria.

** Macau S.A.R. (Europe region, chargeable to Portugal) and Taiwan (Asia region) do qualify and are listed. For the purposes of the diversity program only, persons born in Macau S.A.R. derive eligibility from Portugal.

***Persons born in the Habomai Islands, Shikotan, Kunashiri, and Etorofu are chargeable to Japan. Persons born in Southern Sakhalin are chargeable to Russia.

EUROPE

Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark (including components and dependent areas overseas), Estonia, Finland, France (including components and dependent areas overseas), Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macau Special Administrative Region**, North Macedonia, Malta, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, Netherlands (including components and dependent areas overseas),  Northern Ireland***, Norway (including components and   dependent areas overseas), Poland,  Portugal (including components and dependent areas overseas), Romania  Russia****, San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, United Kingdom (including dependent areas), Uzbekistan, Vatican City.

** Macau S.A.R. does qualify and is listed above and for the purposes of the diversity program only; persons born in Macau S.A.R. derive eligibility from Portugal.

***For purposes of the diversity program only, Northern Ireland is treated separately. Northern Ireland does qualify and is listed among the qualifying areas.

**** Persons born in the Habomai Islands, Shikotan, Kunashiri, and Etorofu are chargeable to Japan.  Persons born in Southern Sakhalin are chargeable to Russia. Great Britain (United Kingdom) and its dependent areas do qualify for DV-2025.

Great Britain (United Kingdom) includes the following dependent areas: Anguilla, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, British Indian Ocean Territory, Cayman Islands, Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, Montserrat, Pitcairn, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, St. Helena, and Turks and Caicos Islands.

NORTH AMERICA 

The Bahamas

OCEANIA 

Australia (including components and dependent areas overseas), Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Federated States of  Nauru, New Zealand (including components and dependent areas overseas), Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu.

SOUTH AMERICA, CENTRAL AMERICA, AND THE CARIBBEAN

Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Barbados, Belize, Bolivia, Chile, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominica, Ecuador, Grenada, Guatemala, Guyana, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay.

Those are the DV lottery 2025 eligible countries list.

See List of Countries and Areas whose Natives are NOT Eligible for DV-2025>>>>

When can I apply for DV Lottery 2025?

The U.S Department of State Web site for the 2025 Diversity Visa Program (DV-2025) is open for interested individuals who are eligible are encouraged to apply, including selectees who were unable to obtain a visa during a prior program year. The choice of winners of the U.S diversity visa lottery is completely random. The entry form will only be available for submission during this period and this period only.

Find out DV-2025 photo requirements.

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

DV-2023 Update: Are you ready for the DV2025 Lottery? These are the dates predicted for the Green Card Lottery Application this year. The 2025 Diversity Visa Program entry period will open on Wednesday October 4 and ending Tuesday November 7, 2023.

On September 7, 2023, the United States Travel – State Department shared DV-2023 update on their official verified twitter page. Below is the message shared on Travel – State Dept.

The read:

“The Department of State has issued all available diversity visas (DVs) for the 2023 Diversity Visa (DV) Program.  We know the conclusion of the 2023 program may be disappointing to selectees who were unable to receive a visa.

The DV Program is limited to issuing approximately 55,000 visas each fiscal year. Selection does not guarantee that an applicant will receive a visa interview or a visa. Selection merely means the person may be eligible to participate in the DV program and may potentially apply for a visa.

Given that some of the first 55,000 persons selected will not  qualify for visas or ultimately choose not to participate in the program, more individuals are selected to participate each year than visas available. This is done to ensure we are able to issue the maximum number of visas available under the DV program in any given year.

The 2025 Diversity Visa Program entry period will open on October 4, 2023, and we encourage all who are eligible to apply, including selectees who were unable to obtain a visa during a prior program year.”

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

This is a bonus guide for high school students and also the parents to a high school students, in regards to DV lottery application.

Having a high school diploma or the local equivalent is a basic requirement for a successful DV lottery entry.

If you are in your final academic year in high school and you will be sitting for your final examination at the end of this year, maybe around December or November, you are still eligible to enter into the DV lottery, which will begin from the first week of October and will run through to first week of November.

