Does unlocking the DS-260 form cause you harm or delay on your DV Process? Does it cause any delay in the processing of your case? This is what has been answered in this guide.
Contrary to what information you get regarding unlocking your DS-260 form, unlocking your DS-260 form once you’ve realized you had made some serious mistakes, is ultimately an important step to take and it is very crucial for your case.
Those that says that unlocking your DS-260, you harm your chances or you cause delay to your cost and therefore you should not unlock, they are actually not correct.
There are errors that you might do on your DS-260 form that will end up ruining your chances. They will lead to your visa denial.
For such type of errors, the only way around them, the only remedy to them, is to write to KCC and request them to unlock your DS-260, specifying the specific DS-260, whether it is yours or your derivatives, and update it to the correct information.
Can that process cause you any harm or will it cause any delay?
The answer on the highest side is definite no, and on the lowest side is yes. What does that mean?
Majority of the corrections made on the DS-260 forms, they never cause any delay. For example, you are a DV Lottery 2023 winner and you submitted your DS-260 around May of last year, and later on you discovered that you had error in entering some critical information.
In around August you requested the form to be unlocked and it was unlocked and you updated the DS-260 and submitted. Then the interviews began in the month of October last year. If you take such a scenario, and let’s say your case number is around 10000AF, or 5000AS, if you take that case, there will be no delay.
What does it mean? If you have a case number that is not yet near to getting current and then you request unlocking and you update the information, there will be no delay at all. On this other side, if your case number is current and at that time of which you cannot tell, KCC is about to transfer your details to the embassy for the interview scheduling, at that time of which you cannot tell, and then you request unlocking of your DS-260.
Then definitely they will hold back, until you do the changes for them to hand over the case to the embassy. That is obvious. But those, as you can tell, are very rare cases.
So people saying that you are causing a harm to your case by you unlocking, then they are not correct.
On the other hand too, what will be the benefit of you not updating your DS-260, yet you realized you had a grievous mistake and you end up being denied the visa, yet you had the chances of unlocking?
What if, even if you request unlocking and the case is delayed for some time and then you get to the interview and you are issued with the visa because you had corrected the errors?
Or what if it might cause any delay? Which one of these will you take?
For the first scenario, you realize you have made a mistake, you decide not to change anything at all, you end up in the interview with the errors and because of the errors you get visa denial.
For the second scenario, you realize that you have made some mistakes, you write to KCC to unlock your case, you do the necessary changes or amendments and you submit your DS-260 form and if it happens, then it delays.
Then you go to your interview and simply because you corrected the errors, you get your visa approved. Which of those would you take?
That’s why the idea that people are giving you that you should not unlock for you not to cause any delay is not correct.
What would you benefit if you lose your chance because you did not update the information?
In conclusion
A bigger percentage of those cases that are corrected, they are never delayed, and only a small percentage get some kind of delay. It is better for you to even get a delay and correct the errors and get your visa approved, then not to correct the errors in fear of your case getting delayed, and at the end of it, you get denied the visa.
So, if you realize that you have made any mistake, don’t hesitate to request unlocking for you to update the information, to be on the safe side.
The mistakes that should cause you to request unlock, they should be those critical mistakes. For example, if you made errors in your names or some other personal related information, you need to change them.
Thank you for reading this guide. I hope it gets you at the right time and it clears your doubt and your worries.
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.