At the time of posting this guide, if you have not sit for your final examination, you are still qualified. Why? Because by the time the results for the DV lottery come out, you will have already sat for your final examination and you will be already having your high school diploma.

This is the key: When you are entering into the DV lottery program under the Education, check the image attached below.

You select high school degree and it’s because of the reason explained above. You select high school degree because by the time the results will be out, you will be having your high school diploma or certificate.

To be clearer, don’t make a mistake of selecting “High school no degree”. No, don’t select that. Select “High School Degree”. Also for those parents of those students that are in their final academic year in high school, make your children know this and let them apply in the DV lottery.

This guide is necessary so that you can have a chance to also enter into the DV lottery as a high school student in the final year.

I hope the information is clear and important 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.

The Diversity Visa Bulletin for the month of September DV2024 and DV2023 is already out. This Visa Bulletin have some few things to note on it.

It is the first Visa Bulletin that gives us a glimpse into the DV Lottery 2024. Actually, it gives the cutoff numbers for the month of October. That is the very first interviews to be conducted for the DV Lottery 2024.

As a DV selectee, you are supposed to keep track of the visa bulletins, it is important for you to always check the visa bulletins.

This visa bulletin essentially marks the beginning of the DV Lottery 2024 interviews and also the closure of the DV Lottery 2023.

From the last visa bulletin, that was the visa bulletin for August, we saw the last cutoff numbers for the DV Lottery 2023.

So what about the DV Lottery 2023? As of now, we only expect a very few number of 2NLs sent to the winners because majorly the month of September, that is the last month of a DV lottery, tend to focus more on the 221G visa refusals.

Recently, there is a cumulative number of 221G visa refusals of around about over 5,000 cases and this number of 221G refusals is quite big and it will be handled within this last month.

Only a few visas for the DV Lottery 2023 are remaining, there is speculate that majority of those might go to the 221G visa refusals, those who will be lucky and also the adjustment of status, which is ongoing. So very few 2NL may be sent out.

Remember the interviews are ongoing and therefore we expect them to continue till the 30th of September. So if you have your 2NL, you get prepared well and don’t risk a chance. If you have been scheduled for the interview, make every effort not to fall in the 221G visa refusal.

From the visa bulletin we have some cutoff numbers for the month of October, and this is for the DV lottery 2024.

For the region of Africa, it is 10,000, for Asia 2,000, Europe 4,500 and so on and so forth. There are some exceptions and what this means is that if an exception is put on a country, it simply means that below the cutoff number, there are many cases from that country.

Therefore, if they can be given up to the cutoff number, then the embassy might be overwhelmed with cases for them to handle within a month. For example, if you come to Egypt, they are given up to 5,500, and that means that they have many cases within the lower bracket, the low case numbers. And therefore, if they can be given up to 10,000 as the rest of Africa, then the cases might be very many for the embassy to handle within that month to all others in the various regions.

What is the total number of selectees in the DV Lottery 2024?

A total number of 143,000. As up to now, this is the highest number of selectees in a DV lottery. Also in this DV lottery 2024, we’ve also seen exceedingly high or huge case number. For example, someone with a case number of 122,000.

There was a total of over 22 million applicants. This is the number that applied for the DV lottery. Again, note that the 143,000 includes the selectees together with their derivatives. It is the principal applicant together with the family members.

Also, there are only 55,000 visas available for the DV lottery program. So a big number of this will miss their visas. What makes them miss their visas? Their case numbers.

If your case number is so huge, you might not find an opportunity to get visas. That is important to note.

Note that the dates for the DV Lottery 2025 will be publicized in the coming months. The DV Lottery 2025 application period will be on the website, the DV Program official website and not from any other source.

For the exact number of selectees together with their derivatives for every country. You can get the exact number of selectees together with the beneficiaries from this list.

So what are you supposed to do? Visit this Diversity Visa Bulletin For September 2023 and go through these numbers.

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

The Diversity visa bulletin for the month of August 2023, which shows the cut-off numbers to apply in the month of September 2023 in the diversity visa program has now been released.

In this guide, we will learn the cut-off numbers to apply in the month of September 2023, as well as those cases, if any, that have become current.

What is very important about this bulletin is that it shows the final cut-off numbers to apply in the DV 2023 program. So the release of this diversity visa bulletin for August 2023 will be good news for some applicants but bad news for others.

Bad news for those whose case numbers are exactly the same or above the cut-off number that we will see for their region in a moment.

Let’s go over to the bulletin and consider the cut-off numbers to apply during the month of September 2023, which are the final cut-off numbers for the DV 2023 program.

Diversity Visa Bulletin and Cut-off Numbers

Africa Region

Beginning as usual with the Africa region. The Africa region has been made current for the month of September 2023. That region was almost current with the exception of only one case, the case with case number 63,502.

In case that case is assigned to an embassy that is performing very well, then that could be the chance for that case. That case could be scheduled for interview in this year’s program.

When it comes to the exceptional countries from the Africa region, there is no change in their cut-off numbers. Algeria was at 45,000 and Algeria remains at 45,000 for the month of September, which means that case numbers from Algeria beginning at case number 45,000 and above will unfortunately not receive a diversity visa in the DV 2023 program.

Those case numbers that were previously current from Algeria are the ones that remain current. And if your case number is one of them and you have not yet been scheduled for interview, then you have the chance of being scheduled during the month of September 2023.

In the case of Egypt, the cut-off number for the month of August was maintained for the month of September and it is 43,000 which indicates that those case numbers from Egypt that were previously current are the ones that remain current for the final month of the DV 2023 program.

So in case you are an applicant from Egypt with a case number beginning at 43,200 and above, it means that unfortunately you will not receive one of the diversity visas in the DV 2023 program.

For Morocco, the 63,400 case number was maintained for the month of September. And like in the two previous cases, applicants from Morocco with case numbers that were previously current, are the ones that remain current for the final month of the DV 2023 program.

So if you’re an applicant from Morocco with a case number beginning at 63,400 and above, then unfortunately, you cannot receive one of the DV 2023 visas.

Asia Region

To the Asia region, and the 21,000 cut off number for the month of August was maintained for the month of September. And so the cases from Asia that were previously current are the same cases that remain current for the month of September, with the exception of cases from the two exceptional countries.

So if you are an applicant chargeable to Iran, the cut-off number for Iran moved from 14,000 to 16,000, and it made case numbers beginning at 14,000 up to 15,999 current. And in case such cases are assigned to embassies that are performing well, then those cases have the chance of being scheduled for interview before the end of this year’s program.

The case is similar for applicants from Nepal. The cut-off number for Nepal moved from 20,000 to 2500 to 21,000. And so applicants from Nepal with case numbers beginning at 20,500 up to 20,999 now have the possibility of being scheduled in this year’s program.

All other applicants chargeable to all other countries from the Asia region remain in their respective positions. That is, in case their case numbers were previously current, they remain current. And in case they were not current, they remain not current and will not receive one of this year’s visas.

Europe Region

To the Europe region, where most applicants find themselves in that same situation, the 32,000 cut off number for the Europe region for the month of August has been maintained for the month of September.

Case numbers chargeable to Uzbekistan are the only exception because the cut-off number for that country has moved from 15,000 to 17,000. It made case numbers beginning at 15,000 up to 16,999 to have become current and those case numbers now have the possibility of being scheduled for interview.

But other cases from Uzbekistan with case numbers beginning at 17,000 moving above, unfortunately, did not become current and will therefore not benefit from this year’s visas.

For applicants from all other countries in the Europe region, those whose case numbers were previously current, remained current, and those whose case numbers were not current, remained not current and cannot be benefit from the visas on offer in the DV 2023 program.

North America Region

The North America region was already current.

Oceania Region

We move to the Oceania region and that is where we have good news because the cut-off number for the Oceania region has increased from 1,650 to 2,500 which has made many case numbers from that region current.

So cases with case numbers beginning at 1,650 up to 2,499 from the Oceania region have just become current, and they now have the chance of being scheduled for interview before this year’s program come to an end.

South America Region

Finally, to the South America region where the cut-off number was increased from 2,900 to 3,150. And that has made the South America region to almost go current, which is good news for many applicants from that region.

Case numbers beginning at 2,900 up to 2,149 are now current and they have the possibility of being scheduled for interview in this year’s program.

Those are the final cut-off numbers to apply in the DV 2023 program, as well as case numbers that still have the chance of being scheduled for interview before the program comes to an end.

In upcoming guides, we will have the opportunity to discuss on diversity visa bulletin and those cut-off numbers in detail.

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.

Although, many DV winners may still be waiting for their second notification letter, but what follows immediately after you receive your second notification letter? In this guide, we’re going to see the following steps after receiving the second notification letter (2NL) and Diversity Visa prepare for interview.

To learn more about how your second notification letter will be like, read: What is Second Notification Letter (2NL), in DV Lottery Program?

As you read through the second notification letter sent to you, you’ll see a link. This link is meant for you to get prepared for the interview correctly and completely.

When you click on this link, follow whatever you’ll get in that page. When you do so, it will take you to Diversity Visa Program page under the travel.state.gov website.

See image below:

There, you’ll see the processes of the diversity visa, step number eight is prepare for the interview. To prepare for DV interview is what you are going to do after receiving the second notification letter, 2NL.

Things You Must Do After Receiving Your Second Notification Letter

Below are the main things you must do immediately you received your second notification letter.

• Carefully review your scheduling information in the entrance status check, on the EDV website, noting the date, time, and location of your of your immigrant visa interview.

When you go to the entrance status check and you log in, you receive your second notification letter. On the second notification letter, you will see all this information, the date, the time, and the location for your interview.

• You review the United States embassy or consulate interview instructions

Remember, every consulate or embassy will have different instructions regarding the DV interview. You have to visit your embassy or your consulate and see the requirements for your embassy.

You will do so by following the list of U.S embassies and consulate, where you will find your embassy. Then you click on the embassy and see all the requirements/instructions.

• Schedule and complete a medical examination

This is very important. The third requirement is that you visit the medical specified by your embassy and then schedule a date with them for examination. You will be required to present the medical examination during your interview.

• Gather Photographs and all the documents required or specified

These documents include, two photos that are identical for each and every applicant in your application. Together with these photos, you’ll be required to provide the appointment information (this is the second notification letter printed), the DS-260 confirmation page printed, the passports of every member in your application, all the original documents that you filled in the DS-260 (make sure you have the original copies and certified ones).

• Review U.S embassy or consulate interview instructions

How do you check your embassy’s instructions?

(a) You will go to list of U.S embassies or consulates interview instructions link.

(b) You will see all the list of the available consulates and embassies.

(c) Select your embassy, for example, if you are from Ghana, select Accra-ACC embassy.

i. Go down you’ll see the first instruction by Accra embassy in Ghana. If you are selected to be interviewed in that embassy, the first instruction is you register online.

ii. Go to register and register to confirm your interview date, that you will be available during the interview date posted by KCC.

iii. Get a medical exam in Ghana. Follow the link there to register, to schedule for your medical exam with the center specified by the embassy.

Note: From the link, you will schedule an appointment with the medical center specified by the embassy.

iv. Complete your pre-interview checklist. Preview the documents that you are required to have in the interview. You do a pre-interview checklist to ensure you have all the documents.

v. You review the guideline.

Note: These steps above are applicable in all embassies eligible for DV Interview Appointment. Check embassies eligible for DV Interview Appointment.

That all about checking the instructions for your embassy for your DV interview and steps after receiving your 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.

Principal Applicant And Derivatives DV Interview: In previous guide, we learned the important tips that will give you a successful DV lottery interview. If you’ve not read the guide, it’s good that you go back and read that guide.

READ NOW: How to Successfully Pass DV/Green Card Interview

But in this guide, we will learn one of those tips that you that is regarding not leaving your derivatives when you go for the interview.

The Principal Applicant Must Attend DV Interview

Derivatives are those people that you include in your DV process as the DV principal applicant. The principal applicant is the main person that played the lottery and was selected a DV winner.

The principal applicant (either he or she) must be present during the interview. The principal applicant cannot be left behind and the derivatives attend the interview. It is impossible.

The principal applicant is the one that is known to KCC. He’s the one that was selected and has the case number. So he’s the person that KCC knows of.

Let’s say, if the principal applicant decides not to proceed with the DV process, that means an end to the whole process. The derivatives cannot proceed without the principal applicant.

In another uncertain situation, might be the principal applicant dies. If the principal applicant happens to die during the process, that is also a total end to the process.

Even if the DS-260 was submitted and maybe you are waiting for the interview, but the principal applicant dies, then the program comes to a halt. The derivatives cannot attend the interview without the principal applicant.

These Derivatives Must Be Present at the DV Interview

Having understood that, let’s come to the derivatives. Who are those that should count as derivatives and should attend the interview together with the principal applicant?

The first qualified derivative that must be present during the interview is the spouse of the principal applicant. That must be included in the whole DV process, the first or the initial application, and also on the DS-260 form and be present during the interview.

The spouse is not a girlfriend or a boyfriend. A spouse is not a person that you’ve lived with for many years. A spouse is someone to whom you are legally married and you have the marriage certificate.

The marriage certificate is the single document that proves that this is your spouse. He or she must be added on the DS-260 form. That is the document that proves he or she is your derivative.

Therefore, if you are with a person that you’re not legally married, he or she is not your spouse.

The second person that should be present at the interview and is one of your derivatives is the child or children. All the children that the principal applicant has must be included in the initial application, as well as on the DS-260 form. Clearly outlined with their details.

The children that are your derivatives are not just children you’re living with, no, they must fall under these three categories:

• Your biological children

The children that you gave birth to, your natural children, they are your derivatives and they must be added in the initial application on the DS-260 form and they must be present during the interview. If you leave them out, then that is a total visa denial.

• Your step-children

This is second set of children that must be included. Step-children are the children of your spouse. If you have legally married your spouse, then the children they came with, they are your stepchildren, and they must be added in the initial application on the DS-260 form and must be present during the interview.

If you leave one of them, that is a visa denial, they must be included in the whole process. Another thing to note about the step-children, you don’t need the consent letter of their biological father or mother. Owing to the fact that you are now legally married to this new spouse, they become his or her step-children and don’t need the consent of their biological father or their biological mother.

Don’t forget to include your step-children and also attend with them to the interview.

• Adopted Children

The children that you have legally adopted by a court procedure, a legal procedure, you’ve adopted the children. All those adopted children, they must be included in the initial application and also on the DS-260 form and must be present during the interview.

All those in the three categories above, those children must be under the age of 21. All the children have discussed about as your derivatives must be under the age of 21, and also they must not be married.

If your children are below 21 and they are already married, they don’t qualify to be added in your DV process.

Some frequently asked question regarding those people that should attend the interview

Question: If I don’t speak English, should I go with my interpreter?

Answer: Yes, you may go with your interpreter to the interview and the interpreter must be certified.

Question: Should you go with your parents to the interview?

Answer: No, you should not go with your parents to the interview.

Question: Should you attend the interview with the attorney?

Answer: The DV interview only requires you as the principal applicant and your derivatives. There is no need for an attorney.

Another thing that you should remember about the derivatives is that, they too may undergo questioning during the interview. So when you’re preparing for the interview, also let your derivatives know of this.

Make sure you prepare them as well with the example questions that they may be asked. Let them know about the DV process and let them know that they might be asked some questions and most cases they are asked most questions.

Finally, remember that you need to carry all the documents that are required, that pertains to your derivatives, e,g the birth certificate, the police clearance for those above 16years of age, the passports, those documents you need them.

Note: The qualification is based on the principal applicant. The principle applicant is the one qualified and is the one that needs to be academically qualified or qualified through work experience.

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 specific things that you must do for you to have a smooth and successful first DV interview and get your Diversity Visa approved.

It will focus mainly on the tips that you can use in preparation for the interview and also during the interview process to get your Diversity Visa approved.

As a first timer in the DV lottery interview or it’s your first time to attend the DV interview, there is a great tendency of panicking or missing some things in the preparation or during the interview.

Tips To Prepare For DV First Interview

1. You need to familiarize yourself with the whole interview process.

You’re going for the interview, just as the other normal interviews, the work interviews, or any other interview, you need prior preparation, you need to familiarize yourself with what it takes for the interview.

How do you do this?

You do this by simply consulting the previous interviews. Those people that have undergone through the interviews, and how do you consult with those interviews?

It is by going through the interview experiences. People are very generous with their information. Many that have gone to the United States, many that have passed through the DV interview, they have shared their interview experiences all over the internet and they are all different experiences.

You’ll find some for single persons, you’ll find some for married people, you’ll find some for married with kids, and others single with kids. When you go through those interview experiences, you’ll learn a lot of things. For example:

• You’ll know what happens during the interview.
• You’ll know what changes you can make during the interview.
• You’ll know what people to meet at the embassy.
• You’ll know what happens at the security check.
• You’ll know what size of baggage you should carry.
• You’ll know of the questions that you get during the interview, and you’ll know how to correctly go around those processes.

You need to go through the interview experiences.

Read: DV Interview Questions and Answers

Go through it, you’ll get to familiarize yourself with the whole process, and this will eliminate the panic that comes.

In other words, you will have gone through a mock interview. It’s like you’ve gone through a virtual tour of the whole interview process, and when you go for the interview, you’ll find yourself that whatever you’re meeting or encountering will be what you already know of.

So it’s very important to go through the DV interviews for you to get all this information. Go through the different interview experiences from those people.

2. You need to prepare the documents that are required correctly and they should be organized correctly.

The documents form the very important part of the DV interview because you’ll have to present those documents. What are those documents?

They are the supporting documents to the information that you field on your DS-260 form. Every document that is required, you need to have it.

Remember, there are some documents that need to be notarized. That is to certify them. They need a certified copy of the original one. So you have the original copy and a different one that is called certified.

READ: Original And Notarized Documents For DV Lottery Interview

You will get this certified from the custodian of your documents in your government. If it’s the birth certificate from the registrar of birth, for the marriage certificate from the registrar of marriage, etc.

For those documents that are listed as requiring certified documents, don’t forget to get the certified documents. Prepare your documents well, both you as a principal applicant and those of your derivatives, for a smooth interview.

3. Throughout the process, you have to be so honest.

Be honest with all information that you give. Be truthful. If you say yes, it’s a yes, and if it’s no, it’s a no.

If you don’t have these documents, don’t say you have them. Anything that you present should be true from the start to the end. Veracity is key. Lies are considered as fraud.

The principal item that will lead to your visa denial is for you speaking falsely, is for you presenting false information. That is fraud, and fraud is a definite visa refusal. So honest and truthful is what is needed in this process for a smooth interview.

4. You need to stay calm and be self-composed during the interview.

Fear can arise, the fear of unknown, not knowing whether you’ll be successful or you will fail and that can create anxiety. Fear can cause you not to be at ease.

Therefore, one thing that you need to do and you need to exercise is to be calm and to be self-composed. By this, you’ll have the confidence to answer the questions that are forwarded to you.

You create this confidence and calmness by going through the interview experiences for you to at least have the prior information of the process. Panicking can mess you up, be self-composed and calm when you are going through your DV interview.

5. You need to attend the interview with all your derivatives.

Derivatives must be present during the interview, if you leave the derivatives out then be sure you will not get your visa. All people that you included in your DV application as your family members (your spouse, your biological children, legally adopted children, stepchildren) you need to attend the interview with them, and they must be present there.

They should also have all the documents that they are required to have, e.g birth certificate, their passports, the police clearance certificate for all that are above 16 years of age. Every document that is attached to the derivatives must also be present.

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.